The Red Sox feel absolutely hopeless offensively. Absolutely hopeless.
Was a slow start expected given the personnel at the plate? Yes. But this is borderline unwatchable.
Boston narrowly avoided another shutout in a 4-1 loss and dropped its first series of the year against the Yankees. New York has a sweep on the table with Cam Schlitter’s anticipated Fenway start on Thursday.
Here’s three takeaways from another lifeless loss Wednesday night.
WILL OFFENSE EVER SURVIVE?
Entering the season, I fell back
on the same historical trend: the Red Sox have finished as a top-10 OPS team in baseball every season since 2018.
There’s been some question marks in that span, but the group always seemed to be a top-third lineup in the sport.
Well, that feels like a nearly-decade-long streak could come to an end in 2026. (It’s still April, but this is rough).
Boston mustered just eight hits in the first two games of the series. The Red Sox are tied for last in baseball with just 13 total home runs (for reference, the Dodgers already have 42). They hold the second-lowest OPS in baseball, second only to the Mets, who could have 13 consecutive losses by the end of the night.
Guys are scuffling, but there just isn’t enough here to be an offensive threat in this league.
If nothing else, Jarren Duran tallied three hits (two doubles, RBI single) against left-handed pitching. He’s right in the middle of several cold starts, so maybe that’s one trend that can turn around. His ninth-inning single also put a run on the board for the first time since the eighth inning of Monday’s win over the Detroit Tigers.
MAX FRIED SHOVES AGAIN
The counter-move still worked out because the Red Sox landed Garrett Crochet, but man, missing out on the other southpaw hasn’t been painless for Boston.
Fried entered with a 2.37 career ERA against the Red Sox and surely lowered that with eight brilliant innings and nine strikeouts. This team just cannot figure Fried out and continues to validate the 2021 World Series champion as one of the best starting pitchers in the game right now.
For that alone, cut the lineup a centimeter of slack.
RIVERA ROCKS
Eduardo Rivera rewarded Boston for his aggressive call-up after not pitching above Double-A so far. The 22-year-old lefty looked fantastic in his MLB debut with 3 ⅓ scoreless innings with a trio of strikeouts and just one hit allowed.
Payton Tolle should also be on the way this week, but Rivera already showed he can contribute with real stuff, including a fastball that jumped up to 97.5 MPH on the night.
