The Boston Red Sox have both benefited and been haunted by the greatest constant in their young season so far.
With run production being no problem, the Red Sox haven't made it easy on themselves, as was the case yet again during their series-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Fenway Park on Monday night. While the bullpen was flawless, Kutter Crawford, who got the start, wasn't as lucky, allowing three home runs and seven earned runs through four innings pitched in the 7-6 loss.
Crawford's season debut produced the 10th allowed home run by Red Sox pitchers this season. And despite Boston's rebuttal of three homers and five runs in the first inning, the continued elite run production from the lineup proved to not be enough.
Nevertheless, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was at a loss for words due to the volume of balls leaving Fenway Park so far this season.
"This is different, man. I've never seen anything like this so early in the season," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "The ball is flying in the air."
Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds bested Crawford twice with the long ball, leading a nine-hit charge from Pittsburgh that featured four extra-base hits -- three charged to the Boston right-hander. Red Sox starting pitchers -- Crawford, Tanner Houck, Chris Sale and Corey Kluber -- are charged with 22 earned runs through 15 1/3 innings pitched in the first four games.
Rafael Devers began Boston's offensive charge, going deep for his first home run of the campaign, which was followed by Masataka Yoshida and Triston Casas. Like Cora, Devers was caught by surprise at how often hitters have gone yard in Boston. Last season, Fenway Park housed 118 homers, according to Baseball Savant.
"The balls are running a lot in this ballpark this year," Devers told reporters through a translator, on NESN. "That's something we didn't see last year at all. But yeah, you can see the difference between last year and this year."
Last season, Boston blasted 155 homers, while allowing 185 to opposing hitters.
The Red Sox return to action for the second of three against the Pirates on Tuesday. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, following a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.
