The Red Sox were shutout 5-0 in their Game 1 loss to the Rays. Even though they didn’t have a single runner cross home, Red Sox manager Alex Cora liked his team’s offensive approach on Thursday night.
And there’s some evidence for why Cora might think that way. For starters, they out-hit the Rays 9-6. As a team, the Red Sox combined to have 16 hard hits and struck out just four times in 35 total at-bats.
But where the Red Sox fell short was failing to take advantage of the opportunities they created. They went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base throughout the night.