After a major series win against the Kansas City Royals, the Boston Red Sox finished taking a massive step back today; losing to the Houston Astros 10-2 and getting swept in the three-game series.
James Paxton's first inning exit due to injury forced an impromptu bullpen game, and the second one in a row. A five-run fifth inning and four-run sixth inning blew the game wide open and the Red Sox were never able to recover.
What are the main takeaways from Boston's game three loss to Houston?
It might be time to bring back Rich Hill
The game started on an immediate low note, with starting pitcher James Paxton suffering a Calf Strain on just the third batter he faced. He is expected to miss some time and the rest of the rotation seems to be running out of gas.
44-year-old Rich Hill who made three stints in Boston across his 19-year career, is trying to build up for an MLB comeback. The Red Sox were in attendance for his most recent showcase and adding him to the roster might be somewhat of a necessity.
With the recent inability of starters to work deeper into games and the overall pitching performances declining rapidly, Hill would be a decent stopgap option who could give solid innings from either the rotation or bullpen. If the team wants to make the playoffs (or just conserve their arms for 2025), they need another arm and he fits the bill.
The brief bullpen resurgence looks to be over
Paxton's early exit provides a bit of a grace period, but the bullpen seems to be crashing back down to their July performance.
They saw some success after the additions of Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims as well as Chris Martin returning from injury, but it was quite short-lived. Brennan Bernardino has been pitching to a >8.00 ERA for over a month now and Garcia and Sims have allowed 13 earned runs in 10.2 innings pitched since joining the staff.
The entirety of the Boston pitching staff looks completely out of gas and it showed in a big way both today and this series as a whole. The team's starting pitching ERA and bullpen ERA both eclipse 5.50 since the All-Star Break and a consistent solution has yet to present itself.
The offense couldn't set the tone early
Paxton going down early and the exhaustion from the bullpen meant that the offense needed to step up in a big way and they were simply unable to do so.
Boston picked up just three hits through five innings against Houston starter Hunter Brown and by the time they came up to the plate in the sixth the game was out of reach.
A minuscule comeback attempt in the sixth where they had bases loaded with no one out ended in just two runs scored and that was all the production was able to muster.
The Red Sox are now 61-55 on the season.
Game 1
The Red Sox will face the Texas Rangers next in a three-game weekday series, with the first game scheduled for 7:10 PM EST at Fenway Park, televised on NESN.
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