The first look at the 2026 Red Sox hasn’t been encouraging. Boston has dropped four of its first five games, the offense has been non-existent, hitters have struggled to properly utilize the ABS challenge system, and the starting rotation has looked shaky through its first turn.
On top of everything else, the Red Sox ran into Astros ace Hunter Brown, who finished third in Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet, and carved up Boston’s lifeless lineup.
Brown allowed just one run on one hit with two walks and eight strikeouts in a 9-2 victory Tuesday night.
Roman Anthony went 0-for-4 in the loss, striking out four times. He has struck out six times in the Astros series and 11 times in 21 at-bats to start the season.
All nine pitches he saw in his first three at-bats were strikes, resulting in three consecutive three-pitch strikeouts, including one looking to open the game and another swinging in the sixth. The 21-year-old struck out again in his final at-bat, going down on five pitches in the eighth inning.
Major League Baseball has entered the ABS challenge era, and the Red Sox offense has struggled to use it effectively.
Nothing illustrated that more than Ceddanne Rafaela’s at-bat in the third inning. On a 0-0 count, a pitch called a strike was challenged, which was upheld. Four pitches later, Rafaela took a sinker down the middle and was called out looking.
There was at least one positive for Rafaela, who hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning, a 337-foot opposite-field shot to right.
Boston finally broke through against Brown in the fifth, when Marcelo Mayer drew a walk to snap a stretch of 12 straight batters retired. Connor Wong followed with an RBI double into the left-center gap, driving in Mayer for his first RBI of the season. Wong didn’t record his first RBI until June 23 last year.
Brayan Bello turned in a rough outing in his season debut for Boston.
The Astros struck first in the opening inning on a Yordan Alvarez RBI double to deep center. Houston extended its lead to 3-0 in the third after Bello recorded two quick outs but walked José Altuve to keep the inning alive. The Astros capitalized with a Carlos Correa double, followed by a two-run single from Christian Walker.
“Obviously when you do that you create opportunities for the opposition,” Alex Cora said. “He got (Carlos) Correa 1-2 count, ended up walking, and after that they just kept scoring runs. We just have to be better.”
Bello unraveled in the fifth inning, surrendering a towering solo homer to Alvarez, his second of the series.
After issuing a two-out walk to Correa, things quickly spiraled. Bello gave up a double to Walker and an RBI single to Joey Loperfido, then got caught in a chaotic defensive sequence. Attempting to cut off a throw home on a broken play, he knocked the ball away, allowing another run to score.
