'What's going to change?' Cora expresses frustration after one-run loss

BOSTON -- For the Red Sox, the one-run losses are piling up and the frustration is mounting.

A 4-3 defeat to the Angels in 10 innings put manager Alex Cora’s club at 29-34 -- a record that few would have expected given the team’s aggressive offseason and promising young core.

The Sox are 6-17 in one-run games, meaning half of the losses have been by a run.

In Tuesday’s defeat at Fenway Park, there was a lack of offensive execution (1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, 11 left on base) and fundamental breakdowns on both sides of the ball.

Cora seemed far more upset by the latter than the former.

“I mean, chances, I don’t know about that,” said Cora. “Missed the cutoff guy, they scored two, we hit the eighth hitter, we walked the ninth hitter, we didn’t execute a bunt play, we didn’t advance when we needed to. You can talk about chances. I can tell you [about] the chances we gave the opposition. We were lucky to be in that game at the end, to be honest with you.”

The biggest reason they were in the game was because Ceddanne Rafaela got the green light on 3-0 and unloaded for a towering, two-run shot over everything in left to tie the game at 3 in the sixth.

In his second season, Rafaela is part of the youth movement. Typically a brilliant defender, his errant throw home skipped by catcher Connor Wong, allowing the Angels to have runners at second and third with nobody out in the third inning. Two more runs would score in the three-run frame.

“I think it was the right decision,” Rafaela said. “It was just not the right throw because if I execute that throw, I think he was out.”

The Sox also made back-to-back miscues in the fifth -- a throw off the mark by Abraham Toro that was an infield hit and a grounder that rookie Kristian Campbell made an error on that would have been a double play. They were fortunate the Angels didn’t score in that inning.

“We keep making the same mistakes,” Cora said. “We’re not getting better. At one point it has to be on me, I guess, right? I’m the manager. I’ve got to keep pushing them to get better. They’re not getting better. We keep making the same mistakes. I’m being very honest about it. Very open about it.”

Though they’ve already lost this three-game home series to the 28-32 Angels, the Red Sox at least have the chance to bounce back quickly with a 1:35 p.m. ET contest looming on Wednesday for the finale of a brief homestand. Thursday is a day off, and then there are three games at Yankee Stadium over the weekend.

While there are 99 games left, that isn’t providing much comfort for Cora at this point.

“What’s going to change? Because we keep doing the same thing and we can keep talking about one-run losses,” said Cora. “We have what, 17? It’s the same thing. Is it effort? Preparation, like [a television reporter said before the game]? Attention to detail? I have no idea, man. I watched that game and was like, ‘Wow this is real.' It’s frustrating.”

Normally, team leader Alex Bregman would try to steady the Red Sox during such a turbulent period. But he is out indefinitely with a significant right quad injury. Boston is 3-8 since the day the third baseman went down.

“Obviously, it's very difficult. I feel like we need to make an adjustment,” said righty starter Brayan Bello, who allowed three runs over six innings in his first start of longer than 4 2/3 innings since May 2.

Yet when asked to pinpoint the adjustment, Bello didn’t offer specifics.

“Win,” Bello said.

Aside from a 16-1 loss at Tampa Bay on April 14 after which Cora essentially fell on the sword for his team not being prepared, Tuesday was the most upset he has been all season. What triggered it?

“What you saw today,” Cora said. “Routine ground balls for double plays we don’t turn, we throw to the wrong bases, we miss cutoff guys, PFPs were horrible. So there’s a lot of bad right now.”

There continues to be clamoring for the call-up of MLB Pipeline No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony, who smashed a game-tying homer for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday night.

It remains unclear when Anthony will get the call. Cora was asked if there is a shakeup that can fix things.

“Show up tomorrow,” Cora said. “That’s all we can do.”