Article: Red Sox Week In Review: Running Into Your Ex On A Road Trip

[Maddie Landis]

Weekly Snapshot:
Record Last Week 3-3 (Overall 40-39)
Runs Scored Last Week: 19
Runs Surrendered Last Week: 26

Standings:
4th in the AL East
6.0 GB 1st Place
0.5 WCGB

Scores:
Game 74 (6/16) | BOS 2, SEA 0
Game 75 (6/17 | BOS 0, SEA 8
Game 76 (6/18) | BOS 3, SEA 1
Game 77 (6/20) | BOS 7, SF 5
Game 78 (6/21) | BOS 2, SF 3
Game 79 (6/22) | BOS 5, SF 9

Transactions:

• 6/15/25: Red Sox optioned Kyle Harrison to Triple-A Worcester
• 6/15/25: Red Sox trade Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants for Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Jose Bello and James Tibbs III
• 6/15/25: Red Sox designated Zach Penrod for assignment
• 6/16/25: Red Sox recalled Nate Eaton from Triple-A Worcester
• 6/17/25: Red Sox sent Wilyer Abreu on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Worcester
• 6/18/25: Red Sox sent Tanner Houck on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Worcester
• 6/20/25: Red Sox optioned Kristian Campbell to Triple-A Worcester
• 6/20/25: Red Sox traded Zach Penrod to the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations
• 6/20/25: Red Sox activated Wilyer Abreu from the 10-day injured list
• 6/21/25: Red Sox signed free agent Wascar Berroa to a minor league contract
• 6/22/25: Red Sox recalled Richard Fitts from Triple-A Worcester
• 6/22/25: Red Sox sent Jordan Hicks on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Worcester
• 6/22/25: Red Sox placed Hunter Dobbins on the 15-day injured list

TL;DR Breakdown/Highlights
Mariners series: Roman Anthony hit his first major league home run (104 mph EV, 391 ft) in the first game of the Mariners series! It came off a 96.2 mph sinker. 

The Mariners teed the ball off Walker Buehler, who yielded eight earned runs in 3.1 innings. Once again, Buehler’s command wasn’t present. Cal Raleigh powered the Mariners’ offense with six RBIs, including a grand slam in the second inning that drove in four runs.

Otherwise, the series was relatively uneventful.  Without Rafael Devers, the Red Sox only scoring five total runs, but managed to win the three-game series. This was their fourth straight series win. 

Giants series: In the first game of the Giants series, the Red Sox scored seven runs, their highest scoring game since the Devers trade. Wilyer Abreu, fresh off his 10-day injured list stint (left oblique strain), recorded an RBI. 

Rafael Devers went 0-5 in the game, but hit his first home run (105.5 mph EV, 370 ft) with the Giants off Brayan Bello the following day. 

In the final game of the series, the Red Sox resembled their old selves, committing fielding errors and making poor baserunning decisions. Jarren Duran ran into Nate Eaton in shallow left field, allowing two runs to score. Abraham Toro attempted to score from first off a Ceddanne Rafaela double and was thrown out at home. Later on, Romy Gonzalez misplayed a ball at second.

At times, the game looked attainable for the Red Sox. Lucas Giolito pitched a quality outing, but eventually the team’s defense blew the game, yielding five unearned runs. At the top of the eighth, Jarren Duran and Alex Cora were ejected after arguing a replay review of a tagged out at second base. The Red Sox lost the game 9-5, and their record is .500 (3-3) post-Devers trade.

Walker Buehler aside, the team’s pitching has looked solid. The Red Sox’s offense and defense must support their pitchers by delivering competitive at-bats and playing fundamentally sound defense in the field. They finish their West Coast road trip with a three-game series against the Angels before finally returning home to play the Blue Jays. (These late games are messing with my sleep schedule.) Earlier in June, the team barely avoided getting swept by the Angels, so they have to play good ball this time around. The Blue Jays are 4-6 in their last 10 games, and the Red Sox could overtake them in the American League East standings with a series dub. 

Random Stats:

• 6/16 – 6/22 Slash Lines: Over the past week, nobody on the team (minimum 10 innings played) has hit above a .250 batting average, so I won’t be listing slash lines here. Without Rafael Devers, the team needs a veteran power bat to solidify the middle of the order.
• On a more positive note, Ceddanne Rafaela is slashing .286/.328/.524, 25.0% strikeout rate, and 133 wRC+ in June. In the wake of the Devers trade, he’s putting in more competitive at-bats and has helped carry the team’s offense. He's currently too streaky to be the immediate solution for filling Devers' spot in the lineup, but he's slowly moving up in the batting order.
• Jarren Duran ranks second in errors among left fielders this year.
• Since 2024, Walker Buehler has posted a 5.63 ERA — the 135th worst out of 138 pitchers with at least 130 innings pitched between 2024 and 2025.
• As of Sunday, June 22nd, Garrett Crochet is leading the league in strikeouts (125). Let’s see him hit 200 by the end of the season. 

Website Highlights:

• Do These National League Sellers Have Anything For The Boston Red Sox? By Matthew Lentz
• What Might James Tibbs III And Jose Bello, The Trade Return For Rafael Devers, Turn Out To Be? By Nick John
• In Hindsight, the Rafael Devers Trade Needed to Happen by Alex Mayes
• Tanner Houck Begins Rehab Assignment With Worcester To Mixed Results by Nick John

Looking Ahead:
June 23rd – Red Sox at Angels – 9:38 pm EDT
June 24th – Red Sox at Angels – 9:38 pm EDT
June 25th – Red Sox at Angels – 4:07 pm EDT
June 27th  – Blue Jays at Red Sox  – 7:10 pm EDT
June 28th  – Blue Jays at Red Sox – 4:10 pm EDT
June 29th – Blue Jays at Red Sox – 1:35 pm EDT

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[TedYazPapiMookie]

This week will tell us whether the pitching can offset the lack of hitting.   Buehler needs to improve dramatically and without Dobbins we have Crochet and Giolito and maybe Bello although I'm not convinced, he's as good as his numbers.  The bad batting order will continue to hurt the chances of winning and hopefully seal Cora's fate.  The time limit on Anthony and Mayer could be running out as neither has come close to the "good part" of Campbell season, so the bad days are approaching Campbell's rejection level when he got dumped to AAA.  

The team has nobody hitting .300 with over 100 at bats so our best hitters are part time players who have been replacements for hurt players.  The young stars aren't adapting.  Duran and Rafaela have improved their hitting, and Abreu hasn't hit since April.  So basically, we have Narvaez hitting well as our starting catcher, Gonzalez and Refsnyder hitting well as a replacement and a platoon with Abreu and Toro a replacement for Casas.   Everyone else is hitting below .250.  

I think things are going to get much worse before they get better when Bregman returns.  The pitching has been excellent for the most part but needs to improve for the team to win, even against LAA!!  Four of our next five series are winnable so cross your fingers because things get much harder after that.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

and maybe Bello although I'm not convinced, he's as good as his numbers. 

Bello

3.31 ERA career low

4.42 FIP (4.18 career av.)

4.70 xERA career high

348 xWOBA career high

18.0 K% career low

10.2 BB% career high

94.4mph Fastball velo career low

89.3mph Offspeed velo career high

18.4 whiff% career low

24.4 Out of zone swing% career low

60.6 First pitch strike% career low

None of this is good for Bello going forward. 😣