Allergic to Momentum, Red Sox Drop Series Finale 3-1 in Seattle
Another quality start turned into a loss, zero urgency, lack of attention, 2026 Boston Red Sox baseball was on full display Sunday.
If you’re a Red Sox fan who watches this team day in and day out, you know exactly how Sunday’s series finale in Seattle was going to unfold. After scraping together two big league wins on Friday and Saturday—showing they can in fact play on a major league level—the Red Sox arrived at T-Mobile park on Father’s Day looking like there was a more important happy hour at Capo in Southie to attend. The result? A lifeless 3-1 loss that kills any momentum that was gained in the 48 hours prior.
Payton Tolle, Victim of No Run Support
Payton Tolle did everything you’d want from a young starter still finding his stride in his rookie campaign. The southpaw gave six innings, six hits, three runs, two walks and strikeouts. Nothing sexy, but a job well enough done to give the offense an opportunity to win. Of course, that did not happen. Tolle owns a 3.08 ERA on the season—64.1 innings over 11 starts—yet owns a 3-5 record. How bad is Tolle’s run support? 2.9 runs/ game. Chris Sale has a higher career ERA than Payton Tolle gets in support on average… exhausting. You give a guy who’s throwing strikes, inducing weak contact and keeping the game manageable five hits total. Come on.
Game Recap
Seattle got on the board in the second inning when Dominic Canzone lined an opposite field home run over the outstretched glove of Jarren Duran. Nate Eaton responds with a solo home run of his own—a 409’ moonshot into the second deck— in the third and we all fell into the trap of ‘this team might have some fight today!’
Cole Young hit the eventual game-winning RBI single in the fifth that scored Weston Wilson, who had singled and stole second.
Canzone got the job done again in the sixth with an RBI groundout, making the score 3-1. A two run deficit typically isn’t enough, but for a Red Sox team that going into yesterday’s series finale with a 1-40 record when trailing by two runs, it was more than enough. Tolle kept the damage to a minimum, but the three runs were more than enough.
Logan Gilbert was excellent, as he’s been all year. 6.1 innings, one run on three hits, eight strikeouts, two walks. He moved to 6-4 on the season. Gilbert had swing-and-miss stuff all day—18 whiffs—and dominated the Red Sox lineup with 68% fastballs.
Caleb Durbin had another multi-hit game, going 2-3 with a double. Over his last 20 contests, the former Brewer is hitting .319 with a .940 OPS. Add 13 extra-base hits, including four home runs to that, it’ll show a 147 wRC+. For a guy that has been on the graphics for “worst hitters in MLB” since March, it’s a delight to see Durbin finally get on a hot streak.
Momentum Killers
The Red Sox looked ridiculously uninterested in playing baseball Sunday afternoon. This wasn’t just a bad day at the plate; errors, base running mistakes, strikeouts and effort were all in the mix. I promise, diving into Durbin getting picked off, Contreras walking up the line on a double play ball and Antony Seigler getting doubled up is the last thing I want to talk about, so honestly, I won’t.
The bottom line is this team is yet to go on a four-game winning streak. Momentum is a trigger word in the clubhouse, it’s equivalent to saying Voldemort at Hogwarts. If Boston wins on Sunday, we head into Colorado with heads high, feeling confident in an extended winning streak. Instead, it feels like this team needs to prove they can win another series (against the worst team in baseball). Another day, another missed opportunity in a season full of them. The Rockies are next.
Trade Deadline Buzz
Aroldis Chapman, Sonny Gray, Jarren Duran, Willson Contreras, Masataka Yoshida and Tyron Guerrero are all names being tossed around in trade deadline speculation. At 31-44 it’s almost a guarantee Boston will be solidified sellers. Crazy that three months ago we were talking about contending for a World Series. Anyways, Craig Breslow is expected to field serious calls on these players mentioned. The question though, will Breslow be the one making the decisions ahead of the August 3 deadline?
