Red Sox Week in Review: Going 3-3 Against National League Behemoths

Weekly Snapshot
Record Last Week: 3-3 (Overall 57-50)
Runs Scored Last Week: 22
Runs Surrendered Last Week: 25

Standings
3rd in the AL East
7.0 GB 1st Place
Currently Hold the 3rd WC Spot

Scores
Game 102 (7/21) | BOS 2, PHI 3
Game 103 (7/22) | BOS 1, PHI 4 
Game 104 (7/23) | BOS 9, PHL 8
Game 105 (7/25) | BOS 2, LAD 5
Game 106 (7/26) | BOS 4, LAD 2
Game 107 (7/27) | BOS 4, LAD 3

TL;DR Breakdown/Highlights
Phillies series: The first two games of the Phillies series were frustrating to watch. On Monday, it appeared the team got to Zack Wheeler. Jarren Duran hit a leadoff home run, and Wheeler wasn’t locating his pitches in the strike zone. (He posted a 43% zone rate for the game.) By the second inning, Wheeler’s pitch count was up to 40, and despite getting ahead in counts, Red Sox hitters couldn’t achieve success at the plate. Walker Buehler threw a rare quality start. In the bottom of the 10th, Jordan Hicks loaded the bases via a walk, wild pitch, and an intentional walk. The Phillies were saved by the umpires and scored a walkoff run from a questionable catcher’s interference by Carlos Narváez. 

On Tuesday night, Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez threw a complete game, recording 12 strikeouts. Richard Fitts gave up two runs in the first and second innings, which were the only runs the Phillies scored, so kudos to the bullpen (Brennan Bernardino, Chris Murphy, and Greg Weissert) for pitching four scoreless relief innings. 

Wednesday night, Lucas Giolito didn’t look sharp. He gave up four home runs in just four innings—two in the bottom of the first to Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, followed by one each in the third and fourth innings to Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott. Jesus Luzardo, who has had some pretty big blowups throughout the year, was dominant through five innings. 

All hope was lost until the fifth inning. Masataka Yoshida sparked a rally with a double, the Red Sox’s first hit of the game. Ceddanne Rafaela and Marcelo Mayer walked to load the bases. Jarren Duran and Rob Refsynder also walked, drawing two runs for the Red Sox. Subsequently, Romy Gonzalez hit a grand slam. The game went back and forth until the 11th inning, when Carlos Narváez hit a two-run home run to give the Red Sox the final lead of the night. The Red Sox became the first team in history to win a game after striking out 15+ times, surrendering at least five home runs, and coming back from a five-run deficit. 

Dodger series: On Friday night, Brayan Bello got knocked around, yielding three earned runs across 5.1 innings. The Red Sox went 1-9 with runners in scoring position. Connor Wong looked sharp. He recorded his first extra-base hit of the season and picked off Andy Pages in a steal attempt. 

Garrett Crochet only threw two bad pitches in Game 2. He gave up a leadoff home run to Shohei Ohtani. Teoscar Hernandez also hit a home run in the first inning. After that, he settled in, and the Dodgers didn’t score any additional runs. Jarren Duran hit not one, but two triples and one double. Roman Anthony put up a fight during a 10-pitch at-bat and knocked Dodgers’ starter Clayton Kershaw out of the game with an RBI double.

In the final game of the series, Walker Buehler took the mound, facing his former team. He issued four strikeouts, five walks, and three earned runs across 4 2/3 innings. Fortunately, the Red Sox’s offense woke up. Roman Anthony hit his first career triple and drove in Abraham Toro. Alex Bregman demolished a two-run homer over the Monster to solidify the Red Sox’s lead. In the bottom of the eighth, Ceddanne Rafaela bailed out Jordan Hicks to turn a double play at second. 

The Red Sox fly out to Minnesota to play the anemic Twins (3-7 in their last 10) before returning home to face the Astros.

Random Stats

• Could Romy Gonzalez be an everyday player? Since June 25th, he’s posted a 92 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers. He’s 12th on Statcast’s Exit Velocity and Barrels leaderboard with 11.4 Brls/PA%. 

• The Red Sox are slashing .261/.332/.432, 108 wRC+ versus left-handed pitching in 2025. They rank 3rd on the FanGraphs leaderboard for the year. 
• Jarren Duran’s on a hot streak, perhaps fueled by the flurry of trade rumors? Over the past week, he’s hit one home run and five RBIs with 191 wRC+. 
• Alex Bregman is back. Since July 20th, he’s slashing .368/.368/.579, with four RBIs and 160 wRC+.
• Carlos Narváez is second among rookies in fWAR with 2.9. Earlier this week, he led rookies in fWAR, but was displaced after Nick Kurtz’s historic four home run game. He’s posted the most DRS among catchers with 14. 
• The Red Sox are 38-15 when they score first.

Website Highlights

• Tanner Houck’s Future May Be Diverging From the Red Sox by Brandon Glick
• Payton Tolle Should be Made Untouchable by Red Sox at Trade Deadline by Nick John
• The Red Sox Must Outlast Elite Competition Before Schedule Softens by Finley Rogan

Looking Ahead
July 28th: Red Sox (Fitts) @ Twins (Woods Richardson): 7:40 pm EDT
July 29th: Red Sox (Giolito) @ Twins (Paddack): 7:40 pm EDT
July 30th: Red Sox (Bello) @ Twins (TBD): 1:10 pm EDT
August 1st: Astros vs Red Sox: 7:10 pm EDT
August 2nd: Astros vs Red Sox: 4:10 pm EDT
August 3rd: Astros vs Red Sox: 11:35 am EDT