The Red Sox opened the 2024 regular season with a 10-game, west coast road trip starting with four games at the Seattle Mariners. After a win on Opening Day, they lost the next two games, but managed an Easter Sunday victory for a series split.
Boston starting pitching was the highlight of the opening series. On Thursday, Brayan Bello allowed two earned runs over 5.0 inning with two strikeouts. Nick Pivetta followed on Friday with just one run allowed over 6.0 IP (and with 10 SO). Kutter Crawford‘s Saturday start was excellent, too, with one unearned run over 6.0 IP and seven strikeouts. And on Sunday, Garrett Whitlock worked out of jams and came away with just one ER allowed over 5.0 IP and 8 SO.
Pivetta took a hard-luck loss in his outing, joining Hall of Famer Cy Young in 1904 as the only Boston starters ever with a loss despite 10+ strikeouts, no walks, and no more than one earned run allowed.
Sox relief pitching against the Mariners was excellent, for the most part. Over the four game stretch, Boston relievers combined for 13.1 innings of relief with four earned run allowed and 18 strikeouts. If you didn’t follow spring training, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that Isaiah Campbell, Greg Weissert, and Justin Slaten are lining up to be big, new contributors to this year’s team.
By Monday, Sox pitchers had amassed 45 strikeouts, the most in the American League, and the fourth-most in baseball. The 45 strikeouts are the most over the first four games of a new season in franchise history.
Offensively, the Sox were spotty. Yes, Boston got good production from Tyler O’Neill (.400 with 2 home runs, 2 RBI) and Rafael Devers (3-for-10, HR, 2 RBI), as well as contributions from Reese McGuire, Connor Wong, and Ceddanne Rafaela. But it has been weak production so far for Trevor Story (.176), Triston Casas (.067), and Jarren Duran (.125).