'Now we go': Red Sox ready to turn page in September

DETROIT -- After the Red Sox were stifled by one of the best pitchers in baseball for the second Saturday in a row (this time it was Tarik Skubal, last week it was Zac Gallen), there was little to do but turn the page … which meant flipping the calendar.

A 2-1 loss to Skubal’s Tigers at Comerica Park set the stage for the final month of the regular season.

The Red Sox are 3 1/2 games behind the Twins for the third American League Wild Card spot with 26 games to go.

Boston manager Alex Cora says every season that Sept. 1 is the key benchmark in which his team has a clear vision of what is ahead.

Well, it will be Sept. 1 when the Sox take the field for Sunday’s rubber match of a three-game series.

Despite his team’s recent inability to get on a run of wins, Cora likes what he sees when he looks ahead.

“We come here [Sunday], we [can] win the series,” said Cora. “We go to New York [to play the Mets], do the same thing. We stay the course. A lot of people outside these walls, they didn't believe that [we could be in this position]. We actually believed we could do more. We know where we’re going to be Sept. 1. Now we go. We’ve got to play better baseball but it should be fun the rest of the way.”

While the Red Sox have more youth on their roster than any season in recent memory, the veterans on the club are around to provide a reminder of the opportunity ahead.

“There's still lots of baseball to play,” said Tyler O’Neill, who belted a solo homer against Skubal in the first to give Boston a brief lead. “We’ve got a lot of talent on this roster. Offensively, pitching, defense, we can make plays and drive runners in with the best of them. The course is right in front of us. It just depends if we take it or not and hopefully there’s a good streak for us this September.”

With September next on the docket, here are a couple of takeaways from the final day of August.

Refsnyder: ‘That’s all on me’
Nick Pivetta had strong stuff for the second consecutive outing, holding the Tigers to six hits and two runs over six innings, walking one and striking out six.

One will never know how the game might have unfolded if not for Trey Sweeney’s fly ball to left in the second that could have been caught by Rob Refsnyder but instead turned into a two-run double for Detroit’s only runs of the game.

The expected batting average on the fly ball was .003.

“I should catch that every time,” said Refsnyder. “I apologized to Nick. Disappointed I didn't catch it. The wind took it, it was a high sky. The wind took it a lot further than I thought. That's all on me, and I should have caught it. Skubal is arguably the best pitcher in the game, and you can't make mistakes like that.”

Once Refsnyder didn’t make the play, the Tigers were obviously going to tie the game. However, it was somewhat surprising they took the lead, given that Zach McKinstry was tagging up on the routine fly ball rather than trying to score initially. Shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela hesitated when he collected the relay throw before firing home, and third base coach Joey Cora’s aggressive send allowed McKinstry to score.

“The third base coach is very aggressive,” Cora said of his older brother. “He is. Sometimes he makes decisions based on catching people off guard. On that one, not every third base coach will send that runner. We knew that coming in, of course. Just an aggressive send and it paid off for them.”

Rotation hitting its stride
The most positive development for the Red Sox as they head into the final month of the regular season is that the rotation is starting to round into form. Tanner Houck fired six scoreless innings on Friday night. Brayan Bello worked eight scoreless innings on Wednesday. Pivetta is also trending in the right direction. And Kutter Crawford has been better lately after a tough first few starts coming out of the All-Star break.

Since Monday, Boston’s starters have a 1.36 ERA, the best in the Majors over that span.

“If we keep pitching this way, from tomorrow on, it will be fun,” Cora said.