In losing for the sixth time in seven games Wednesday night, Boston was limited to five hits by three Philadelphia pitchers, falling 2-1. The Red Sox have scored 15 runs in that seven-game stretch, just one in the series with the Phillies.
David Ortiz returned to the lineup after four games on the bench, only to go 0-for-4 and stretch his hitless streak to 16 at-bats. He has left 17 runners on base in that slump, which extends back into the homestand, prior to the whole should-he-start controversy began to dominate the headlines.
Ortiz isn't alone. Jacoby Ellsbury is hitless in the eight at-bats in the series. Kevin Youkilis is 1-for-13 on the road trip. Adrian Gonzalez has four hits in his last 17 at-bats. Hitting in front of the pitcher each game, Marco Scutaro is 2-for-17.
A group that dominated as one in May and through much of June has hit a collective wall.
"You know how it is. When we all get together and swing the bat well, we score a lot of runs," said Dustin Pedroia, who had one of the five hits off Phillies starter Vance Worley. "When we don't, we're not going to score a lot. We've got to do a better job. We're not all swinging it well, finding a way to score runs."
There were plenty making the argument for the Ortiz-Gonzalez shift in an effort to get as many big bats in the lineup as possible. That argument takes a bit of a hit after Wednesday's showing. Those making the argument that the pitcher hitting is the real reason this lineup is in a rut probably missed John Lackey's RBI double on Wednesday, the only run the team has scored in a span of 20 innings.
Let's repeat that for emphasis. The only run that the Red Sox, considered by many to be the best offense in baseball, have scored in 20 innings came on an RBI double by John Lackey, who now has four hits in his career. It is also the only run the team has scored on a hit in a span of 29 innings. The last such occurrence came Saturday in Pittsburgh, when Josh Reddick and Ellsbury both hit solo homers in the seventh inning of a 6-4 loss.
Lackey, who allowed two runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings in his fifth start off the disabled list, was keenly aware that his drive to the wall in center to score Reddick was far too little with the complete lack of support from his teammates.
"It's fun to get up there and swing the bat," Lackey said of his second career double. "But, it wasn't enough."
Much of the credit can go to Worley, the guy many Red Sox fans hoped would allow this offense to break out. While Worley has been pretty good, he's no Cliff Lee, who was too much for Boston in the opener. Cole Hamels looms as a major obstacle in the finale Thursday afternoon.
The 23-year-old Worley struck out four through the first three innings. He didn't allow a runner to reach second base until Lackey's double drove in Reddick from first with two outs in the fifth, tying the game 1-1. No Red Sox player reached second base thereafter as Worley, Michael Stutes and fill-in closer Antonio Bastardo slammed the door on an offense that had scored 18 more runs than anyone else in baseball before this slide began.
Boston pushed across a season-high 10 runs in the seventh inning of a win over San Diego on June 21. Who knew at the time that the rally would take the form of a closing salvo, much like a gunman emptying the chamber with the authorities moving in. Since that outburst, the Sox have scored 16 runs in 64 innings, recording no more than two runs in any frame.
Ortiz made no difference Wednesday. Any moves that are made Thursday likely won't do much either. This is a good old-fashioned, team-wide slump.
