While the Red Sox don’t pay Rafael Devers to take walks, it can still be viewed as a positive that he led the American League in bases on balls while Alex Bregman was in the lineup. With Bregman out indefinitely, we will likely see even more of an uptick in Devers’ free passes. On Monday, that led to an intentional walk in the ninth inning and Connor Wong making the final out in a 3-2 loss. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
The Red Sox are now 6-6 in Garrett Crochet’s starts, despite his 2.04 ERA in a league-leading 75 innings pitched. Remarkably, he had more success a year ago playing for the worst team in the history of baseball.
Rob Refsnyder’s frustrations boiled over a bit during his postgame interview. “I don’t really care about promise … we suck right now. We’ve got to just be better.” Small sample sizes aside, Refsnyder hasn’t been the problem. Over his 59 plate appearances, he leads the team with a 166 wRC+. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
Trevor Story was off on Monday and may be also be off on Tuesday, as Alex Cora wants him to “disconnect” while still working off the field. Story is 14-for-111 with 39 strikeouts since April 22. (Greg Dudek, NESN)
With a bullpen game likely for Tuesday, the Red Sox may bring Richard Fitts up to the big leagues on a short pitch count to open things up, rather than a second rehab start at Worcester. Fitts threw 38 pitches in his first outing last week, 31 for strikes. (Sean McAdam, Mass Live)
Jhostynxon Garcia was featured in a clue on “Jeopardy” last night. That’s an actual sentence. (Chris Cotillo, Mass Live)