Red Sox nearly spark comeback after rain delay: 3 takeaways

A 72-minute long rain delay seemed to shift momentum towards the Red Sox, but after a two-run seventh inning put Boston within a run, the scoring stopped again. The Red Sox lost 4-3 to the Twins on Saturday night.

Here are the takeaways.

The scoring didn’t match the offensive output.

The Red Sox didn’t have much trouble getting runners on base on Saturday night. Getting them across home plate, though, was a whole different story.

Boston had 12 hits as a team, and was walked twice. Rafael Devers led the way, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and turning out another strong showing as he gains comfort in his full-time designated hitter role. Romy Gonzalez also had three hits for the Red Sox. But those strong performances and 14 total base runners only amounted to three runs against the Twins.

Minnesota had fewer hits and fewer runners reach base, but a three-run sixth inning featuring a two-run shot from Kody Clemens, son of Boston great Roger, was enough to give the Twins the edge.

Hunter Dobbins showed some growing pains.

Dobbins pitched his third career big league start on Saturday, and it wasn’t his best performance to date. Though he made it through five innings relatively unscathed, Dobbins only recorded two strikeouts in his outing. He gave up seven hits and four earned runs before being pulled midway through the sixth.

“I didn’t have my best stuff. I felt like I competed, but ran out of gas a little bit there in the sixth inning,” Dobbins said. “Wasn’t executing as well as I should have … ultimately the execution went downhill.”

Still, the early returns on Dobbins are promising, especially considering he was never supposed to be put in this position this early.

Boston had injuries to a pair of starters before the season started in Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito. By the time April rolled around, Dobbins was being called up for a spot start. He isn’t a part of the regular rotation, and likely won’t be once the Red Sox get healthy. But all things considered, Dobbins has performed well in his three plug-ins this season.

The starters are eating innings, even in losses.

Relying on the bullpen early was a problem at times for the Red Sox in 2024. Through 35 games this season, that hasn’t been much of an issue.

Saturday marked the 15th straight game that Boston’s starter has pitched at least five full innings. Even though the results of the games haven’t been remarkable (8-7 in that stretch), keeping its starters deep into games could pay dividends for the pitching staff as a whole in the dog days of the season.

The Red Sox’ arms seemed to collectively fall off after the All-Star break last year, and was part of the reason Boston fell out of contention in the AL East. If the Red Sox can keep their bullpen intact and their starters consistently piling up innings, that could be an asset once it comes time to close out games in August, September, and possibly October.