There are a lot of reasons why the Boston Red Sox haven’t played the type of baseball they’ve been looking to play throughout the year, but some of the focus has been on the mound. Outside of some of the Red Sox’s top arms, guys in the rotation and bullpen just haven’t been doing enough for this team to be what they’re looking to be.

Whether it be walks, giving up hits, not striking hitters out at the level they hope for, or anything else, the Red Sox staff just has to be a bit better moving forward. Speaking to reporters after the game on Monday, skipper Alex Cora believes that everything starts on the mound for this organization. While some fans haven’t been too happy with how the offense has looked, he’s very upset with what they’ve done on the bump.

“We have to pitch for us to get to .500,” Cora said. “To go to where we want to go, we have to pitch. That’s the bottom line. We walked eight, I believe. They had 18 at-bats with men in scoring position. It’s very hard to win that way. Very hard.”

Pitchers typically have a tough time getting adjusted to the season in some cases, but this seems like a bigger problem than just that right now. On paper, the Red Sox have good arms, so it isn’t exactly like there’s something to be worried about here. However, they’ll have to show they’re as good as they seem on paper, otherwise the season might go off the rails pretty fast.