Pedroia: 'We got our asses kicked twice'

Just one loss away from elimination, there isn't a lot of optimism coming out of the Boston Red Sox clubhouse.

"We got our asses kicked twice," Dustin Pedroia told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe when asked whether the clubhouse lacked confidence. "We've got to take a step back and regroup. Confidence doesn't matter right now."

The Red Sox dropped Friday's contest against the Houston Astros to fall behind 2-0 in the American League Division Series. For the second straight game, the Astros prevailed by a score of 8-2 - and the Red Sox never held a lead at any moment.

"We haven't done anything right and they've done everything right," the Red Sox second baseman told Rob Bradford of WEEI.

The 2-0 deficit against the Astros comes one year after the club was swept by the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 ALDS. Since winning the World Series in 2013, the Red Sox are riding a five-game postseason losing streak.

Over eight plate appearances against the Astros, Pedroia has one hit - a single - and one walk.