Kutter Crawford’s Outing Overshadowed By Stalled Offense

The Boston Red Sox had no trouble getting men on base against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

The lineup combined for eight hits and six walks, but only managed to go 1-for-14 with runners in scoring positions in Boston’s 4-2 loss to Atlanta at Truist Park.

“We had traffic all over the place, and we didn’t cash in,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after the loss, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage “I know he’s been solid throughout the season (Braves pitcher Reynaldo) Lopez but I think in certain situations we gotta be humble and take what they give us. Advance the runner, put the ball in play and we didn’t do that.”

Ceddanne Rafaela was the only Red Sox batter to plate a Boston run when he reached on an infield single that hit Aaron Bummer off the back of the leg in the sixth inning. The rest of the lineup failed to capitalize, including Rafael Devers who went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

“That happens. That’s baseball,” Devers told reporters through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Everybody that goes out there to hit, they want to bring those runs in and that’s part of the game.”

Kutter Crawford pitched another gem for the Red Sox. In six innings, he surrendered two runs on two runs on five hits while striking out six.

“Excellent,” Cora said. “Excellent. He used his fastball, it’s not like we don’t like our fastballs. He did a good job. He kept them off balance. He did a good job with the running game, slowed them down. … Overall another good one.”

The two runs Crawford made was an 88 MPH cutter Jarred Kelenic connected on for his first home run of the season.

“I made one mistake to Kelenic and put us down in the hole two nothing,” Crawford said after the game, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “The offense did a good job of scratching some runs across to tie the ball game. I’m glad I left it at that and make sure it didn’t get any bigger than that. Two runs, six innings, we had a chance. Just somethings didn’t happen to go our way.”

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Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Braves game:

— Rafaela extended his hitting streak to six games with his two singles in the loss. The shortstop is slashing .211/.231/.374 this season with three home runs and 20 RBIs.

— Crawford has the fifth-lowest ERA in the majors to start the season with 1.75 in eight starts. He has pitched 46 1/3 innings while allowing nine earned runs on 35 hits with 46 strikeouts and 15 walks.

— The Red Sox fell to 3-10 when their opponents score first, 2-12 when they score less than four runs, 5-7 in series openers and 19-17 overall.

— The Red Sox complete their five-game road trip with the second of two games against the Braves. First pitch from Truist Park is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.