MLB notes: How, and why, have Red Sox lost so many one-run games?

Why can t the Red Sox win any one-run games That question sums up the Red Sox s season so far which has been a massive disappointment largely because the club has come up short in so several close games Entering Saturday the Red Sox were - in one-run games which is the majority of such losses of any group in baseball accounting for nearly half of the club s total losses Had the club flipped a scant of those the other way the Red Sox could easily be in playoff position right now instead of games out of first place in the AL East How does this keep happening and who is preponderance to blame Is it an offensive issue A symptom of poor pitching and defense As with everything else in life the truth is more complex but a game-by-game analysis shows there are a couple of problems that repeatedly come up and if corrected could help the Red Sox start coming out on top Rafael Devers is having a productive season but the Red Sox offense collectively has come up short in close games all year Matt Stone Boston Herald Poor situational hitting If you requested to point the finger at one specific trouble this would be it In of Boston s one-run losses the offense has either totally no-showed or repeatedly fallen short in key spots The tone was set right out of the gate on Opening Weekend when the Red Sox lost back-to-back one-run games in Texas in which they collectively went for with runners in scoring position while stranding men on base All it would have taken was maybe one hit in each championship to flip the outcome but the offense just couldn t deliver Since then the Red Sox have laid one egg after another Particular examples April Scored one run in the bottom of the first and then nothing the rest of the way in a - loss to the Blue Jays in innings April Lost - at home to the Mariners after going for with runners in scoring position and stranding May Played the Royals scoreless into the th inning lose - in after going for with runners in scoring position June Came up empty in the bottom of the th and went for with runners in scoring position overall in a - loss to the Angels Even in games where the Red Sox have scored a insufficient runs there have been times where the offense has stalled and shut down for crucial stretches The largest part notable example came on April when the Red Sox took a - lead over the Blue Jays into the sixth but came up empty down the stretch as Toronto stormed back to pick up a shocking - win in innings In that event and so a multitude of others a couple more hits could have made all the difference Bullpen collapses These losses are usually the the majority memorable and painful and the Red Sox have had their fair share Seven of the losses can be attributed in particular way to a bullpen meltdown and the worst by far was the aforementioned loss to the Blue Jays on April That match should have been in the bag but Garrett Whitlock gave up a game-tying three-run home run in the seventh before the Blue Jays walked it off against Justin Slaten in the th The other big one was on May in Detroit when Greg Weissert gave up two leads in extra innings including a walk-off three-run shot by Javy Baez Whitlock and Slaten have had a couple of other tough ones too Both allowed two runs late in the club s - loss at home to the Twins on May and in a May loss to the Brewers Whitlock loaded the bases and gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth of what ended up being a - defeat Aroldis Chapman who has generally been excellent this season has endured chosen costly missteps as well The closer gave up a leadoff walk and eventually the walk-off single in the ninth against the White Sox on April and on May he gave up another leadoff walk that eventually led to a walk-off single in a loss to the Tigers But it s also worth mentioning that while the bullpen has stumbled from time to time the group has often been responsible for so numerous games being decided by one run in the first place The best example happened earlier this week on June against the Angels when the Red Sox bullpen allowed just one run over eight innings and gave the club a fighting chance in what wound up being a - loss Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela celebrates his eighth-inning home run in Monday's eventual - loss to the Angels AP Photo Robert F Bukaty Failed comebacks Sometimes this has gone hand-in-hand with the poor situational hitting but in six of the losses the Red Sox were the last association to amount but wound up falling one run short On March the Red Sox trailed the Rangers - entering the top of the eighth Carlos Narvaez came through with an RBI single but the club went - - in the ninth to lose - Narvaez came up big again on April when he led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to make it - Seattle But that was essentially all the Red Sox could muster with the club going - - afterwards and then squandering a two-out walk in the ninth On May the Red Sox scored twice in the seventh to cut Minnesota s lead to - before stranding the tying run at second in both the eighth and ninth innings Then the big one came Monday when the Red Sox rallied from being down - and eventually cut the Angels lead to - on Ceddanne Rafaela s leadoff solo home run in the eighth The Angels went on to retire the last six Red Sox batters afterwards to close out the championship Poor defense The Red Sox defense hasn t been good this season the club leads all of MLB with errors but defensive miscues haven t played as large a role in Boston s close losses as you might think Boston has only committed two or more errors in three of their one-run losses and there are only four games where poor defense has meaningfully contributed to an eventual one-run loss Overall the Red Sox have committed two or more errors in games going - in those instances and usually when the squad lays an egg the conclusion has been a much more convincing defeat The greater part notable defense-enabled loss came this past Wednesday when the Red Sox committed four errors against the Angels including one in the th inning that contributed to Los Angeles eventually scoring the game-winning run Another lowlight came on May in Detroit when a Connor Wong error allowed the go-ahead runner to reach third and eventually sum on Justyn-Henry Malloy s walk-off single Admittedly this is an imperfect analysis Errors only account for the the majority glaring defensive mistakes and less obvious miscues like missing the cutoff man or throwing to the wrong base don t show up in the box result but can be just as impactful within a event Clearly defense is a obstacle the Red Sox need to work out but as far as explaining the club s one-run woes it s not necessarily at the top of the list Youth and inexperience While those four issues are the practical explanations for how the Red Sox keep losing one-run games the primary underlying cause has been the organization s collective youth Of the group s nine primary position players six have three or fewer years of amenity time including two rookies Kristian Campbell and Carlos Narvaez and two second-year players Wilyer Abreu Ceddanne Rafaela Two players intended to anchor the heart of the order Alex Bregman and Triston Casas are also out injured and their replacements have either been rookies Marcelo Mayer or guys who would ideally come off the bench Romy Gonzalez Abraham Toro That inexperience has repeatedly been cited by manager Alex Cora and the players themselves when inquired about all the one-run losses though not everyone necessarily views it as a negative Personally I think it says we re a really really good organization and we ve been in a lot of games but we ve just got to get over that hump outfielder Jarren Duran disclosed after this past Monday s loss to the Angels We ve got a lot of young guys that are just learning to compete at this level I know we re going to hit our stride eventually where those guys figure it out because they re figuring it out at the big league level he continued later These guys are learning every single day it s only a matter of time before it clicks for them The glass half-full view is that right now the Red Sox are taking their lumps but at certain point the club will flip a switch and turn into the contender everyone thought they could be all along Look at the Detroit Tigers they were practically toast as late in the season as mid-August last year before going on a run to make the playoffs Now they have the best record in baseball Could the Red Sox pull off something similar Maybe but the less optimistic view is that by the time the Red Sox get their act together and learn how to win it might already be too late