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BOSTON — Coming into Thursday night, the game was all about Cam Schlittler, but the hometown kid nearly got overshadowed by the Red Sox’ own hard-throwing young gun.

Until Payton Tolle left the game, when the Yankees pounced and Schlittler kept dominating.

Cody Bellinger delivered the clutch hit — a pinch-hit, go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning — to make sure Schlittler’s strong night did not go to waste as the Yankees finished a sweep of the Red Sox with their sixth straight win, 4-2, at a sold-out Fenway Park.

Schlittler lacked the same swing-and-miss stuff Thursday that he showcased against the Red Sox in his AL wild-card series clincher last October — the showdown that sparked the social-media harassment toward him and his family, which continued through this rematch — but provided another memorable night nonetheless. The Walpole, Mass., native tossed a career-high eight innings while allowing just two runs (only one earned) and four hits while striking out five.

“He has that F-you attitude, like Carlos [Rodón] and Gerrit [Cole] that everybody loves and everybody adores when you’re playing behind him,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit his first home run of the year to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth. “So I think it’s pretty cool to see him go out there and do his thing, especially in his home city.”

The 25-year-old right-hander, who did not garner as much outward hostility from the crowd of 36,565 as expected, still rose to the occasion in what manager Aaron Boone described as “an ace-like performance” against the team he grew up rooting for.

In doing so, Schlittler became the latest Yankees starter to mow down an opponent, which has fueled their six-game winning streak.

“I didn’t think the emotions were too high,” Schlittler said. “It was a fun experience to come here, growing up around here, and being able to go throw. Great experience and just glad the boys got the sweep.”

David Bednar finished the win with a 1-2-3 ninth, completing a series in which the Red Sox (9-16) mustered just three runs and 13 hits.

“Wins are precious any time of year, especially within the division,” Boone said. “I know the Red Sox are scuffling a little bit to start the season right now, but we know they have a really good club and we know they’re going to get it going. So any time you can get wins against them, especially here, you take it.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

After Tolle exited with a 2-1 lead following six innings of one-run ball in which he struck out 11 — including punching out the first five batters — the Yankees (16-9) quickly took advantage, using a three-run seventh inning against the Red Sox bullpen to flip the game.

Trent Grisham, Chisholm and José Caballero strung consecutive one-out singles together to load the bases. Then with two outs, and righty reliever Greg Weissert entering the game, Bellinger pinch-hit for Amed Rosario and lined a two-run single the other way for the 3-2 lead.

Aaron Judge came up next and tacked on an insurance run with a single of his own, showing some extra emotion as he pumped his arms up and down toward the dugout.

And while Schlittler insisted it was “just another game,” it was clear his teammates wanted to make sure he came away with the win.

“Cam was doing Cam things,” Bellinger said. “He’s such a young kid. This rivalry is different when you wear these two uniforms. He’s just done a tremendous job pitching and handling everything that comes with it.”

Boston’s two runs came on a Marcelo Mayer double in the second inning — extended by a Rosario throwing error — and Carlos Narváez’s solo shot in the fifth, the first home run Schlittler allowed this season.

But he buckled down from there, making sure his homecoming ended with what mattered most.

“At the end of the day, I’m a competitor and I have a job to do,” Schlittler said. “Whether we’re in Boston or somewhere else, it doesn’t add more heat to that. I got to limit the distractions and go out there and do my job and help the team, put them in a spot to win the game.”

The series was already in hand. LA had just scored one run over the past 18 innings. Shohei Ohtani’s on-base streak snapped. Aftershocks from Patrick Bailey’s game-winning, three-run shot on Wednesday night were still reverberating around Oracle. San Francisco’s previous wins gave them a commanding two game advantage over LA over 2,597 head-to-head match-ups. So yeah…there was a certain level of sympathy being felt amongst the orange-and-black community in Thursday’s finale. Pity is a good word too. It’d be impolite to not give your guests something for their troubles. LA fans had journeyed so far, trekking up the cement cow-chute of I-5 (savvier Californians prefer the free-flowing, lettuce chute of Highway 101) — and for what? Dalton Rushing content? For Shohei Ohtani to go hitless and not win as a pitcher in the same game? And isn’t it weird that he’s a two-way player once every six days and he gets all the attention, yet Luis Arraez scoops short hops at second and hits singles every damn day?  

So a parting gift for our forlorn brothers and their clown prince, Tyler Glasnow. Ultimate goof, certified knucklehead — the Giants bats graciously blessed him. A 3-0 shutout for a 3-0 shutout. The cup of compassion overfloweth. 

I jest, of course. Not about Glasnow being a knucklehead, he will always and forever be one thanks to this clip.

I jest about the Giants having any semblance of control over the outcome of Thursday’s game because hot dang Glasnow was dominant today. No generosity needed — he took everything that he wanted over 8 scoreless innings, while allowing just one single, striking out 9 and facing the minimum of 24 hitters. He racked up chase and whiffs and legless contact, stealing strikes with his fastball and spinning hitters with his curveball, working them north, south, and right down the equator. He gave hitters a ladder for them to climb, and they asked “How high?” He threw shovels at them and told them to dig. 

Believe it or not, this was Glasnow toning down his breaking ball usage. The “off-script” approach might help explain some of his effectiveness. His sinker usage over his previous starts sat at 18%, he bumped it up to 45% Thursday afternoon. He dropped his four-seam reliance from 37% to 12%, and his curveball (including knuckle curve) from 30% to 22%. Fastballs accounted for 15 of his 23 called strikes (especially at the top of the zone). While hitters inched up to the plate, anxious about the big hook or slider, Glasnow’s fastballs caught them off guard. In a friendly 3-1 hitter’s count, he served up a 96 MPH sinker right down the middle and Willy Adames threw his bat at the ball, popping it up in foul ground, as if it snuck up and bit him.

Perhaps a visual would be the most effective. This pool noodle wave at a curveball to end the 6th pretty much sums up the experience.   

Is it best to have no idea, close your eyes, and swing? Or have no idea, close your eyes, and take because you have no idea what is about to be thrown at you?  

And then there was Logan Webb — the other guy.

It wasn’t that Webb pitched poorly — he logged his second consecutive quality start and third of the year, allowing 3 earned over 7 IP — he just got left in the dust by Glasnow. That’s how life works sometimes. Webb knows that, and he knows he pitched well and kept the offense in the game, but there will always be something grating about being hung with the loss, with having to wear, as the inimitable Smash Mouth would say, “the shape of an ‘L’ on your forehead.” 

I get the sense too that Webb still isn’t completely stoked about how 2026 is going. Maybe that’s why he’s a professional athlete. He’ll never be fully satisfied, even after a solid outing with a lot of good in it. The obvious one: he kept the Dodgers in the park and held them to just three runs. He helped extend Ohtani’s not-on-base streak to two games with a pair of strikeouts and a pair of ground outs (including a DP). He slayed that beast, much like he did with Aaron Judge in the season opener, but lacked a needed edge against others.   

In the 2nd, Webb had Dalton Rushing — the rivalry’s newest troll — in a 1-2 hole with two outs and a runner on second. The pitch he threw wasn’t by no means a mistake in terms of location, it was just a mistake in the sense Rushing saw it coming. He was looking down, got something waaayyy down, and scraped a change-up off the plate and deposited it into center field for LA’s first run, and lead, of the series. Webb could tip his cap, or he could think about predictability, about pitching backwards, or like Glasnow did, “off-script.” Would it have been better to go to another elevated cutter, perhaps a four-seamer (a pitch he fanned Ohtani on in the 3rd)?

Then in the 4th, Webb got a little lazy with location. Both Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy punched back-to-back doubles on first-pitch offerings left right out over the plate. And with two outs and a runner on second, Hyseong Kim ambushed another first pitch for another RBI.

Webb played into the Dodger’s attack a little bit there, and some less than ideal defensive work behind him didn’t help either. On Max Muncy’s double, Kyle Tucker after a terrible read on the ball ended up stopping at third base. A lucky break, except for the fact that the relay throw from Drew Gilbert in center to Adames at short was bobbled, allowing Tucker to break for the plate and score anyway. Not the worst infield infraction that Webb has had to pitch through, but this one sure doesn’t help in restoring the trust between pitcher and his defense.

A bad break, or bad bounce, came on Kim’s single to Heliot Ramos in right. Even with Muncy’s two out jump from second, Ramos’s relay was on target and looked like it’d arrive on time — until it lost all its energy on its first hop. Instead of the ball skipping off the infield grass, it kicked up, slowing it down enough for Muncy to score LA’s third run. 

Not that it really mattered in the end. Winning was never the intention anyway. The Giants are just too gentlemanly to sweep a visiting team, even if it is the Dooogers.

The Boston Red Sox have left us collectively feeling like we’re living with a diabetic.

If you want some juice, you gotta go elsewhere.

Payton Tolle, however, knew we were missing out and brought his own on Thursday, putting together a stupendous performance during his season debut against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park — so if you were more focused on the local hockey club’s playoff game, the drama involving your football team’s head coach, or the world’s biggest job fair, you missed out.

Until you didn’t…

Danny Coulombe and Greg Weissert combined to ruin the entire thing, giving up the lead in the seventh inning in a 4-2 loss that completed the series sweep for New York.

STUDS

Payton Tolle: I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon, folks…

Tolle finished with 11 strikeouts in six innings of work, but perhaps the most impressive part of the start was allowing zero runs after loading the bases with no outs in the fourth inning — eventually sitting down Giancarlo Stanton (strikeout), Randal Grichuk (popout), and Trent Grisham (strikeout).

Carlos Narváez: I’ll always respect dudes who play well against their former team. Narváez sent one over that big wall in left field, marking his first home run of the season.

DUDS

Danny Coulombe: HOW DARE YOU, SIR!?

Coulombe was tasked with protecting a one-run lead in the seventh inning, but instead loaded the bases before being yanked in favor of Greg Weissert.

Greg Weissert: Weissert didn’t fare much better, giving up back-to-back hits that plated three runs that were ultimately credited to Coulombe.

LOOKSMAXXING/MOGGING OF THE GAME

Jarren Duran tried to steal this award when he almost lost his cool after colliding with Caleb Durbin.

Tolle would not be denied, however, as he looked like a man on top of the world after his first inning strikeout of Aaron Judge. It’s rare that you see that much beef on the diamond, but we’re talking about the size of a weaning calf between these two.

I’d give it to his scream after getting out of that fourth inning jam, but this allowed us to celebrate even more of our beautiful boy.

The Red Sox ruined what would have been a truly electric celebration, though… As they’re one to do.

After both teams combined to score 34 runs in the first two games of the series, the rubber match turned into a pitchers’ duel between Davis Martin and Michael Soroka. At least it was until the ninth.

Arizona scored off Martin in the first on a Ketel Marte single and an Adrian Del Castillo double. After that, though, he didn’t allow another runner past first, thanks in part to a fourth-inning play from Munetaka Murakami that showed he’s more than just a slugger.

Davis ended up going 6 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and just one walk while striking out seven. He was matched most of the way by Soroka, who gave up four straight singles to Andrew Benintendi, Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery, most of them off curve balls that hung in the middle of the plate, but otherwise kept the Sox off the board.

Soroka gave up one more hit than Martin and had one fewer K, but the key difference is that he threw a lot more pitches per inning and lasted only five frames.

Both bullpens performed well, at least until one didn’t. Grant Taylor relieved Martin with one out and Nolan Arenado on first in the seventh. He gave up a double to Alek Thomas that missed a home run by about a foot, but bounced back with a strikeout and a scoreless eighth.

The Sox had a runner in scoring position in the eighth on Montgomery’s third single of the day (one a lucky pop-up, the others solid), a fielder’s choice, and a stolen base by pinch runner Derek Hill, but that was part of their 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

However, in the ninth, tied 1-1, the Diamondbacks went to their closer, Paul Sewald, who came into the game with a 1.93 ERA. Sewald had only issued one walk all season, but he had no idea where the ball was going this time. He walked Chase Meidroth (2-for-3) on four pitches, one on a challenge, the others not even close. Tristan Peters moved him over with a sacrifice, then he issued another free pass to pinch-hitter Edgar Quero with the balls all completely non-competitive (as Stoney would say). Behind in the count to Andrew Benintendi, he finally tried to steal a strike, and left a 92 mph fastball so middle-middle it might as well have been a game under 1870s rules, where a batter got to instruct the pitcher where to throw it. Benintendi showed his appreciation.

Balls don’t usually carry well in Arizona when the dome is shut, as it was today, but that 104.5 mph shot went 410 feet.

Will Venable handed a three-run lead to Seranthony Domínguez, who managed not to blow the save, getting two strikeouts in a clean ninth.

Only downer — the three consecutive-game homer streaks of Murakami, Montgomery, and Vargas all ended, so Mune will have to settle for tying the team and MLB rookie streak record at five.

The win ended a 4-2 western road trip and raised the Sox record to 10-15. Next, they head home to open a series with the Nationals tomorrow night.

Red Sox' ‘run prevention' strategy is blowing up in their face originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox have been one of MLB’s worst teams so far in 2026, and there are no indications that will change any time soon.

Boston is now 9-16 on the season after getting swept by the New York Yankees in its three-game series at Fenway Park. That’s the third-worst record in MLB, behind only the Philadelphia Phillies (8-17) and Kansas City Royals (8-17).

The lifeless Red Sox offense totaled only three runs and 13 hits in the series. They remain tied for last in the league with 14 homers, only three more than Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has hit by himself this season.

None of this is a surprise to those who criticized Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office for their offseason approach.

After failing to re-sign Alex Bregman, the Red Sox redirected those resources toward Ranger Suarez. Breslow emphasized “run prevention” as the team’s identity entering 2026, a strategy that was easy to buy into given what appeared to be one of the league’s strongest rotations.

Through 25 games, that approach has backfired.

The rotation ranks 25th in MLB with a 4.88 ERA. Garrett Crochet, last year’s American League Cy Young runner-up, has seen his ERA balloon to 7.88 after allowing 15 earned runs over his last two starts. Sonny Gray landed on the 15-day injured list following an up-and-down start, while Brayan Bello has struggled mightily after an encouraging 2025. Suarez has begun to settle in after a rough opening stretch, but that’s hardly been enough to stabilize the group.

This roster wasn’t built to win without an elite rotation. Leaning on pitching as a strength is one thing; depending on it to carry you for 162 games is another.

Boston’s lineup has left little to no margin for error for its starting pitchers. This was predictable. Too much pressure was put on 21-year-old Roman Anthony to carry the offense, and he’s hitting .225 with just one homer in 22 games.

No one has hit well outside of Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras. Jarren Duran, Trevor Story, Caleb Durbin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Andruw Monasterio are each hitting below the Mendoza line (.200), with Marcelo Mayer (.203) just barely above the threshold.

There’s a fair share of blame pie to go around. Manager Alex Cora deserves a large slice, as do hitting coach Pete Fatse and pitching coach Andrew Bailey. But looking at the issues that consistently plague this Red Sox team, it’s obvious Breslow’s roster-building is the biggest problem.

The most glaring mistake? Failing to solve the outfield logjam. Five players — Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu — are competing for four lineup spots. That has forced Anthony, Duran, and Yoshida to split time as the designated hitter, and although he’s only played in nine games, Yoshida has been the best hitter of the three.

Breslow also should have added at least one slugger to the lineup after essentially replacing Bregman’s bat with Contreras’. With a painful lack of power, the Red Sox have relied on small ball to put runs on the board. As a result, they rank 26th in MLB with 92 runs scored and dead last in slugging percentage at .331.

Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez, whose homer was one of the club’s only highlights in the series vs. New York, voiced his frustrations after Thursday’s loss.

“We’ve been saying, ‘I know it’s early,’ but we cannot have that mentality,” he said, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “It’s time to go. We got to flush it. Of course, it doesn’t feel right, but we got to flush it. We got six important games on the road. We cannot be stuck in the mindset like, OK yeah, we gotta be better. No, of course we know we gotta be better.”

Boston must play with a sense of urgency when it visits Baltimore (12-13) for a three-game series starting Friday night. If that series is anything like the last three games vs. New York, we may be calling this a lost season before the calendar flips to May.

The Dbacks were not able to complete what would’ve been their 5^th straight series win on Thursday as they lost to the Chicago White Sox on a 3 run home run in the top of the 9^th inning.

After the offensive explosion that happened last night at Chase Field with the 6 home runs, today was very much the opposite type of game. Michael Soroka pitched well today and did a great job quieting the red hot White Sox offense. Soroka was able to go 5 innings and only allowing 1 run, however due to a few particularly long innings with base traffic wasn’t able to pitch into the 6^th inning. He was able to notch 6 Ks today generating 13 swing and misses. Soroka’s slurve was especially sharp today generating a 29% whiff rate. Definitely one of the best pitches on this team for sure.

The Diamondbacks bullpen was good for the most part this afternoon as Ginkel, Morillo, and Loasiga combined for 3.1 innings of 0 ER with 4 Ks. However the strange trend with non-save opportunity Paul Sewald reared its ugly head again today as he came in in the 9^th, walked 2 batters, and then gave up the go ahead 3 run home run on a fastball that literally could not have been more center cut. I mean when Paul Sewald misses, he misses really really bad. The ball may as well have been on a tee and that simply cannot happen with the game on the line.

Im inclined to just chalk this one up as Sewald maybe just isn’t as locked in in non save opportunities as he is in save opportunities, however I just don’t know how much I buy that. You should always be locked in entering a major league baseball game and there is NEVER a good time to throw pitches middle middle like that. Sewald owns a 27.00 ERA in tie game situations so far this season after allowing his 5^th ER in just 1.2 innings of tie game action so far this season. And I feel like the majority of those runs came on center cut fastballs middle middle.

Certainly this was a series you wanted to win if you were the Dbacks, however I also think the White Sox played some pretty good baseball over the past couple of days especially on offense and the series essentially came down to 1 mistake in the heart of the zone.

The other argument here as to why the Dbacks lost this game which is valid is that the offense was only able to piece together 1 run. Especially considering they scored 11 runs in the game last night. Carroll went 0-4 and the rest of the offense was only able to scatter hits here and there while only drawing 1 walk. Pretty tough to win a major league game with offensive performances like that.

The Dbacks will look to get back to winning series in Mexico City on Saturday when they take on the red-hot San Diego Padres in a quick 2 game series. I think it will be fun to see the energy that Mexico City brings to the ball park as well as how the ball plays at almost 2,000 feet ABOVE Coors Field elevation.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Texas Rangers, April 23, 8:05 p.m. ET

Location: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet

Pitching Matchup: Bubba Chandler (1-1, 3.15 ERA) vs. TBA

The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today in the Lone Star State against the Texas Rangers looking to grab a win.

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