On Opening Day of the 2023 season, the Boston Red Sox were defeated 10-9 by the Baltimore Orioles. Despite falling behind early, the team fought back to almost complete the comeback, aided in part by some sloppy Baltimore defense.
Opening Day against the Baltimore Orioles was far from ideal for Red Sox fans hoping for a strong start to the 2023 season. The pitching staff, which had been carefully crafted to throw strikes, walked nine batters, allowing the Orioles to steal five bases while running wild. Corey Kluber, the veteran pitcher acquired by the Red Sox to bolster their pitching staff, pitched only 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks.
Promising Offense, but terrible pitching
There were nine walks on the day, tying an ignominious team record for the most on Opening Day (1926 against the Yankees and ’66 against the Orioles in a 13-inning game). “We have to do better,” Cora said. “It wasn’t a great game all around.” The result is what it is. We were one swing away from winning, but there’s a lot of stuff we saw today that we didn’t see in Spring Training, and we need to improve.”
Despite the poor pitching, the Red Sox offense showed promise. Masataka Yoshida, the new left fielder, went 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Rafael Devers hit rockets from pole to pole. Alex Verdugo and Justin Turner each had two hits for the Red Sox, who outscored the Orioles 5-0 in the final two innings. While the loss was disappointing, the late rally demonstrated that the Red Sox still have some fight in them.
However, if the Red Sox are to compete in the AL East this season, they will need to improve their pitching. Allowing the Orioles 10 runs and nine walks is not a winning formula, and the team will need to find a way to keep opponents from running wild on the basepaths. Although it is still early in the season and there are many games left to play, the Red Sox will need to make some adjustments.
Cora: “there is still a long way to go”
Manager Alex Cora expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s performance, saying there was a lot of stuff they saw that they didn’t do in Spring Training. Cora hopes that the pitching staff can develop into a strike-throwing machine, but Opening Day evidenced that there is still much work to be done.
On Saturday, the Red Sox will have a chance to redeem themselves against ace Chris Sale. Sale will make his first April start since 2019 and is expected to be an important player for the team this season. While the Red Sox’s pitching staff still needs to improve, Cora remains upbeat. “We have work to do,” he said, “but today is Day 1.” “We feel like we accomplished a lot in Spring Training that will carry over to the season.” The Red Sox may have disappointed on Opening Day, but there are still 161 games left for them to improve and compete in the American League East.
