Red Sox Swept Under the Rug In Tampa Bay
Another day, another reminder that this 2026 season is circling the drain faster than anyone expected. Caleb Durbin also hit two home runs.
The Boston Red Sox dropped the series finale 7-5 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, completing a painful three-game sweep. Boston is now 27-39 and 12 games under .500 in June for the first time since 1997. It will take a six-game winning streak—and eight other teams losing six straight games—for this club to climb its way back into the AL wild card conversation. A season straight from hell, and Rafael Devers was still a part of this organization 12 months ago.
Jake Bennett Did His Job: Guess Who Didn’t?
Jake Bennett, recalled from Triple-A Worcester for his third MLB start, took the ball in a desperate bid to avoid the sweep. The final line—five innings, seven hits, four earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts—doesn’t tell the full story. Bennett showed poise early—striking out three in the first two innings—but three runs in the fifth inning abruptly ended his outing. Four hits and three earned runs show up in the box score. In reality: a leadoff double, a bunt single, a routine double play that ate up Isiah Kiner-Falefa (scored a single), a double (ground ball that ricocheted off Bennett into left field) and a sac-fly.
It wasn’t dominant, especially against Drew Rasmussen’s gem—seven scoreless innings and career high 13 strikeouts—but Bennett gave Boston a chance in a game that got away on misfortune and timely Rays hitting.
1-3 Hitters Historic Day
The top of the Red Sox order was brilliant (from a certain point of view), 0-9 with nine strikeouts. The first time 1-3 have accomplished this feat since 1901. Jarren Duran—who is hitting .138 over his last 30 at-bats—Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu were completely overmatched. Chasing elevated fastballs, whiffing on sliders like a typical Trevor Story afternoon, and all walking back to the dugout with the same disappointed face after each plate appearance. Rafaela summed it up postgame to MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith: “It just wasn’t a really good day for us.” Interim manager Chad Tracy echoed the frustration: “We definitely went out of the zone a little too much. We’ve gotta rein that in.”
The offense mustered four of their six hits in the eighth inning including home runs from Caleb Durbin (off a real MLB pitcher this time) and Rafaela in his fourth plate appearance. A 4-0 deficit turned one-run game in the blink of an eye. Some would call that a comeback, Justin Slaten said ‘hold my beer, this one’s too close’ and let up a two-run homer to Cedric Mullins (hitting .189 with a .587 OPS) to complete the scheduled fake comeback. Durbin struck again in the ninth with another homer, adding to the Red Sox MLB leading 41 ninth inning runs. You would think a team with this much firepower in the ninth inning would be a product of wins. No, just fake comebacks two-to-three times a week to keep us signing back into NESN360 everyday.
Marcelo Mayer Not in The Lineup
Shortstop Marcelo Mayer was scratched after waking up with neck and back spasms, a frustrating development for a young player showing encouraging signs with a new toe-tap routine. Tracy said he’d be available as a pitch-hitter pregame, but his absence left a hole defensively and in a lineup searching for consistency. Alex Speier and others reported the issue stemmed from stiffness. Mayer is yet to appear in 100 or more games as a professional, and 59 games into his first full MLB season, we now see the first sign of fatigue.
Is This the Worst Red Sox Team Ever?
This series as a whole was a disaster: low-scoring losses, offense vanishing for elongated stretches, and a sweep at the hand of a nerd-data-driven team that your own front office is trying to emulate. As discussed on last night’s Red Sox Digest LIVE podcast, Nick Face called it organizational embarrassment; the numbers back it up—12 games under .500, four straight divisional losses, and historic top-order whiffs.
This group has talent on paper, but that’s exactly what the problem is. A computer model will tell you this team should win more games, but the eye-test shows the majority of the daily lineup is better primed for playing in the minor leagues. A team that has won one singular game all season after trailing by two runs, is an uninspiring club.
The Red Sox head into the next stretch with more questions than answers. Starting pitching continues to keep the team in games, but the offense sabotages any progress. Fans are fed up-and rightfully so. Rock bottom isn’t just a floor anymore; it’s a trapdoor.