Jedixson Paez won’t have fond memories of his first Fenway Park experience.
Called up from Triple-A Worcester to take Sonny Gray’s turn in the rotation, Paez was pummeled by the visiting Mariners on Tuesday, giving up eight runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings in his Red Sox debut.
Boston’s bats managed just one earned run against opposing starter Bryan Woo — a first-inning home run by red-hot Mickey Gasper — and couldn’t close the gap against Seattle’s bullpen in a 9-6 loss.
“(Paez) struggled a little bit,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “… Obviously, he had to gut it out for a while, but they were definitely on some soft pitches and hit some balls hard.”
It was the fifth defeat in seven games for the Red Sox, who needed a late comeback to take down the Mariners in 10 innings on Monday. Seattle scored 17 runs over the two games at Fenway after plating four in its previous four contests combined.
The teams will close out their three-game series on Wednesday (4:10 p.m.).
Paez, a 22-year-old rookie and Boston’s 21st-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, quickly encountered trouble in his first big-league start.
After inducing a leadoff groundout, the Venezuelan right-hander hung a dead-center changeup that Dominic Canzone belted into the Mariners bullpen for a solo home run.
Then, in the second inning, Paez loaded the bases with no outs by surrendering a Josh Naylor double, a Cole Young single and a five-pitch walk to Lazaro Montes. J.P. Crawford scored Naylor with a sacrifice fly, and No. 9 hitter Brock Rodden beat out an infield single that brought home Young.
Randy Arozarena followed with another homer — this one a towering three-run shot over the Green Monster — to put Seattle ahead 6-1.
By the end of the third, it was 7-1, with Naylor singling and coming home on a base hit by Montes. Paez allowed four consecutive Mariners to reach (single, single, single, walk) but escaped further damage by striking out Rodden and Arozarena to leave the bases loaded.
Wanting to preserve his bullpen after a stretch of four games in three days, Tracy sent Paez back out for the fourth. Seattle tagged him for one additional run — on back-to-back doubles by Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh — before his manager finally pulled the plug.
Paez’s 87 pitches were more than he’d thrown in his major-league career entering Tuesday (65 over three appearances for the White Sox this March) and far more than he tossed in any of his appearances for Worcester or Double-A Portland this season. He last topped that number on Sept. 8, 2024, in a start for High-A Greenville.
“The hope was that you had somebody here that could give you 85 pitches and get you as far along as you could, so that you could use as little of the pen as you needed to,” Tracy said. “So we took him as far as we could without going too far beyond what he usually does.”
Tracy said Paez “likely” will be optioned back to Worcester on Wednesday so the Red Sox can add another reliever.
Right-hander Wyatt Olds, recalled from Triple-A hours earlier after the team placed Tyron Guerrero (shoulder) on the 15-day injured list, relieved Paez and struck out Young looking to end the fourth. But Seattle pounced on him, too. Montes led off the fifth inning with a home run that made it 9-1. The ensuing two batters reached on a double and a walk before Olds settled down, retiring the next six in order.
The Red Sox’s lone run in the early innings came from a familiar source: Gasper.
In the bottom of the first, the goateed dynamo turned on an up-and-in 99 mph fastball from Woo, launching it 404 feet into the right-field seats. It was the seventh home run in the last 13 games for Gasper, whose incandescent August was one of the best months ever for a major-league hitter.
Despite beginning last month in the minors and getting sent down again last week, Gasper posted a 1.827 OPS bested only by Ted Williams (in September 1957) and Barry Bonds (in April 2004). His latest demotion to Triple-A lasted just one day: Boston recalled him Monday after placing Willson Contreras on the 10-day IL, and Gasper hit a first-inning homer in each of his first two games back.
“It’s been impressive,” Tracy said. “There’s not a whole lot to say about it. I definitely don’t assume that, but he’s taking great swings.”
Boston Red Sox’s Mickey Gasper crosses the plate past Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Gasper reached again on a third-inning walk, but he struck out looking to end the fifth, stranding Trevor Story on second following a leadoff wall-ball double.
Boston did not score again until the bottom of the sixth when, after a lengthy delay triggered by an apparent injury to home plate umpire Will Little — he was hit in the throat by a foul tip and replaced by second base ump Ryan Willis — Wilyer Abreu doubled and scored on a subsequent throwing error. Caleb Durbin took third on a Woo wild pitch, but Jarren Duran ended the rally with a groundout to first.
After a scoreless top of the seventh from Alec Gamboa, the Red Sox maintained that offensive momentum against Seattle reliever Carlos Vargas. Connor Wong walked on four pitches, Roman Anthony smacked a single to right and Eli White looped a two-out, two-run double down the left-field line.
It was the first extra-base hit in a Red Sox uniform for the trade-deadline pickup, who replaced Ceddane Rafaela in center field earlier in the inning.
Duran and Story both singled with two outs in the eighth, but Wong couldn’t push them across. Story has swung the bat well since returning from a four-month IL stint on Sunday, going 6-for-12 with three doubles in his first three games back.
The same goes for Anthony, who’s also notched multiple hits in each of his first three games post-injury. Anthony singled to lead off the ninth and scored on a pinch-hit home run by Jahmai Jones.
Jones has excelled against left-handed pitching this season, posting a .807 OPS against southpaws. His blast off Hoby Milner cut Boston’s deficit to three, prompting Seattle to send in its closer, Andrés Muñoz. But White, Abreu and Isiah Kiner-Falefa went down in order to end the game.
“You’re trying to get traffic on, trying to do everything you can, trying to get Muñoz into the game because that helps us out in the series,” Jones said. “So for us to get him into the game there, it’s huge. I know we lost there, but you’re looking at getting their closer in back-to-back days. It becomes a question mark for tomorrow. So all in all, as an offense, we did what we could to try to give us the best chance for success tomorrow.”