All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Pirates, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Crawford shelled: Making his first start of the year, Kutter Crawford had a rough first inning, allowing three runs and suffering some bad luck with a ball that struck the first base bag and another that fell into shallow left for a gift single. But after handing the Pirates a 3-0 lead, his teammates bailed him out by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning. But Crawford got right back into trouble, allowing one run in the second, another in the third and two more in the fourth. "I thought I was pretty awful,'' concluded Crawford. "Physically, I felt good but I didn't command the ball the way I needed to, didn't execute pitches when I needed to. Just not a good performance on my part.'' Crawford pitched well in spring training, and the Sox were hopeful that he could slide into the rotation at the beginning of the year and help cover for the loss of three other starters. His first one, however, didn't provide much in the way of encouragement. He'll get one more start in Detroit this weekend
Yoshida swats first MLB homer: Masataka Yoshida has had a terrific first week with the Sox, showing his offensive skills and ability to get on base. On Monday, in the first inning, he connected for his first MLB homer, driving a pitch the other way and into the Monster Seats, tying the game at 3-3. "I swung well and I feel really good,'' said Yoshida through a team translator. He was greeted with a raucous celebration in the home dugout and was given some inflatable dumbbells as prop by his teammates. The homer showed off Yoshida's ability to hit the ball hard to the opposite field, a trait that should serve him well at Fenway. The only disappointing aspect was that Red Sox personnel were unable to secure the ball as a souvenir. The fans who caught the ball in the Monster Seats were unwilling to trade the ball for whatever was being offered in exchange. "I hope that ball is coming back one day,'' said Yoshida. "But it's more disappointing that we lost.''
Offense still producing: For the first time this season, the Red Sox failed to score nine runs Monday night, but they could hardly be faulted for managing to score six. As Crawford correctly noted, any time a team scores that many in support, it should result in a win. The Sox belted three homers in the first, with Rafael Devers and Triston Casas joining Yoshida with home runs of their own. But unlike the first three games, the lineup didn't add on much. After the first inning, the Sox managed just one more run -- the result of a soft line single to left by Adam Duvall, resulting in his 9th RBI of the young season. And there were chances: the Sox loaded the bases in the fifth with two out, but came up empty. And in the eighth, they had first-and-second and just one out, but couldn't get the tying run home.
TURNING POINT
In the fourth inning, with the game tied at 5-5, the Sox sent Crawford back out for one more inning, hoping to get three more outs from him before going into their overworked bullpen. The move backfired when Crawford surrendered two solo homers in the span of three hitters and the Sox were behind the rest of the way.
TWO UP
Alex Verdugo: Verdugo continues to take to the leadoff spot, reaching base three times with three singles and a run scored.
Zack Kelly: Kelly, pitching for the third time in the first four games, gave the Sox two shutout frames, covering the fifth and sixth innings and buying time for the Sox to try to catch up.
TWO DOWN
Christian Arroyo: Arroyo is the one regular who's yet to get hot in the lineup and he struggled through another tough game, going 0-for-3 with a walk.
Kiké Hernandez: After homering in each of the previous two games, Hernandez was hitless in five plate appearances and compounded things with a throwing error in the seventh inning.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"If I do my part tonight, we win that game -- easily. All the runs came off me. Offense did great, bullpen did great. That loss is all on me.'' - Kutter Crawford.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The bullpen supplied five scoreless innings and did not allow a hit or a walk to the final nine hitters faced.
* The three-homer first inning was the first inning with three homers for the Red Sox since July 19, 2019 at Toronto.
* The Sox have collected at least 10 hits in each of their first four games in a season for the seventh time in franchise history. It was last accomplished in 2016.
* Adam Duvall became the third player in Sox history to amass at least nine RBI in the first four games of the season. Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr are the others.
* Rafael Devers has reached base multiple times in each of the team's first four games.
UP NEXT
The interleague series with the Pirates continues Tuesday night with RHP Nick Pivetta vs. Roansy Contreras at 7:10 p.m.