The Red Sox need a lot more out of their starting pitchers

CBS News

3 days ago

The Boston Red Sox have a slew of issues as the team sits at 29-33 two-and-a-half months into the 2025 MLB season. But chief among them is the lack of production from Boston's starting pitchers.
Garrett Crochet is exempt from most of what you're about to read. He's been the workhorse and ace the Red Sox have needed, and the lefty currently leads the Majors with 82 innings pitched.
The rest of the rotation, however, is not living up to their end of the bargain, and it's already taxing the Red Sox bullpen. Far too often, manager Alex Cora has had to trot out to the mound to replace his starter well before the fifth inning. We saw this happen a lot over the last few seasons, and the bullpen has been completely gassed by late August.
It's seemingly playing out that way again in 2025. Boston's starters acting more like "openers" is one of the biggest reasons a team with playoff aspirations currently sits four games under .500 at the moment.
In 28 games in May, Red Sox starters failed to go at least five innings in 14 of them. Boston was just 11-17 last month.
Too many short outings for Red Sox starters
The Red Sox had to deal with another short start Monday night, when Richard Fitts was lifted after the Los Angeles Angels tagged him for six runs in the first inning. It was the second straight start that Fitts has failed to go more than three innings, though both outings came after he spent time on the IL with a right pectoral strain. He gave Boston six innings twice and five innings in his other three starts this season.
Those numbers make Fitts one of the more productive starters for Boston. After Crochet, the bar is extremely low for the Red Sox rotation.
Tanner Houck was an All-Star last year and the team had high hopes he would be an incredible No. 2 behind Crochet in 2025. But the 28-year-old has regressed mightily, and has gone less than five innings in four of his nine starts this season. Houck has failed to get out of the third inning twice, including his most recent start when he allowed 11 earned runs over 2.1 innings to the Detroit Tigers.
For the season, Houck is 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA and 1.69 WHIP. Team's aren't missing against him, with Houck surrendering 57 hits over his 43.2 innings. He's currently on the IL with an elbow issue.
No. 3 starter Brayan Bello went five innings when he made his first start of the year on April 22, and followed it up by going at least six innings in his two starts after. But he's failed to go five in each of his last five starts, giving Boston just 22.1 innings over that stretch. Bello has allowed opponents to score 12 runs off 29 hits and 15 walks over his last five outings, with the Red Sox going 2-3 in those games.
Bello, who is 2-1 with a 3.83 ERA on the season, is on the bump for Boston Tuesday night against the Angels. He's looking for his first win in over a month.
Veteran Walker Buehler hasn't been great at 4-3 with a 4.55 ERA, and he spent a month on the IL with shoulder inflammation. But he's gone at least five innings in all but two of his nine starts this season. One of those short starts was when Buehler was ejected in the third inning in his first start back against the New York Mets. He hasn't been as good as many hoped, but at least Buehler is logging some innings.
On the back end of the rotation, Lucas Giolito has made six starts since his Boston debut on April 30. He has failed to reach the fifth in three of those starts. Over his 32 innings this season, Giolito has allowed 17 runs off 36 hits, including five homers.
It's been a mixed bag from the rest of the pack, but that's expected from No. 5 guys or replacement starters. Sean Newcomb went five innings in just one of his five starts for the Red Sox before he moved to the bullpen, and the local kid has since been DFA'd and traded to the Athletics. Hunter Dobbins began his pro career with five straight starts of at least five innings, but then failed to go five in his last two turns in the rotation before he was moved to the bullpen.
At least Dobbins was a valuable arm Monday, when he gave the Red Sox five innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen following Fitts' departure.
All of that was a big word salad to say Red Sox starters haven't been getting the job done. While they've tossed 324 innings -- the 10th-most in baseball -- the majority of those innings haven't been very good. Boston starters have given up 337 hits (third-most in baseball) and issued 114 walks (tied for the sixth-most), and tout a 4.25 ERA (22nd in MLB) and a 1.39 WHIP (24th) for the season.
With Red Sox starters failing to eat innings like they should, the Boston bullpen has had to pick up the slack. Red Sox relievers have already thrown 232.1 innings, which is the fourth-most in MLB. (Interestingly enough, the L.A. Dodgers lead the league with 255 innings from relievers.) Boston relievers have been up and down at times, but they do own the fourth-best ERA in baseball at 3.53.
But how long will that continue if Boston starters keep exiting early and Cora has to keep asking his bullpen to do some heavy lifting?
Red Sox first inning woes
Fitts allowed a run just five pitches into Monday night's game, and the Angels had a 5-0 lead before he recorded his first out. Los Angeles hit three homers off him in the opening frame and led 6-0 before the Red Sox offense got up to bat.
While Boston fought back to make it a one-run game twice before ultimately losing 7-6, that first inning was still fresh on Cora's mind after the game as he highlighted the two biggest issues with the team's pitching staff.
"It's the first inning and the bottom of the lineup," said Cora. "We have to be better at that. Hopefully tomorrow is the start."
The Red Sox have a 6.10 ERA in the first inning this season, which is tied for the 28th-worst with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The only team worse than Boston and Arizona in that department are the 10-win Colorado Rockies and their 9.30 ERA in the first inning.
Houck was torched for 11 first-inning runs in his nine starts before landing on the IL, with four of the 17 hits he allowed leaving the yard. Bello has been slightly better with a 4.50 ERA in the first inning over his eight starts, when he's allowed four earned runs off 10 hits and five walks. Buehler has a 4.00 ERA in the first inning over his nine starts.
Even Crochet is guilty of some first-inning woes, with a 3.46 ERA in the opening frame over his first 13 starts. He's surrendered 13 hits (including three homers and three doubles) in the first inning this season.
Getting behind early is a big deal for these Red Sox. The team fell to 6-16 in one-run games on Monday night, in large part because they're playing catchup most nights.
Cora is also right about the bottom of lineups getting to his starters. No. 8 hitters have an .889 OPS against Boston starters this season -- the highest in MLB -- and No. 9 hitters have an OPS of .719, the eight-highest. (H/T to our resident stat nerd Joe Weil.)
We're now in June and outside of Crochet spinning it masterfully ever five nights, the Red Sox can't really rely on the rest of their starting pitching. Add in an offense that disappears for stretches, and the team is sitting under .500 and 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. You can already forget about the AL East, where Boston sits nine games back of the first-place Yankees.
And if Red Sox starters don't start pulling their weight soon and continue to tax the bullpen, the hope of October baseball in Boston could be over before the All-Star break.