'Embarrassing': Buehler lasts 2 innings in latest clunker for Sox rotation
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NEW YORK -- Perhaps the first rivalry showdown of 2025 would help the Red Sox shake out of a nightmarish week from the non-Garrett Crochet members of the starting rotation.
That is what manager Alex Cora was hoping as he held court in the visitors’ dugout a couple of hours before Friday night’s game at Yankee Stadium.
“It'll be great for us to have our starters go deeper in this series, giving us six at least every night, and if we can do that, we’re going to be OK,” Cora said.
By the first inning of an eventual 9-6 loss, it became quite clear that things are not OK for a team that is now 30-35 and 10 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East.
In his first game at Yankee Stadium since throwing the pitch that clinched the World Series for the Dodgers last October, Walker Buehler was hit for a five-spot in the bottom of the first inning, making him the third Red Sox starting pitcher in the past four games to allow at least four earned runs in the opening frame.
“It’s hard to play this way,” said Cora. “Obviously, the bullpen is taxed. What [Cooper Criswell] did today after pitching two days ago, it’s hard to do. We’ve just got to get better. We have to pitch. We trust these guys. We just have to improve.”
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Buehler hoped to rebound in the second inning, but things didn’t get much better for the veteran righty, who allowed two more runs and was lifted after 67 pitches (42 strikes) for Zack Kelly to open the third. All seven runs Buehler yielded were scored with two outs by the relentless Yankees.
“It's obviously a big game and a big rivalry that I was excited to be a part of, and for it to go the way that it did is super disappointing,” said Buehler. “Especially after the past two, three weeks of prep and throwing and all that kind of [stuff] and how I'm feeling, physically I feel great. And for it to happen that way, it sucks.”
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The first inning has been an ongoing issue for Red Sox starting pitchers, who have a 7.06 ERA in the opening frame. Only the Rockies (8.86) have been worse.
“We prepare. We have to execute,” said Cora. “At the end of the day, it’s execution. It’s not the scouting reports or they’re showing up late to their bullpen session or to warmup. It’s just that we aren’t executing, and that’s it.”
Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05 million contract with Boston in the offseason in hopes of being a stabilizing force in the rotation.
Instead, the 30-year-old has been spotty, pitching to a 5.18 ERA in his first 10 starts in his new uniform.
“This organization put a lot of faith in me this offseason, and I've been [expletive] embarrassing for us,” Buehler said.
In his first three full starts since coming off the injured list – he was ejected in the third inning of his first start back from right shoulder bursitis – Buehler has allowed 14 runs (12 earned) over 12 2/3 innings.
Crochet (1.98 ERA in 13 starts) will again be asked to stop the bleeding and give the overworked bullpen a respite on Saturday.