Fresh off a badly needed series victory in Atlanta, the Red Sox came into Monday riding renewed momentum as they opened a crucial three-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels.
The good vibes lasted all of about five pitches.
The Angels ambushed Richard Fitts for three home runs in a calamitous six-run first inning, chasing the Red Sox starter from the game after only three outs in what ended up being a 7-6 loss.
Even with the horrible start the Red Sox were still nearly able to come all the way back, twice drawing to within one run, but the club couldn’t get over the hump.
Coming off an abbreviated three-inning outing in his first start back off the injured list last week, the original plan was for Fitts to throw about 75-80 pitches as he worked his way back into form. But the Angels never gave him a chance, as Zach Neto set the tone with a 389-foot bomb to the Green Monster seats on the fifth pitch of the game.
It only went downhill from there.
Fitts walked Nolan Schanuel, allowed a single to Taylor Ward and then drew a grounder to third that Abraham Toro couldn’t field cleanly, allowing Schanuel to score and putting two men on with no outs. That brought up Mike Trout, and when Fitts threw the future Hall of Famer a fastball right down the middle, Trout sent it 454 feet into the deepest part of the Monster seats for a three-run homer.
Jo Adell delivered the exclamation mark two batters later with a solo shot to put the Angels up 6-0.
Fitts finished the inning but was lifted for the second after recording only three outs on 39 pitches. In doing so he became just the second starter in Red Sox history to allow six runs and three homers in one inning or fewer, joining Oil Can Boyd, who did so on May 23, 1988.
The outing also continued a concerning trend for the Red Sox, whose starters have not been able to consistently pitch deep into games. Boston’s starters have now failed to complete five innings in 22 of 62 games, more than a third of the team’s games played to this point.
As NESN’s Tom Caron noted on social media, the number is significantly worse when you remove Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler from the equation. All other Red Sox starters besides those two have pitched five innings or more in just 20 of 40 games.
It’s the 22nd time (in 62 games) that a Red Sox starting pitcher doesn’t go 5 innings. Crochet and Buehler combined have failed to go 5 innings just twice in 22 starts. All other Sox starters combined have been unable to go 5 innings in half of their starts (20 of 40.)
That’s not a recipe for success, but Monday the Red Sox were at least able to fight back and make it a ballgame.
After Fitts came out, Hunter Dobbins took the ball and kept the Angels off the scoreboard for the next four innings. Rafael Devers got the Red Sox on the board with an RBI double in the third, and in the fifth Boston’s bats came to life with a four-run rally to cut the deficit to one.
Jarren Duran started things off with his second double of the game, and after Devers drew a walk Rob Refsnyder tagged Angels starter Tyler Anderson for an RBI single. Carlos Narvaez then followed with an RBI double to make it 6-3, chasing Anderson from the game after 4.1 innings.
Then, with reliever Hunter Strickland on the mound, Romy Gonzalez came through in his first game off the injured list with a two-run double down the right field line. That made it a 6-5 game, but after reaching third on Abraham Toro’s subsequent groundout, he was stranded 90 feet away from home by Trevor Story, who struck out to end the rally.
That was as close as the Red Sox got.
The Angels immediately answered back in the top of the sixth when Adell tagged Dobbins for his second home run of the game on the very first pitch of the inning. Boston also squandered a prime scoring opportunity in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases against Angels lefty Reid Detmers before coming away empty handed.
The Red Sox were able to avoid a knockout punch in the seventh when Toro and Gonzalez combined to turn a spectacular double play to end the inning, cutting short what could have been a game-clinching rally with Trout at the plate. That kept it a two-run game into the eighth, when Ceddanne Rafaela led off with a solo home run to make it a 7-6 Angels lead.
But while Luis Guerrero was able to keep the Angels off the board in the ninth, the Red Sox were unable to complete the comeback against old friend Kenley Jansen, who closed out his former team to record his 12th save of the season and the 459th of his career.
Coming off three straight disappointing seasons, the Red Sox entered 2025 with renewed hope.
The club finally spent real money in the offseason, bringing in Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman along with several other notable contributors, and heading into Opening Day the Red Sox were trendy picks to not only win the AL East, but potentially reach the World Series.
Now the whole thing is coming apart.
Between injuries and underperformance, the Red Sox have fallen far short of expectations. Entering the weekend the club is 28-31 and has gone 11-16 in the month of May. Now the team faces a make-or-break June where the club will not only play a stretch of 15 consecutive games from June 6-22 against teams that are currently at or above .500, but they’ll have to try to stay afloat without Bregman, the team’s best all-around player.
Perhaps the team will dig deep and find a way to stay alive — Friday was certainly an encouraging first step — but there is real danger the Red Sox could fall out of contention entirely these next few weeks.
If that happens, we could be looking at a pretty significant sell-off.
While this year’s Red Sox were built to win, they were also built with a lot of short-term pieces. If chief baseball officer Craig Breslow decided to sell he’d have no shortage of players to flip in hopes of solidifying the roster in 2026 and beyond.
What might that look like? Here’s what could happen if the Red Sox can’t turn it around.
Red Sox starter Walker Buehler could be a valuable trade chip at the deadline if the club decides to sell. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Trade free agent starters
The first and most obvious place Breslow could start would be the starting rotation. As it stands Boston has two starting pitchers who are pending free agents in Walker Buehler and Lucas Giolito, and neither one is a sure bet to return this offseason even if they aren’t dealt.
How they pitch over the next two months will determine their ultimate trade value, but so far both have shown encouraging flashes and would likely be highly coveted on the trade market by contenders looking to raise their rotation’s ceiling. Buehler in particular could be a valuable chip given his playoff pedigree, and it’s reasonable to imagine he could fetch a pretty significant prospect return.
Plus, from the Red Sox’s perspective, the pair are borderline expendable at this point.
Even if you subtract Buehler and Giolito from the equation the Red Sox will still go into next offseason with seven starters under team control: Crochet, Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck, Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins plus Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, each of whom should be back on the mound by the second half. That’s a pretty solid starting point, especially if Houck can figure things out, and if the club were to add one more big arm in free agency or via trade then the Red Sox could conceivably start 2026 with one of the better rotations in baseball.
One other bonus? Buehler and Giolito are making approximately $40 million combined, so dealing them would get the club close to dipping back under the luxury tax threshold. Obviously the Red Sox shouldn’t be pinching pennies, but there’s no sense in dealing with the draft pick penalties and other baseball consequences that come with being over the luxury tax in a year where you’re likely to miss the playoffs.
Aroldis Chapman has largely exceeded expectations as Boston’s closer. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Blow up bullpen
Similar to the starting rotation, Boston’s main bullpen acquisitions this offseason came on one-year deals and could be valuable trade chips for a club looking to shore things up in the late-game.
Outside of his blown save in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Aroldis Chapman has been everything the Red Sox could have hoped for. The 37-year-old is still among the hardest throwers in baseball and has been a reliable closer for a club that’s been short on bullpen stability. He’d be highly coveted.
Fellow left-hander Justin Wilson has also pitched well and could help a contender in need of another lefty, and while Liam Hendriks has struggled this season, he still has a strong track record. Perhaps there’s a team out there that believes he could still rediscover his old dominance?
Obviously without those guys the bullpen could look pretty ugly down the stretch, but at least the Red Sox could get a good look at their internal candidates and decide who has a future with the team and who doesn’t. Get Zack Kelly and Luis Guerrero up permanently, give Zach Penrod another look and see who else warrants a second-half tryout.
Top Red Sox prospect Roman Anthony has looked like a superstar in the making in Triple-A so far. (Courtesy of the Worcester Red Sox)
Call up Anthony, shake up lineup
While the pitching staff has plenty of low-hanging fruit to reach for, the position player situation is a lot stickier.
The Red Sox do not have any pending free agents among their everyday regulars, with the possible exception of Bregman, who could opt out of the remaining two years, $80 million on his deal this offseason if he chose. The Red Sox also have several high-priced veterans who remain under contract for at least two more seasons but who haven’t performed up to expectation and are blocking the paths of several of Boston’s most promising young prospects.
Somehow or another, something is going to have to be done.
The first order of business will be calling up Roman Anthony, which could conceivably happen any day now and arguably should have happened a long time ago. Anthony has dominated Triple-A despite being among the youngest players at that level and has clearly shown he’s ready for a big league opportunity. There’s no guarantee he’ll hit the ground running — Kristian Campbell and fellow former top prospect Jackson Holliday are good examples of how even the brightest young stars sometimes stumble early in their MLB careers — but if the Red Sox want to put themselves in the best position to succeed long-term, Anthony needs to come up.
That’s the easy part. The tough part is how the Red Sox can realistically accommodate him.
Given the roster’s current construction — and assuming moving Rafael Devers to either first or third base isn’t an option — there are two ways the Red Sox could get Anthony into the starting lineup. One is by moving Kristian Campbell to first base, Marcelo Mayer to second, Ceddanne Rafaela to third and putting Anthony in the open outfield spot. The other involves moving Trevor Story off shortstop, enabling Mayer to shift to his natural position, Campbell to keep developing at second and Rafaela to take over at third.
Story has largely looked lost at the plate for the past month and has also seen his normally stellar defensive metrics fall off. Perhaps he could still turn things around and get back to being the impact player the Red Sox hoped he’d be all along — again, Friday was an encouraging step — but if not the club may have no choice but to designate him for assignment.
The downside to doing that is the club would be on the hook for the remaining two years, $46.7 million of his deal plus whatever money he’s still owed for this year. The club may eventually also face a similar decision with Masataka Yoshida, who has spent the entire season on the IL recovering from offseason shoulder surgery but who would prompt another roster crunch in the outfield upon his return.
So what can the Red Sox realistically do to streamline their roster? There’s an example from the club’s past that might offer a way forward.
After his ill-fated free agent signing, Carl Crawford was included in the Red Sox’s blockbuster 2012 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. (File photo)
Reprise 2012 blockbuster
In 2012 the Red Sox were in a dark place, and beyond falling into the AL East basement the club also looked like it would be hamstrung for years by the seven-year, $142 million contract it gave in 2011 to Carl Crawford, who almost immediately became a shell of the player he was in Tampa Bay. With the team well out of contention the Red Sox found an escape hatch in the form of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who agreed to take on not only Crawford’s but also Josh Beckett’s remaining contract as part of a larger blockbuster built around first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
There were other pieces involved as well, but essentially the Red Sox used a valuable commodity to unload their dead weight. In doing so they freed up resources that helped allow Boston to construct a World Series championship-winning roster the following year.
A similar deal in 2025 would probably involve packaging Story and Yoshida along with either Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu, possibly with additional prospects as well. Losing Duran or Abreu would hurt, but at some point the Red Sox are going to have to move one of their existing outfielders anyway, so this kind of deal would effectively get all of the messy business over with at once.
The end result post-trade would be a starting nine that looks something like this: Carlos Narvaez C, Triston Casas 1B (or TBD if still out injured), Kristian Campbell 2B, Marcelo Mayer SS, Alex Bregman 3B (assuming he doesn’t opt out), Roman Anthony OF, Ceddanne Rafaela OF, Wilyer Abreu or Jarren Duran OF (whoever remains), Rafael Devers DH.
That’s pretty much the group everyone has been waiting for, right? It might not be pretty at first as the young players endure their early-career growing pains, but throughout this five-year rebuild the light at the end of the tunnel was always the idea of seeing guys like Mayer and Anthony step up and become the faces of the club’s next great championship contender.
Now that vision is just about a reality, and if this year’s group can’t turn things around the Red Sox would do best to turn things over to the next generation and see what the kids are capable of.
The Red Sox arrived in Atlanta on their first five-game losing streak of the season, fresh off getting swept in Milwaukee, where the Brewers had walked them off in each of the last two games.
On Friday night, Boston bounced back with a 5-1 come-from-behind win and one of their most complete, high-caliber performances in weeks.
The outlook wasn’t bright early on. This beleaguered Boston ballclub ran the whole gamut of their issues in the opening frame, wasting a pair of base runners – Rafael Devers singled and Wilyer Abreu walked – in the top of the first, and gifting the Braves a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. They fell behind on an RBI single by Matt Olson and an error, which was charged to right-fielder Wilyer Abreu rather than rookie catcher Carlos Narváez, who couldn’t keep the throw in his glove.
It looked like the makings of yet another frustrating night of Red Sox baseball. They entered Friday with the most errors in the American League (46), one shy of the Colorado Rockies, and leading Major League Baseball in runners left on base and strikeouts with men in scoring position.
Grant Holmes may have pitched a complete game, if not for Abraham Toro. The utility man had three hits, scored Boston’s first run, and plated an additional run with a wall-ball RBI double that knocked the Braves starter out of the game after 5.2 innings. Toro’s teammates collectively had three hits against Holmes.
Toro has quietly been one of the most productive bats during the club’s prolonged offensive slump. Since getting called up to take Triston Casas’ spot at the start of the month, he’s hit .294 with a .843 OPS. Over eight games dating back to last Friday, he’s 10 for 25 (.400) with three doubles and two home runs.
With Toro as the catalyst, the Red Sox slowly gathered steam. In the fourth, they finally got what they’ve been sorely missing from one of their veteran leaders. Trevor Story had just one extra-base hit off a non-position player and 42 strikeouts in his last 31 games when he came to the plate with two outs and Toro on with his second hit. After a drought of 57 at-bats, Story turned the first pitch he saw into a 431-foot, 109 mph homer and a 2-1 Boston lead.
“It felt great,” Story told the AppleTV+ broadcast of the team’s first win since last Saturday. “Had the off-day yesterday, nice to reset a little bit, kind of get our bearings.”
As for his home run, after just one extra-base hit off a non-position player in his last 31 games?
“It felt amazing,” Story said.
Toro came through with his glove, too. Taking over for Garrett Whitlock with two on and two out in the seventh, Brennan Bernardino found himself in the middle of what initially looked like a repeat of the team’s first-inning defensive debacle. Matt Olson ground a 3-2 pitch up the middle, where Story threw it on a hop to first, where Toro made a diving catch and threw wide of home, where a run scored. Olson was initially ruled safe, as it appeared Toro’s foot had already left the bag when the ball entered his glove, but the Red Sox successfully changed, erasing the run and any further threat.
For a team which has had some truly terrible luck, it was a well-deserved break.
“That was incredible,” Story raved. “I did the first half but he did the hardest part, I think, in staying on the base, making the pick on an in-between hop, and he doesn’t play over there much.”
Kristian Campbell also had a well-deserved night at the plate in his first career game at his hometown ballpark. In front of dozens of friends and family, the rookie went 2 for 4.
There was another multi-hit performance from Rafael Devers, who went 2 for 4, drove in a pair of runs in the ninth, and added to his American League-leading walk total with his 46th free pass of the season. The last Sox player to walk as many times in his first 59 games of the season was Kevin Youkilis in 2010.
It’s been a masterful month of May-hem for Devers: he’s hit .370 with a .484 on-base percentage and .630 slugging percentage in 27 games.
“We talk about it all the time,” Story said of Devers. “Feels like he’s in total command in the box. In my opinion, the best left-handed hitter in the game, and just so pumped he’s on our team, man. He sets the tone.”
For the last several weeks, manager Alex Cora has spoken about the rotation needing to pitch deeper in games. Yet Giolito was just the latest in a long line of early exit. Friday was the eighth time a Sox starter exited before completing the fifth inning, with a pitch count under 90 and no more than two runs allowed. It was the seventh such start since May 8, and the sixth since May 19.
Giolito was at 85 pitches after 4.2 innings of one-run ball when Cora came out to the mound. Yet given who was on-deck to hit, the early hook made sense; Olson entered the contest 7 for 10 with four career home runs against Giolito.
Justin Wilson, Whitlock, Bernardino, Greg Weissert and Aroldis Chapman pitched the rest of the way. The Red Sox had a four-run lead when Cora sent his closer to the mound. Chapman slammed the door with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Red Sox are 28-31. Game 2 is a 4:10 p.m. on Saturday.
Saturday was a whirlwind day for Marcelo Mayer, who found out he was being called up for his MLB debut just a few hours before the game was scheduled to begin. That made it impossible for his family to make the cross-country flight from southern California, but by Sunday his parents were in the stands and Mayer quickly made their trip a memorable one.
The highly touted Red Sox rookie picked up his first career hit, ripping an opposite field single his first time up in the bottom of the second. Mayer drew a huge ovation from the crowd and was able to get the ball back for posterity, but unfortunately for Boston the hit was one of the only offensive highlights of the day.
Marcelo Mayer gets his first Major League hit in front of his friends and family ♥️ pic.twitter.com/Pnd5045UeU
The Red Sox bats fell quiet again in what wound up being a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Sunday’s series finale. Jarren Duran went 4 for 5 and Mayer went 2 for 4 with a double, but the club couldn’t sustain any offense until the ninth inning, by which point the Red Sox had too much ground to make up.
The loss drops Boston (27-28) back below .500 on the season and caps off a 5-5 homestand.
The Orioles didn’t muster much in terms of offense early on themselves, but what little they cobbled together would have been more than enough. Baltimore took a 1-0 lead off Red Sox starter Walker Buehler in the top of the fourth on a Ramon Urias sacrifice fly and then tacked on a pair of solo home runs in the ensuing innings.
Dylan Carlson had the first off Buehler to lead off the fifth, a cheap one that curled around Pesky’s Pole into the right field stands, and Ryan O’Hearn added the second off reliever Greg Weissert in the sixth.
Buehler, making his second start since coming off the injured list and his first full effort after being ejected in the third inning last time out for arguing with the home plate umpire, allowed two runs over five innings on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 85 pitches but only generated six whiffs on 41 swings.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer enjoyed one of his best outings of the season, holding the Red Sox scoreless over 5.1 innings while giving up seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Boston had only two good scoring opportunities in the game and weren’t able to capitalize on either. In the bottom of the first Duran led off with a single and reached second after Carlos Narvaez (2 for 3) walked, but rookie Kristian Campbell grounded out to end the threat.
Things played out similarly in the third as well. Duran led off the inning with another single, and then Narvaez singled and stole second to put men at second and third with two outs. Campbell once again came to the plate but grounded out to shortstop for the third out.
Abraham Toro hit a ground rule double and advanced to third in the fourth, but the Red Sox couldn’t get him home either. Boston didn’t have another runner advance past first base until the bottom of the ninth.
In the meantime, things took an ugly turn in the eighth.
After Gunnar Henderson led off the inning with a walk off freshly called up reliever Zack Kelly, O’Hearn hit a double into the right field gap that should have put two men into scoring position with no outs. But on the throw back to the infield Ceddanne Rafaela’s throw got away and wound up hitting O’Hearn in the leg, bouncing into no man’s land and allowing Henderson to score.
Then, trying to gun down O’Hearn at third base, Mayer made what could be generously described as a rookie mistake and threw the ball away, allowing the Orioles designated hitter to score and completing the Little League home run.
O’Hearn finished 3 for 3 with a home run, double, walk and RBI. He finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Mayer atoned for the error by hammering a double into the right field gap to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and he came around to score his first career run on Abraham Toro’s subsequent RBI single. But that was as close as Boston got, with the Red Sox finishing 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine men on base.
The Red Sox will now open a six-game road trip with a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers. Garrett Crochet (4-3, 1.98) is slated to take the mound on Memorial Day Monday against Brewers right-hander Chad Patrick (2-4, 3.23). First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m.
Several hours before first pitch on Sunday, several Red Sox players and coaches took the field to run through some pregame ground ball drills. Two of those were rookies Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, and the sight of the top prospects working together at Fenway Park was one fans have long dreamed of.
The only thing was, most people probably envisioned Campbell and Mayer working together at second base and shortstop, not first and third base.
Marcelo Mayer is taking ground balls at third and throwing to Kristian Campbell at first, exactly like we expected to see at Fenway Park all along. pic.twitter.com/vtPM3R3DJa
With the Red Sox ravaged by injury, two of the club’s “Big Three” have now reached the majors but will likely spend a good amount of time playing unfamiliar positions out of necessity.
Mayer is primarily a shortstop who has lately spent more time at second base in anticipation of his potential call-up, but following Alex Bregman’s injury the 22-year-old is expected to get most of his time at third base, where he’d only ever played six games professionally in the minors prior to his MLB debut on Saturday.
Campbell, meanwhile, remains Boston’s everyday second baseman but is being groomed for a potential move to first base to help fill the void left by the injuries to Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez.
However the opportunities may come it’s still an exciting time for the Red Sox, who finally get to see some of their most acclaimed young players compete on the highest stage.
Though as Campbell’s last few weeks have shown, there will be growing pains along the way.
Mayer’s MLB debut on Saturday was a whirlwind, and while the day nearly had a storybook ending with Mayer coming up in a huge spot in the ninth inning, the rookie still finished 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in his first game. Cora said that for all Mayer’s poise he was still understandably nervous, but going forward he expects Mayer will settle in as things get back to normal.
“One thing I told him was enjoy it, it doesn’t matter the result. 0 for 4 with four strikeouts or 4 for 4 with four home runs, whatever, just enjoy it, you’re a big leaguer and no one is going to take that away from you,” Cora said. “Now I think his family flew in, they made it, so he’s playing. He’s going to have a blast anyway, he loves the game, we met today to go over a few things and he’s excited about the opportunity. But yesterday was fast. Very, very fast.”
Mayer was back in the lineup again Sunday batting sixth, right behind Campbell in the five spot. It might look a little different now, but if things go according to plan Red Sox fans can expect to see those two together in the middle of the order for a long time.
Starters announced
Cora announced the club’s starters for the upcoming series against the Milwaukee Brewers, saying Garrett Crochet will pitch the opener on Monday, Tuesday’s starter remains to be determined, and Brayan Bello will pitch the finale on Wednesday.
None of Boston’s five starters are expected to be available on regular rest Tuesday as a result of this past week’s postponements and Saturday’s doubleheader. The Red Sox will most likely instead need to call up a spot starter or attempt a bullpen game.
Extra innings
While Alex Bregman (right quad strain) is highly regarded for his impact in the clubhouse, Cora said the third baseman won’t travel with the team on road trips while he’s on the IL so that he can focus on his rehab. … Richard Fitts (right pectoral strain) is expected to make his next rehab start on Tuesday when the WooSox travel to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. … Infielder Romy Gonzalez (left quad contusion) will most likely need to go on a rehab assignment before he’s ready to return to the majors, Cora said.
Entering the season it looked like catcher was one of the Red Sox’s biggest areas of weakness. Connor Wong was the organization’s only established big league backstop, and with top prospect Kyle Teel gone as part of the Garrett Crochet blockbuster there didn’t seem to be much depth available behind him.
As luck would have it, the Red Sox wound up finding a diamond in the rough mere hours after dealing Teel away.
Carlos Narvaez was hardly Boston’s most heralded offseason acquisition, but the rookie catcher has been a revelation in his first full season as a big leaguer. Originally acquired from the New York Yankees in exchange for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Narvaez has been not only a legitimate MLB contributor, but arguably one of the most productive catchers in baseball through the season’s first two months.
Watching Narvaez play, you wouldn’t know that he came into the season with just six games of big league experience.
Entering Saturday, Narvaez was batting .291 with five home runs, 17 RBI and an .837 OPS, and since April 18 he’s batted .349 with all five of his homers and a 1.015 OPS over 24 games. His 1.9 Wins Above Replacement is tied for second in MLB among catchers who have played at least half of their games at the position, behind only Seattle standout Cal Raleigh.
Defensively Narvaez has been brilliant. His plus-eight defensive runs saved is tied with San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey for the best mark of any catcher in baseball and is tied for the fifth-best mark in MLB across all positions. Only Tampa Bay shortstop Taylor Walls (plus-12), Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson (plus-11), Red Sox teammate Ceddanne Rafaela (plus-10) and Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner (plus-nine) have been better, according to Fangraphs.
“So far so good. He will struggle at one point, hopefully he doesn’t, but this is a league that makes adjustments,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “One thing that he does pretty well, he has a plan and he sticks to it. The other thing he has too is he can hit a line drive to right field whenever he feels like it. He can stay inside and take a single and when you have that you can survive when things are not going great.”
Though Narvaez’s offense has exceeded expectations, his abilities as a catcher haven’t caught any of his teammates by surprise. Narvaez has always been highly regarded for his defense and catching abilities dating back to his time in the Yankees minor league system, where he developed a reputation as the guy everyone enjoyed working with.
“He was the catching guy, he was the guy everyone wanted to throw to,” said right-hander Richard Fitts, who has known Narvaez since 2021 when they were both teammates with the Yankees’ High-A affiliate. “He was receiving really well, he had the mind of a big league catcher and he was picking it up with his bat then and getting going. We all loved throwing to him then and I was really happy when we picked him up this offseason.”
“He does all his homework, he’s confident back there, obviously his receiving numbers are great so half the time you’re like where’s that pitch? And you go back at the video and it’s two balls off but he makes it look so good,” said right-hander Greg Weissert, who also played with Narvaez in the Yankees system. “He’s stealing pitches for you and behind in the count or whatever it is, I think watching all the replays of the game makes you realize how many he’s getting.”
Upon joining the organization Narvaez made a point to get to know his new pitchers right away, reporting to Fort Myers well before he was required to jumpstart that process.
“You have to have that relationship and I think that work started in spring training,” Narvaez said. “Get closer to them, hang out with them, have dinner with them, build those relationships, that’s the most important thing for a catcher.”
Those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Several pitchers who hadn’t previously worked with Narvaez have complimented him throughout the season, and he’s also drawn high praise from Jason Varitek, the club’s game planning coordinator and one of the best catchers in club history.
“Carlos is what we envisioned,” Varitek told the Herald on April 19. “An elite defender, an elite receiver.”
“In a nutshell, Carlos is a baseball player,” he added, “and it’s a compliment (to him) and a compliment for this industry and Red Sox Nation. He’s a baseball player and he exudes baseball.”
For everything Narvaez has accomplished so far in his young career, the fact that he’s made the transition as a rookie to the majors so seamlessly shouldn’t be overlooked. Going from sparsely filled minor league facilities to Fenway Park can be overwhelming for some, but Narvaez — who comes from an accomplished baseball family — said he’s been uniquely well prepared for the bright lights.
“I think the Venezuelan Winter League helped me a lot,” Narvaez said, noting that his team played in the league’s championship series the last two seasons. “When you play those games it’s like 20,000 people. I’ve been playing in that environment for the last two years so I think that’s huge for me.”
Though Cora has insisted the catcher spot remains a two-person tandem, the balance of playing time has clearly shifted from Wong towards Narvaez. Entering Saturday’s doubleheader the rookie had started 11 of the club’s prior 12 games, and overall the Red Sox are 21-14 in games that Narvaez has started.
Narvaez was penciled into the cleanup spot for the first time in his career in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader as well.
Like fellow rookie Kristian Campbell — and most others — Narvaez will eventually encounter some adversity, but for now he’s been everything the Red Sox could have asked for and more.
“It’s fun to see because I’ve seen him be one of the best catchers and one of the guys everyone wants to throw to, and him being able to pick it up with his bat a little bit and show what he’s made of, it’s really fun,” Fitts said. “It’s like he’s beyond his years.”
It’s been a rough season for Jackson Holliday and the Baltimore Orioles so far. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
O’s paying for not seizing moment
This should have been the Baltimore Orioles’ year.
After a painful period of tanking and rebuilding, the Orioles assembled an exceptional collection of young talent and looked poised to contend for years to come. The group finally broke out in 2023 and has made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and last year the club was purchased by billionaire David Rubenstein, who seemingly had the resources to help elevate what had long been one of the most cash-strapped franchises in the sport to a financial heavyweight.
Orioles fans went into the offseason with every reason to expect some big swings. Instead the club sat on its hands, and now it’s reaping what it sowed.
The Orioles have been perhaps the most disappointing team in the league. Entering Saturday the Orioles were last in the AL East and 11 games back of the first-place Yankees, and their 16 wins were tied with the lowly White Sox for the fewest in the American League. Baltimore’s pitching staff has been a disaster, and even the club’s talented young core of position players has underperformed.
Baltimore has already fired Brandon Hyde, who won AL Manager of the Year just two years ago, and the club’s playoff odds entering Saturday sat at a dismal 1.6%.
How could this have happened?
Almost everything that could have gone wrong for the Orioles so far has, but Baltimore also had a golden opportunity to supercharge its already immensely talented roster and punted. Most glaring was the club’s failure to adequately address its starting rotation. The Orioles not only lost ace Corbin Burnes to the Diamondbacks in free agency, but then replaced him with 41-year-old Charlie Morton, who has a 7.68 ERA and is no longer in the rotation.
The other biggest addition to the club’s pitching staff was 35-year-old Japanese veteran Tomoyuki Sogano, who has actually been pretty good (3.07 ERA in 58.2 innings) but who wasn’t regarded as the kind of frontline arm Baltimore should have been targeting.
With so much young talent to dangle in trade talks and loads of money to spend, the Orioles should have had an offseason much like Boston’s. Garrett Crochet easily could have been theirs, and so could any other number of premier players.
Instead the Orioles missed their moment, and now their seemingly bright future suddenly looks a lot murkier.
Former Worcester Academy standout Matt Shaw was recently called back up to the Chicago Cubs’ big league roster. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Shaw returns
Top Chicago Cubs prospect Matt Shaw, a former Worcester Academy standout, endured a rocky start to his big league career. The Brimfield native was sent back to Triple-A last month after batting .172 over his first 18 games, but earlier this week Shaw was called back up and is already looking much better. The 23-year-old has gone 5 for 16 (.313) with three doubles and two stolen bases in his first four games back in the majors. … Former Central Catholic standout Cam Devanney is making a strong case for a big league call-up. The 28-year-old from Amherst, N.H., was batting .313 with 11 home runs and a 1.040 OPS through his first 33 games with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate. … Rowley’s Thomas White continues to rise through the rankings and is now up to No. 26 on Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list. The left-hander from Phillips Andover has posted a 3.24 ERA with 37 strikeouts over 25 innings through his first six starts with the Marlins’ High-A affiliate, though he hasn’t pitched since May 9 due to left index finger soreness, according to Isaac Azout of Fish on First.
The top Red Sox prospect will start at third base and bat sixth for the Red Sox when he makes his major league debut in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles.
Lucas Giolito (1-1, 7.08) will take the mound for the Red Sox against Orioles left-hander Trevor Rogers (season debut).
Mayer was selected No. 4 overall in the 2021 MLB Draft and has ranked as one of Boston’s most highly touted young players ever since. He currently ranks as the No. 8 prospect in MLB according to Baseball America and is Boston’s No. 2 prospect behind outfielder Roman Anthony, the consensus top prospect in the sport.
Mayer becomes the second of Boston’s “Big Three” prospects to reach the majors this season, joining fellow infielder Kristian Campbell, who made the club out of spring training and will be batting cleanup for the Red Sox on Saturday evening.
Red Sox lineup
Jarren Duran LF
Rafael Devers DH
Rob Refsnyder RF
Kristian Campbell 2B
Trevor Story SS
Marcelo Mayer 3B
Nick Sogard 1B
Connor Wong C
Ceddanne Rafaela CF
Lucas Giolito P
How to watch
When: 6:35 p.m.
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
Broadcast info: NESN, WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish), WESX 1230 AM (Spanish)
Alex Cora has spoken recently of how he’s been tempted to bat hot-hitting rookie Carlos Narvaez higher in the order.
Saturday he finally gave in and penciled the catcher into the cleanup spot.
Narvaez will start in the No. 4 spot for the first time in his career in Saturday afternoon’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, the first game of the day’s doubleheader. The move is a significant lineup change and a major vote of confidence in the rookie, who is batting .349 with a 1.015 OPS since April 18.
Narvaez will bat behind Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and Wilyer Abreu, all left-handed hitters. Nick Sogard will start at third base in place of Alex Bregman, who left Friday’s game with quad tightness, and Abraham Toro will start at first.
Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 3.62) will take the mound for Boston against Baltimore’s Zach Eflin (3-2, 5.08). The Red Sox also announced they have called up right-hander Cooper Criswell as their 27th man for the doubleheader.
First pitch for Game 1 is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
Red Sox lineup
Jarren Duran LF
Rafael Devers DH
Wilyer Abreu RF
Carlos Narvaez C
Nick Sogard 3B
Trevor Story SS
Abraham Toro 1B
David Hamilton 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF
Hunter Dobbins P
How to watch
When: 1:05 p.m.
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
Broadcast info: NESN, FS1, MLB Network (out-of-market only), WEEI 93.7 FM, WCCM 1490 AM (Spanish), WESX 1230 AM (Spanish)
With the Red Sox bullpen gassed after three straight games in which the starting pitcher failed to finish five innings, it would’ve seemed logical that Alex Cora would lean on his ace to go deep into Wednesday’s game.
But asked pregame if having Crochet pitching gave him comfort, Cora offered an answer that proved prophetic.
“Yeah but no, we’ve got to be careful too, he’s very important to what we’re trying to accomplish, you know? And every five days to push him to the limit, we’re playing a dangerous game,” Cora said. “Obviously the conditions are not great, where we’re at bullpen-wise is where we’re at, we won the series yesterday, we want more, of course, but at the same time knowing that it’s 162 (games) and to do cool things in August, September and hopefully October, we have to be very careful.”
Hours later, Cora pulled Crochet with one out in the sixth inning of a tie ballgame even though the left-hander had only thrown 85 pitches. In doing so the Red Sox bullpen once again had to pitch more than three innings, and this time the group couldn’t hold the New York Mets at bay in what wound up being a 5-1 loss.
Brett Baty delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit with his two-run single in the top of the seventh, and he finished 2 for 3 with three RBI.
Coming off a tough-luck loss against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale last Friday, Crochet found himself matched up against another worthy opponent Wednesday in New York’s Tylor Megill. The right-hander has been one of the Mets’ most overpowering arms all season, and he gave the Red Sox all kinds of trouble through the first four innings.
Wielding a mid-to-high 90s fastball while mixing in some effective breaking pitches, Megill struck out six of the first nine Red Sox batters he faced before striking out the side in a dominant fourth. Up to that point the Red Sox managed only two hits against the 29-year-old, with the lone scoring opportunity coming courtesy of a Nick Sogard ground rule double in the second.
Once the fifth began, however, the Red Sox began to figure Megill out. Boston loaded the bases with one out on singles by Sogard and Carlos Narvaez and a hit by pitch on Ceddanne Rafaela. That brought up Jarren Duran, and the outfielder crushed one 108.3 mph off the bat that looked ticketed for the right field bleachers.
On a normal late-May night it surely would have gone for a grand slam, but with temperatures a chilly 52 degrees at first pitch and dropping throughout the evening, Duran had to settle for a game-tying sacrifice fly.
Devers subsequently drew a walk to reload the bases and chase Megill, but reliever Huascar Brazoban was able to shut down the rally by striking out Alex Bregman looking.
On the other side, Crochet wasn’t as overpowering as usual, but he got the job done.
The left-hander limited the Mets to one run over 5.1 innings, and the only damage coming in the second on an RBI single by Brett Baty. The play nearly scored two, but Rafaela was able to throw out Luis Torrens at the plate to end the inning, with Narvaez completing the play with a great tag as Torrens reached home.
Crochet only struck out five batters, but three of those came courtesy of Soto, who looked completely discombobulated. Known for his mastery of the strike zone, Soto struck out looking in each of his first two trips to the plate, and in each at bat all three strikes were called.
Soto went down swinging his third time up, but that time he chased a sweeper well out of the zone, the sort of pitch he normally doesn’t sniff.
Following the last Soto strikeout, Cora emerged from the dugout to take the ball from his ace. Crochet appeared to anticipate the hook, and before Cora even reached him he took a step towards his manager and reached for his hand. Cora walked him back and held a brief meeting on the mound with all the infielders before motioning to the bullpen.
First up was Liam Hendriks, who was among the only fresh arms available after the Red Sox used six relievers in Tuesday’s win. Once a top candidate for the closer job, Hendriks has pitched infrequently and mostly in low leverage situations since coming off the injured list, and while he was able to get two quick strikeouts to finish the sixth, things went sideways for the veteran in the seventh.
Hendriks allowed three straight singles to load the bases with no outs, and all three inherited runners came around to score after left-hander Brennan Bernardino allowed a two-run single to Baty and a sacrifice fly to Soto, which like Duran’s might have gone for a grand slam on a warmer night.
New York extended its lead on a solo home run by Francisco Lindor off Sean Newcomb in the top of the ninth, and the Red Sox offense never threatened again after squandering its bases loaded chance in the fifth.
It was a particularly miserable night for Bregman, who went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts in the loss.
Coming into Wednesday Crochet had been among the most heavily used pitchers in the majors. He was tied for third in MLB in innings pitched (63) and second in pitches thrown (991), and he’s on pace to comfortably clear his career-high in innings set last year (146), which itself was nearly triple his previous best.
After signing Crochet to a six-year extension in April the club has a strong incentive to avoid running their workhorse into the ground, even if it arguably hurt the team’s chances to win in the short-term.
On the flip side, the offense also had only two at bats with runners in scoring position the entire game, so winning would have been a tall order no matter how deep Crochet pitched.
Alex Cora won’t be managing Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets, but the Red Sox skipper has a good reason to be away.
He will be down the road at Boston College celebrating his daughter Camila’s graduation.
“It’s going to be a very special day, one that I’m not going to miss,” Cora said. “I 100% will miss the game for that and I’ll do that any given day because it’s going to be a special day for us.”
Cora spoke at length prior to Sunday’s finale against the Atlanta Braves about his daughter and what the past few years have been like managing the team with her attending college down the road. He said the experience “went really fast” and that he couldn’t be prouder of the person she’s become.
“For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job staying the course and while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing, Nilda was amazing with her. She’s actually a reflection of her, and I appreciate everything she’s done for her and for us,” Cora said. “Obviously our lives changed throughout and Angelica (Cora’s partner) has become like a mentor to her too and they’re very close and the fact that we were here while she was going through college, it meant a lot.”
He went on to reflect about how Camila was still just a little girl when the Red Sox enjoyed some of their most recent playoff successes, including the 2018 World Series victory against the Dodgers and the club’s last playoff series win over the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021.
“Now she’s not a little girl, she’s a woman,” Cora said. “She’s been a great student and the future is bright for her and we’re very proud of her.”
Starters announced
Prior to Sunday’s game Cora announced the upcoming starters for this week’s series against the New York Mets. Hunter Dobbins will start Monday’s opener, Tuesday’s starter is officially to be announced but Walker Buehler will most likely be activated from the injured list, and Garrett Crochet will pitch Wednesday’s finale.
The Mets are expected to go with Kodai Senga on Monday, Clay Holmes on Tuesday and Tylor Megill on Wednesday.
Extra innings
Infielder Romy Gonzalez (left quad contusion) is still feeling soreness when he slows down but could be activated by the end of the week. … Right-hander Richard Fitts (right pectoral strain) will throw a bullpen on Tuesday and is expected to begin a rehab assignment late in the week. … Right-hander Tanner Houck (right flexor pronator strain) has been shut down from throwing. … MLB announced Sunday that Phillies pitcher Jose Alvarado has been suspended 80 games without pay after testing positive for exogenous Testosterone, a performance-enhancing substance. Alvarado’s suspension is effective immediately and upon his return he will be ineligible to play in the postseason.
