We’re only 12 games into the 2025 regular season for the Boston Red Sox (6-6), and it’s been as close to a rollercoaster ride as you can get less than a month in.
From the slumps that plagued Boston at the plate down in Arlington in their season opening series against the Rangers to winning consecutive series against Baltimore and St. Louis on the strength of their bats, it appeared the Red Sox were ready to take the league by storm with a lineup that could mash top to bottom - outscoring the Orioles and Cardinals 47-24 during their five-game win streak.
But then the Blue Jays came to town, and Boston’s bats reverted back to their season-opening lows, losing to Toronto 6-2 on Monday and 6-1 on Tuesday.
With his team looking to avoid dropping their four-game series against an AL East rival on Wednesday, manager Alex Cora was asked by WEEI’s Ted Johnson about his team’s up-and-down start.
“I used to play for an ol’ ball coach that would say the first four games of the regular season were kind of like an extension of the preseason, Bill Belichick,” said Johnson on WEEI Afternoons. “Your 12 games in - is there a similar kind of feeling-out things for you? Like, are you still trying to see what you got here? What’s working, still trying to figure out totally what you got with your roster here?”
“Yeah, I think the personnel is so much different than last year,” said Cora. “We’re trying to accomplish a few things with certain guys. We want [Wilyer] Abreu and [Triston] Casas to face lefties, but we have faced only two lefties out of 12 games, so you have to play Romy [Gonzalez] and [Rob Refsnyder]. You know, that’s how it works. Letting guys hit against left handed relievers - we’ve done it with Abreu and Casas. We let Ref and Romy hit against righties yesterday just to see what kind of matchups we can create late in games.
“The bullpen is always kind of like, you know, a work in progress. You guys know we use [Garrett Whitlock] as a multi-inning weapon. Well, who’s gonna step up the days he’s not in the bullpen, right? And it takes time.”
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 02: Manager Alex Cora #13 of the Boston Red Sox watches the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 02, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.G Fiume/Getty Images
Regardless of his team needing time to work out its kinks, Cora still believes in the 2025 version of his ballclub.
“I truly believe that this is [a] good baseball team,” said Cora. “Very athletic. Defensively, I know we have struggled here at home, but we’re a lot better than that, you know? Jarren Duran is a gold glover. Abreu, of course, is awesome. [Ceddanne] Rafaela, you saw that play he made. Alex [Bregman] - yeah he made an error, but if you look at his numbers, I mean his range is off the charts. So we will play defense, but it takes time.
“It takes time, and you want to win games. But as a manager, I’m learning about the group, and hopefully sooner rather than later we get going and we start, you know, winning games more often.”
A microcosm of the up-and-down nature of the first dozen games of the season has been the first three starts of prized trade acquisition Garret Crochet (1-1, 1.45 ERA).
While Boston’s record is 2-1 when he takes the mound, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag of pure dominance and mediocrity:
- March 27: 5 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (no decision @ TEX)
- April 2: 8 innings, 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts (W 3-0 @ BAL)
- April 8: 5.2 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 4 runs scored, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts (L 6-1 vs. TOR)
“What do you think it’s gonna take for him to really get going and get to that next level that you’ve seen, and we all know that he can get to?” asked WEEI’s Nick “Fitzy” Stevens.
Boston, MA - April 8: Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet prepares to hand off the ball in the sixth inning.Barry Chin/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
“I think it takes time, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “You know, I coached a lefty in 2018 that we all know, right? And with Chris [Sale], it would take him [until] probably around May 5th. I always [would] joke around, ‘Cinco de Mayo, he’ll take off.’ I think his stuff is really good. We’re getting to know him. Probably not the swing-and-miss stuff that we’re used to, but he faced two out of three teams - they put the ball in play. The Rangers and the Jays, you know, they don’t strikeout.
“There were some at bats yesterday - [Vlad Guerrero Jr.], for example, a lot of foul balls, and that’s part of it. But at the end of the day, if you look at the line, it was six innings, one earned run, [gave] us a chance to win. We didn’t play good defense behind him towards the end. But so far so good, man. The guy’s a true ace.”
Sox will look to get back in the wins column with Tanner Houck (0-1, 6.52 ERA) on the mound Wednesday night, with Kevin Gausman (1-1, 3.97 ERA) getting the start for Toronto. First pitch at Fenway Park is set for 6:45 p.m. ET.
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