'Just not a good team right now': Red Sox drop 8th of last 10 despite late HRs

BOSTON -- For weeks -- months, actually -- the Red Sox have been trying to clutch and grab for that one late-game win that could give them that elusive surge of momentum.

Finally, it looked like Thursday would be the day. Down by a pair after seven innings, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Caleb Durbin led off the bottom of the eighth inning with back-to-back shots over the Green Monster that created an eruption from the Fenway Park crowd of 32,027.

But a couple of annoying gusts of wind played havoc on the Sox in the top of the ninth inning as the Blue Jays took back the lead and eventually the game.

In the end, it was another day of frustration for the reeling Sox, who dropped the finale to the Blue Jays, 4-3. It was the second time Boston was swept by a division rival (Tampa Bay) since the start of last week.

So close to winning the first game in 32 tries this season in which they trailed by at least three runs and winning for the second time in 38 tries when down after seven innings, the reality that has been 2026 smacked the Red Sox in the face again, leading to some cold truths from within the clubhouse.

“I can’t speak on behalf of the group, but I can speak on behalf of myself. It’s very frustrating,” said righty Sonny Gray. “We're not good. We’re just not a good team right now. That's just a fact. Yeah, it’s frustrating.”

Instead of getting to talk about his rally-starting homer in a detailed fashion, Kiner-Falefa was left to talk about a big picture that is looking grimmer by the day for a team that headed to Seattle after the loss a season-high 14 games under .500 at 29-43.

“They're all kicks [to the gut],” Kiner-Falefa said. “Swept at home, in division, it doesn't get worse than that, right? So hopefully, we just go to the West Coast and play well. We've got to go on a streak, and we've got to go on a streak now. It's time to go on a streak, or we're going to be having new players in this locker room. So, just got to figure it out ASAP.”

A homestand that started with promise (two consecutive wins) ended with the demoralization of four straight defeats, most of them due to an offense that was completely out of sync.

The last loss was the toughest, if only because of the way the emotions -- not to mention the wind -- swung in the late innings.

“Today, I felt like the energy was different all game,” Durbin said. “I think that whole game, we felt like we were going to come out on top. But it didn't work out.”

The dominant Aroldis Chapman was on the hill for the Sox in the ninth, and he was just a pitch away from getting his team back in the dugout with a chance at a second walk-off win this season at Fenway.

To start the frame, Chapman gave up a fluke hit to Ernie Clement on what amounted to a swinging bunt. But he had no trouble with the next two batters, and Brandon Valenzuela hit what looked like an inning-ending popup in foul territory to catcher Connor Wong.

The wind blew it more down the third-base side of the plate than Wong expected, and it dropped in.

Valenzuela took advantage of his second life and got just enough of Chapman’s 100.1 mph heater to punch a towering drive that again got caught up in that wind and glanced off the Monster for the go-ahead run-scoring double.

Per Statcast, the towering flyball had a launch angle of 51 degrees and an expected batting average of .010.

There was really nothing the Sox could have done about that. What about the foul pop?

“You know the wind’s going to hit it,” Wong said. “Try to be patient. Obviously, I didn't want to rush to the backstop. And he just hit it really hard [into the wind]. And I didn't put myself in a position to make a play on it. “

Could third baseman Durbin have caught it if he had come at it more aggressively?

“Yeah, I think I maybe could have gone a little bit harder for it,” Durbin said. “Again, off the bat, it looked like it was almost going out [of play]. But you can't really leave that up to chance.”

In the end, it was a tantalizing afternoon at the yard.

Instead of momentum, the Red Sox got another gut punch just in time for a 3,000-mile flight.

"You’re hoping [it was momentum],” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “The way it’s been going, you get those two swings, and you're looking to grab that win, but yeah, it's felt [like we had momentum]. I'm still happy we came back, but we've got to finish it.”