How can Boston's bats move up leaderboards? 'Swing less' could be the key

BOSTON -- Trying to get out of an early-season rut offensively, the Red Sox not only had to battle themselves but the elements on a frigid Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

As the wind howled and the temperatures dropped, Boston again couldn’t muster enough offense to win.

Instead, the Red Sox took a 3-2 defeat that put manager Alex Cora’s team at 2-6 to start the season, with five of those losses coming in the last six games.

“I think we’ve got to swing less, to be honest with you. Get them in the zone, not chase,” said Cora. “They have good arms – but so does everybody in the big leagues. But I think from our end, we have to slow it down. Watching the game, I think the first five hitters for us were up in the count, 2-0. So, just make sure when you're ahead, you get your pitch to hit, and if it's not there, take a walk.”

The stats back up Cora’s assertion. Through eight games, here is where the Sox are among MLB’s 30 teams in key offensive categories.

• Runs: 24 (tied for fewest)
• HRs: 8 (tied for 13th)
• AVG: .223 (16th)
• OBP: .294 (23rd)
• SLG: .366 (17th)
• BB rate: 8.1% (24th)
• K rate: 28.1% (26th)

The team’s struggles were exemplified in the bottom of the eighth, when, down by a run, there were runners at the corners and nobody out.

Veteran shortstop Trevor Story went out of the zone twice in his at-bat, striking out on a 2-2 pitch that was low and inside.

That negated some of the impact of pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio’s gritty, nine-pitch at-bat when he pinch-hit for Jarren Duran against lefty Adrian Morejon and tapped a fielder’s choice RBI grounder that made it a 2-2 game.

“Amazing,” Cora said of Monasterio’s at-bat. “Really good. I don't know if he spread out and tried to put the ball in play, but it looked like there was intent behind it. He didn’t want to strike out. If you put the ball in play, good things can happen. If he hit into the double play, you’re probably asking me why Monasterio [is up] there. But, he did an amazing job against a tough lefty, just battling, put the ball in play. They threw the ball away, we scored, we tied the game.”

Perhaps closer Aroldis Chapman would have taken the ball in the top of the ninth with the lead instead of tied had Story also put the ball in play.

“I feel like we’re taking OK at-bats,” Story said. “We’ve just got to be better stringing at-bats together and finishing it off. Situationally, personally, I’ve got to be a little better there against Morejon. Just seems like we're one big hit away or one really good at-bat away from blowing it open and then playing with some freedom. So right now, we’ve just got to think small and big things will happen.”

Monasterio’s “little thing” could have led to something bigger if not for a rare mishap by Chapman in the ninth.

With two outs and nobody on base, Chapman’s 98.5 mph sinker on a 2-2 count caught too much plate and Fernando Tatis Jr. scorched it at an exit velocity of 113.5 mph for a rally-starting double over the head of Ceddanne Rafaela.

Boston’s reigning Gold Glove-winning center fielder had a 60 percent catch probability on the knock, which set up Ramón Laureano for a line-drive single to left that drove in the go-ahead run.

“Yeah, two pitches,” said Cora. “I mean, he had Tatis with two strikes, and he hit the ball and then a split that hung. Laureano, he’s been doing that the last few years. So, you’ve got to tip your hat to them. We’ve got to regroup and be ready tomorrow to win the series.”

To do that, the Red Sox will likely need their offense to come around against their teammate from last season, veteran righty Walker Buehler.

“The strikeout rate is up, the walk rate is down and we're not hitting the ball out of the ballpark,” said Cora. “Teams that strike out and don't walk … usually, if you strike out, you walk, and you hit homers. But if you're not finding a way to get on base via the walk, then you have to slug. Right now, we're not doing that. So, we’ve just got to keep working. There were some good at-bats. I’m not saying all of them were bad. But we have to make sure, when we’re ahead in the count 2-0, 3-1, you get a pitch you can handle. If not, pass the baton. That’s what you do.”