Red Sox swept by Astros to cap disappointing August

BOSTON -- A homestand that started with a buzz ended with a thud for the Red Sox.

A 7-4 defeat to the Astros on Wednesday completed a 1-5 homestand for a Boston team that now needs a miracle -- and a very long winning streak -- to make it to the postseason.

After beating the Dodgers on Saturday for what proved to be the only win of the homestand, the Red Sox were 3 1/2 games back in the American League Wild Card standings and still feeling a run was possible. As the homestand completed, they trailed the Rangers by 6 1/2 games for the final AL Wild Card spot.

“I mean, we knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us, and losing all those games, it’s kind of a kick in the gut,” said righty Kutter Crawford, who took the loss.

After completing their final game of August, an up-and-down month in which the Red Sox went 13-15, they were faced with the grim reality of the situation.

It was the culmination of a 16-day stretch of games in which the Sox went 7-9.

One near constant during the run was a lack of innings from the starting rotation. Crawford allowed six runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Astros in the latest example.

“We didn’t pitch,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “That’s the bottom line. I think since New York [from Aug. 18-20], the starters have been grinding through it, and we’re not getting deep enough and we’ve been paying the price the last 10 days.”

In the dog days of August, Boston starters posted a 4.56 ERA (17th among MLB rotations), a 1.46 WHIP (fifth worst), a .274 opponents' batting average (fifth worst), an .821 OPS (fourth worst) and just 4 2/3 innings per start (fifth worst).

For the Red Sox, those numbers have been a combination of one veteran pitcher (James Paxton) wearing down from his biggest innings load in four years, two starters building up after extended stints on the injured list (Chris Sale and Tanner Houck) and one pitcher reaching his career high in innings in Crawford. The emerging Brayan Bello is the one starter Cora has been able to count on for most of the season.

Crawford had been solid in his past two starts. His biggest challenge is being able to clear the hurdle of going through a lineup a third time. On Wednesday, he didn’t get through it twice before being lifted.

“It’s super frustrating,” Crawford said. “I know I'm probably not the only one that's frustrated with themselves. As a staff, we need to be able to pitch deeper into ballgames. I, obviously, wasn't able to do that today. So I'm really disappointed in myself, and I feel like I let my team down.”

There was a bright spot in Wednesday’s loss, and that was the club’s No. 3 prospect Ceddanne Rafaela making his first Major League start two days after he got his first career hit off the bench.

Though he is best known for his defensive prowess in center field, Rafaela got the nod at shortstop in his first start. He didn’t get much action, flagging down a popup and cleanly handling the only ground ball hit to him.

The big moment came in the sixth, when the wiry right-handed hitter ripped an RBI double off the Green Monster.

“I was very, very excited to be on that field to compete,” said Rafaela, who was called up on Monday. “It’s been fun, it’s been crazy, to be able to live my dream. It’s a privilege for any baseball player just to get here.”

With fellow prospect Wilyer Abreu set to come off the paternity list for the upcoming trip to Kansas City, it’s unclear if Rafaela will stay on the roster or return to Triple-A. Either way, the Red Sox enjoyed this first glimpse.

“Good athlete,” said Cora. “He took some tough pitches. He faced some good pitching. You can see [the talent], right? We saw it in Spring Training. We’ll just keep working with him and he’ll keep getting better.”