By Tiffany Williams –
NEW YORK — The Boston Red Sox have spent more than two months playing like one of the best teams in baseball.
Now comes the uncomfortable part.
Prove it against the Yankees.
Boston enters Saturday’s doubleheader in New York having lost back-to-back games, and the problem is not difficult to diagnose. The Red Sox have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time since September 27-28, 2023.
The lineup that has terrorized pitching throughout the second half has suddenly gone silent.
And Boston is making roster moves before playing two.
The Red Sox reinstated right-handed pitcher Garrett Whitlock from the 15-Day Injured List, optioned right-hander Wyatt Olds to Triple-A Worcester following Friday night’s game and appointed left-hander Raymond Burgos as the club’s 27th man for Saturday’s doubleheader against the Yankees.
Whitlock’s return could not come at a better time.
The 30-year-old had been sidelined since being placed on the Injured List on August 13, retroactive to August 10, because of right elbow inflammation.
Before the injury, Garrett Whitlock was delivering.
He is 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA, allowing only 10 earned runs across 44 innings while striking out 49 in 45 appearances this season.
This is not some insignificant bullpen arm returning for depth.
Garrett Whitlock owns a 2.99 ERA across 357⅔ innings in 210 career Major League appearances with Boston.
The Red Sox need stability after consecutive losses, and Garrett Whitlock gives them another proven option.
Wyatt Olds, meanwhile, heads back to Worcester despite doing his job when Boston called.
The 27-year-old retired the side in the eighth inning Friday night against New York and has not allowed an earned run over six innings in six Major League appearances this season.
But Wyatt Olds has also carried a 5.33 ERA through 50⅔ innings and 39 appearances with Worcester, where he has struck out 74.
Raymond Burgos gets another opportunity.
The 27-year-old left-hander has posted a 2.70 ERA across 10 innings in three appearances for Boston this season.
His Triple-A numbers have been considerably rougher.
Raymond Burgos has a 5.14 ERA across 70 innings in 17 appearances, including 15 starts, for Worcester.
But this is a doubleheader.
Boston needs another arm.
Raymond Burgos is the 27th man.
And now the Red Sox need their offense to wake up.
Because what happened over the last two games is almost unrecognizable compared with what Boston has been doing since the All-Star break.
The Red Sox have won seven of their last 10 games.
They are 9-5 over their last 14.
They are 27-13 since the All-Star break, a .675 winning percentage that represents the best second-half record in Major League Baseball.
Go further back and the numbers become even more imposing.
Boston is 36-13 over its last 49 games dating to July 3.
The Red Sox are 41-15 over their last 56 dating to June 25.
They are 44-18 over their last 62 dating to June 19.
Boston owns Major League Baseball’s best record during each of those stretches.
That is not a hot week.
That is not a lucky series.
That is sustained winning over more than two months.
Which makes the sudden offensive shutdown even more jarring.
Boston ranks second in the American League with a .249 batting average and .324 on-base percentage. The Red Sox rank third with a .728 OPS and fifth with a .404 slugging percentage.
Since the All-Star break, those numbers have exploded.
Boston leads the majors with a .267 batting average and .347 on-base percentage.
The Red Sox also lead the American League since the break with 215 runs, 51 home runs, 132 extra-base hits, a .449 slugging percentage and a .796 OPS.
Then came New York.
Then came zeroes.
Back-to-back shutouts.
Friday night’s defeat was Boston’s first 1-0 loss since March 29, 2024, at Seattle.
For an offense that has spent the second half pounding pitching, this is the challenge.
Do not allow two bad nights to become a bad weekend.
And there are legitimate reasons for concern whenever Boston has to play inside the American League East.
The Red Sox have lost six of their last nine games against divisional opponents after previously winning 10 consecutive AL East games from June 25 through the first game of a July 22 doubleheader.
The road numbers inside the division are worse.
Boston is 5-11 in AL East road games.
The Red Sox are 1-3-1 in divisional road series.
That is the weakness staring directly at them.
Boston has been baseball’s best second-half team.
It has dominated for extended stretches.
Its offense has been among the most productive in the sport.
But the American League East does not care what Boston did against everybody else.
And the Yankees certainly do not.
Saturday gives the Red Sox two chances to change the direction of this series immediately.
It will be Boston’s third doubleheader of the season. The Red Sox swept Tampa Bay on July 17 and split with Baltimore on July 22.
It is also Boston’s first road doubleheader since April 26, 2025, at Cleveland and its first doubleheader against the Yankees since the teams played two within three days on September 12 and September 14, 2023, at Fenway Park.
The pitching staff gets Garrett Whitlock back.
Raymond Burgos gives Boston another available arm.
The bullpen has reinforcements.
Now where are the bats?
That is the question.
Because the Red Sox did not build baseball’s best record since June 19 by getting shut out.
They did it by hitting.
They did it by reaching base.
They did it by producing extra-base damage.
They did it by scoring runs at a rate few teams in the American League could match.
Two consecutive losses do not erase 44 wins in 62 games.
Two consecutive shutouts do not erase what this offense has done since the All-Star break.
But this is Yankees-Red Sox.
This is the division.
And Boston has two games Saturday to prove those two straight zeroes were nothing more than a temporary blackout.
NewsTalk Worcester 