With Morton 'on the ropes,' Sox can't cash in

This homestand was off to a promising start for the Red Sox.

Bases loaded, nobody out in the first. A Danny Santana triple to lead off the second.

And with those two golden opportunities against battle-tested veteran Charlie Morton, Boston managed a total of one run en route to a frustrating 3-1 loss to the Braves on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

Baseball 101 tells you that when you don't capitalize against a pitcher of Morton's caliber in the early innings, it will come back to haunt you. Never was that more true than in this game.

"Good pitchers will do that," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "He struggled early on with command, but he made some pitches and got out of situations. And after that, he did what he usually does -- and that's why he's one of the best pitchers in the big leagues."

Morton was flat-out nasty after his shaky opening, going seven innings and retiring the last 13 batters he faced following a two-out single by Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the third. The right-hander gave up three hits and no earned runs while punching out nine. In fact, the Red Sox didn't have a hit in the final six innings.

"We had Charlie on the ropes the first two innings," said Cora. "We only score one and that's what good pitchers do. We had our chances early on, we didn't cash in. Bases loaded, no outs, we only score one, then we had men on third, no outs, we don't score and that's it."

Though the Red Sox have one of the top offenses in baseball this season, one weakness has continually surfaced. That is their inability to drive in that runner from third with less than two outs.

Boston's .548 OPS with a man on third and less than two outs ranks 29th out of MLB's 30 teams.

"I don't know. I wish I could find [the reason]," said Cora. "To be honest with you, a ground ball to second or a ground ball to short, cash in and that's all we need and we talk about it. There's only 25, 30 at-bats [per season a player] comes up in with men at third and less than two outs and we haven't done the job."

This is particularly frustrating for Cora, because it is something that he preached as far back as the earliest days of Spring Training.

"In an era or a year that it's hard to hit and runs are at a premium, it's very important to make contact with a man on third [and less than two outs]. You just put the ball in play and you're going to cash in," said Cora.

"I saw it with Jed Lowrie against Eduardo Rodriguez [on May 12]. It was a big run," said Cora. "I saw it [last week]. The Jays against us in Dunedin, [Fla.], they put the ball in play and they score. You saw it with them today, Ozzie Albies put the ball in play, [Freddie] Freeman scores. Making contact is very important."

Red Sox righty Garrett Richards battled to keep his team in the game, though he didn't have his best stuff. The lanky righty gave up six hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out four. Of his 97 pitches, just 59 were for strikes.

The Red Sox slipped to 13-13 at home this season compared to 16-7 on the road.

Why is that?

"I don't know," said Richards. "I have no idea. We've got a pretty damn good record, though, so I wouldn't worry about the last couple of games."

Play of the night
There was one standout play for the Red Sox in this one, and it came in the top of the third inning.

With runners on second and third and one out for the Braves, Albies hit one into short right field, where second baseman Kiké Hernández was playing in the shift. It is a play in which the second baseman invariably throws to first for the sure out. But in an aggressive play you hardly ever see, Hernández came up firing and threw to third, where Rafael Devers slapped down the tag on Marcell Ozuna.

Unfortunately, Ozuna was injured on the unusual play, dislocating the ring and middle fingers on his left hand when they got tangled in Devers' spikes.

"A great heads-up play," said Cora. "He's into every play and he anticipates, and you don't make that play without thinking about it. You just don't react to that. You plan that before. He saw it before it happened, and it was one of the best plays I've seen. It looked routine, it looked easy, but to throw the ball from the shift to third base to get the runner, that was the first time I've seen that.

"As a second baseman, I used to take chances with men on second and a routine ground ball to second with no outs, but to do it from the shift, [that's the] first time I've seen that. Amazing play."