Alex Cora: Red Sox are ‘too passive at the plate’

The Boston Red Sox have lost two in a row to the New York Yankees, scoring only three runs combined in the defeats. Alex Cora thinks he knows one of the reasons for their struggles at the plate.

Cora said after Wednesday’s 10-1 loss that the team is getting too passive at the plate and taking too many good pitches instead of swinging at them.

Cora on Red Sox lack of HRs: “I do think that sometimes we’re getting too passive at the plate. We’re taking too many pitches right down the middle, which, I think, they’re bad takes…Get back to look for pitches in the middle of the zone and try to do damage with it."

— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) September 20, 2018

Despite seemingly being too passive, the Red Sox only walked twice on Wednesday, though they had four on Tuesday. The team actually got nine hits on Wednesday. Three came from JD Martinez, but the three hitters behind him failed to get a hit. When you can’t put it all together in the same inning, you’re not going to score any runs.

The Sox still lead MLB in most offensive categories, so they’re not in bad shape. They just need to avoid falling into a slump.