4 telling stats from the Red Sox’ slow start
A bottom-of-the-league starting rotation is part of the reason Boston has started the season 2-4.
Six games into the 2023 season, the Red Sox are 2-4 for just the third time since 2014.
After winning their first series of the year at home against the Orioles, the Sox were swept by the Pirates at Fenway Park.
While it’s quite the small sample size for baseball, here are the stats telling the tale of the 2023 Red Sox through their first six games.
They’ve scored the 5th-most runs per game.
The Boston bats started out the year red-hot, with the Red Sox scoring nine runs in each of their three games against the Orioles.
In that series with Baltimore, the team’s most established batters shined. Alex Verdugo, Rafael Devers, Justin Turner, and Adam Duvall combined to hit 21-of-55, a .381 mark. That group also accounted for 17 of the team’s 27 runs during the series.
Against the Pirates however, the Red Sox bats cooled down and the team scored just eight runs in the series, including two one-run performances.
They’ve stranded the 7th-most runners on base.
While Boston is knocking in plenty of runs, Red Sox players are still leaving a lot of scoring opportunities out on the base paths. The team left 40 runners on base in that Pittsburgh series.
The 43 runners left on base in total this season puts the team at seventh-most in the league.
One of the main reasons for this struggle is the bottom of the Red Sox lineup. The first five hitters are getting on base at a great clip, but the bottom four guys just haven’t been able to drive them in.
Triston Casas, Kiké Hernández, Christian Arroyo, and the catching duo of Connor Wong and Reese McGuire are hitting a combined .173 so far this season.
They have the 3rd-worst ERA.
Coming into the season, the Red Sox pitching staff was one of the biggest concerns of the team. So far the pitchers, and the starting rotation in particular, haven’t disproven their doubters.
As a group, the staff allows the third-highest ERA in the league at 6.00. The starting rotation has an ERA of 8.60 so far this season in 25.1 innings pitched. The starters have yet to post a quality start.
The damage from opposing hitters is mainly coming from the long ball. Red Sox pitchers allow the second-most home runs in the league, and when that’s combined with the second-most baserunners allowed, you have a lot of high scoring games.
Boston’s pitching staff isn’t all bad though. While the starters are ballooning the team ERA, the bullpen holds an ERA of 3.46.
Much of that solid bullpen work is coming from Chris Martin, Josh Winckowski, and Zack Kelly. That trio has a combined 1.32 ERA in 13.2 innings.
They’ve allowed the most stolen bases.
While teams across the league are swiping more bags to start this season, Red Sox opponents are finding particularly great success so far.
After six games, Boston has allowed 14 stolen bases, five more than the next closest team. Eleven percent of all stolen bases this year have come against the Red Sox.
On the offensive side of the base paths, Boston is failing to take advantage of these same rule changes. The team has registered just two stolen bases this year, tied for second-to-last in the majors.
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