Red Sox Vs. Braves
Oh How The Bullpen Has Fallen
As the calendar flipped over to a new week, the Red Sox certainly hoped that so too would their fortunes. It started off great with a road series sweep of the Kansas City Royals, but upon their return to Fenway Park, all momentum collapsed so suddenly as the Minnesota Twins continued having Boston’s number this season, as they proceeded to sweep them right back and overall take five out of six games against them in 2026.
It certainly did not help matters that the Atlanta Braves, who are one of, if not the best offensive team in baseball, were coming into town, and had already taken two out of three games against the Red Sox in Atlanta nearly two weeks ago. The series certainly started off in that fashion as well as the Braves held on long enough to take the opener, but Boston answered back with one of their best all around wins in the middle round. However, Atlanta used a trio of big swings to lift them in the finale, and ultimately take the series two games to one.
With a win and two losses, the Red Sox record now stands at 23-32, good for a season-high nine games under .500 and 12 games back of the first place Tampa Bay Rays. Additionally, the team falls to the fourth worst in the American League, with only the Kansas City Royals (22-34), Los Angeles Angels (22-35), and Detroit Tigers (22-35) each fare worse.
Game 1:
Kicking off the three-game set on Disability Pride Celebration night at Fenway, Boston had defacto ace, Ranger Suarez, take the mound while Atlanta countered with Spencer Strider. Right from the jump, everything was clicking all things Red Sox, as Suarez delivered a one-two-three top-of-the-first, while Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela began the bottom-of-the-inning by each clobbering home runs, which marked the first time since July 27, 2011 that the team went back to back to open up a game at Fenway.
With the 2-0 lead, Suarez continued to deal through the next three innings, but by the fifth inning, he began running into some trouble. He quickly got the first two outs with a popout and a strikeout, but proceeded to walk former Sox farmhand Mauricio Dubón to extend the inning to Matt Olson. Ultimately, it proved to be costly, because with one swing, he turned on an inside sinker and sent it nearly 430 feet into the right field seats for a game tying two-run home run.
Suarez did get out of the inning, but it all unraveled for him in the sixth, proceeding to give up a leadoff triple to Austin Riley and a walk to Eli White to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Michael Harris II then gave the Braves a lead, smoking a line drive into the warning track in right-center field that skipped into the Boston bullpen for a go-ahead RBI ground-rule double.
Chad Tracy saw enough at that point, and turned to the bullpen with Greg Weissert the first man out for Boston, and quickly got a first out via a Ha-Seong Kim groundout. He then got a second out in the form of old friend Dom Smith grounding out to the first baseman, but it was enough to bring in another run, and Ronald Acuña Jr. tagged on another with a line drive into left field for an RBI single before officially closing out the inning, but Atlanta would take the lead 5-2 when it was all said and done.
After being rock solid through his last few outings, Suarez ran into a bit of bad luck. Throwing five innings and 91 pitches (59 strikes), he’d allow five runs on six hits and three walks while striking out four. Through the first four innings, he looked like his normal self, but started running out of bullets deeper and deeper into his start. It began with the two-out walk in the fifth inning that led to the Olson home run, and by the sixth inning, he was just out of gas, and a few mistake pitches proved to be the difference maker.
The Red Sox would slowly climb back into the game, first in the sixth inning as they loaded the bases with a walk to Wilyer Abreu, a single from Willson Contreras, and another walk to Masataka Yoshida. Mickey Gasper would ground into a double play, but a run scored to make it 6-3.
In the seventh inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa continued his hot week of hitting by walloping a hanging slider up into the Monster seats for his first home run in a Boston uniform, and made it a two-run game with a 6-4 Braves lead.
Getting too close to comfort, the Braves looked to add on to their lead in the eighth, and they did with Mike Yastrzemski going to the opposite field for a single, and Michael Harris II golfed a changeup outside of the zone and hit it perfect-perfect over 420 feet to dead center for a two-run home run, making it 8-4 Atlanta and seemingly putting this game out of reach.
Ultimately, the Braves did win it, but the Red Sox wouldn’t go down without a fight. Gasper and Sogard began the ninth inning by hitting a single and double, respectively, with Kiner-Falefa picking up two more RBIs with a single back up the middle, making it 8-6 and giving him his best offensive performance with the team to date. However, the fun ended there, as Atlanta held it down from there to secure the opening victory.
Game 2:
Looking to answer back in a big way, it was Connelly Early for Boston going up against Bryce Elder for the Braves. Setting the momentum to start things off in the ballgame, the pitching did all of the talking for both teams through the first three innings. Things changed though in the fourth inning, as the Red Sox offense could only hope to be contained.
Yoshida began the frame with an opposite field single, Gasper drew a six-pitch walk, and Sogard laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Marcelo Mayer then came up to the dish, and proceeded to hit a bouncer that Olson could not handle at first base, scoring the game’s first run and creating momentum for a lot more to come.
Following the error, Boston strung together four consecutive RBI singles from Kiner-Falefa, Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu, ultimately bringing home six runs in the inning which was their second highest scoring inning of the season.
The offensive outburst was enough for Early to put together his best start of the season. Throwing seven shutout innings on 97 pitches (65 strikes) he’d allow four hits and three walks while striking out seven en route to his fifth win on the year. He faced a bit of traffic on the basepaths, but had no trouble working his way out of multiple jams, and did so in a few ways. Stuff wise, he generated 12 whiffs on the night and a 40% chase rate.
Early utilized a two pitch mix including his changeup to work both inside and outside of the zone, along with his fastball to help generate weak contact, and showed a ton of poise throughout the start.
The game was effectively won by this point, but just for good measure, the Red Sox added on two more runs. In the seventh inning, Gasper collected a one-out single going back up the middle, and after moving up to second from Sogard grounder to second, Mayer brought him home on a line drive RBI single into right field to make it 7-0. Duran then capped off a four hit day in the eighth inning in prime fashion, crushing a middle-in cutter 400 feet into the right field corner for a solo home run, making it 8-0 Boston which proved to be your final.
With a dominant outing from Early, along with two shutout innings out of the bullpen from Ryan Watson, going along with 15 hits, the Red Sox put together one of their most well-rounded wins of the season, as they snapped a five-game losing skid and looked to ride that wave into the series finale.
Game 3:
In search of their first series win at Fenway since April 9, Payton Tolle took the mound for Boston, while Atlanta brought out old friend, and 2018 World Series champion, Chris Sale, to face his former team. With Sale being a lefty, some changes were made into the lineup, including Andruw Monasterio batting fifth at designated hitter, along with Caleb Durbin making his return after a few days off with Sogard in his place primarily and Mayer sitting to begin the game.
Once again, pitching set the tone early on, with both hurlers tossing three shutout innings each. Unfortunately for Tolle, he was the first man to allow some damage, allowing a leadoff single to Olson, with Ozzie Albies following up with a double to put both runners in scoring position. Despite Tolle getting the next two outs via a Riley strikeout along with a lunging effort by Sogard at second to rob Harris II of a hit, he was unable to escape the damage.
Follow the two retired batters, the Braves collected back to back RBI singles from Jorge Mateo to Smith to bring in both runners and make it 2-0 Atlanta. However, the Red Sox refused to go down quietly in the bottom-of-the-inning, as Kiner-Falefa drew a leadoff walk, and Durbin, who had been quiet for the last week, made his presence known, hooking a ball fair down into the left field corner, allowing Kiner-Falefa to score all the way from first on an RBI double, with himself moving up to third on the throw home from Dubón to put them on the board.
On the very next batter, Duran blooped a ball into shallow left field, allowing Durbin to score and just like that, the game was tied back up at 2-2. Unfortunately for Boston, the fun ended right there, though they would not realize it just yet.
After securing the first two outs, Tolle’s day was over after four-and-two-third innings of work, with Guerrero finishing off the inning unscathed despite two runners on base. Throwing 94 pitches (64 strikes), he allowed the two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven.
After relying on a variety of pitches in most of his previous starts, Tolle relied heavily on his velocity pitches, relying heavily on his fastball and sinker, while pounding the strike zone with a 68% strike rating, and racked up 18 whiffs on the afternoon. However, his pitch count ran high early on in the game, with the Braves continuing to foul off his pitches and made him work for his outs. Nonetheless, like many of his starts, he still put the Red Sox in a position to win.
Unfortunately, quite the opposite happened, with Danny Coulombe coming in for the sixth inning, and proceeded to load up the bases with Harris II picking up a leadoff single, along with issuing back to back walks to Mateo and Smith, and leaving the game without recording an out. The next man up was Weissert, and his struggles of entering game with runners on came back to bite the team.
Pinch hitting for old friend Sandy Leon was Mike Yastrzemski, who collected an RBI as Atlanta had a batter walk for the third straight time and gave them a 3-2 lead. But then, all of the energy left Fenway with one swing, as Acuña Jr. demolished a middle-middle sinker over 415 feet on to Lansdowne Street for a grand slam, giving the Braves a 7-2 lead that was far too much to overcome.
Sometimes, teams let things continue to spin, and that is exactly what Boston did, as Atlanta collected two more long balls in the game. The first of the two came in the seventh inning, as Harris II took a hanging cutter from Morán into the Braves bullpen to make it 8-2, and after Olson led off the ninth with a double, Albies got himself a middle-middle sinker from Watson, and sent it 416 feet just to the right of the triangle for a two-run shot, putting the final touches on a 10-2 victory, along with the series win.
While the offense was getting their hits with eight on the day, they collected just two extra base hits while going 1 for 5 in RISP situations. But the biggest blow were the mistake pitches by the bullpen, as three long balls put this game well out of reach to end the homestand on a crushing blow.
MVP of the Series:
There are some slim pickings for this series with how things played out, but the three honorable mentions belong to Early, who tossed seven shutout innings in the lone win of the series, along with Rafaela continue his best offensive season, going 5 for 15 (.333) with a double, a home run, and 3 RBIs, along with Duran, who went 7 for 15 (.466) with two home runs and three RBIs playing in all three games of the series.
But for the first time this season, Isiah Kiner-Falefa has earned the MVP of the Series, as he completely turned both his season and outlook around. Ultimately, IKF went 5 for 15 (.333) across the three games with three walks, a home run, and four RBIs. He reached base three times in the opener, along with going perfect in the finale, reaching all four times.
At the time of writing this, Kiner-Falefa is now batting .300 with a .765 OPS, and with Tracy continuing to ride the hot hand in the lineup, he is now a fixture for the time being, especially with his flexibility on the defensive end and doing it well, collecting 4 outs above average to put himself in the 94th percentile.
It is not an understatement to say that most people did not have him putting up these types of numbers, but he has turned his season around, and is starting to cement himself as a key piece of the 2026 season.
What’s Next?:
It feels like it is becoming redundant at this point, and that is exactly because it is. The pitching and defense had been the staple point of the team over the last few weeks, so despite some great offensive efforts over the first two games, their luck ran out in that department and unfortunately cost them a few games.
After a 1-5 homestand that has added to the frustration from the team to the fans, the only hope is ending the month of May on a good note to try and ride that momentum into the month of June. The Red Sox are back on the road as they travel ~635 miles to Cleveland, Ohio, where they will play a three game series against the Guardians.
Pitching matchups for this game include a Brayan Bello opener game with Tyler Samaniego “starting” against Slade Cecconi tonight at 7:10 PM EDT, Sonny Gray and Parker Messick facing off Saturday afternoon at 4:10 PM EDT, and wrapping up the series Sunday afternoon with Suarez looking to rebound against Tanner Bibee at 1:40 PM EDT. All of these games can be watched on NESN or listened to on WEEI 98.5 FM.
The clock is ticking, and the real version of this team will be revealed sooner rather than later.