Boston Red Sox
“The answer is a good stretch of wins here.”
Chad Tracy and the Red Sox are looking to get back on track at Fenway Park. Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe
June 3, 2026 | 7:42 PM
3 minutes to read
Red Sox veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa raised some eyebrows late Tuesday night with his comments about the reasoning for Boston’s dreadful 9-20 record at Fenway Park.
Beyond Boston’s sustained offensive struggles in its own ballpark, Kiner-Falefa noted after Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Baltimore that the Red Sox have been hindered at times by several other distractions that come with playing at Fenway.
“I just feel like on the road we’re a very close-knit team,” Kiner-Falefa said. “We come home and there’s just a lot of people. It’s different. It’s just a different vibe at home. We’ve got to figure out a way to make it small like how it is on the road.
“I just feel like at home we see a lot of people we don’t know … that are around this area. When we’re on the road, it’s a close-knit group and we’re becoming a really close team. Yeah, we gotta find a way to bring that back home.”
Kiner-Falefa’s cryptic comments raised questions as to what has seemingly knocked Boston off its game at Fenway — be it an increased media presence, pressure from the Fenway crowd, more staff, or other factors.
On Wednesday, both Kiner-Falefa and Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy tried to revisit and add context to the infielder’s vague commentary.
“He’s not wrong,” Tracy said. “And what he’s saying — there’s a lot more going on here. Like, there’s way more media here, there’s people on the field, there’s rehabs here, there’s more staff here, it’s just part of it. … You win four out of five [games], and people start talking about it less, so it comes with it.
“It’s Boston, it’s a big market. There are a lot more things going on here than there is on the road. That’s probably the case in a lot of places, or maybe even more so here. But yeah, we have to get this squared away. I think winning solves a lot of it.”
Speaking to reporters in Boston’s clubhouse, Kiner-Falefa continued to kept his comments vague as far as what has plagued this team at a ballpark where they have historically dominated.
Just a little bit of everything. At home, it’s just [a] big market,” Kiner-Falefa said, per MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “This is what you dream of, [but] there’s a lot going on. On the road, it’s just our small group. It’s part of playing in a big market. It’s what I signed up for.
“It’s what a lot of us dream of. Being able to put this jersey on, it means the world to us. Playing in Fenway, it’s like a golden ticket. To come out here and not play our best, or not to win, it’s frustrating. As an organization, we’re looking into everything. We’ve got to figure it out as a group.”
As poorly as Boston has played this season at home, they’ve posted a respectable 16-14 record on the road so far in 2026.
As such, Tracy doesn’t believe that the Red Sox need to change their pregame approach and routines in hopes of breaking out of this extended malaise at Fenway.
“No — because we’re 16-14 on the road, doing the exact same thing, preparing the exact same way,” Tracy said when asked if Boston plans to make any changes to their prep. “You’ve got to be really careful in this game to [not] over-correct things that don’t need it.
“If you’re doing the same things on the road that you’re doing here, and you’re playing very good baseball — and to be fair, like, we’re not playing horrible baseball games here. We have to win, though. We know that. But to over-correct and start changing a bunch of things that may or may not be the problem is not the answer. The answer is a good stretch of wins here.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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