Boston Red Sox
“I want to see us win, just like you guys do, just like our fans do, and these guys are fighting.”
The Red Sox are now nine games under .500 so far this season. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
May 27, 2026 | 7:38 AM
4 minutes to read
COMMENTARY
Tuesday marked an unexpected milestone for Chad Tracy and the Red Sox.
A month ago, Boston’s top brass made the call to fire Alex Cora and several members of his coaching staff — handing the ball to Tracy in hopes that the 2026 Red Sox would stir itself from an extended malaise to open a new year.
“Ultimately, this is about needing to do everything we possibly can to give ourselves the best 135 games [to go],” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the day after Cora’s ouster, explaining the rationale behind Boston’s sizable turnover.
Handed the unenviable task of righting a ship already taking on water due to sizable roster flaws, Tracy was candid on Tuesday when asked about whether the past month had flown by.
“Feels longer, honestly,” the 40-year-old interim manager said.
Just 53 games into a new season of baseball, making it through a full 162-game slate of the 2026 Red Sox is already looking like an arduous undertaking.
The rationale was there when it came to turning to Tracy for an early-season spark.
A Red Sox team seemingly embracing a youth movement had a top facilitator at the helm in Tracy, who had already worked with some of Boston’s most promising youngsters with Triple-A Worcester.
And after eight seasons with Cora, perhaps a seemingly stagnant Boston team was in need of a shake-up.
But after a month, little has changed when it comes to shifting Boston’s standing as one of the top disappointments in baseball.
At the time of Cora’s exit, the Red Sox were saddled with an unsightly 10-17 record.
Following Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to the Braves, Boston has improved … to 12-14 under Tracy’s watch — and now sit a season-low nine games under .500 at 22-31.
“Tough,” Tracy acknowledged at the start of his postgame presser, minutes after Boston failed to cash in on a ninth-inning rally for the third game in a row.
Granted, Boston’s current downturn doesn’t fall on the shoulders of Tracy, who can only do so much when it comes to extracting oil out of this barren well in Boston.
Yes, the Red Sox have missed the presence of Roman Anthony atop their lineup, while Tracy hasn’t even had the opportunity to turn to Garrett Crochet for a momentum-shifting start since taking over as interim manager.
Getting both star players back from injury would be a welcome sight for Boston.
But as evidenced over this recent four-game slide — if it’s not one thing, it’s the other when it comes to the Red Sox’ weaknesses sprouting up at inopportune times for this club.
For most of this painful season, it’s been Boston’s lack of production at the plate that has hampered them, with strong pitching and fielding doing little to sway the Red Sox’ fortunes via several low-scoring setbacks.
But during this four-game slide, the Red Sox have scored 25 total runs, with ill-timed regression from Boston’s bullpen standing as the latest culprit for the Red Sox’ woes.
For all of the excitement drawn out of Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela opening Tuesday’s game with back-to-back homers — the first time Boston has done that since May 31, 2016 – things only went downhill from there.
“We had a good thing going for halfway through the game, and yeah. Just baseball,” Isaiah Kiner-Falefa said postgame. “It seems like it’s been baseball with us every day. … Doesn’t feel great.”
Boston had its chances, even as an explosive Braves lineup tagged Ranger Suarez (five runs allowed over five innings), Greg Weissert, and Tyron Guerrero.
Despite loading the bases with no outs in the sixth, Boston only manufactured one run out of that prime opportunity — courtesy of a run-scoring double play off the bat of Mickey Gasper.
And in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox turned a three-run deficit into a nail-biter — with Kiner-Falefa driving in Gasper and Nick Sogard with a two-run single with one out. But after Duran singled into right in the next at-bat, Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu grounded into outs to end Boston’s rally.
“You love to see the group fight and put themselves in position again to not only tie the game but win the game,” Tracy noted. “We want to see that — it’s awesome. But we want to put ourselves in some positions to be in the lead like they are and use our back-end guys. Certainly, they’re not rolling over.”
Tracy is right as far as Boston’s bats starting to wake up as the temperature at Fenway starts to rise.
But the results still haven’t been there for a Red Sox team now just 8-18 at home — the only MLB team that has yet to post at least 10 wins in their own ballpark.
Tracy seems to be doing what he can to get this team back on track.
But as was the case earlier this year, Boston’s issues go well beyond whatever manager is currently entrenched on the top step of the dugout.
“I want to see us win, just like you guys do, just like our fans do, and these guys are fighting. And we’re going to keep fighting,” Tracy said.
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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