Tomorrow marks the end of a stretch in which the Red Sox play 54 games in 56 days (dating back to July 17th), and I’m kind of thrilled about that because I’m extremely over these half baked games.
Tonight in particular was just a bad combination of events. Reid Detmers, who has been outstanding since that same July 17th date (1.52 ERA), was outstanding again and held the Red Sox to just one hit and zero runs over his six stellar innings work. Meanwhile, the Red Sox had Patrick Sandoval on the mound, and he gave up four runs in his six innings of work.
As bad as that sounds, it could have been much, much worse as Sandoval allowed ten hits and the Red Sox defense turned four double plays. With just a couple of minor tweaks, this easily could have been a 10-1 type game. In fact, the mismatch on the mound was so severe, it’s a candidate for the most lopsided quality of starter game of the year for the 2026 Red Sox in which they were at the disadvantage. Even early in the season when Boston got off to that dreadful 32-46 start, it was generally a lackluster offense letting down some quality start from the pitchers.
(You might have to go something like that game in Minnesota where Garrett Crochet got so stunningly smashed people thought he was pitch tipping to find the last time the Sox were this outclassed at that position in an individual game.)
Either way, that’s the real high level analysis from tonight: Detmers good, Sandoval bad. For a game that’s so complex and so beautiful, sometimes it really is just that simple and lame.
The Red Sox technically could cut Sandoval out of the rotation, but since they don’t need to win these games, they’re using him as a sixth man / depth piece to give other guys rest. I mean, I get it. It’s the prudent thing to do, and I wrote 2,000 words on it last week, but it’s just really underwhelming to watch in practice when games should be ramping up for the stretch run.
Anyway, despite the game being extremely one sided, there was a very narrow window in the bottom of the seventh when Detmers departed and the first three Red Sox hitters reached where you thought “maybe this will get interesting.” It didn’t thanks to a combination of the bottom of the lineup and Chad Tracy doing nothing, but people who bought tickets to the game at least had something to cheer about for five minutes.
Should Tracy have pinch hit Gasper for Monasterio? Rutschman for Wong? Or even bunted with Monasterio when there was nobody out? Probably, but he seemed to be waiting for another opportunity that never came. I’m not going to tell you Tracy cost the team the game tonight, but I do think there’s a lesson to be learned from that frustrating and forgettable sequence of events.
Studs
Nick Sogard: Two hits, which is half the knocks the Sox lineup mustered all night. He also had the only RBI in that briefly promising seventh frame.
Wilyer Abreu: Like Sogard, he got on base twice, but he did it with a hit and a walk. The hit was soft, but he also had a very loud out, so I guess things even out sometimes.
Greg Weissert: The only Sox pitcher to grace the mound and not allow a run.
Duds
Roman Anthony : 0-4 tonight with two more strikeouts, and all of a sudden he’s 1-21 in his last five games after going 10-22 with a 1.409 OPS and five extra base hits in his first five games back. Baseball is hard!
The bottom third of the lineup: Andruw Monasterio, Eli White and Connor Wong combined to go 0-11. They also combined to destroy the team’s best and only chance to make some real noise in that seventh inning. If you want, you can throw Chad Tracy in this bucket too for not doing anything during this opportunity.
Patrick Sandoval: He signed a two-year, $18.25 million deal in December of 2024 and he’s still only given the Red Sox one quality start. Of the 11 starts he has made since returning from injury though, this may have been the worst as a bunch of double plays are the only thing that kind of kept the lid on things and prevented a complete shellacking.
Looking Ahead
You want some good news? Jake Bennett goes tomorrow, then there’s an off day, then the top of the rotation is line up for the weekend series against the Royals, there’s another off day behind that on Monday the 14th, and both Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela are eligible to come off the IL by the point. In other words, we’re probably about to see a lot more of that “A Team” in the next handful of days.
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