Red Sox rally falls short as Braves hand Boston fourth straight loss

The Red Sox made one final push in the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough.

Despite homers from Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Boston dropped its fourth straight game Tuesday night, falling 7-6 to the Braves at Fenway Park.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 22-31 on the season and a season-worst nine games below .500. Boston is now just 8-18 at Fenway Park and has lost seven of its last eight home games.

The Red Sox couldn’t have scripted a much better start.

Duran jumped on an 0-1 fastball from Spencer Strider and launched it 412 feet into the right-field bleachers for his 10th career leadoff home run, tying Jacoby Ellsbury for the second-most leadoff homers in franchise history.

Three pitches later, Rafaela followed by crushing a hanging slider over the Green Monster to make it 2-0.

According to the Sox, it marked the first time the Red Sox opened a game with back-to-back home runs since May 31, 2016, when Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia accomplished the feat against Baltimore.

Duran and Rafaela also became just the second pair of Red Sox teammates to homer consecutively this season, joining Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu on May 5 against Detroit.

After the rocky start, however, Strider settled in.

The right-hander retired nine of the next 10 hitters he faced and largely silenced Boston’s offense over the middle innings. 

Strider went five innings, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts. After the back-to-back homers to open the game, he retired 15 of his next 19 faced. 

The Braves continue to win whenever Strider pitches. Atlanta improved to 5-0 in his starts this season, joining Hurston Waldrep (5-0 in 2025), Max Fried (5-0 in 2024 and 8-0 in 2020), and Strider’s own 7-0 run in 2023 as the only Braves starters since 2014 to open a season with a team record of at least 5-0 in their outings, according to Elias Sports Bureau. 

Meanwhile, Ranger Suarez cruised through four scoreless innings before Atlanta finally broke through in the fifth.

After retiring Sandy León and striking out Ronald Acuña Jr., Suarez issued a two-out walk to Mauricio Dubón. That brought up Matt Olson, who punished a pitch to right field for a game-tying two-run homer.

The blast was Olson’s 15th of the season and gave him 44 RBI.

Atlanta grabbed control for good in the sixth.

Austin Riley led off the inning with a triple before Eli White walked and Michael Harris II delivered an RBI ground-rule double. Suarez exited without recording an out in the frame, and Greg Weissert inherited runners at second and third.

A groundout plated one run before Acuña lined an RBI single to center, extending Atlanta’s lead to 5-2.

Suarez was charged with five earned runs on six hits over five-plus innings. He walked three, hit a batter, struck out four and allowed more earned runs than he had in any previous start this season.

“I thought he was really good, man. I really do,” Chad Tracy said. “You look at the line, it doesn’t match the way he threw the ball.”

Weissert’s struggles with inherited runners continued as well. He has now allowed nine of 18 inherited runners to score this season.

The Red Sox had an immediate opportunity to answer in the bottom half of the sixth.

Boston loaded the bases with nobody out against Braves reliever Didier Fuentes but managed only a single run. Mickey Gasper grounded into a run-scoring double play before Dylan Lee entered and retired Nick Sogard to escape the jam.

That missed opportunity loomed large and would haunt the Sox later in the game.

Kiner-Falefa helped Boston inch closer in the seventh with his first home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-4.

Tracy said the repeated near misses have been “tough” but also a sign that the club isn’t willing to wave the white flag.

“You don’t want to be in that position, you love to see the group fight and put themselves in position again, to not only tie the game but win the game,” Tracy said. “You want to see that, it’s awesome, but we want to put ourselves in some positions to be in the lead, like they are, and use our back end guys, but certainly they’re not rolling over.”

But Atlanta answered right back.

Harris completed a huge night at the plate in the eighth inning when he launched a two-run homer off Tyron Guerrero to restore a three-run cushion. Harris finished 4-for-4 with three RBI and fell just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

“They’re good, their record is what it is for a reason. They can hit,” Tracy said of the Braves offense. “But we’ve had some guys go out there and start against them there and here and pitch effectively. That’s part of it. We have to beat them.”

Boston made things interesting one final time in the ninth.

Gasper singled and Sogard doubled to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Kiner-Falefa delivered again, lining a two-run single to trim Atlanta’s lead to 7-6.

Duran followed with a