Alex Cora Gives Brutally Honest Take On Red Sox's Fatal Flaw

You can't usually score if you can't put the ball in play, and the Boston Red Sox have been struggling to do that all season.

The Red Sox have 766 strikeouts, the third-most of any team in Major League Baseball this season. On Wednesday, they were swept by the team with the most, the Los Angeles Angels, in a three-game series that marked a crushing end to their playoff hopes.

In this latest atrocious performance, the Red Sox scored two hard-earned runs in the first inning and made Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi throw 31 pitches. He then needed just 74 pitches to get through the next six innings. And Kikuchi punched out 12 batters in total.

Manager Alex Cora wasn't mincing words after the game. He knows his team has a major problem, and no matter who's in the lineup on any given day, their odds of striking out are simply far too high.

"If you follow us, we've been striking out since day one. So we have to make adjustments," Cora said, per NESN on X.

On the season, shortstop Trevor Story and outfielder Jarren Duran have been the most frequent victims, with 96 and 89 punchouts, respectively. Designated hitter Rafael Devers had more than his fair share as well, but it's what's happened since Devers was traded that's really been alarming.

According to Ian Browne of MLB.com, the Red Sox rank dead last in MLB in OPS and team strikeouts since Devers was moved to the San Francisco Giants. Their DHs are batting .182 in those nine games, and the number-two spot in the batting order has an OPS of .611.

It's almost like trading your best hitter and hoping your team somehow gets better just isn't feasible.