With less than two weeks to go before the deadline, a slow start to the second half was the last thing the Red Sox needed.
Unfortunately, their first opponent out of the All-Star break was none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Predictably, Boston ran into a buzzsaw…
A late grand slam by Freddie Freeman doomed the Sox on Friday, a blown save by Kenley Jansen came back to bite them on Saturday. Then on Sunday, it was the long ball that stung Boston — six times, to be precise — in a 9-6 defeat.
That included a monster 473-foot home run by some guy named Shohei Ohtani to make it 6-2 in the fifth. L.A. scored runs in four of the first five innings and tacked on late to steadily build a lead that the Sox couldn’t overcome.
Oh my goodness Shohei Ohtani just obliterated a baseball.
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) July 22, 2024
He hit it 116.7 mph off the bat and it went 473 feet.
It almost went out of Dodger Stadium.
It's his 30th home run of the season.
This guy is unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/vmLGFQAhAQ
What was a team that was 11 games over .500 heading into the break is now eight games over at 53-45. Boston was within 4 1/2 games of first place in the AL East before the series. Now, they’re 6 1/2 back and are back on the outside looking in, one game back of Kansas City for the final AL wild card.
Boston’s starting pitching over the weekend was a mixed bag, with Kutter Crawford getting knocked around for six runs — including five homers — on seven hits in five innings. Bailey Horn and Chase Anderson each worked a pair of scoreless frames before Jansen again faltered with a three-run ninth, bloating his season ERA to 3.06.
Saturday’s game saw Brayan Bello continue his encouraging trend of strong starts by allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven in six innings. After Cam Booser and Josh Winckowski carried the baton forward with scoreless frames, Jansen gave up the tying shot to old friend Kike Hernandez.
It was then Greg Weissert who made matters worse, being charged with three runs in 1 1/3 innings in extras.
There were some positives over the weekend, like the pitching of Nick Pivetta and the continued dominance at the plate for Jarren Duran. The Sox also didn’t just roll over and die in the latter two games, as the offense continued to do some damage.
Pivetta pitched like an All-Star on Friday and had the Sox sitting pretty with a 1-0 lead heading into the eighth after tossing six scoreless, two-hit innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. Then Zack Kelly and Brennan Bernardino teamed up to allow four runs — with Bernie allowing the death blow on the Freeman slam.
Duran homered in the fifth of that game to put Boston in front. On Saturday, he went 2 for 3 with a pair of walks and two runs driven in on a fifth-inning double. He homered again on Sunday, a two-run blast in the first, and added a two-run double to make things more interesting in the ninth.
Not a bad showing from the All-Star Game MVP…
But all told, it was still a bad weekend for the Sox — both because of the results on the field, and also because of the message it may have sent to the front office.
Even though you and I still see a Red Sox team that has already proven it is worthy of investment by 6 p.m. ET on July 31, who’s to say that Craig Breslow, Sam Kennedy and the powers that be don’t look at this series and say “See, they really can’t hack it. It was all a mirage…”
Kennedy and Breslow have been clear that they’ll be monitoring the progress all the way up to the deadline, and unfortunately, this disappointing series was part of it.
Fortunately, it’s nothing a three-game series in Colorado can’t cure…
The Sox now head to Denver for a three-game set with the woeful Rockies, who began their second half by taking two of three against the Giants. Still, that can only improve Colorado’s record to… 36-64.
Boston will have Tanner Houck and Pivetta bookending the series on the mound, with Tuesday’s start currently a TBD. Unfortunately, the Sox will be without their closer for the three games as a prior heart condition is preventing Jansen from traveling to the high altitudes of Colorado.
Yet for a team that has been able to pick itself up off the mat over the last few months, even the lack of a talented pitcher like Jansen likely won’t keep Boston from winning the series. At the very least, the Sox need to take two of three from the Rocks — but a sweep is certainly in the cards.
Then we’re looking at another important showdown with the Yankees, this time back in Boston. That three-game set starts a six-game homestand that concludes against Seattle and will take them into the trade deadline.
Suffice it to say, the Sox are going to have their work cut out for them. Better take advantage of a layup series in Colorado, or Breslow and Kennedy might get cold feet and decide to punt on this season.
That would truly be a shame…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.
