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'Right now, they're better than us': As Rays rock Red Sox, pressure mounts in Boston

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The defending champs need to right themselves — quickly — if they want to compete in the AL East.
BOSTON — The 2019 Boston Red Sox made an admission this weekend: They’re not as good as the Tampa Bay Rays — at least not right now.
The Red Sox squandered an opportunity to climb back up the American League East standings this past weekend, when Tampa Bay took three of four games, putting the Red Sox seven games behind the Rays and New York Yankees in the division race. The last time Boston won a series against a team with an above-.500 record was at the end of April, when the Red Sox swept the Rays at Tropicana Field. In this past series, Tampa Bay routinely displayed its dominance, outscoring Boston 21-9.
«Right now, they’re better than us,» Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. «We’ve gotta keep working. We’ve been saying all along, we’ve gotta be better with men in scoring position, executing out of the bullpen. Everything.»
Seeing Boston squander opportunities to score with men on base has become routine. In his postgame news conference Sunday, Cora highlighted one such instance from the first inning, when the Red Sox had outfielder Mookie Betts on third base and Christian Vazquez on second with no outs following a single, a walk and a wild pitch from Rays lefty Blake Snell.
Boston followed with three straight strikeouts from Xander Bogaerts, Michael Chavis and Eduardo Nunez.
The Red Sox have looked overmatched against Rays pitching before. Tampa Bay starter Yonny Chirinos retired the first 15 Red Sox hitters in order Friday, allowing just two hits in eight shutout innings. That wasn’t a fluke, either: The Rays rank first in baseball with a 2.96 team ERA.
«S—, give them credit,» Bogaerts told ESPN. «Their pitching was real good. S—, you’ve got Blake Snell on the mound, and he worked out of it with big pitches at big times. Last year, we capitalized a lot more on those opportunities, and it hasn’t been there.

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