The Boston Red Sox fell to a major-league-worst 2-7 on Sunday, tying the weakest start through nine games in the franchise’s long history.
Some “sell the team” chants could be heard at Fenway Park in the ninth inning of their latest defeat, an 8-6 setback to the San Diego Padres.
Young slugger Roman Anthony said afterward that fans have every right to be upset.
“This is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for the fans,” Anthony told reporters. “It’s unacceptable to the standard that we set for ourselves.”
Boston’s offseason additions have especially struggled out of the gate.
Offensively, Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have combined to go 8-for-70 at the plate (.114) with a .171 slugging percentage (one home run total) and 20 strikeouts.
Pitching hasn’t been much better.
Ranger Suarez, who was signed to a five-year, $130 million deal in free agency in the wake of Alex Bregman’s move to the Cubs, couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning Sunday, dropping to 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA across his first two starts with his new team. He was spotted a 4-0 lead through three innings but quickly gave most of it back, with San Diego’s rally boosted by a Manny Machado kicked pickoff attempt.
“He’ll be the first one to say there’s no excuse,” manager Alex Cora told reporters of Suarez. “He was making good pitches. … They made adjustments, started swinging at the first pitch, got their hits and then that happened.”
Anthony said no single person is to blame for the early-season woes.
“I think just as a team, we need to be better,” he said. “I need to be better. Everyone in this room understands that they need to be better. And it’s as simple as that. A lot of season left.”
It won’t get any easier. NL Central-leading Milwaukee (7-2) arrives in Boston for the start of a three-game series Monday.
“The record is the record,” Cora said, according to The Boston Globe. “We’ve just got so show up [Monday]. We have another tough team coming in, one of the best teams in baseball. We’ve got to play better.”
