This seems like the last chance for the Red Sox to get things together

It was just a bad day for the Red Sox across the board. The problem is that these sort of images are starting to pile up.

In the case of Sunday, the first day of the final month or the regular season, the result was a 4-1 loss at the hands of the once-lowly, now-intriguing Tigers, who sit just a 1/2-game in back of the Red Sox.

Little worked. The preordained decision to take out Cooper Criswell after four innings (which happened to be four perfect innings) to use Rich Hill for a second straight day to attack a pocket of left-handed hitters? Nope. A Spencer Torkelson two-run homer made sure of that.

"That’s the way we drew it up,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters. "They had a bunch of lefties, he gave us enough and we went to Rich in that situation. We had a big pocket of lefties and just, the righty burnt us."

The manager added, "We talked about it before the game/ If we find a lane, and it feels like it makes sense to us … if it was four [for Criswell], Rich goes two. And then after that, we go to the righties. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and today we got burnt."

The hope that the return of a combination of both Rafael Devers and Masa Yoshida in the lineup would shake the Sox' offense out of its doldrums? Nope, again.

"Right now, there’s not much going on," Cora said. "It’s been going on for a while. We’ve just got to regroup, reassess and go from there [on Monday]. We're not even [hitting the ball hard]. We haven’t done that in a while. We have to get back to dominating the strike zone, hit pitches in the zone, hit them hard, and when you start doing that, good things are going to happen."

The reality for the Red Sox is that not much is going right, and it's not going right at a most inopportune time.

As the Sox ease into September after yet again another uninspiring August (13-15), they sit 4 1/2 games in back of both the Twins and Royals, with the Tigers and Mariners residing within a game behind them.

As dire as things feel for the Red Sox, there is some hope. In the team's last 21 games, the starting pitching has figured things out, totaling a 3.46 ERA and .644 OPS against. Even without the two trade deadline acquisitions (Lucas Sims, Luis Garcia), the bullpen is landing in a good place health-wise, with Liam Hendriks' impending addition figuring to only help matters.

And then there is Trevor Story, who notched a pair of hits in his first rehab assignment game with Triple-A Worcester Sunday, offering an intriguing potential jolt to a fading lineup.

The issue is actually pushing aside all that ails them in time to make September interesting.

Sure, the gift that are the White Sox await at Fenway Park this coming weekend. But in the meantime Cora and crew will be forced to face a Mets team that has won four straight and is just one game out of a Wild Card spot.

When the red-hot Diamondbacks came in and swept the Red Sox, those on the Boston side of things correctly pointed to previous series against the likes of the Orioles and Astros for examples of how they can hang with the big boys. The reality is still that the Sox are 32-48 against teams at or better than .500. Since the All-Star break, that record is an uncomfortable 10-18.

In many ways, the Sox have landed right back where they are started - riding good starting pitching but having struggles putting the whole package together against postseason-bound contenders.

Now, the rubber is meeting the road at Citi Field.

A series win over the Mets, along with the three gift-wrapped games vs. the White Sox, is the path to making things actually interesting heading into showdowns with the Orioles and Yankees. But looking at their own schedule - as well as that of those they are chasing - is a worthless exercise unless multiple elements of this roster starts flipping the script.

It seems we are on the verge of finding out how this whole thing is going to play out ... one way or the other.