Pivetta strong, bats quiet in defeat

HOUSTON -- Nick Pivetta turned in the definition of a gutty performance for the Red Sox on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park, and it should have been the one that got his team back into this series.

Instead, all he had to show for his effort was a tough-luck loss as the Red Sox fell, 2-1. The bats which have boomed for most of the season for Boston remained in a state of Houston hibernation. In fact, it was Pivetta’s first loss in 13 starts since he joined the Red Sox. Boston is 11-2 in those games.

After laboring through a 36-pitch first inning in which he faced seven batters, Pivetta held the Astros to just two total runs. He was mostly nails for the rest of the night, throwing 111 pitches over six innings in which he allowed three hits while striking out nine.

“I thought Nick’s stuff towards the end of the game was elite,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He had a great fastball, good breaking ball. That’s a good lineup over there.”

The Red Sox think they have a pretty good one too. But it’s just not showing at all so far at Minute Maid Park.

For three straight days, the tablesetters, the boppers and the role players have all gone silent at once, and this defeat to the Astros was the third in a row for the Red Sox in a four-game series that wraps on Thursday afternoon. Boston has scored a total of four runs in the three defeats.

With so many players in a funk at the same time, it’s hard for Cora to do much in terms of shaking up the batting order.

Leadoff man Kiké Hernandez, who is in an 0-for-24 rut, will get Thursday’s game off. So, too, will catcher Christian Vázquez. Other than that, most of the regulars will be out there looking for better results.

“What kind of adjustments can we do right now? There’s not much you can do,” said Cora. “You trust the process, trust the player, and they’re due now. That’s the way I see it.”

You know things are in a bad way when Xander Bogaerts, one of the most consistent hitters in the game, has no hits in his last 21 at-bats.

“I’ve been feeling pretty bad, just not being able to pick up the spin on the ball. And I’ve been through this,” said Bogaerts. “I’ve been in stretches where I’ve definitely looked worse than I’ve been in right now.”

In other words, this, too, shall pass.

“Just continue putting in the work. That’s the only thing that matters,” said Bogaerts. “I’m telling you from experience, the results will change and everything will be alright. It’s just really frustrating on my part and it’s just a tough time for us to be going through this right now.”

After the last game in Houston, the Red Sox go to Yankee Stadium for three games before a Monday make-up game at Fenway against the Marlins, followed by three more at home against these same Astros.

Boston needs to end this slump in short order.

“Obviously playing against a good team like these guys and we want to be up there with them,” said Bogaerts. “You want to be up there with a good team.”

A good team for most of the season, the Red Sox have had a couple of mini-ruts before righting themselves. That’s what they’ll try to do again, starting on Thursday.

At 32-23, the Sox are just two behind the Rays in the American League East.

The chase in the standings, however, isn’t the one that consumes Bogaerts and the Boston bats at the moment.

“We’ve been chasing a lot and I’ve been chasing a lot,” Bogaerts said. “Just got to get back to controlling the strike zone and putting the ball in play. I know for sure no one in here wants to strike out so it’s not like we’re trying to strike out. We’ve just got to do a better job of putting the ball in play and swinging at strikes.”

While Cora credits the Astros for having a good game-plan, he would like to see his team make quicker adjustments.

“They’re not giving in. They pitch to the edges of the strike zone. That’s how they do it,” said Cora. “I think when teams do that, we have to be more selective as a unit and look for pitches middle-middle and if we get them it can be the first pitch or second pitch, it doesn't matter. Early in the count, we’ve got to do damage.”

There was really no damage to speak of in this one. The one run the Red Sox scored was on a bases-loaded walk by Hunter Renfroe with two outs in the top of the first.

The only good thing about a slump is that it can end at any time.

“Believe me, I’m going back here tomorrow and I’m going to be the first one in the cage and will continue to work,” said Bogaerts.