Crowds flocked to see the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders during their first home series of the season last week at PNC Field in northeastern Pennsylvania. Total attendance for five dates was 17,043, the team’s largest Opening Week attendance since 2019.

Fans saw the RailRiders split the six-game series with the Durham Bulls.

In the opener, the RailRiders overcame a six-run deficit in theie final three at-bats for a 7-6 win. A wild pitch and RBI double by big-league veteran Paul DeJong in the bottom of the sixth brought the RailRiders within 6-2. Another wild pitch and a Yanquiel Fernández sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh narrowed the margin to 6-4. Then in the bottom of the eighth, two balks brought in the tying runs. Familiar Yankees face Oswaldo Cabrera followed with a sacrifice fly to give the RailRiders the victory.

Manager Shelley Duncan said it was the type of win that can define the character of a team.

“The energy these guys had … a lot of teams would sometimes implode, give up,” Duncan said. “But these guys stayed locked in every pitch. They went out there and continued to have good at-bats, just chipping away. Not trying to do too much, not trying to force that big inning, not trying to force the comeback in one inning.”

Ali Sánchez kept that special feeling going in the series’ second game. After the Bulls scored a run in the top of the ninth to tie the game, the catcher homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the RailRiders a 5-4 triumph.

“They kept grinding and it ended up paying off,” said Duncan of his team’s spirit. “They had trust in themselves that things would happen. It’s something special.”

Durham won the next two games, 10-2, and, 4-2, in the first game of a doubleheader. The RailRiders used a six-run fourth inning to take the second game of the twinbill, 9-5. The Bulls claimed the series finale, 4-3, to salvage a split.

Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones led the way for the RailRiders against Durham.

Domínguez batted .316 (6-for-19) in the series with seven walks and five stolen bases in six games. “The Martian” has been batting in the leadoff spot this season and is tied for seventh in the International League in batting at .354 (17-for-48) with two home runs, eight RBIs and seven stolen bases.

Jones, meanwhile, hit .278 in the series (5-for-18) with one home run, eight RBIs and two stolen bases in six games. He walked five times and struck out five times. That last number is interesting since in his first eight games and 33 at-bats, he whiffed 19 times. His eight RBIs gave him 17 for the season, which is tied for the International League lead.

Reliever Danny Watson picked up two of the three wins in the series and fellow reliever Yovanny Cruz had the other. Cruz is 3-0 with one save. His three wins are tied for the league lead.

The split in the Durham series left the RailRiders with a 9-6 record, two games behind the Memphis Redbirds in the International League standings. They now head north up Interstate 81 for a six-game series with the Syracuse Mets that was scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Syracuse (7-8) is coming off a series in which it lost four of six to the Buffalo Bisons. Nick Morabito leads the Mets at .295 (13 for 44) with two home runs and five RBIs. Cristian Pache has a team-best 10 RBIs while batting .233 (10 for 43) with one home run. Right-hander Jonah Tong, the Mets’ No. 2 prospect, was scheduled to start the opening game of the series. (Neither he nor the RailRiders’ Brendan Beck fared well.)

Also on the Syracuse roster is veteran Jose Rojas, who played for the RailRiders last season and was selected to the International League All-Star team. He led the league with 32 home runs and 105 RBIs and tied for the lead with 35 doubles while batting .287. He tied the franchise record for home runs in a season set in 2011 by Jorge Vasquez and was the second player in franchise history with 100 or more RBIs in a season, falling one short of the mark of 106 set by Torey Lovullo in 1999.

We’re still in small sample size territory as the calendar turns to tax day, but the Cubs are just a titch under 10 percent of the way through their season. The results have been disappointing to say the least, even though it’s early. While there are signs of optimism, the scoreboard doesn’t lie and neither do the standings, which you can see here:

The word that comes to mind immediately is “yikes.”

Admittedly, there are some close losses in those nine early contests and some of the Cubs bullpen arms haven’t gotten off to a great start. Additionally, there are a number of key hitters for the Cubs who should be performing better off to slow starts, I mean, just look at this table sorted by wRC+ for Cubs hitters with at least five plate appearances (not including Tuesday’s game):

Again, every small sample size caveat in the world applies to these stats, but the Cubs absolutely need Alex Bregman, Matt Shaw, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch to right the ship and get their wRC+ above 100 ASAP. That’s a Short Porch for another day, though. Today we’re talking about starting pitching.

The Cubs started the season with a rotation that included Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon. Seventeen games into the season Cade Horton is out for the rest of the year after they found damage to his UCL, Matthew Boyd is on the injured list due to a biceps issue and the rotation is Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea and Javier Assad.

Life comes at you fast.

Despite Monday night’s shellacking of Assad, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs over 4.1 innings pitched at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, that’s honestly a better state of affairs than most teams could muster being down two starters less than a month into the season. There is also reason for some cautious optimism with the expectations that Boyd will be back soon. And Justin Steele should return before the All Star break.

But the bench of pitchers is basically depleted. The next man up would likely be Ben Brown who was moved to the bullpen this season after struggling as a starting pitcher. While fans may be clamoring to see top prospect Jaxon Wiggins, he’s dealing with unspecified “soreness” at the moment. In case you’re wondering how the front office is feeling about this pitching situation, reporting from The Athletic yesterday indicated the Cubs are one of the teams checking in on Lucas Giolito, who managed to piece together a season with a 3.41 ERA in 2025 over 145 innings pitched, despite a FIP of 4.17 and an xERA of 5.01.

The bottom line is that the Cubs’ depth is being tested early and it doesn’t look like the current 40-man or farm system have adequate answers for a team who fancies itself as being much better than their current record.

Braves’ run prevention was really good coming into this series. Through Sunday’s win over Cleveland, the Braves had a league-best 59 ERA-, a sixth-in-MLB 89 FIP-, and a pedestrian 99 xFIP-. The pitching performance was just okay, but a combination of favorable HR/FB stuff (yay, the universe owes them for last season) and top-three defensive play cured pretty much every ill.

And then, the Marlins came to town. They blasted the Braves with BABIP, homers, and everything in between in the first game. Grant Holmes came in with a 63/110/115 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), and was dealt a 166/78/94 outing by the vagaries of fate and the Marlins’ bats. Basically: he didn’t pitch well but the team kept runs off the board, and then he pitched okay and the runs piled up on him anyway. Reynaldo Lopez came in with a 28/128/112 line, and was dealt a 133/63/89 start, which was pretty much the exact same outcome (except that no reliever hung a curve for a three-run homer and the Braves won). The Braves are still first in ERA-, and sixth in FIP-, but they’ve moved up to tenth in xFIP- while having 15 runs dumped on them in two games. The Marlins, meanwhile, have continued doing what they’ve done so far this season — they have a top-ten wOBA and bottom ten xwOBA, have the league’s biggest favorable variance in this regard, and if you’ve watched these first two games, you get it: holy every grounder finds a hole, Batman!

So, now we’ve got Bryce Elder lined up for the rubber game. Elder’s line? 25/73/86. That’s better, worlds better, than the frankly-subpar pre-Marlins performances of Holmes and Lopez, but the same giant run prevention gap applies. There’s added intrigue, too. Elder was brilliant in his first two outings of the year, showing a completely different approach to pitching and a much more exaggerated (and effective, and not all over the place, or mechanically problematic for long stretches) slider. Then, he faced the Guardians, and it was… if not Bad Elder, at least, Unremarkable Elder. But, honestly, nah — he was bad. A 3/3 K/BB ratio and his first homer allowed (a no-doubter). In essence, the Elder “regression” that everyone feared.

So, what’s Elder going to do now? In the first two games of this series, the Marlins upended things and drove a dagger into the positioning-and-defense run prevention the Braves had used as their aegis to this point. His career against the Marlins has been a mixed bag — better starts (but with some clunkers mixed in) through 2024, and then two struggle bugs in 2025. Not that it really matters, this might be a different Elder at this point. Or, it might be the same old Elder, based on his most recent start. I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does, including Bryce Elder. We’ll see what happens.

Countering Elder in this rubber game will be Chris Paddack, who signed a one-year, $4 million contract to pitch in Miami in the offseason. Paddack’s 2026 experience has been the opposite of that for the Braves thus far (except in this series): he has a 150/125/97 line in two starts and a relief appearance. He had a bizarre Marlins debut (6/0 K/BB ratio, but two homers and eight runs charged), then a blergh long relief appearance (4/4 K/BB ratio) where he was charged with just a single unearned run, and then a mixed bag start against the Tigers (4/1 K/BB ratio, a homer. Paddack has pitched pretty well against the Braves in his career (3.36 FIP, 4.14 xFIP), but it’s just a handful of outings spread across the now-kinda-long arc of his career. The Braves didn’t do much against him in two outings last year, but that was kind of par for the course for them.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, April 15, 7:15 p.m. EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: BravesVision

Streaming: MLB.tv (and Braves.tv if you’re in-market, etc.)

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM

(Also, a moment of silence for the hilarious readout on the MLB.com preview that lists the Marlins’ TV provider as Marlins.TV, presented by Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia. Between this and the clown show that is the forced spelling of loanDepot Park, please contract the Marlins and open a more serious franchise somewhere.)

The Yankees are making an addition to their bullpen ahead of Wednesday's game, calling up righty Angel Chivilli. 

Chivilli was acquired from the Rockies over the offseason in exchange for 1B T.J. Rumfield, who has taken advantage of his new opportunity with a stellar start in Colorado. 

The 23-year-old right-hander, on the other hand, struggled mightily with the Yanks during spring training as was optioned to the minors after giving up 11 runs in just eight appearances.

He rebounded nicely in Triple-A, though, starting the year with five straight scoreless outings. 

Chivilli will now look to carry that success over to the Bronx, where he’ll take the place of RHP Yerry De Los Santos, who was optioned back to the minors on Tuesday night. 

This morning, uber-prospect Kevin McGonigle and the Detroit tigers finalized an eight year, $150m contract extension. The deal covers the 27-34 seasons, effectively buying out the first three years of McGonigle’s free agency, and includes escalators that could increase its value to $160m. Even assuming McGonigle breaks arbitration records (firmly on the table, given that he’s hitting .311/.417/.492 in his first 72 MLB PA with peripheral stats that suggest he really is that good), that values his age 27-29 seasons at $90-100m. He’s one of a spate of top prospects to sign for big money right at the beginning of, or even shortly before, their MLB careers so far this spring:

Several young but established big league stars have also extended recently, including Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochett, and Orioles starter Shane Baz. The Jays were active in that market last year, signing Alejandro Kirk last season to a deal that now looks like theft after his breakout 2025 and then paying Vladimir Guerrero jr. what amounts to a retail price free agent deal to keep him in Toronto for the remainder of his career.

The Jays don’t have any clear extension candidates right now. Daulton Varsho is the obvious name, but he’s having something of a weird start to the season with his speed, range and power significantly down so far but his contact rate and overall offensive production looking excellent. Combined with a potential offensive breakout being derailed by injury last year, he might be a guy where both team and agent decide to wait and see before valuing his free agency.

I still think this trend is of interest to us on this site, though, because it probably reveals something about the direction the economics of the sport and the process of collective bargaining between the MLB Players’ Association and the league are headed. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) runs through the end of this season, at which point it’s been widely predicted that there might be a lockout. Owners are said to be upset about the lack of parity in payrolls, with the New York Mets’ $362.6m 2026 expenditure being more than five times the last place Cleveland Guardians’ $69.4m. Of course, one might reasonably then ask what the Guardians are doing with the roughly $200m disbursement of national and pooled local revenues each franchise receives, at which point owners tend to harumph and storm out of the room.

Regardless, it’s very clear that ownership intends to push for a salary cap. Progressively stricter luxury taxes have proven ineffective in curbing top team spending. Nine teams are paying some tax in 2026 and five are into the top tax bracket, including clubs like the Blue Jays and Mets that were not regular tax payers 5+ years ago. If a soft tax won’t stop spending, a hard cap is the only way to do it. On the other side, though, a cap has always been a firm red line for the union. They rely on high spending teams to set the market and to force cheap owners to spend. If owners are willing to press their case, there’s a risk of a lockout that could shorten or even scrap the 2027 season. Both sides are gearing up for a prolonged stoppage, with the MLBPA allocating 100% of player licensing revenues (the share the player gets when, e.g., you buy a replica of their jersey) in each of the last two seasons to build up a strike fund that’s now over half a billion dollars, while the owners have a war chest about four times as large.

There’s also a larger economic backdrop. The local cable sports market (referred to as regional sports networks, RSN), which is the backbone of MLB teams’ local revenues, is collapsing. Main Street Sports Group, which operates the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs that broadcast nine MLB teams’ games, has had to try to renegotiate rights deals it couldn’t afford to pay. Most of the teams eventually just transferred their rights to MLB.tv, which is partnering with ESPN to sell local streaming rights for roughly half of the league starting next season. Commissioner Rob Manfred is scrambling to redesign the league’s revenue model around streaming, but how well that will work isn’t clear, and he’s facing opposition from more successful teams that like owning their own regional broadcast rights. Owning a north American sports franchise has been a bonanza to TV money and skyrocketing franchise valuations over the last 30 years. Whether that will continue is at least a little murky. The potential for a lockout further clouds the picture. Attendance took a decade to recover from the 1994 strike. A prolonged 2027 lockout, at a time when the league is navigating the streaming transition, could be even more damaging.

GMs and agents are intensely aware of all of this, of course, which is why the recent extension spree is interesting. Early career extensions are a team friendly bet, in general, as players trade upside for certainty. They hit the market later and with fewer prime seasons remaining, taking the possibility of ever signing a true top of the market contract off the table in exchange for locking in set for life money now. That Scott Boras clients don’t take extensions has become a fan cliche because the hyper-aggressive agent pushes his guys to hit the open market, a bet that pays off more often than not. And now, the fact that agents are directing their clients towards extending shows that they’re leaning towards the safety side of that bet.

Teams are typically in a position to be less risk averse. A player only gets one career, and if something goes wrong that career can be cut short before they strike it rich. A team expects to operate indefinitely, and its revenue is stable as long as the fans show up. It’s still somewhat telling that they want to sign these deals, though. The Tigers clearly think locking in the right to pay McGonigle over $30m in 2034 is worth taking on that risk, which doesn’t point to an expectation that the top end of the free agent market is going to downshift in any huge way.

Overall, then, I think the signs are modestly pessimistic for labour, but arguably slightly optimistic for fans wanting to watch a 2027 baseball season. After all, negotiations need both parties to have a basically similar understanding of reality to work out, and it doesn’t hurt when failing to strike a deal has some painful consequences. The fact that a lot of extensions are getting done suggests that players and their agents are not expecting a world where salaries skyrocket while GMs don’t significantly fear the bottom of the free agent market dropping out. The league’s forced pivot towards variable streaming revenues has the potential to make viewership damaging antics by owners more damaging to everyone. Those factors in combination give me a little hope that reasonable positions will be taken and the gap can be bridged. Still, there are choppy waters ahead.

1915
It was the biggest shutout in team history, as the White Sox pasted St. Louis, 16-0. The Pale Hose put up seven runs before the home Browns even got to bat, and scored in every inning but the third, seventh and eighth. It was just a 15-hit assault with no homers, so how did the Sox score 16? With help from five Browns errors and six stolen bases!

Buck Weaver went 3-for-6 with a double and two runs, pacing all the White Sox hitters … except starting pitcher Red Faber, who went 4-for-5 with a double and three runs, leading the team in total bases! Faber, no clouter him, pitched in an AL-high 50 games in 1915 and racked up 118 plate appearances and 84 at-bats … yielding 11 hits. Yes, more than a third of Faber’s hits in 1915 came in this game.

Also a curiosity, the win moved the White Sox into first place, at 2-0 on the season, and Faber’s season record was 2-0 was well. How? Well, Opening Day was a 13-inning thriller that saw the second-year hurler relieve in the 12th inning (not too well, either, giving up two earned runs) to earn the win — with fellow young hurler and future star Eddie Cicotte getting the save with a clean 13th. The next day, this blowout, Faber threw a complete game despite eight innings of the contest qualifying as garbage time!

This game stood as the biggest White Sox shutout win until 1925 and a 17-0 drubbing at Washington (and later tied in 1987). The game remains the third-biggest shutout in team history and tied for the 18th biggest win ever for the White Sox.

1954
The White Sox helped reintroduce Major League Baseball to Baltimore (in front of a crowd of 46,354) for the first time since 1902, as they played the new Baltimore Orioles in the first-ever game at Memorial Stadium (the franchise had moved from St. Louis that offseason). Virgil Trucks got the start for the White Sox, but the O’s won, 3-1, starting a run of numerous unfortunate, strange and bizarre happenings at Memorial Stadium over the next 37 seasons.

1972
The first labor impasse to cause regularly-scheduled games to be cancelled had caused Opening Day of the 1972 season to be pushed back. Thus in the first game of the new season was in Kansas City, where the Sox lost to the Royals, 2-1, in 11 innings despite Dick Allen’s first White Sox home run. Allen blasted a shot in the ninth inning off Dick Drago to give the team a brief, 1-0 lead. Kansas City tied the game with two outs in the ninth inning on a Bob Oliver home run off of Wilbur Wood, then go on to win the game.

The Sox dropped three consecutive one-run games to the Royals to start the season, two in extra innings, but ended up with 87 wins in 154 games and battle the eventual World Series champion Oakland A’s until the end of September.

1983
Former Cubs pitcher Milt Wilcox had his perfect game ruined with two outs in the ninth inning when White Sox pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston ripped a clean single up the middle. It was the only hit of the night for the Sox, who lost to Detroit, 6-0. Hairston’s hit marked just the third time in major league history that a perfect game was broken up with just one out left. Billy Pierce was one of the other two pitchers to have that happen to him, when he lost his to the Senators on June 27, 1958.

1985
In a game at Boston, pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston collected his 51st safety in that role, setting a White Sox all-time record. Jerry would lead the league in pinch-hits from 1983-85 and retired with 87 total in his career. He also hit the last home run to set off Bill Veeck’s original exploding scoreboard in October 1981 — a grand slam off of future Sox pitching coach Don Cooper!

1987
Future White Sox bullpen coach Juan Nieves tosses the first no-hitter in Milwaukee Brewers history, defeating the Baltimore Orioles, 7-0. Nieves was a pitching coach in the White Sox minors from 1999-2007, then worked under Don Cooper as the bullpen coach on the South Side from 2008-12. He also appeared as Francisco Delgado in the 1999 Kevin Costner baseball film For the Love of the Game.

2006
It was an all-time great defensive play.

In the ninth inning of a game at U.S. Cellular Field against Toronto, Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi had to charge in on a slowly-hit ball by Bengie Molina. Iguchi’s momentum carried him forward, forcing him to leave his feet and start to fall to the ground. Before he hit the field, though, he got a throw off, despite being parallel to the ground. His throw was strong enough to get Molina at first.

The Sox won the game, 4-2.  

2024
In his very first MLB start, Nick Nastrini retired the first 11 batters he faced, the most consecutive outs since 1960. In the process, Nastrini broke Bruce Tanner’s mark from back on June 12, 1985.

However, the punchless White Sox still lost the game, shut out, 2-0, by the Royals — tying a dubious record. It marked the sixth time in 16 games they were held without a run to start a season. The last time that happened in the modern era was in 1907 to the Brooklyn Superbas.

The White Sox were held to four singles in the game, and if not for a stolen base by Braden Shewmake in the fifth inning, no Chicago batter would have reached second base.

Phillies notes: Zack Wheeler closes in, Zach Pop goes to injured list originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Serious progress has been made. Zack Wheeler is getting close to a return to the Phillies’ rotation.

That is big news for both the ace and the organization.

On Tuesday, the 35-year-old made his fourth rehab start, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and striking out nine. Wheeler punched out five of the first six batters he faced.

It was another encouraging sign in his buildup, especially because he touched 95 mph with his fastball for the first time in the recovery process.

Rob Thomson called the outing “very encouraging.”

“He went through the minimum through five, was 92 to 95, so he touched 95,” Thomson said Tuesday. “That was good. He said he felt good after the outing. Somebody asked him if he was starting to run out of gas, and he said no, I felt good even at the end.”

Wheeler, who Thomson said felt good again on Wednesday, will make one more rehab start Sunday in Bridgewater, N.J. The plan is for him to throw around 90 pitches.

And while Thomson hinted Tuesday that a sixth rehab outing was still possible, there is no strong indication yet that it will be necessary. The Phillies are going to let Wheeler’s body and stuff guide the decision from here.

When asked Wednesday whether a sixth rehab start was under consideration, Thomson said, “We haven’t really talked about it. We’ll just see how it goes.”

At this point, Wheeler appears to have a very real chance to return to the big league club next weekend, when the Phillies head to Atlanta.

POP TO IL, BACKHUS RETURNS

In a three-day stretch, the Phillies have now lost two relievers to the injured list.

First, on Monday, they placed Jonathan Bowlan on the 15-day injured list. Then on Wednesday, right-hander Zach Pop joined him there.

Pop, who has posted a 3.68 ERA through his first seven appearances with the club, suffered a right calf strain on Tuesday night after his opener outing on Sunday. He allowed one run over two innings in that appearance.

Thomson described it as a mild strain.

“Zach was doing some agility work after the game last night and just felt something in his right calf,” Thomson said Wednesday.

It has been a solid start for the 29-year-old, especially with the development of his sinker. To begin the year, opponents were hitting just .111 against the pitch, which he has thrown 62.3 percent of the time. That has led to the type of ground-ball profile the Phillies were hoping to get from him.

To fill Pop’s spot, the club recalled Kyle Backhus from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He had originally been optioned when Orion Kerkering came off the injured list.

After allowing three runs in his Phillies debut on Opening Day, the left-handed submariner turned in three scoreless outings after that.

Backhus also gives the Phillies another left-handed option after Tim Mayza and Tanner Banks were both used Tuesday. Thomson noted that Backhus is in a good spot physically and could give them length if needed.

“Backhus was good. Just had a couple days off,” Thomson said. “He can give us probably maybe two innings today.”

Jesús Luzardo gets the ball Wednesday as he looks to bounce back after allowing five runs in his last outing against the Diamondbacks.

Red Sox avoid sweep in Minnesota; what we learned from series vs. Twins originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox salvaged their three-game series in Minnesota with a 9-5 win over the Twins in Wednesday’s finale. While it’ll be happier flight home, they still have plenty of issues to work out as they’ll take one of MLB’s worst records (7-11) into their four-game series against the Detroit Tigers.

After back-to-back series wins over the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox were humbled by the red-hot Twins. Minnesota torched Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for 11 runs in 1.2 innings pitched and cruised to a 13-6 win in Game 1. In Game 2, Twins starter Mick Abel notched a career-high 10 strikeouts while Sonny Gray struggled in a 6-0 shutout.

Rookie left-hander Connelly Early quieted the Twins offense in Game 3, and the Red Sox offense showed signs of life with nine runs on 13 hits. Boston will need to carry that momentum to Fenway Park to avoid slipping further behind in the American League East standings.

So, what did we learn during the Red Sox’ 2-1 series loss to the Twins? Here are five instant takeaways:

Connelly Early a bright spot in disappointing rotation

After Garrett Crochet was crushed for 11 earned runs in just 1.2 innings, and Sonny Gray allowed five ER across four IP, rookie left-hander Connelly Early helped salvage the series with a brilliant outing in the finale.

Early let just one run cross on two hits and two walks while striking out five across six innings. He set the tone in the Red Sox’ much-needed 9-5 victory.

Early wasn’t even expected to make the starting rotation out of spring training, but the 23-year-old has been Boston’s best starter so far with a 2.29 ERA through four starts (19.2 IP).

The rest of the rotation, which was supposed to be the club’s biggest strength, has been a letdown. Boston will need more consistency from Crochet (7.58 ERA), Sonny Gray (4.43 ERA), Ranger Suarez (5.02 ERA), and Brayan Bello (6.14 ERA) going forward.

Masataka Yoshida has earned more playing time

Yoshida played in two of the three games in this series, going 3-for-9 at the plate with a double and one RBI. He has a five-game hit streak dating back to April 5.

In the series finale, Yoshida put the Red Sox ahead in the third inning by driving in two runs on an error by the second baseman. It should’ve been an inning-ending double play, but the sequence showed that Yoshida’s ability to consistently put balls in play can alter the course of a game.

The outfield logjam persists, and it will likely continue to prevent Yoshida from getting consistent at-bats. But at this point, he’s making it difficult for Alex Cora to keep his bat out of the lineup. He has a .852 OPS in 11 games (28 at-bats).

Trevor Story is the X factor

The Red Sox are a different team when Trevor Story is hitting. We saw it last season, and it has been the case so far this year as well.

Story has started to heat up after struggling out of the gate. The veteran shortstop gave Boston’s offense a much-needed jolt in the third inning of Wednesday’s win with a three-run homer, his second blast of the season. He finished the day 2-for-4 with a double, HR, and five RBI.

Story has played a critical role in four of the Red Sox’ seven wins. In addition to Wednesday, Story went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI in Sunday’s win vs. the St. Louis Cardinals and had two-RBI performances in both of Boston’s wins over the Milwaukee Brewers.

ABS challenges are still a problem

Red Sox hitters have been among MLB’s worst at ABS challenges this season. That trend continued in Game 2 of this series.

In the sixth inning of Tuesday’s loss, Sox infielder Andruw Monasterio challenged a strike call on a pitch thrown down the heart of the plate. You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse use of the ABS challenge so far this year.

Boston has won only 45 percent of its ABS challenges at the plate this season (5-for-11). That’s the fifth-worst percentage in MLB, with the Cincinnati Reds posting a league-best 69 percent (11-for-16).

Red Sox need more from Jarren Duran

After grounding out in Game 2, Jarren Duran made headlines for his obscene gesture at a heckling fan. Duran later explained that the fan “told me to kill myself.” Given Duran’s history with mental health struggles, and his admission that he tried to take his own life in 2022, his knee-jerk reaction to such a crass remark is understandable.

That said, Duran is one of the most important players on the Red Sox roster, and they need him to ignore the noise. The 2024 All-Star is slashing .170/.204/.298 with one homer in 15 games, and he went just 1-for-14 with five strikeouts in this series. It’s clear his frustrations are boiling over, and rightfully so, but he’s needed as a leader in the clubhouse and as one of the biggest threats in an inconsistent lineup that could use all the help it can get.