Offense goes cold as the Red Sox lose two out of three to the Blue Jays

Game Two Thoughts: Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1

• 1-for-14. That’s what the Red Sox hit with runners in scoring position in this one. That’s pretty much all you need to know.
• Kiké Hernández needs a day off. His poor at-bats are beginning to link together. His first two began the game with a frustrating sequence: A line out to center to lead off in the first, and a pop-up to first with first and third and one out in the second. His anger became visible in his third at-bat, when he slammed his bat on the ground on a weak popup to second. A player, especially a leadoff hitter, cannot afford to carry over the frustrations of one at-bat to the next ones. If there was ever a player who needed a mental day, it’s Hernandez.
• The best thing you can say about this game is that it could have been much worse. In a span of three batters, J.D Martinez hurt his hip running to second base and Trevor Story got hit in the head in the 93 mile-per-hour fastball. Fortunately, Story stayed in the game and Martinez is day-to-day, preventing a terrible game from becoming catastrophic.
• I mean, at least the Red Sox got 10 hits! Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to swing that bat well, Martinez had a pair of knocks before exiting, and Bogaerts is now hitting a solid .318. The Red Sox are not going to go 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position every game, and it’s only a matter of time before the Red Sox turn these baserunners into runs.
• Obviously, Nick Pivetta did not have the best outing of his life, but his last two innings were very encouraging. He struck out four batters and walked none during that span, and his velocity ticked up, regularly hitting 95 after spending the first two innings in the low 90s. Pivetta needs to show he can do it over a full game, but we should be encouraged by how he finished the game.
• Philips Valdez is became indispensable. The guy just comes in and attacks the zone. A pitcher like that is so valuable
• Let’s cool in on the Tyler Danish hype train. He may have struck out five of the seven batters he faced, but he’s still a career minor leaguer, and his fastball still clocks in around 90 miles per hour. Two mop-up innings don’t change that.