Losing a series to the Los Angeles Angels isn’t going to help the Boston Red Sox in their push for the playoffs. With just a couple of weeks left in the season, the Red Sox don’t have much time left to figure out their seed.
After losing their second game in a row on Wednesday, Red Sox star outfielder Roman Anthony addressed the frustrating series. In particular, how the Red Sox are going to need to hit the reset button before taking on the Kansas City Royals.
“We’ll take advantage of the off day tomorrow and rest a little bit,” Anthony said. “And get back to it. I know that we kind of have a few more off days in the next stretch, but I think the mentality stays the same. Just kind of show up and do anything that we can to win a ball game.”
Starting pitching ended up putting the Red Sox in a hole two nights in a row. From there, a banged-up lineup couldn’t come from behind.
“Definitely take the off day tomorrow and kind of reset after a tough series and get back and try to win a series again,” Anthony said.
The Red Sox have a much needed day off on Thursday. With injuries mounting up, and the starting rotation seemingly tiring out, it should help them a lot going into the weekend series. Certainly, interim manager Chad Tracy is expected to get the day off.
“We talked about the other two gauntlets,” Tracy said. “This being like the last one where you can finally reach the three off days over the course of the next 10 days or two weeks, which is helpful from the standpoint of rest for everybody that’s active, and also rest days for the guys that we’re trying to get back. Good rest day. Come back ready to go on Friday against Kansas City.”
Boston Red Sox OF Roman Anthony Has Cooled at the Plate
When Roman Anthony finally made it back to the majors on his long injury rehab, he was immediately hot at the plate. Unfortunately, for both Anthony and the Red Sox, baseball tends to be a sport filled with streaks and he’s cooled off since then.
Since September 4th, or Game 2 of the four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, Anthony is just 2 for 26at the plate. It’s far from the standard that he was hyped to have as a prospect. It’s also far from what he’s proven he’s capable of producing at during stretches of his professional career.
This also comes in a season where Anthony was out from May 4th to August 30th with a finger injury. It was a massive disruption to his year, and there were concerns about how it might affect him once he was able to return.
If there is a saving grace, it’s that Anthony did have a home run on Wednesday. Hopefully, with that pop and the day off, he’ll be able to get right for the home stretch of the season.
What’s Next for the Red Sox?
The AL East is now, effectively, out of the question for the Red Sox. They’re 8.0 games out of the Tampa Bay Rays. Even if the Rays collapsed, Boston is 4.0 games behind the New York Yankees.
The Wild Card, on the other hand, is very much in play. The Red Sox are currently in the second Wild Card slot, holding a 6.0-game lead on the Cleveland Guardians, who have the third slot. That third slot is pretty tightly contested, with three teams within 1.5 games of one another.
That, in a way, is frustrating. The Red Sox would lead either the AL Central or the AL West at 80-67 on the season, by more than they trail the Yankees.
For now, the Red Sox need to focus on getting healthy and hitting the postseason with momentum. They’ll host the Royals for a very winnable series over the weekend. Of course, the Angels series was winnable too.
Red Sox OF Roman Anthony is on to Kansas City After Losing Angels Series