Dombrowski defends Farrell, won't pin struggles on Red Sox manager

Boston Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski poured cold water over any speculation that manager John Farrell was on the hot seat, defending his club's bench boss.

"Well, we won a divisional crown last year. He managed very well for us at the time," Dombrowski said on Tuesday, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com.

"I think that John, as well as everybody else, is frustrated by our performance and that we haven't taken off, but we're not buried either. I mean, we're four games out of first place and we really haven't been in a flow."

An earlier report from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports shed details on some possible friction in the Red Sox clubhouse. It stated that a few players feel Farrell does not stand up for them strongly enough to the media when the team is struggling.

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The Red Sox, who have gone 9-10 in the month of May, have lost three of their past four games and have struggled to get quality pitching from the bottom half of their rotation, which is still without David Price.

"Is that John's fault? I can't put that on John. Friday night, you have Chris Sale. He threw the ball very well. The play that Trevor Plouffe made on Hanley Ramirez, I don't know if he's made a play like that all year long.

"Mookie Betts, in the ninth inning gets a line drive right at the third baseman. Well you have a chance to score five or six runs, didn't happen, no excuses, but it's one of those where I think to pin those things on Farrell are just not fair.

"I think we're in a position where he's managed well, he's managed divisional champions. I think we're in a position, we have a good club, we just need to get in a better flow of things."