The Boston Red Sox got better starting pitching Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was the small, intricate details they missed that ended up costing them.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora certainly noticed how big of a difference it made, though, in Boston’s 4-1 loss at Fenway Park.
The Pirates proved to be a pesky bunch, scoring three out of their four runs with two outs, which will always be cause for a headache.
“Two-out runs, leadoff guys, shutdown innings for me, in this game, regardless of the level, they’re very important,” Cora told reporters as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “You get the leadoff guy out, you avoid damage with two outs and you shut them down after you score, you’re in good shape. It feels like with two outs we haven’t done that early on and we just got to improve that.”
The Red Sox were in a good position when they jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first thanks to a fielder’s choice from Masataka Yoshida. But the lead was short-lived as Nick Pivetta didn’t have the all-important shutdown inning and gave up a two-run home run as the Pirates led for good from that point on.
Boston’s attack never really threatened, amassing only two hits after the first inning. But Cora wasn’t worried about the lack of production given the tear the offense was on through the first four games.
“Yeah, we didn’t get too many hits. We didn’t score seven or eight,” Cora said. “But I thought we were OK. Just make adjustments, keep putting good at-bats and we’ll be OK.”
