Sox swept by Yanks: 'Everybody's frustrated'

NEW YORK -- After another frustrating night in which things were far too quiet for the Red Sox offensively, manager Alex Cora noticed a hush in his clubhouse that sounded unfamiliar.

This, after his team was swept in a three-game series by the Yankees that was capped by Wednesday's 5-2 defeat. The Red Sox have lost 14 of their last 20.

"It's very quiet today, I'll tell you that," said Cora. "It's very quiet in the clubhouse, and understandably so. It's a different feeling than early in the season when we came here and did what we did. All that stuff is in the past. It's part of the season."

Hitting slumps happen, but this one has come at a real bad time for the Red Sox.

In this sweep at the hands of the Yankees (69-52), the Red Sox (69-54) mustered five runs over 23 innings, and just two in the final two games while slipping a season-high six games behind the Rays (74-47) in the American League East.

Rafael Devers, one of the most dangerous hitters this season, went 1-for-10 at Yankee Stadium and expanded the strike zone numerous times. Fellow All-Stars J.D. Martinez (2-for-10) and Xander Bogaerts (2-for-9) didn't make much noise either, outside of his first-inning solo homer in the finale.

Kiké Hernández, who had a couple of game-turning hits when the Red Sox took three out of four from the Yankees at Fenway last month, was a nonfactor in this series, going 1-for-9.

"I think it's kind of what everybody sees," said Hunter Renfroe, who homered to lead off the ninth. "We're having trouble stringing hits together. When guys get on, we hit into a double play. Or if there are two outs, we are flying out or striking out. I think that's kind of an ordeal that we've been in. It's obviously just a struggle."

While the lack of firepower has been the most surprising thing about Boston's current slide, Cora didn't want to put the lost series in New York all on the offense.

"We got beat. We got beat in every aspect of the game," said Cora. "They pitched better than us, they hit better than us, they played better defense than us. It's that simple. We've got an off-day tomorrow. We've got to be ready for Friday. That's the way I see it."

The Red Sox led the Rays by 4 1/2 games on July 5 and led the Yankees by a whopping 10 1/2 games on that same date. Things have changed drastically in the span of six weeks.

New York now leads Boston by a game -- and two in the loss column -- in the AL Wild Card standings.

Making it sting more for the Red Sox is that Yankees ace Gerrit Cole didn't even pitch in this series. Andrew Heaney, who had struggled in his first three starts since the Yanks acquired him, held Boston to two hits over seven innings.

"There were some really good at-bats and then there were some empty ones," said Cora. "To produce at this level, you have to keep the line moving, you've got to walk, you've got to get deep into counts, you've got to recognize what's going on in-game. I'm not saying that's not the case. The guys have been watching, but we haven't been able to make adjustments."

After winning their first seven games against the Yankees this season, the tide has turned with New York winning six of the last nine. The rivals meet one last time -- at least in the regular season -- at Fenway Park for a three-game set that starts Sept. 24.

By that time, the Red Sox can only hope their current funk -- which includes a 6-14 record since July 29 -- is a distant memory.

"I firmly believe in not giving people too much credit," said losing pitcher Nick Pivetta, when asked about the resurgent Yankees. "You're going out and competing against them at all times. Yes, they have a good lineup. Yes, they have a good team. But we're better and we're going to move forward from this."

As the Red Sox left New York, it's doubtful you'd be able to find a smile on the team bus or the flight home.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously we're upset," said Renfroe. "We're pretty pissed at ourselves. We wanted to come out here and we wanted to win the series. I think that kind of sums up the whole … I don't know how long it's been … but a few weeks of us not playing up to our potential and I think everybody's frustrated with themselves and kind of beating themselves up.

"We're working our tails off in the cage and on the field and trying to do what we can to get better and do better for the team. That's where we're maybe trying to do too much instead of maybe just going out there and relax and just playing our game, because we know we're very, very good."