Red Sox look for guys to 'step up' after inconsistent 1st half

NEW YORK -- If the season ended today, the Red Sox would be out of the Wild Card race. After a 13-2 loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Boston sits two games behind Toronto for the third AL Wild Card spot.

The day got off to a bad start for the Red Sox when left-hander Chris Sale left in the first inning with a left fifth finger fracture after he was hit on his left hand by a line drive hit by Aaron Hicks.

“You think more about the person instead of the player,” manager Alex Cora said. “He has been through a lot. He was ready to compete. Now we have to wait. It’s not about the baseball player.

“I talked to him a little bit. He has been through a lot of obstacles throughout the journey the last few years. I don’t want to say disappointed, but kind of like, 'Here we go again.' That was my reaction. Here is a guy that has worked hard to get back. Another obstacle in his road.”

After Sale left the game, Cora used eight relievers who allowed a combined 10 runs in 7 1/3 innings.

“We didn’t make pitches. We are short. But we had guys who have done it before,” Cora said. “We had to use our high-leverage guys in the middle of the game because we were running out of pitchers. We have to be better, bottom line. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Yankees or whomever. We have to play better baseball.”

The Red Sox didn’t get much out of their offense on Sunday, either. They collected four hits off right-hander Gerrit Cole, who pitched seven innings, and struck out 16 times without recording a walk on the day. Their only damage came in the third inning, when Jeter Downs hit his first career home run, a two run shot that made it a 3-2 game.

Before the game, Cora talked about how he wanted the offense to improve after the All-Star break. As Cora pointed out, the big three of Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts have done their part, but Cora hopes to see the rest of the guys step up in the batter’s box.

“It’s a combination of what Cole did, us expanding [the strike zone] a little bit,” Cora said. “There is a lot of frustration the last few days. We are not putting the ball in play, taking some close pitches and all of that. It was a bad two days. Like I told them, go ahead and [hang with] the families, be responsible and be ready Friday [against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park].”

During the month of July, the Red Sox are hitting .234. In comparison, their worst month of the year came during April when they hit .225.

“We’ve been very inconsistent offensively during the first part of the season,” Cora said. “We hit our stride [sometimes] and then lately -- injuries or not, we should be better than that.

“Like I have been saying all along, the three guys have been amazing throughout the first part of the season. We need more. We need other guys to step up, get good at-bats, finish at-bats and all that stuff. We haven’t done that, so far, this season.

Asked if the Red Sox need help from the outside, Cora said, “We need help from the people here. It really doesn’t matter. We can talk about outside or whatever. The guys that are here … they have to be better.”