'The line is not moving': RISP woes impeding Sox's WC hopes

NEW YORK – The Red Sox are fading fast from the American League Wild Card race, and one can look at the offense as to why they lost to the Mets, 7-2, on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

Boston has lost four consecutive games and finds itself 4 1/2 games behind the Royals for the third and final Wild Card berth in the AL.

Through Tuesday’s game, the Red Sox had a .227/.286/.373 slash line with 29 home runs and 101 runs scored in their last 26 games. The team is 9-17 during that stretch. Continuing that trend, the offense was held mostly quiet against left-hander David Peterson. They tried to spoil his 29th birthday, but they went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and struck out 11 times vs. the southpaw (15 overall).

The Red Sox scored their only run off Peterson in the fifth, when Nick Sogard singled to center to drive in Masataka Yoshida.

“The line is not moving. We put pressure on them tonight, but we are much better than this,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We just have to keep working. [Hitting coach] Pete [Fatse] and the group are grinding with them and we are grinding with the players.

“This is a good offensive club that is going through a bad stretch. Hopefully, tomorrow is the day we pitch, play good defense, hit, go home and reset Thursday and be ready for Friday. We have to find ways to win games.”

Expect minor lineup changes for Wednesday night’s game against New York. Jarren Duran will return to the top of the lineup, while Rafael Devers will hit second. Duran is known to steal bases, so expect Devers to see a lot of fastballs come his way. In his last seven games, Devers, Boston’s best hitter, is 3-for-29 (.103) with one homer.

Red Sox right-hander Kutter Crawford pitched well enough on Tuesday to win the game. He allowed one hit in six innings, but the hit he allowed in the third inning proved costly.

With Jeff McNeil on first, Crawford surrendered a two-run homer to Francisco Lindor to give New York a two-run lead. Crawford left a cutter middle up to Lindor. The tater had an exit velocity of 104.8 mph and traveled 369 feet.

“He is just a good batter. He just stays on all pitches, puts together good at-bats. He is looking for a pitch and he knows what pitch he is trying to hit,” Crawford said about Lindor.

Cora said Crawford had a good night because he had precise location on his fastball.

“He has been on point in his last three starts,” the skipper said. “The fastball command has been good. Now, he has the four-seamer. He is at the top of the zone. He gets swings and misses. He keeps them honest. The cutter was good. Overall, a good [game].”

Crawford feels he is in a great spot mechanically to throw strikes.

“When I was struggling, the cutter wasn’t where it needed to be and I kind of dialed that back into the cutter I like throwing,” Crawford said. “We are just focusing on maintaining the quality of the pitches and being in the zone as much as possible.”

After Crawford exited the game, right-hander Justin Slaten pitched the seventh and allowed a solo homer to Mark Vientos, which proved to be the difference in the game. Overall, the bullpen allowed five runs.

It’s been a tough stretch for the Red Sox, but they are not giving up the chance to possibly play in October.

“We are not going to bend over,” Crawford said. “We are going to show up every day and compete to the best of our abilities. First thing, I think we still have a chance. We get on a five-game winning streak and we are right back in it.”