Boston Red Sox lose eighth straight game

The Boston Red Sox are digging a mighty hole for themselves. With another ninth inning loss on Friday night, this one at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox have now lost eight straight games.

They have been outscored by 22 runs during the stretch with a handful of close losses that might attributed to the luck of baseball. And while those losses will even out of the course of the long MLB season, there are plenty of other reasons to be concerned in Boston.

For the season the Red Sox have a -23 run differential. Having passed the point where run differential serves as a useful stat that is predictive of future success (or lack thereof), that is definite cause for concern.

There is blame to go around, but Boston’s issues fall largely on the offensive side of things. Their 185 runs scored on the season puts them just ahead of Chicago Cubs (180), tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates and just behind the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks (187).

More from Boston Red Sox

• After frantic trade day, Kiké Hernandez grateful for second chance with Dodgers
• MLB Rumors: Potential Braves reunion, Lance Lynn no-trade clause and Orioles deadline intentions
• Braves-Red Sox start time: Braves rain delay in Boston on July 25
• MLB Trade Grades: Dodgers reunite with familiar face in Red Sox deal
• MLB Rumors: Braves trade package, White Sox-Reds deal, Mets disaster

With some better luck in close games the Red Sox will gain a few wins, but that still does not account for how much they are struggling as a team. They need to find answers; the addition of Stephen Drew at shortstop will plug one hole and take some pressure off, but it will have to be the first of a series of improvements if the defending World Series champs are going to dig out of the basement of their division.