Imago
MLB.com
Imago
MLB.com
A change in manager has not yet turned the season in the Boston Red Sox’s favor. Having lost four of their last five series, the Red Sox hold an 18-26 losing record. As the major league best, the Atlanta Braves defeated the visiting Red Sox 3-2 in extra innings; a series of careless errors on Boston’s part robbed them of potential scoring chances. The Red Sox’s interim manager was the first to hold his players accountable post-game.
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“The big thing tonight was careless mistakes on the bases more than anything,” said Chad Tracy, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
While Mike Yastrzemski secured the match for the Braves with his walk-off double in the tenth, the Red Sox’s aggressive baserunning approach cost Boston dearly. It started early in the first with leadoff hitter Jarren Duran. Batting .174 this season, Duran recorded a leadoff walk, only for the Braves starter Spencer Strider to pick him off at first base.
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In the fifth, Ceddanne Rafaela was on second after hitting a leadoff double. With one out, he tried to steal third, but Sandy Leon was quick to throw him out. Rafaela has three stolen bases this season, and he went 2-for-3 on Friday.
“I was trying to get to third with less than two outs and got caught there,” Rafaela explained. “I thought it was a perfect throw from Sandy.”
Though Rafaela failed to execute the steal, Tracy made it clear that the center fielder had permission to steal on his own.
“There’s guys that are green. If they’re green, they can go,” said Tracy, per MassLive. “But there’s also spots where you just want to pay attention to it. On the flip side, he can be safe there.”
However, the most appalling baserunning error came from Michael Gasper in the fourth. Following Gasper’s leadoff single and an out, Michael Contreras was at the plate when Gasper broke into a run in an attempt to steal second. Turns out he misheard a pitch, making contact with Leon’s glove as Contreras’ hitting. As a result, Leon’s throw beat him by a mile, as Gasper got out.
“I don’t know why I thought it was the crack of the bat. It was just a loud pop in the catcher’s glove. It can’t happen,” remarked a frustrated Gasper, reported MassLive. “That one was a big one. Got to let Willson hit here.”
Gasper was on the verge of recording his third career steal on Friday before he was thrown out.
Against the Braves, the Red Sox hitters went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They had scoring opportunities again during the late innings. With two outs and two men on base, Andruw Monasterio struck out in the ninth to end the innings. As the score remained knotted at 2, another chance rose with runners on corners in the tenth. But Gasper lined out on a splitter from the Braves’ reliever.
Manager Tracy summed it up as, “Nothing major, but those are opportunities.”
Notably, the Red Sox faced the Braves on May 16 last season as well. In 2025, they were 22-24 under Alex Cora, struggling but still searching for an identity. Now with Cora fired, Tracy serving as the interim manager, and a roster overhaul, they are somehow playing worse. This year, they are 18-26 and 11.5 games behind in the AL East.
Meanwhile, Marcelo Mayer has opened up about his performance at the plate amid the Red Sox’s offensive struggles.
Marcelo Mayer expresses frustration about his performance
Since they swept the Detroit Tigers, the Red Sox have scored three or fewer runs in six of their last seven matches. They have scored two or fewer runs in 20 out of their 44 games. They rank 27th in the league, having scored 163 runs in total.
Amid the offensive slumps of Jarren Duran (.174 BA) and Caleb Durbin (.169 BA), second baseman Marcelo Mayer has recently expressed frustration with his own performance.
On Friday, aside from Carlos Narvaez scoring on Gasper’s RBI single, Mayer was the only one to do some damage to the Braves’ defense.
He hit the game-tying home run in the top of the seventh on Tyler Kinley’s slider. Mayer took Kinley 378 feet deep to tie the score at 2-2. However, before Friday’s loss, Mayer revealed his dissatisfaction.
“Not where I want to be at all, performance-wise,” Mayer, according to MassLive. “I still haven’t felt like I’ve reached where I need to be, and obviously, this is a game where you feel like you could always do more and you’re always trying to improve and get better.”
In 130 plate appearances, Mayer has recorded 8 extra-base hits, including 2 homers. He is hitting .233 and has been grounded into double plays 4 times so far in 2026.
Written by
Edited by
Arunaditya Aima