BOSTON — Boston’s starting pitching, which has been talked about so much throughout the offseason and into the first quarter of the 2015 season, has been very good lately as the pitchers have responded to new pitching coach Carl Willis.
The Red Sox offense? Well, that hasn’t been very good at all.
Entering Thursday night’s game, the Boston starters have allowed 10 earned runs in 46 2/3 innings over the last seven games. But the lack of support has led to a mediocre 4-3 record over that span and a 19-21 40-game start to the season.
The Red Sox have stranded 12 runners in each of the first two games of the series with the Texas Rangers. They are 5-for-47 with runners in scoring position in the seven games.
“Our pitching has been doing a pretty good job. It’s just up to us right now,” said shortstop Xander Bogaerts, whose solo homer brought in the only run Wednesday night in the 2-1 loss.
They had all kinds of chances to score and they hit several balls hard that became outs. But they were still outs that led to another loss.
RHP Joe Kelly, who won his first start of the season, is 0-3 with four no-decisions after Wednesday’s loss. He has allowed three runs in 13 1/3 innings over his last two starts and has nothing to show for it, the seven starts without a win matching the longest winless streak of his career.
PLAYER NOTES: RF Shane Victorino came off the bench and singled to cap a 10-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning Wednesday. He got another hit in the eighth and is 8-for-19 (.421) with a.500 on base percentage since coming off the disabled list May 11. … 2B Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-5 Wednesday, snapping a streak of 23 games reaching base via either a hit or a walk. He has gone 64 at-bats without a home run. … RHP Joe Cornely was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for cash considerations and was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket. Cornely, 26, pitched his first major league inning earlier this season and allowed four runs. “We like the fastball ability,” manager John Farrell said. “It might not be a pure velocity, but there’s some swing and miss throughout the course of his career. Those guys always jump out to us.” Cornely has averaged 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings over his five-year minor league career.