State of the Sox: With losing streak over, focus shifts to stretch run

This week’s Red Sox losing streak managed to alarm some nearly as much as the team’s six-week heater, that concluded only a week ago, generated widespread euphoria.

Apparently, there was the expectation that the team could maintain its .850 winning percentage right into the final days of the regular season. In reality, the 31-5 stretch the Red Sox enjoyed wasn’t reflective of a team that couldn’t lose again.

The truth, as is often the case, was somewhere in the middle: the Red Sox were neither the lifeless bunch that couldn’t get out of its way and reached late June 13 games under .500, nor was it the reincarnation of the 1927 Yankees, ready to rampage its way to a World Series coronation.

Offensively, the team sputtered for the better part of a week; it happens. It didn’t help that Willson Contreras, their most productive hitter since the start of season, was dealing with the twin challenges of being hit in the head by a pitch and a three-day virus that sapped him of strength.

Turns out, the Red Sox aren’t historically good after all; they merely enjoyed a torrid month-and-a-half run that saved their season.

During their five-game losing streak, the Red Sox scored three runs or fewer four times and never scored more than four. There were other occasional factors — an error here or an untimely bullpen blowup there — but mostly, the Red Sox briefly struggled with runners in scoring position, and with their offense in general. Find me a team for which that doesn’t happen at least several times a season.

As the last week served to remind everyone, these Red Sox are an imperfect bunch. They still don’t hit the ball out of the ballpark much, ranking 25th in Major League Baseball. Teams that lack that slug don’t have the ability to make up multi-run deficits. And when the entire lineup slumps, the small number of long ball options only becomes magnified.

The Sox also aren’t getting much from the middle of their infield. While Andruw Monasterio has produced some memorable contributions in Trevor Story’s absence, the Sox are 23rd in slugging from the shortstop position. Second base is even worse — 25th in OPS.

Meanwhile, the DH spot remains something of a black hole when it comes to run production, with the Sox second-to-last in homers and third-to-last in RBI.

That’s three spots — or one-third of the lineup — where the Red Sox have decidedly below-average offensive production.

Finally, for some time, the inability for starters to carry the team deep into games has been an ongoing issue that eventually proved costly. Rather than routinely getting six or more innings from their starters as had been the case for some time, starters were tapping out after four-plus or five. That, in turn, created a dependence on the bullpen to cover additional outs on a nightly basis.

Moreover, any team that goes 31-5 is going to be calling on its best high-leverage options more than usual. Is it any wonder, with late-inning leads to protect for weeks on end, that there was eventually some fatigue? In one 30-game stretch, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman pitched 15 times. That’s simply not sustainable, and it wasn’t.

Thankfully, as far as the Red Sox are concerned, they didn’t lose much ground in the wild card race even as they fumbled through the end of their most recent homestand and road series in Toronto. Their lead over the third-place wild card team was reduced by exactly one game, testament to thorough mediocrity that exists in the rest of the American League.

Having slammed the brakes on the losing skid Thursday against the Blue Jays, the Red Sox’ goals going forward should be modest. Now facing a double-digit deficit for the division and only a quarter of the season remaining, finishing first in the AL East looks to be unattainable.

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But if the Sox can overtake the Yankees and finish with the best record among the wild card contenders, they could still gain home field in the first round. A four-game set later this month in the Bronx will provide an opportunity to make up ground head-to-head.

From there, the focus should be on integrating returning players from the injured list (Story, Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet) and ensuring the health of the pitching staff.

A four-man rotation led by Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett would be more than formidable. Adding Crochet to a back end of Whitlock, Tyrone Guerrero and Chapman, with bulk provided by Brayan Bello and Patrick Sandoval would do the same for the bullpen.

The Sox can’t fully control their health for October — losing Anthony and having a weakened Wilyer Abreu severely limited their lineup last fall — but the more they can do to preserve their players would be advisable.

And, while they’re at it, they can avoid five-game losing streaks that result in people losing perspective — and their minds.

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