Red Sox Wednesday Report

Zak Drapeau
1 day ago
4 min read

by Zak Drapeau

Sportz Nation - 4/1/2026

Photo by Ashley Landis/ Associated Press

Reds Series

Opening Day is always magical for the sport of baseball but it gets a little bit more special when the Red Sox win. For the first game, the Red Sox trotted out Garrett Crochet and he did Garrett Crochet things, like striking out 8 in 6 innings of scoreless baseball.

What we'll see as we go on is that those 6 innings were the last time the Sox looked good even remotely.

The Sox would win Game 1 because of Crochet's effort but also in part to the youngsters, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. Mayer would come in the game for Caleb Durbin in the 7th inning and immediately prove he's better than a pinch hitter along with Roman Anthony who combined had a .84 OBP.

Game 2 was a different story from the jump when new Sox' pitcher Sonny Gray allowed 3 earned and 4 runs in the first three innings with Greg Weissert surrendering another immediately after him. Home Runs from the Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story would bring them back into the game but end up losing in extras off a pinch hit RBI single from Dane Myers.

The final game of the series would see another great showing from Wilyer Abreu who would again, try but fail to carry his team to a win. This game would be one of the Sox best of the series with their only lapse coming because of the pitching change in the middle of the 6th inning. After an amazing showing from Connelly Early, he would leave one man on base before being replaced by Greg Weissert who would almost immediately give up the game-sealing 3 run homer.

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Astros Series

Oh boy. Only 2 games of this series have been played so far at the time of this article but the Astros are already up 17-3. Both of these games were basically over before they started with 2 of the worst starting pitching performances the Sox have seen in years.

First up was Ranger Suarez' first start for the Red Sox after signing a 5 year, $130 million contract this season. In his first outing, Suarez would last 4.1 innings, give up 4 runs and 7 hits with 3Ks and 1 walk. After Suarez, another debut would see Johan Oviedo take the mound where he gave up 4 runs in 3.2 innings.

Not to be outdone, the next day, (yesterday) Brayan Bello would make his first start of the season after a promising 2025 campaign but dropped the ball again. Bello would last a little longer than Suarez, going 4.2 innings but would give up 6 runs, (5 earned) and 8 hits. Bello would also walk more than he struck out with 3 free passes.

These 2 horrendous games would see the Red Sox get only 4 hits both times. Players like Anthony, Mayer and Caleb Durbin would go hitless as well.

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Photo by Carolyn Kaster/ Associated Press

3 Stars of the Week

Garret Crochet

1 GP/ 6 IP

0R/ 0ER

3 Hs/ 0 HRs/ 8 Ks/ 2 BBs

Wilyer Abreu

.400/.400/.850 splits

8 H/ 3 2B/ 2 HR/ 5 RBI

0 BB/ 3 SO

Connelly Early

1 GP/ 5.1 IP

1 R/ 1 ER

5 H/ 0 HR/ 6 K/ 2 BB

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/ Boston Red Sox/ Getty Images

3 Underachievers of the Week

Caleb Durbin

.000/.000/.000 splits

0 H/ 0 2B/ 0 HR/ 0 RBI

1 BB/ 3 SO

Greg Weissert

2 GP/ 1.2 IP

3 R/ 3 ER

3 H/ 2 HR/ 3 K/ 2 BB

Ranger Suarez 1 GP/ 4.1 IP

4 R/ 4 ER

7 H/ 2 HR/ 3 K/ 1 BB

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Looking Ahead

Tonight will see the end of the Astros series and here's some good news... it can't get any worse! At least I hope. Garrett Crochet will also take the mound against Mike Burrows in an obvious advantage for the Sox.

The weekend series will see the Fenway season opener when the Padres come to town. While the Sox have fallen to last place in the AL, the Padres have also started 1-4 and are last place in the NL. Friday will see Sonny Gray take on Michael King, Saturday will see Connelly Early face Randy Vazquez and Sunday will be Walker Buehler return to Fenway to battle Ranger Suarez... his "replacement".

In a series that on paper should be the Red Sox teeing off againt the Padres' rotation with their roster of stars batting a miserable average to start the season, I'd expect the Red Sox to win at least 2.

After the Padres series, the Brewers will be next in town in a series where the Red Sox are heavy underdogs. Starting the season at 4-1, the Brewers have BY FAR the best run differential in the MLB at +22. In this series, the Brewers are also expected to have their 1, 2, 3 pitchers for the series and I have a sneaking suspicion this series could be just like the 'Stros if the Sox don't use Fenway Park to turn their momentum around.

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