BOSTON — If the Red Sox had held the lead and emerged victorious on Wednesday night, the focal point would have been Tanner Houck grinding without his best stuff and throwing a career-high 112 pitches over 5 2/3 innings and again finding a way to keep the opposition at bay.
Instead, it became about other things in a 4-3 loss to the Rays that left Boston needing a win on Thursday to salvage a split of this four-game series and a winning record on this seven-game homestand.
It was about two errors that led to a pair of unearned runs.
It was about an offense that has struggled to score for most of the last two weeks. In a 4-8 stretch that started on May 2, the Boston bats have scored three runs or less in all eight of the defeats, and two or less in six of those losses.
Here is a closer look at key developments from Wednesday:
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In the top of the fourth, with the Sox holding a 1-0 lead, Richie Palacios hit a grounder to first that Garrett Cooper couldn’t field for an error that allowed the tying run to score.
“I probably should have charged it more,” said Cooper. “It took a late hop and it hit something and it kind of bounced the other way. I have made that play 10 million times at first. I played the hop and it ate me up.”
Errors become magnified when a team isn’t scoring. The Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
“It’s huge,” said Cooper. “We lost by one, and without that we’re still playing right now. It’s a huge error and I take full accountability for not charging. It’s just a play I would love to have back. It’s part of the game where I take responsibility for that.”
