Red Sox Notes: Braves Hand Boston Bats First Shutout In 2025

The Boston Red Sox took another step back Saturday following Friday’s losing-streak-breaking victory.

The Red Sox were the only team in baseball entering Saturday’s game to not be shut out so far this season. The Atlanta Braves, behind 11 strikeouts in seven innings from Spencer Schwellenbach, changed that with a 5-0 win over Boston at Truist Park.

“Oh, their guy was good,” Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s got good stuff. He went from 95-96 (MPH) against us at home. All of the sudden, it was 98-99. He started using his split against lefties halfway through the outing. We tried to battle, but that was good stuff.”

Schwellenbach’s stuff truly played up Saturday afternoon with 18 of his hardest pitches against the season against the Red Sox. Boston’s bats faced domination and had another day where runs were tough to come by.

Moving forward, Boston needs to be more consistent in supporting its starting pitchers.

There’s no greater example than with Garrett Crochet, who takes the ball with the series on the line for the Red Sox. Crochet holds a 2.04 ERA, though Boston is just 6-6 in his starts. To get to the expectations set for them, the Red Sox need to support the staff.

“It starts with the rotation to gain momentum,” Cora said. “Tomorrow, we’ve got Garrett. We’ve got a chance to win the series. Win it, move on, go home and play better.”

Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Braves game:

— Walker Buehler threw 106 pitches in 5 2/3 innings of work. He allowed a pair of home runs and five total earned runs in the loss. The Red Sox lost each of Buehler’s last two starts.

— The Red Sox struck out 14 times for the second straight game. Boston struck out 10+ times for the 30th time this season, trailing only the Los Angeles Angels for the most in baseball. Boston is 8-22 in such games.

— Boston finishes with an 11-17 record for the month on May.

— Boston went 1-3 on the road trip so far this season and sits at 2-3 against the Braves in the season series.

— The Red Sox and Braves play the rubber match Sunday afternoon at Truist Park. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.