Red Sox reeling after 2-7 start: 'It's unacceptable to the fans'

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The Red Sox have lost seven of their first nine games, something only six other Red Sox teams have done since 1950 and only twice this century: 2011 and 2019. It’s still only April, and yet with every subsequent loss, the early nature of the season offers little comfort. “This is unacceptable,” said Roman Anthony. “It’s unacceptable to the fans, it’s unacceptable to the standard that we set for ourselves.” In the third inning on Sunday, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow appeared on NESN, fielding questions from the broadcast crew about the brutal start to the year. Now in his third season on the job, Breslow is well aware that the longer the team slides, the less job security he’ll possess. For now, he’s trying to take a measured approach. “Your rational brain says baseball needs to be evaluated over the long term and eight games in, is not the time you want to draw conclusions,” Breslow said. “But your heart says, how do we help the group? What do we need to do? What are we missing? How do we turn this thing around? We have a bunch of good players who are not performing to their potential right now and that’s going to turn.” If it doesn’t soon, this season could shift from uncomfortable to ugly fast. Through two starts this season, Suarez, who signed a five-year, $130 million deal in January, has shown little resemblance to the strong starter he was in Philadelphia. He’s exited in the fifth in each start and has allowed eight earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. Manager Alex Cora admitted it’s been surprising to see Suarez struggle so much. “Yes, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “Obviously, it was different for him in spring training, he didn’t pitch that much in the (World Baseball Classic), but he’ll be the first one to say there’s no excuse. He was making good pitches today and he didn’t get hit hard in that (fourth) inning. They made adjustments, especially on the first pitch, got their hits, and then that happened.” Suarez was tagged for four runs on six hits and two walks in four innings on Sunday. Just after the Red Sox had taken a 4-0 lead (more runs than they’d scored in five of their games this season), Suarez coughed up the lead. He gave up three runs in a 32-pitch fourth inning, aided by an errant pickoff throw from catcher Carlos Narváez, before allowing the first batter of the fifth to reach. Cora pulled Suarez, turning to Greg Weissert, who got two strikeouts before more trouble. Weissert allowed a single, then a crushing three-run homer to erase the Red Sox’s lead. Suarez had little explanation for the Padres’ ambush. “I cannot allow that to happen,” he said through a team interpreter. “Obviously not the way I wanted the first two starts to go.” With the Red Sox already moving Johan Oviedo to the injury list with an elbow strain this weekend, Boston’s pitching additions this offseason are not looking good so far. The Red Sox’s offense is still disjointed, but a four-run inning on Sunday and a late-game rally to tie the score after that lead had evaporated marked improvement on what’s been an awful overall performance thus far. Couple that with five runs scored on Friday in the home opener, and there are signs they might have something to build upon. Part of the solution on Sunday was Masataka Yoshida, whom Cora inserted into the lineup to play left field. Yoshida went 2-for-4, driving in three runs, including a two-run double in the seventh to tie the game. The biggest key to their four-run third inning was back-to-back walks drawn by Narváez and Anthony to lead off the frame. The Red Sox rank in the bottom five in the league in walks while flailing at the plate with a 33.3 percent chase rate, also ranking in the bottom five. Patience at the plate can be one formula for breaking out of a brutal stretch. The walks on Sunday were a good harbinger for the offense, but even more so was Jarren Duran pulling a ball to right field for a two-run double. Wilyer Abreu pulled another ball to right for an RBI triple and Yoshida similarly pulled a third ball to right for a 4-0 lead. Three innings later, after San Diego had taken the 6-4 lead, the Red Sox kept the line moving. Willson Contreras reached on a fielder’s choice, Abreu doubled and Yoshida added a two-run double to tie the game. “Offensively it was better,” Cora said. “But still wasn’t great.” Cora has tried to take an even approach to the rough start, saying he wouldn’t be making drastic lineup changes. But on Sunday, after the loss, there was a hint that some changes may be coming. “We’ll make adjustments,” he said. “I think there were some signs today that were positive, others that stayed the same. You’ve got to stay the course, that’s how it works, you cannot overreact to this series. … It doesn’t matter if you change the lineup or what we do, if we show up tomorrow at 1 p.m. and work early, you still have to play better from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.” Pressed on the lineup changes, Cora was asked if he still liked Trevor Story, who’s hitting .119 with 17 strikeouts, in the two-hole. “I still like Trevor Story as a player,” Cora said. Perhaps Monday’s lineup against Milwaukee will feature Story hitting lower. Suarez’s start followed a short start from Connelly Early on Saturday, putting the bullpen in a tough spot. With Garrett Whitlock on the paternity list and a pen short, Cora turned to Tyler Uberstine, making his big-league debut, for extended innings. Uberstine is used to adversity. He’d been cut from his college club baseball team at USC, eventually played at Northwestern and was drafted by the Red Sox in the 19th round, working his way through the minors. But just as he found a groove, he needed Tommy John surgery in 2024. He finally reached the majors on Sunday. Uberstine pitched two strong innings of relief in the sixth and seventh, but mislocated one pitch in the eighth for a solo homer to Jackson Merrill that gave the Padres the lead. San Diego tacked on another run off Zack Kelly in the ninth. Normally, Cora would not have put extended Uberstine in that spot, but needed to with the rest of the bullpen working overtime. “Where we were today, it was him and Kelly,” Cora said of using the rookie in a high-leverage spot. “We felt like he was throwing the ball well, one pitch they hit out of the ballpark, but he gave us a chance to win the game.” Uberstine may return to Triple-A Worcester on Monday, with Whitlock expected to return from the paternity list, but other pitching reinforcements might not be far off. Patrick Sandoval was set to begin a rehab assignment for Double-A Portland on Sunday, but the game was rained out. He’ll now pitch on Tuesday in Triple-A Worcester. Though the Red Sox likely want him to throw more than one rehab outing as he comes back from Tommy John surgery, adding him into the mix in long relief would help. Kutter Crawford, meanwhile, threw a four-inning simulated session in the bullpen in Boston on Sunday and is expected to begin a rehab assignment next week. In non-pitcher injury news, Cora revealed that Triston Casas’ rib cage discomfort that flared up last week and caused him to be shut down from swinging was less severe than anticipated. He’s scheduled to begin swinging again on Monday. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Jen McCaffrey is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Red Sox. Prior to joining The Athletic, the Syracuse graduate spent four years as a Red Sox reporter for MassLive.com and three years as a sports reporter for the Cape Cod Times. Follow Jen on Twitter @jcmccaffrey