Recent trend vs. lefties highlights Deadline need for Red Sox

BOSTON -- The one missing element in the recent summer surge by the Red Sox? Success against left-handed starters.

The team’s kryptonite reared its ugly head again on Friday night, this time in the form of lefty Cole Ragans, who continued his solid season by stifling the Red Sox (four hits, one walk, seven strikeouts) over seven innings.

With their 6-1 win, the Royals pulled into a tie with the Sox for the third American League Wild Card spot.

In an effort to reverse the trend, manager Alex Cora made a switch at the top of the lineup, putting lefty destroyer Rob Refsnyder in the leadoff spot while moving the left-handed hitting Jarren Duran to the two-hole.

It didn’t take. In fairness, Ragans is one of the toughest southpaws in the AL.

“A good fastball. A good cutter. Changeup is good,” said Cora. “He was in control. We didn’t put pressure on him. He’s one of the best in the league. We saw him last year and I was very impressed. This year, he's taking another step using his whole repertoire and it’s a tough at-bat.”

Boston’s record against lefty starters this season is 12-15, compared to 39-27 vs. righties. Against lefty starters, the Sox have a 28.6 percent strikeout rate, which is 30th in MLB. Their .379 slugging percentage against lefties ranks 19th.

You can be sure that adding a right-handed bat will be one of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s top missions between now and the July 30 Trade Deadline.

Cora thinks the Red Sox can also improve with their current cast.

“If you look at our numbers, [Tyler O’Neill] is doing a good job against lefties, Ref is doing the same thing,” said Cora. “[Connor Wong] is doing the same thing. Obviously, the production of Raffy [Devers] and Jarren is lower.

“We just gotta find a way to do it. I think the last good one against a lefty was in Cincinnati [Nick Lodolo], and we’ve faced a few of them since that and they’ve done a good job. We just got to keep working. Today we switched the lineup. Ref got on base twice leading off, so we’ve just got to be patient and keep working.”

Boston’s two All-Star position players are both lefties in Devers and Duran. Both of them are searching for a better groove against lefties.

Devers has a .241/.303/.398 line against lefties, compared to .315/.408/.675 against righties.

“It’s part of the season,” said Cora. “He’ll get hot and start hitting the ball in the air [against lefties].”

Duran has been the ignition switch all year for the offense, so it makes sense that his struggles against lefties have coincided with those of the team.

The speedy outfielder is slashing .242/.313/.300 against lefties, compared to .290/.346/.543 against righties.

“I haven’t noticed anything in particular,” said O’Neill. “I know we have a good lineup and we have a lot of depth and there’s a lot of potential here. Just running into some good pitching lately, a couple of good teams. Just trying to be better. Trying to make better at-bats. Just stick with routine, show up tomorrow and be ready to compete.”

On Saturday, the Red Sox will get back into their comfort zone and face a righty -- although he’s one of the best in the business in Seth Lugo (11-3, 2.21 ERA).

They get another righty in Brady Singer on Sunday, the final game before the All-Star break.

Each game has taken on added importance, now that the Sox are just 5 1/2 back of the Orioles in the AL East.

And with the Royals in town for two more days, the Sox have a direct chance to climb forward.

“Yeah, of course, that’s a team over there that we want to beat,” O’Neill said. “They’re in the hunt and they’ve been playing well all year just like we have. It’s a big series. We want to obviously come out and play our best baseball and show up tomorrow and get some better results.”