Fenway struggles continue as Sox get swept at home for 2nd time in '26

BOSTON -- Having Sonny Gray on the hill provided no sunshine on Sunday, as the struggles at Fenway Park continued for the Red Sox, who were swept in three games by the Twins over the weekend.

Baseball’s worst team on its own turf, Boston dropped to 8-17 at home following Sunday’s 6-5 loss to Minnesota, its fourth straight defeat at Fenway.

They were able to create late chances to get back into the game and nearly walked things off when Isiah Kiner-Falefa just missed a three-run homer in the ninth inning.

With two runners on and one out, the third baseman launched a shot towards the Green Monster seats, but the wind had other plans, and Kiner-Falefa had to settle for a wall-ball double that drove in Nick Sogard and saw what would have been the tying run thrown out at the plate.

“I thought it was going to be a lot closer,” said Kiner-Falefa. “I thought I got it, honestly.”

“Soaking wet, raining, balls wet and then it’s going to skip on the throw,” explained interim manager Chad Tracy on the out at home. “I definitely understand the sentiment. It’s not easy to throw balls [in these conditions]. … I totally get it, being aggressive there with one out, trying to get the game tied.”

Playing in rain-soaked conditions throughout, Boston was able to battle back from a pair of early deficits, tying the game at 1 on Masataka Yoshida’s first home run of the season in the second and squaring things again at 3 behind a two-run shot from Willson Contreras in the fourth.

“I’m encouraged by the swing of a lot of guys,” said Tracy, whose team had 11 hits on the day, seven for extra bases. “Masa looked great. We hit a lot of balls hard. We hit for extra-base hits. We did a lot of good things offensively.”

A Marcelo Mayer fourth-inning single would have the team on top, 4-3.

Despite his team grabbing the lead, Gray would conclude his day after four innings in which he allowed 3 runs, 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4.

Asked about pitching in the rainy conditions, the Sox starter stated, “It was tough. No way around it. I could have been better. It was tough out there.”

“He was grinding, really from the first inning,” added Tracy. “I appreciate the grind because there were moments where it could have got worse and more runs added.”

Gray’s exit allowed Minnesota to attack Boston’s bullpen, which it did in the sixth inning to the tune of three runs, all coming with two outs.

Boston’s offense, hitting just .224 for the season at home, mounted rallies in the final two frames, bringing the tying run into scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for the second straight night. But again, the comeback fell short.

It was the third time this season that the Red Sox were swept, and second time at home. They’ll get an off-day on Monday before welcoming Atlanta in for a three-game series starting on Tuesday.

“Another great job battling back, putting runners on base, putting ourselves in position to tie or take the lead,” Tracy concluded. “Izzy hit the ball, looks like it’s going to be gone off the bat, the winds coming in, so it stays in. It’s tough.”

“To get swept here definitely hurts,” said Kiner-Falefa. “We feel it and as a group we really want to make our fanbase proud. We’ve got to find a way to stack some wins together at home and get back in the race. … It’s tough, but you look at the standings and somehow, we’re still in it. I think that helps a lot.”