Cora: Red Sox are 'running out of time' in wild-card race

Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged that Boston needs to play with a sense of urgency to catch the Kansas City Royals or Minnesota Twins for one of the last two American League wild-card spots.

"We've gotta show up tomorrow and try to win a game, man," Cora said postgame following a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets on Monday, according to MassLive's Christopher Smith. "We're running out of time. Let's put it that way.

"I know what the other teams are doing. They're not playing well, either. But the days that we don't take advantage of it is a wasted day. So, we've got to come here and find a way to win a game tomorrow."

The Red Sox are 4.5 games behind the Royals and 5.5 contests back of the Twins. However, Boston hasn't been able to take advantage of the other clubs' struggles, going 3-9 in its last 12. Kansas City is on a six-game losing skid, and Minnesota has lost nine of 14.

"We're not playing well right now," Cora said. "It's not going our way right now."

Boston's offense has mustered a combined 31 runs during its slump after scoring the fourth-highest total in baseball from the start of the season until Aug. 22.