Morning Sports Update
“I don’t think a stretch of nine games dictates who we are.”
Alex Cora’s take on a tough weekend for the Red Sox: After entering the All-Star break on a high note, the Red Sox have stumbled since, going just 2-7 after play resumed. This included dropping two out of three against the rival Yankees at home over the weekend.
Following the 8-2 loss against New York on Sunday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora reflected on the difficult time his team (now 55-49, third in the American League East) has had in the last three series.
“We had the ball in the ninth inning a few times and we just didn’t finish games,” Cora told reporters, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “Obviously it doesn’t look great but from my end, I think we’re OK.”
Boston’s bullpen squandered a late lead in the back-and-forth 11-8 loss on Saturday, which Cora explained had been the key to winning the series.
“Today we were a little bit sloppy defensively. But overall, the effort is there,” Cora added. “We had our chance to win the series yesterday; it didn’t happen. So you’ve just gotta turn the page, be ready for tomorrow.”
Pitching has become a specific concern for the Red Sox in the last few weeks.
“Teams are going to make adjustments. Guys are going to have bad games,” Cora acknowledged. “That’s a part of it. We just have to keep making adjustments.
“I don’t think a stretch of nine games dictates who we are. I think we’re very consistent overall. We’ve been very consistent overall. So [we’ll] just continue to keep preaching the things that we preach: Get ahead and stay ahead.”
Trivia: One of the modern developments for pitching has been the precipitous decline in complete games. Among the all-time Red Sox list of complete game leaders, only two pitched for the team in the last 50 years. Can you name them?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: One did so in the ’70s, the other in the ’80s and ’90s.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox lost to the Yankees 8-2 on Sunday, dropping two out of three in the weekend series to New York. Boston begins a three-game series against the Mariners at Fenway Park tonight at 7:10 p.m.
Elsewhere, the New England Free Jacks once again advanced to the Major League Rugby championship game by defeating the Chicago Hounds 23-17 over the weekend. New England will face the Seattle Seawolves in an attempt to repeat as league winners on Aug. 4 (4 p.m. ET) in San Diego.
And on the international stage, the Paris Olympics continue with another packed day of competitions.
More from Boston.com:
Some Olympic highlights: First, enjoy this clip of Ilona Maher helping the U.S. women’s rugby team demolish Japan. Maher won some new fans, including former NFL center Jason Kelce.
…and there’s also an incredibly impressive badminton highlight to remind everyone how fast-paced a sport it is:
In addition — along with myriad other results from across the wide spectrum of Olympics sports — two of the usual U.S. juggernauts are off to strong starts. The U.S. women’s soccer team dominated Germany 4-1 on Sunday, while U.S. men’s basketball routed potential gold medal rival Serbia 110-84:
On this day: In 1997, Jay Buehner made a truly spectacular catch into the Fenway Park bullpen to rob Scott Hatteberg of a home run. But despite the catch — and the presence of Randy Johnson on the mound for the Mariners — the Red Sox came away with a 4-0 win.
Daily highlight: Momoko Tanikawa scored an incredible stoppage time winner for Japan in the Olympics on Sunday in a 2-1 comeback against Brazil.
Trivia answer: Luis Tiant, Roger Clemens
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