Kutter Crawford following his strong start against the Cardinals: 'We're struggling a little bit as a team'
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford was strong again on Saturday night, despite the team dropping their second straight game to the Cardinals 7-2. With the loss, the Red Sox have fallen two games under .500 and are 5-11 in the month of May.
Crawford did his part, pitching to keep his team in the game. He allowed just a single run off six hits over 5 2/3 strong frames. The righty owns a 2.17 ERA in 10 starts this season, tossing five quality starts over that span. The only run Crawford surrendered came off the bat of Nolan Gorman, who homered in the second inning.
Despite how well Crawford has pitched this season, the Red Sox are just 3-7 in his starts. That’s mainly driven by the offense, which has scored just 3.4 runs per game when he starts.
“That’s baseball. It’s baseball,” Crawford said to reporters after the game. “We’re struggling a little bit as a team. But I think it’s only a matter of time before we begin clicking on all cylinders.”
Boston still owns an American League-best 2.73 rotation ERA. The offense has been almost anemic, hitting just .229 (19th in baseball) with a .668 OPS (21st) and 53 runs (25th) in the month of May.
“It speaks to our offense. We need to be better,” said outfielder Rob Refsnyder. “We’re putting ourselves in good positions, and guys are getting on base.
“I don’t think there’s any excuse for wasting Kutter’s starts. He’s got a sub-2.50 (ERA) the whole year. It’s all on us. We just need to do better. All of our starters are doing great, and it just sucks. We’re trying hard, and the results aren’t there. There’s no one to blame but ourselves.”
The Red Sox offense needs to start delivering and supporting their starting pitchers strong performances. Boston will look to grab at least one win on Sunday in the series finale against the Cardinals, which can be seen on Roku TV.
