Yankees fans irked by the team’s 1-2 opening series can take solace in the fact the Red Sox are off to an even worse start. Boston got swept by the Orioles at Fenway Park to open the 2021 MLB
Yankees fans irked by the team’s 1-2 opening series can take solace in the fact the Red Sox are off to an even worse start.
Boston got swept by the Orioles at Fenway Park to open the 2021 MLB season, the team’s worst home start in 73 years. Their 0-3 start in 1948 was the only other time in team history the Red Sox began winless at home.
The sweep was punctuated with an ugly 11-3 loss on Sunday, as Garrett Richards and Josh Taylor got torched for 10 runs within the first three innings, including a seven-run third. Boston’s three runs weren’t nearly enough, yet were an improvement on the zero and two it scored in its first two games, respectively.
“We got beat in every aspect of the game,” said Alex Cora, who returned to manage the team after departing for a season in the wake of the Astros sign-stealing scandal. “We’re off to a rough start.”
It was a brutal series for some of Boston’s bats. Alex Verdugo is 0-for-11 to begin the year, while Xander Bogaerts is 1-for-12, Bobby Dalbec is 0-for-10, Enrique Hernandez is 1-for-10 and Rafael Devers is 0-for-6.
One small silver lining for the Red Sox was the performance of Garrett Whitlock on Sunday, the 24-year-old right-hander they swiped from the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft. Whitlock tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts in his MLB debut.
Cora led the Red Sox to a World Series title in his first year as manager in 2018. They then missed the playoffs in 2019, traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers and finished in last place in the AL East (24-36) during the shortened 2020 season. It could be another long year in Beantown.
This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Justin Tasch
