Pitching Finally Helped the 5-9 Red Sox. The Real Problem Hasn’t Changed.

(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Saturday’s win mattered. But after 14 games and just 9 home runs, the Red Sox’ biggest issue is still impossible to ignore.

Saturday helped.

It had to.

After two weeks of grinding through a season that already felt heavier than it should, the Red Sox finally gave their fans something they had been waiting for: a game that actually looked normal.

A clean start on the mound.

A lineup that finally broke through.

A bullpen that didn’t make the night feel fragile.

A final score that didn’t require explanation, excuse, or emotional negotiation.

The Red Sox beat the Cardinals 7–1 on Saturday night, and for the first time in a little while, the whole thing felt less like survival and more like baseball.

That matters.

It matters because the record is now 5–9 instead of 4–10.

It matters because Ranger Suárez finally looked like the pitcher the Red Sox thought they were getting.

And it matters because when a team is unsteady in April, one clean, convincing win can calm a room down in a hurry.

But it does not change the larger truth.

Not yet.

Because after 14 games, the Red Sox are still 5–9.

And the biggest problem is still the biggest problem.

The offense.

That is the story of this start.

Not the standings by themselves.

Not even the rotation, though parts of it have absolutely made things worse.

The real story is that the Red Sox have spent the first two weeks of the season looking like a lineup that forgot where the fences are.

The power outage is the story now

Let’s start with the number that should stop every Red Sox fan cold.

Through 14 games, the Red Sox have hit just 9 home runs.

Nine.

That is not just low.

That is not just “a little cold in April” low.

That is the kind of number that changes the tone of the entire conversation.

Because this is not a team that was supposed to win with bunts, bloops, and hoping the other side gets bored.

This lineup was supposed to have enough thump to survive some flaws. Enough pop to erase mistakes. Enough damage potential to make a three-run deficit feel manageable.

Instead, through 14 games, the Red Sox have looked almost shockingly powerless.

Too many harmless fly balls.

Too many innings that vanish in six pitches.

Too many runners on base with nobody in the box who feels like the guy about to change the game.

Too many nights where two runs feels like a full evening’s work.

If the offense is going to be inconsistent, fine. That happens.

If the offense is going to be streaky in April, also fine.

But if the offense is going to be small?

That’s different.

That’s not just a slump.

That’s an identity problem.

And through the first 14 games, this Red Sox lineup has played way too small.

Saturday was real. It just can’t be the exception.

The good news is that Saturday finally looked like a lineup with a pulse.

The Red Sox scored 7 runs on 10 hits, and the encouraging part wasn’t just the total. It was the shape of the offense.

They kept pressure on.

They strung together quality contact.

They actually made innings feel alive.

For once, they looked like a team capable of turning one baserunner into three.

That matters because for too much of this season, one run has felt like a major event.

But this is the trap of April: one good night can feel like a cure.

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes it’s just a break in the weather.

The Red Sox do not need Saturday to be a miracle.

They just need it to be the beginning of something.

Because if Saturday turns out to be the exception, then the first two weeks still tell the real story: this has been one of the least threatening offenses in baseball.

Some of the rotation has actually done enough

This is what makes the 5–9 start feel more frustrating than hopeless.

Because not all of the pitching has been bad.

In fact, some of it has been exactly what you would ask for in April.

Garrett Crochet has looked like a real anchor. His ERA has stayed in the low-3.00s, and he has pitched like someone capable of stopping a bad week from becoming a worse one.

Connelly Early has quietly done something that matters a lot on a team like this: he has kept games manageable. He has not needed to be dominant. He has just needed to keep the game in front of the lineup, and for the most part, he has done that.

Sonny Gray has looked like what veteran starters are supposed to look like in April—calm, steady, and professional. His ERA has also been sitting in the low-3.00 range, and he has largely done his job.

That matters.

Because if Crochet, Early, and Gray are giving you credible starts, then the Red Sox should not be sitting at 5–9 because of the rotation alone.

Which brings you right back to the offense.

And to the two starters who have helped deepen the hole.

Ranger Suárez finally gave them what they needed. Brayan Bello still hasn’t.

This is where Saturday really mattered.

For the first time this season, Ranger Suárez looked like the guy the Red Sox thought they were getting.

Six innings.

No runs.

Six strikeouts.

No drama.

That is what he was brought here to do.

Coming into Saturday, Suárez had looked shaky enough to make people nervous in a hurry. After Saturday’s outing, his ERA is down to just above 5.00—still not where it needs to be, but no longer screaming at you from the stat page.

More importantly, the outing changed the feel around him.

Not because one start erases the first two.

But because one start like that reminds everyone what the role is supposed to look like.

Ranger Suárez was brought in to make the season feel calmer.

On Saturday, for the first time, he did.

Now he has to do it again.

Brayan Bello, on the other hand, is still firmly in the other category.

The ERA is still ugly.

The traffic is still too heavy.

The innings still feel too hard.

Whether it is command, tempo, or simply bad execution, Bello has been one of the clearest early disappointments in the rotation. And on a team that is already struggling to score, there is almost no margin for starters who make the game feel messy before the lineup ever settles in.

If Suárez has finally started to stabilize, then Bello becomes even more obvious as one of the staff’s biggest unresolved problems.

The names that need to be better are obvious now

At this point, nobody needs a scouting report to know which bats this offense is waiting on.

Jarren Duran has not looked like himself. The energy is there, but the production has not been nearly consistent enough.

Trevor Story has been one of the clearest early alarms on the roster. The average is ugly. The swing-and-miss has been too visible. Too many important at-bats have ended without stress.

Caleb Durbin has looked overmatched early.

Roman Anthony has shown flashes, but flashes do not carry a lineup by themselves.And too often, once you get past the few bats that are actually doing damage, the lineup starts feeling thin in a hurry.

That is the real issue.

Not that nobody is hitting.

It is that not enough of the lineup looks dangerous at the same time.

There are still bright spots.

Wilyer Abreu has been one of the few consistently threatening bats.

Willson Contreras has shown real life in the middle of the order.

Saturday finally gave the entire lineup a little oxygen.

But through 14 games, the larger picture is still obvious:

This offense was supposed to carry more of the burden than this.

And so far, it hasn’t.

So what does 5–9 actually mean?

It means Saturday mattered.

It means Ranger Suárez may have finally given the Red Sox their first real sign that one of the offseason fixes can actually look like a fix.

It means the record looks slightly less ugly than it did 24 hours earlier.

But it also means this:

The Red Sox are still four games under .500 after 14 games, with just 9 home runs as a team.

That is not a pitching-only problem.

That is not a bad-luck problem.

That is not something you can explain away with one good night in St. Louis.

That is an offense problem.

A big one.

A bad first week can lie.

A bad 10 games can lie too.

Even a bad 13 can be talked around.

But once you’re 14 games in, with 9 home runs, too many key bats looking lost, and a lineup that has spent most nights playing smaller than it was built to play…

Then “it’s early” starts sounding less like patience.

And more like bargaining.

Written by: Tim Hourihan

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