The Boston Red Sox have been teetering around the edge of the American League playoff picture throughout the second half of the season.
After holding a spot entering the All-Star break, the Red Sox are 17-25 since that point and did not help their cause with a lackluster 4-1 loss at the hands of the New York Mets on Monday night. It's the third straight loss for the Red Sox for a team that has not won a series since Aug. 19-21 against the Houston Astros.
Boston just tallied a sub-.500 record in August for the fifth consecutive season, fading at a time where the ballclub truly needed a surge in a competitive playoff race. Alex Cora knows something needs to change for his team, and fast.
"We're not playing well right now," Cora told reporters, per NESN's postgame coverage. "It's not going our way right now. We gotta show up tomorrow and try to win a game. We're running out of time. Let's put it that way."
"Obviously, it's been a tough stretch," Boston pitcher Brayan Bello told reporters through translator Carlos Villoria, per NESN's postgame coverage. "We haven't been able to score many runs. At the same time, we haven't been able to make the adjustment. We all need to come together. The pitchers need to do their jobs at keeping the opposition under control. The offense needs to score more runs."
Boston is fortunate in the sense that teams in front of them in the wild-card race have not fully pulled away during the recent struggles for the Red Sox. That absolutely has to change if the team hopes to save its season.
"I know what the other teams are doing," Cora added. "They're not playing well either. The days we don't take advantage of it is a waste of days. We gotta come here and find a way to win a game tomorrow."
Here are more notes from Monday's Red Sox-Mets game:
-- New York's Francisco Lindor stayed red-hot, reaching base for the 31st consecutive game.
-- Boston scored three runs or less for the sixth time in its last seven games. The ballclub also scored just one run for the third consecutive game.
-- Jarren Duran is 6-for-17 with three runs driven in with a home run over his last four games for the Red Sox.
-- The Red Sox fall to 21-23 against the National League this season and 0-2 to start the month of September.
-- In the American League wild-card race, the Minnesota Twins defeated the Tampa Bay Rays while the Kansas City Royals fell to the Cleveland Guardians. Those teams entered Wednesday holding the final two playoff spots. Boston still sits 4 1/2 games out of a postseason spot.
-- The Red Sox and Mets continue their series on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
