Red Sox slugger Martinez tired of getting 'head beat in every day'
The Boston Red Sox lost their sixth straight game when they dropped Saturday's contest against the New York Yankees by a score of 11-5. Boston has been outscored 63-30 over its losing streak, and the bludgeoning is starting to wear on slugger J.D. Martinez.
"It sucks," Martinez said, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. "It’s definitely not fun. It's not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day."
Boston owns the American League's worst record at 6-15 and trails the division-leading Yankees by 8 1/2 games. The team is also the first in Red Sox history to allow eight runs or more in six consecutive games.
Martinez, for his part, hasn't found a groove. He's slashed .234/.322/.416 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in 20 games.
While the offense has been uneven, the pitching staff has been a disaster, posting an MLB-worst 6.10 ERA. The struggles on the mound have resulted in prolonged innings for the defense and additional fatigue when position players return to bat.
"It's hard to hit when your offense is always on the field just tired," Martinez said. "Whenever you're out there for 45 minutes, 30-45 minutes before you've gotta get in there and hit, it's not easy. It's tough.
"It's one of those things where I think we've got to kind of refocus and go out there and do the best we can do, really. Keep putting competitive at-bats (together). I feel our offense has been putting up runs. So it is what it is."
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts said prior to Saturday's beatdown that the key for his teammates is to remember to enjoy the game as they look to improve over the remainder of the season.
"Obviously you can't control what's happened already. Those games are over with," Bogaerts said, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com. "Just try to control what we have going forward. Just try to go out there and have some fun. I know it's been a little hard for us on that part, but we've just got to go out there and have fun and play like we're having fun."
The Red Sox will look to break out of their slump when they face the Yankees again Sunday. The contest will see Chris Mazza become the latest addition to Boston's rotation as he makes his first career start opposite J.A. Happ.