PHOENIX — Alex Cora often sees the positive in Red Sox losses, pointing out encouraging signs or noting that a play or two changed the course of a tough battle. His reaction Saturday night was different.

Cora didn’t have much to smile about after a 5-1 Red Sox loss in which two sloppy defensive plays cost his team greatly and an offense without Roman Anthony continued to sputter, striking out nine times and plating just one run. Even Ceddanne Rafaela’s phenomenal home run robbery on a Corbin Carroll fly ball in the fifth didn’t feel like a potential spark, Cora said, because of the disappointing at-bats up and down the lineup.

“We didn’t play well,” said Cora.

A Red Sox team that had largely played clean baseball over the past few months took a step back at Chase Field, with Trevor Story committing a very costly error in the second and Jarren Duran and Rafaela collaborating for a familiar, yet just-as-frustrating miscue in the seventh. Paired with an offense that couldn’t get anything going against righty Brandon Pfaadt — who entered with a 5.33 ERA in 147 innings — it was a recipe for a loss.

“It reminds me of earlier in the year, not firing from all cylinders,” said starter Lucas Giolito, who was not sharp in 5+ innings.

The turning point of the game came early when after Giolito loaded the bases with a one-out walk to Tyler Locklear, No. 9 hitter Jake McCarthy hit a soft grounder up the middle in Story’s direction. What looked like a potential inning-ending double play ball turned into a disaster as Story booted it, allowing two runs to score. Locklear took third on the play and then scored on a Geraldo Perdomo sacrifice fly two pitches later.

An accountable Story, usually sure-handed on such routine plays, took responsibility.

“I felt like I got a good read on it,” Story said. “I was there for it and then just tried to get it out of my glove before I had it. Just at the last second, didn’t secure the ball.

“It’s tough,” he continued. “Mistakes are gonna happen in baseball, but in that situation, to get a ground ball there, I probably should have tried to just get one with it because McCarthy’s running pretty fast. It’s a tough one. I feel like it changed the momentum of the game. I think they scored three that inning, so it ended up being the answer in the game.”

Pfaadt continued to mow down Boston’s lineup and the game was still very much within striking distance in the seventh, when Carroll came to bat against Greg Weissert with one out and a man on first. Carroll lifted a deep fly ball to left-center for what looked to be an easy out. But another miscommunication from Rafaela and Duran, similar to the one that almost sunk the Sox at Camden Yards on August 27, allowed the ball to fall in for a double. The runners took second and third and Ketel Marte scored on a Blaze Alexander sac fly that made it 5-1.

Rafaela, even after one of the best catches of his career earlier in the game, was clearly not pleased.

“I thought I had it,” Rafaela said. “I called it, and I didn’t.”

Cora was more forgiving.

“There’s a lot of people back there, too,” the manager said. “You can say it’s a lack of communication. Maybe, yeah. But there’s a lot of elements in left-center. I’m not making excuses for them but it’s not as easy as people make it seem.”

The Red Sox, losers of three in a row, will try to right the ship behind Brayan Bello in Sunday’s matinee before heading north to Sacramento.

“One game in a long time,” said Cora. You just put it in the past and be ready tomorrow.”