4 takeaways as Red Sox abandon another disheartening loss to Orioles

But the offensive immediately subsided. Ryan Mountcastle’s three-run homer in the third set was a big blow, and the Orioles scored three more in the sixth – two on a single by Tyler Nevin and a third when Pat Valaika hit a sacrifice fly. A seventh round rally by the Red Sox produced a run, which was too small, too late.

Star of the game

Ryan Mountcastle – 1 for 3, one run, three RBI, one home run, one walk

The Orioles pitching staff had a solid game, but Mountcastle’s home run was the blow – a tough pitch from Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta that grazed the inside corner. In a way, Mountcastle shortened his swing and still pushed the ball over the wall.

Pivetta noted in his icy post-game comments that Mountcastle is a candidate for Rookie of the Year.

“It was the right pitch, the right location, he just got to put his hand and give the ball a good swing,” said Pivetta.

What this means

As reported earlier today, the Red Sox have a wild weekend ahead, but even after losing five of their last six games, they’re still within striking distance – tied for second place in the wild card – with three games to go against the modest Washington Nationals.

If the Red Sox are hoping to make a playoff appearance, they need to mind business this time around.

“After the good times come the bad, and after the bad times come the good,” said Xander Bogaerts. “That’s how I see it, that’s how I always saw it in terms of baseball. There are still three games.

Take away food

1. Bogaerts seems surprised by his own struggles recently – 2 for 23 in the last few games as the Red Sox have started to slip up – and he has acknowledged how poorly he timed his collapse.

“Just don’t do it,” he said. “The quality of my hitters has been bad. When you type well, too, there’s someone right there, but I don’t feel like there have been many in the last couple of days. There were some very unproductive batting appearances.

“It sucks, I have [three] more matches to start and try to help this team to finish. I take responsibility for going on a stretch like this. Now is not a good time to play bad baseball. Sometimes it happens, it happens to the best of them, but you can’t hold a good guy for too long. ”

Thursday might have been a new low, however – Bogaerts sank into two double plays, robbing the Red Sox of two of the few base runners they led on Thursday.

“I have [Rafael] In front of me, I have JD [Martinez] behind me, ”Bogaerts said. “A withdrawal would probably be better. “

2. Alex Cora hammered home the need for the Red Sox to be patient and control the pace of the game.

“That’s the beauty of this game, isn’t it?” Cora said. “There’s no clock – you can slow down as much as you want and work the count, and beat the sticks and put pressure on the opposition. And for a while there, we didn’t do that.

Bogaerts didn’t seem so convinced.

“That’s just how it’s going right now,” he said. “I didn’t feel like we were chasing the balls on the first pitch, and it’s like, ‘Oh, fly ball, ground ball to the pitcher.’ For the most part, these are decent locations that we play early in the count. ”

3. The Yankees were a perfect mirror image of the Red Sox – instead of losing to one of the worst baseball teams for the second time in three nights 6-2, the Yankees beat a contender for the other generic location 6 -2.

Cora said he’s not surprised the Red Sox are still alive, despite the stretch.

“I think at the end of 162 [games], with the number of wins we have, no matter what happened this week, it makes sense, ”said Cora. “The joker around 90-92 wins. Obviously we lost five out of six and it doesn’t look great but at the same time, as I keep telling them, we are still a good team, we have won a lot of games this year, and we still have a chance to do it. “

4. While Bogaerts looked disheartened by his sudden difficulties, Pivetta just looked angry after the game. Still, he noted how the Red Sox have rebounded at times this year.

“We are a really resilient club,” said Pivetta. “It’s just that we have to forget what happened in the past and move on to the next game. I think that’s what’s most important, really showing our resilience and really going out there and competing, and that starts Game 1 against Washington. “

Pivetta’s position is admirable, but given the recent results, it’s hard not to wonder if the team’s resilience will be enough.

The first pitch between the Nationals and the Red Sox in the season finale series is at 7:10 p.m. Friday.