The Red Sox had a chance to keep the good vibes rolling.
They came home after sweeping Kansas City. Jarren Duran looked alive again. The bats had finally shown some pulse. Payton Tolle was on the mound with a chance to keep building his case as one of the most exciting arms on this roster.
Then the Red Sox did Red Sox shit.
Boston lost 8-6 to the Twins at Fenway after blowing leads of 4-0 in the 1st and 6-3 later on, and the whole thing had that familiar “why do we do this to ourselves?” smell all over it. Minnesota got two-run homers from Byron Buxton and Austin Martin in the seventh inning, both off Justin Slaten, and just like that, the game flipped from “nice Friday night win” to “somebody throw a chair through the Green Monster.”
And before we even get to the blown game, we have to start with the bigger issue.
Trevor Story’s Body Finally Said Enough
Trevor Story underwent sports hernia surgery in Philadelphia and is expected to miss several weeks. The Red Sox did not give an official timeline, but Story previously said the basic prognosis could be around six to ten weeks.
This whole thing sucks.
Not because Story was lighting the world on fire — he absolutely was not. He was hitting .206 with three homers, 19 RBIs, and a slugging percentage barely over .300 before the surgery news. He had been trying to play through discomfort that started as a spring training groin issue before further testing revealed the hernia.
But it sucks because it puts Boston right back into roster chaos.
Story’s contract already feels like one of those cursed Red Sox deals where every season comes with a new injury chapter. Shoulder, elbow, now sports hernia. The guy finally played a mostly full year in 2025, looked like he might give Boston some stability, and now we’re back to patchwork bullshit.
And that patchwork showed up immediately.
The Shortstop Shuffle Got Ugly Fast
With Story out, Boston recalled Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester. He had been hitting .269 with five homers and 23 RBIs in 36 Triple-A games, so on paper, fine. Bring the guy up. Give yourself a utility infielder. Try to survive the injury hit.
But there’s a difference between “utility depth” and “hey, go help stabilize shortstop while the big league club is trying not to drown.”
That’s where the frustration comes in.
The official recap credits one key defensive mistake as a fielding error by Payton Tolle, not Sogard, but the whole night still felt like a reminder that Boston’s defensive structure is duct tape right now. ESPN’s recap notes the Twins used four hits and that fielding error to claw back three runs after Boston had jumped ahead 4-0.
So whether the box score pins that specific early error on Tolle or not, the bigger point stands: the Red Sox are in a shortstop mess, and the defense did not help a young pitcher who deserved better.
Sogard being thrown into the Story replacement plan is not the kid’s fault. He did not build the roster. He did not sign the contract. He did not injure Story. He is just the guy standing there when the music stops.
But this is what happens when your roster depth gets tested and the answers are shaky.
Boston needs a real plan at short. Not vibes. Not “we’ll figure it out.” Not pretending the injury bug is just going to politely stop biting them in the ass.
Poor Payton Tolle Deserved Better
This is the part that makes the game so annoying.
Payton Tolle gave Boston a winnable start. He went six innings, allowed three earned runs, gave up four hits, and struck out nine. That is more than enough to win a baseball game when your offense scores six runs.
That should have been the story.
Young arm at Fenway. Team coming off a sweep. Offense gives him early support. Tolle battles, misses bats, hands over a lead, and Boston keeps the momentum going.
Instead, the bullpen turned the game into a crime scene.
Justin Slaten came in and got smoked for four earned runs in the seventh. That ended a scoreless streak of 15 consecutive appearances dating back to last September, which had been the third-longest active streak in baseball.
That’s baseball. Relievers eventually give it up. Nobody stays clean forever.
But man, did it have to happen like that?
Two-run homer to Buxton. Two-run homer to Martin. Lead gone. Game gone. Vibes dead.
That’s the kind of loss that makes you stare at the TV like it personally betrayed your family.
The Offense Did Enough, Then Disappeared When It Mattered
The annoying thing is Boston actually hit enough early.
The Sox scored four in the first, with Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, and Andruw Monasterio helping build the early lead. They added two more in the fourth, with RBIs from Marcelo Mayer and Jarren Duran also showing up in the box score.
Six runs should win this game.
Especially when Tolle gives you six solid innings.
But Boston’s offense still has this horrible habit of doing damage early, then going quiet while the game slowly turns into a horror movie. They gave themselves the lead twice. They had the Twins in a hole. They had Fenway ready to keep riding the post-Kansas City high.
Then nothing.
And when the bullpen finally cracked, the lineup did not punch back.
That’s the difference between a good team and a frustrating team. Good teams keep adding on. Frustrating teams score enough to make you believe, then leave the door open just wide enough for disaster to walk in wearing cleats.
What Went Wrong
The defense got messy.
The bullpen collapsed.
The shortstop situation looked unstable.
And the Red Sox once again failed to turn momentum into a clean follow-up win.
That’s the biggest issue. This team keeps giving you little flashes where you think, “okay, maybe they’re waking up.” Then they immediately do something stupid enough to make you question whether the Kansas City sweep was real or just a fever dream.
They had a 4-0 lead.
They had a 6-3 lead.
They had Tolle dealing.
They had Fenway behind them.
And they still lost.
That is brutal.
And the sell the team chants? Lol.
What Boston Needs To Do Now
First, figure out shortstop.
Marcelo Mayer is reportedly expected to move to shortstop starting Sunday, while Sogard handled Friday’s game against Minnesota. That feels like the correct direction if Mayer is ready for it, because the Red Sox need more than a temporary bandage there.
Second, stop wasting young pitching.
Tolle is giving them something real. You cannot keep asking young arms to be perfect because the defense and bullpen might turn a three-run lead into ash.
Third, keep scoring early — but stop going into hibernation afterward.
Six runs is good. But when you have a team down, bury them. Don’t hand them a shovel and directions back into the game.
Final Takeaway
This loss was disgusting because it was winnable.
Trevor Story getting surgery is the long-term problem. The shortstop shuffle is the immediate problem. The defensive mistakes are the recurring problem. And wasting Payton Tolle’s start is the part that makes you want to scream into a pillow like a lunatic.
The Red Sox had a chance to come home hot after a sweep and make a statement.
Instead, they blew a 6-3 lead, got cooked by Buxton and Martin in the seventh, and reminded everyone that this team is still one bad inning away from turning progress into pain.
Poor Tolle should have won that game.
Instead, Boston handed him another lesson in Red Sox baseball:
You can pitch your ass off, and the circus might still burn the tent down.