Red Sox demolished by Guardians in bullpen game gone awry

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Sep 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — It’s one game out of 162, but Wednesday night was about at bad as it gets.

With no healthy starting pitchers they could trust ready and available, the Red Sox attempted to piece together a bullpen game for the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians. But the plan fell to pieces almost immediately amid a disastrous six-run second inning, which featured five hits, two errors and put the club in an early seven-run hole.

It didn’t get any better the rest of the way. Final score: Guardians 8, Red Sox 1.

Things got off to an inauspicious start when opener Brennan Bernardino failed to finish the top of the first. The left-hander allowed a leadoff double to Steven Kwan, who advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Jose Ramirez.

Bernardino then walked Kyle Manzardo, and though Jordan Hicks was able to end the inning with a quick strikeout upon taking the ball, his day would soon get a whole lot worse.

Coming back in the top of the second Hicks allowed four straight hits to start the frame. He allowed a double, an absolute moonshot of a two-run home run over the Green Monster by Gabriel Arias, another double and a single to put runners at the corners with no outs.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora went to lefty Steven Matz to try and put out the fire, but things just kept spiraling out of control. Matz allowed an RBI single by Kwan for the fifth straight hit, and after recording an out the Red Sox committed errors on back-to-back at bats.

Connor Wong first obstructed Ramirez on the first base line on a chopper in the front of the plate, leading to another run scoring, and on the ensuing play Manzardo ripped a fly ball to left field that popped out of Jarren Duran’s glove.

At least on that one Duran was able to recover and throw Manzardo out at second, but by the time the final out of the inning was recorded the Red Sox trailed 7-0.

Offensively, the Red Sox had nothing.

With Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu injured, Carlos Narvaez resting and Masataka Yoshida and Nathaniel Lowe each sitting against a lefty starter, the Red Sox lineup was noticeably light. Boston got one run in the fourth on an RBI single by Nick Sogard, but otherwise the Red Sox went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and never seriously threatened.

Cleveland wrapped up its scoring with a sacrifice fly by C.J. Kayfus in the top of the eighth off Dustin May.

Hicks’ struggles continue

While Wednesday was a total team failure, Hicks wound up taking the bulk of the damage in the second. The beleaguered right-hander was charged with four runs on four hits in just 1/3 innings of work.

Since his arrival in the Rafael Devers trade Hicks has now allowed 17 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings over 21 appearances with the Red Sox, including 25 hits, 12 walks, four hit batsmen and 15 strikeouts.

That’s an average of nearly 2.2 baserunners per inning.

Hicks, one of the hardest throwers in baseball, was originally envisioned as a late-inning reliever but has instead struggled to contribute even in low-leverage spots. He has two years left on the four-year, $44 million deal he originally signed with the Giants after this season.

Kelly saves bullpen

If there was one silver lining from Wednesday night, it was the performance of Zack Kelly.

The right-hander gave the bullpen a massive lift, throwing four scoreless innings from the third through the end of the sixth to preserve the rest of the pen. The four innings and 63 pitches were both career highs, and Kelly also limited the Guardians to two hits and no walks while striking out four.

Why not Harrison?

Earlier in the week the expectation was that left-hander Kyle Harrison, one of the pitchers acquired in the Devers trade, would be called up to start Wednesday’s game.

That didn’t happen, and according to Tommy Cassell of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, a left ankle injury that popped up recently is to blame.

“It’s unfortunate. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t be out there,” Harrison told Cassell. “But at the same time, I got to be right. It’s the best thing for the team.”

While Harrison has big league experience — he has a 4.48 ERA in 39 MLB appearances, including 35 starts — he has pitched exclusively at Triple-A since his arrival in June.

Over that stretch he has a 3.65 ERA over 49 1/3 innings in 11 starts, though he’s been more effective recently, posting a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings over his last four starts since Aug. 7.

Next up

The Red Sox are off on Thursday before starting a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix on Friday. Payton Tolle (0-0, 3.38) is scheduled to face former Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (6-8, 5.40) in Friday’s opener.