Red Sox had Angels starter on ropes in first inning; after that, had just one hit

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 25: Romy Gonzalez #23 of Boston Red Sox celebrates after Trevor Story #10 of Boston Red Sox hits a 2 RBI single in the top of the first inning. It would be the last Red Sox run of the game. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images)Getty Images

Hopeful that they could salvage a win and avoid a three-game series sweep with the Los Angeles Angels, things began well for the Red Sox Wednesday.

They worked counts. They took advantage of an early error. They put the ball in play. And most significantly, they ran up Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi’s pitch count, forcing him to throw 31 pitches to record three outs.

A chance to snap their four-game losing streak seemed within their grasp.

But it didn’t last. After scoring twice in the first inning, the Red Sox not only didn’t score again over the final eight innings — they barely got on base again.

There was a two-out single from Carlos Narvaez in the third and a one-out walk to pinch-hitter Roman Anthony in the eighth. And that was it.

Meanwhile, the same Kikuchi who needed 31 pitches for the first inning, needed 74 more for the next six innings combined, during which he retired 18 of the final 19 hitters he faced.

“We started expanding after (the first),” noted Alex Cora after the Sox went down 5-2, their fifth loss in a row. “He barely threw fastballs. He kept us off-balance. They were a little bit short today, bullpen-wise, but we were unable to put him away.”

In the first inning, the Red Sox were grinding, fouling off pitches and extending at-bats. They made Kikuchi work. But as if a switch had been flipped, it all changed thereafter.

“He nibbles,” Cora said, “and we have to be better offensively. This has happened since early in the season — we score early and then the starters hang on until the sixth or seventh, and then they go to the bullpen. That’s how it works."

They stopped swinging at strikes, which played well into Kikuchi’s hands. Even a handful of the 12 strikeouts he recorded — three in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth — were resolved in as few as four pitches.

The battle seemed beaten out of the Sox.

“He just executed his pitches,” said Rob Refsnyder, who fanned three times against the lefty, “but we did a really bad job adjusting — myself included, especially as the leadoff guy. We just did a bad job adjusting to his game plan. He’s a really, really good pitcher with really, really good stuff."

After Kikuchi issued a two-out walk to Wilyer Abreu in the first, he didn’t walk another batter. Meanwhile, Red Sox hitters seemed locked in between guarding against his fastball and staying back on his changeup. Too often, they guessed wrong.

To make matters worse, they were blanked over the final two innings by former Red Sox farmhand Ryan Zeferjahn, who allowed just one baserunner.