BOSTON – With the elusive rally at last mounting in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park, Caleb Durbin, who had a successful ABS challenge earlier in the at-bat, took another shot at it.
The crowd rose with some anticipation, hoping Durbin could run the count to 2-2 and keep hope alive.
But upon review, Brent Headrick’s pitch was in the strike zone by 0.1 inches. Two runners were stranded. There would be no comeback.
And so it goes for the Red Sox, who fell to 9-14 with a 4-0 defeat to the Yankees in the first rivalry match of the season.
Offense, or lack thereof, was again the issue for Boston on a chilly night. The Sox mustered four hits, only two of which were hit well.
The lineup, which has a lot of youth, is trying to build an identity. But the group hasn’t been able to muster any consistency.
“Just try to scrap out at-bats,” Durbin said. “Our identity is to try and do our best to put the ball in play, work good at-bats, don’t chase, [take a ball, take a strike]. Swing at good pitches, and we just didn’t do a good job of that today.”
Luis Gil, who entered the contest with a 7.00 ERA in his first two starts, stifled the Sox, allowing two hits over 6 1/3 scoreless frames.
The game plan of forcing Gil to get deep into counts didn’t pan out.
“We'll talk about it. He threw strikes probably more than usual,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “But you still have to play the game [of taking more pitches], right? Trust the fact that he's not a strike-thrower and we got some pitches to hit. If we’re going to go early in the count, we’ve got to hit it hard. That’s the way I see it. You have to hit the ball hard early in counts if you're going to go.”
The veterans in the room – and there aren’t many – are trying to calm those with less experience. Willson Contreras, as a 33-year-old newcomer with a World Series ring in his possession, is doing what he can to convey the right message.
“When you’re young, you try to seek results day in and day out, and as young players, you just want results and want to win so badly. It’s part of baseball,” said Contreras. “But just knowing it’s a long season, I know we want to win more and produce a little more, but we have to be patient and trust the process.
“It’s a long season. It’s April, and the season ends in October. We just have to build that confidence up again, but at the end of the day we need to find a way to get better.”
The numbers show that the Red Sox need to get a lot better offensively if they are going to achieve their goal of a second straight appearance in the postseason.
Here is where the club ranked among MLB’s 30 teams following Tuesday night’s defeat:
• 21st in OBP (.314)
• 20th in BA (.229)
• 26th in runs (89)
• 29th in OPS (.652)
• 29th in SLG (.338)
• T-last in home runs (13)
Making it all the more daunting short term is that to win this series against the Yankees, the Sox will have to find a way to score enough against lefty ace Max Fried and young fireballer Cam Schlittler the next two nights.
Boston’s most talented hitter is Roman Anthony. But at 21, it’s a large burden to expect him to carry a slumping offense. He is slashing .225/.361/.325 with three doubles, one homer and four RBIs, numbers that aren’t close to what he did in his rookie season of 2025.
Marcelo Mayer is having similar struggles early in his second season. Durbin, acquired right before Spring Training after finishing third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting last season, is having a hard time getting going. Jarren Duran, in his fourth full season, is typically a key cog, but he has struggled and didn’t start Tuesday, and he might also be out Wednesday with a left-on-left matchup against Fried.
Contreras is off to a strong start, and Wilyer Abreu was red-hot early. Ceddanne Rafaela has been solid. So, too, has Masataka Yoshida, but he doesn’t play every day.
If the line starts moving, the burden would be lifted off of Anthony and others, and perhaps the results will improve.
“I think we're just looking to chain a few good games together,” said Durbin. “That's kind of the name of the game is try to get hot, try to get some momentum going. And like I said, flush this one. Try to get back at it tomorrow.”