The first off-season move came on October 9th, when pitching coach Dave Bush and infield coach Carlos Febles were let go. On October 24th, the Red Sox hired their former pitcher, Craig Breslow to take over as the man in charge of baseball operations. He brought in Andrew Bailey to be the pitching coach. Bailey stressed first-pitch strikes, throwing one's best pitch with two sztrikes, lowering walk percentages and increasing strike percentages. He also wanted his pitchers to stop relying on throwing fastballs and use more breaking balls.

Breslow's first trade was to send secondbaseman Luis Urias to the Seattle Mariners for reliever Isaiah Campbell on November 17th.

On December 5th, Breslow traded Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, for minor league pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice. Next, reliever Justin Slaten of the Mets, and catcher Mickey Gasper of the Yankees were chosen in the Rule 5 Draft.

Outfielder Tyler O'Neill was traded from the Cardinals for pitchers Nick Robertson and minor leaguer Victor Santos on December 8th. On December 12th, reliever Cooper Crisell was signed as a free agent and two days later free agent catcher Roberto Perez was brought in.

Chris Sale was traded to the Braves for a young secondbaseman named Vaughn Grissom at the end of December. Sale was in the last year of his expensive Red Sox contract and Grissom would be under Sox control for six years.

On December 29th, the Red Sox and pitcher Lucas Giolito agreed to a two-year, $38.5M contract, but in spring training he was lost for the season with a UCL tear that would need surgery. Other pitchers the Sox acquired were Greg Weisert, Chase Anderson and Naoyuki Uwasawa.

No important other moves were made during the offseason and the only other major move as it turned out, was pitcher Brayan Bello and the Sox agreeing to a six year deal worth $55M with a seventh year club option.

Opening Day was in Seattle on March 28th and the Red Sox beat the Mariners, 6 to 4. Rafael Devers homered and doubled, but the news was newcomer, Tyler O'Neill who also homered. It was his record fifth consecutive Opening Day home run. The Sox lost the next two games despite great pitching efforts by Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta.

The Sox and Mariners did split the series thanks to an outstanding game pitched by Garrett Whitlock, 5 to 1 on March 31st. Whitlock pitched five innings and gave up three hits. The four Sox starters registered a 1.64 ERA in the series. Rookie Justin Slaten impressed in his second relief appearance retiring all seven batters he faced on 15 pitches. Enmanuel Valdez's three-run homer led the Red Sox hitters.

The Sox next moved down to Oakland on April 1st. Tanner Houck shut out the A's 9-0 on four hits and 10 strikeouts. Jarren Duran (3-for-5) stole three bases, bringing his season total to five thus for, becoming the first Red Sox player to ever do so.

Trevor Story (3-for-5, 2 RBIs) came through in a big way in the next game on April 2nd, singling home the tying run in the seventh inning and leading the Sox to a 5-4 victory over the A's.

Aside from Jarren Duran's 4-for-4 day on April 3rd, there was not much activity from the Red Sox bats in a 1-0 win at Oakland. Nick Pivetta (0.82 ERA) shut out the A's for five innings and has given up just one run in the eleven innings he's worked thus far.

Down in Anaheim on April 5th, Jarren Duran's home run put the Sox on top to stay in the eighth inning, winning 8 to 6. The red hot Tyler O'Neill launched two of the Sox five home runs. Two days later on April 7th, the Sox (7-3) rolled over the Angels by a score of 12-2. Tanner Houck pitched six more shutout innings and the batters supported him with four homers. David Hamilton belted his first homer in the majors.

On April 8th the Sox locked up Ceddanne Rafaela with an eight year extension.

The Red Sox returned home to celebrate Tim Wakefiled and the 2004 World Series Champs, but they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles by playing shoddy defense and having the bullpen blow leads. With Trevor Story out for the year, the defense had suffered. After 14 games, the Sox led the majors with 16 errors.

TANNER HOUCK

After losing four straight at home, Triston Casas slugged a 429-ft homer sandwiched between RBI singles from Masataka Yoshida and Cedanne Rafaela to lead the Sox to a 7-2 win over the Angels on April 13th. On April 14th, Kenley Jansen walked a ninth inning tightrope to save a 5-4 victory over L.A.

Tanner Houck (3-1, 1.35 ERA) became the third MLB pitcher to toss a complete game this season, when he overpowered the Guardians, 2-0, giving up just three hits on April 17th. He threw 94 pitches, 69 of which were strikes.

The Sox (10-10) lost 7-of-10 on their opening homestand primarily to playing lousy defense. They led the majors with 20 errors, leading to 25 unearned runs. The pitching was keeping them afloat with a 1.82 for the starters.

In Pittsburgh on April 19th, Brayan Bello pitched six shutout innings and allowed just one hit, beating the Pirates, 8 to 1. The Sox batters belted out four home runs in his support.

Kutter Crawford took the mound in Pittsburgh the next day with the best Sox ERA (0.45) through four starts since Roger Clemens in 1991. Twice he pitched out of trouble and got his first win of the season, beating the Pirates 4 to 2, on April 20th. Masataka Yoshida (3 for 4) helped him with a two-run homer.

TYLER O'NEILL

With injuries to half the starting lineup, the piching carried the Sox to a sweep of the Pirates with a 6-1 victory on April 21st. Wilyer Abreu was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, and again played solid defense in the outfield.

April 24th proved to be a very productive day for the Sox. Rafael Devers, who missed five games with a bruised knee, came back strong. He belted a single, a double and a home run. Wilyer Abreu continued his hot hitting with a 4-for-5 game and Connor Wong banged out two homers of his own. With Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock all down with injuries, Cooper Criswell picked up the slack and started, hurling five scoreless innings and giving up just three hits.

After losing two of the three played in Cleveland, the Sox returned to Fenway to meet the Chicago Cubs. On April 27th, the Sox exploded for seventeen runs on 21 hits in a 17-0 rout of the Cubbies. Ceddane Rafaela belted out four hits including a homer, brining in seven of the runs. Massataha Yoshida also had four hits and Tyler O'Neill had three, including his MLB-leading ninth homer.

With a rib injury to firstbaseman Triston Casas, that placed him on the 60-day DL, the Sox acquired Garrett Cooper from the Cubs.

Tanner Houck (1.60 ERA) lowered the staff ERA to 2.08 by pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out nine on April 28th vs the Cubs. The Sox won the game on Tyler O'Neill's walk-off bloop single, 5 to 4.

Cooper Criswell (1.65 ERA) took his turn against the Giants on April 30th and shut them out five innings, giving the Sox a 4-0 victory. Meanwhile, Jarren Durand was 3-for-4 and the red hot Wilyer Abreu also went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple.

On April 30th, the Sox acquired firstbasemnan, Dominic Smith from the Rays and infielder Zack Short from the Mets.,

Through the end of April, the unheralded starters that began the year with low expectations, posted a 2.00 ERA with a .211 opponenent average against them and six shutouts. The team ERA was 2.59, their lowest mark since 1920 Red Sox and the lowest in MLB since the 1981 Dodgers posted a 2.06 ERA.

The Red Sox (17-13) sat in third place in the AL East, 2 1/2 games out, in spite of losing Trevor Story and Lucas Giolito for the year, Triston Casas on the 60-day DL and with injuries to pitchers Brayan, Bello, Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock. This was also in spite of a stretch where the defense led the MLB in errors and unearned runs at one point.

The Sox beat the Giants for a second time on May 1st, 6 to 2. Kutter Crawford (1.56 ERA) pitched seven innings, while Connor Wong rapped out three hits icluding two doubles.

In Minneapolis, the Sox lost two of the three game played against the Twins. On April 5th, they stopped the Twins' 12-game winning streak by beating them 9 to 2. Cooper Criswell (1.74 ERA) was excellent on the mound and he was backed by homers from Rafael Devers and Cedanne Rafaela as well as Jarren Duran's MLB leading fith triple of the season.

The Sox lost both games in Atlanta and had Chris Sale shut them out 5-0 on May 8th. After returning home and losing on May 10th to Washington, it marked the 12th time in 38 games that the Sox had scored two or fewer runs. They led the majors with 94 strikeouts with runners in scoring position and have gone 2-for-29 in that situation.

Rafael Devers came through and hammered a pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, that slammed off the wall for a go-ahead, two-run double on May 11th, and led to a victory over Washington, 4 to 2. Given the recent struggles the Sox had at the plate, the timing couldn’t have been better for their best hitter to come up clutch with the game on the line.

Four Sox relievers (Cam Booser, Zach Kelly, Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen) combined to pitch four one-hit innings after Bryan Bello pitched the first five innings, giving the Sox a 3 to 2 win over the Nats on May 12th.

After losing the opening game to the visiting Rays, the Sox beat them 5-to-4 in 12 innings on May 14th. Romy Gonzalez lined the walk-off hit down the right field line to get Brennan Berardino (2-1, 0.50 ERA) the win. But the Sox lost 3-of-4 to the Rays.

Despite and MLB-best ERA (2.74), the Sox (22-22) are struggling at .500 baseball. The Sox failed to score more than three runs in nine of their last 12 games, leave too many men on base batting .231 with runners in scoring position and lead the majors in strikeouts.

RAFAEL DEVERS

In St. Louis, the Sox lost 2-of-3, but on May 19th ran wild over thge Cardinals, winning 11 to 3 on a series of bloop hits and big blasts. Tyler O'Neill belted a long home run and it was followed by onje from Rafael Devers. Nick Pivetta also was immense, tossing a one-hitter over his six innings of work.

Tanner Houck (4-5, 1.84 ERA) continued to live up to his "ace" staus by shutting out the Rays in Tampa, 5-0 on May 20th. Rafael Devers lauched a home run in this, his sixth straight game, which established a new franchise record. Jarren Duran also knocked out his eighth triple that leads the majors in that category.

The next night, on May 21st, the speed of Jarren Duran led the Sox to a 5 to 2 win in Tampa. He was on the front end of a double steal and stole home. This, after hitting a sixth inning home run that tied the game. The Sox swept the Rays by winning the finale on May 22nd, 8 to 5.

After losing the first two games with the Brewers at Fenway, the Sox fought and clawed their way to a much-needed 2-to-1 victory on May 26th. Wilyer Abreu (3-for-4) broke the scoreless game with a leads-off triple in the fourth and Jarren Duran drove in Ceddane Rafaela with the eventual game winner for Tanner Houck (1.90 ERA). But in the three games, the Sox hitters were only able to score a total of five runs.

The Sox then lost two of the three games in Baltimore. But in their second match-up which they won 8-to-3 on May 29th, Brennan Bernardino (0.78 ERA) came in with the bases-loaded and the Sox up, 4 to 3 with no outs. He got two men to strike out and the third hit a weak tapper to him to force the runner at home for a nice save.

Back at Fenway on May 30th, the Sox were no-hit bu Jack Flaherty of the Tigers going into the seventh inning, but Nick Pivetta was also throwing flames, tying a Red Sox record of eight straight strike-outs, shared by Roger Clemens. The Sox ended being shutout at the final bell, 5 to 0.

The next night, on May 31st, Tanner Houck (1.85 ERA) continued his doiminance, while the Sox beat the Tigers, 7 to 3. He allowed three hits over seven innings and was backed by two homers goof for five RBIs, by Cedanne Rafaela.

At the end of May, Sox pitching was third in MLB with a 3.22 ERA. The offense was holding them back with a .239 BA when runners were in scoring position (21st in MLB) and their .709 OPS ranked 22nd. They had scored two runs or fewer in 17 of their 29 losses. But defense was the biggest reason in them being a .500 team. They made the second most errors in MLB with 41 and led the league with 37 unearned runs.

The Red Sox (30-29) started June in third place, 10 1/2 games out and with a 6-3 win over Detroit. Enmanuel Valdez was called up from the WooSox and became the star of the game with two homers and a double.

JARREN DURAN

After throwing away the opening game with the visiting Atlanta Braves, the Sox (30-30) rebounded in grand style on June 5th, 9 to 0. Nick Pivetta held the Braves to one hit over seven innings while Rafaela Devers slugged two homers while Jarren Duran also homered and belted his MLB best 9th triple.

In Chicago on June 6th, the Red Sox batters let loose with 24 hits against a terrible White Sox team. Jarren duran had four hits, leading off the game with a home run. Ceddanne Rafaela also logged four hits; Rob Refsnyder (.346 BA) and Dominic Smith each with three. These in support of another stellaer performance by Tanner Houck (1.91 ERA), who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, with nine strikeouts. The next night in a Red Sox loss, Jarren Duran made history, when he stole home for the second time this season.

The Sox (33-33) split with Chicago winning the finale 6-4 in extras. David Hamilton was 2-for-5 with a homer and a double in the ninth inning. He stole third and scored on a sac fly to tie the game.

After losing the opening game to the visiting Phillies, the Sox made the second contest into one of the most gratifying wins of the season on June 12th. Down 4-0, they storned back to overetake Philadelphia (the team in the NL with the best record), 8 to 6. A five-run rally topped by Rookie David Hamilton's (.296 BA) homer did the trick. The win moved the Sox (34-34) back to .500 for the 17th timer this season. Hamilton also singled, which gave him multiple hits in five of his last six games.

The Sox knocked out five doubles in the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead over the Phillies in the final game of the series on June 13th. Then added another four runs highlighted by seven doubles in total. There were two each by Jarren Duran and Enmanuel Valdez, as well as a three-run homer from Tyler O'Neill, to beat Philly, 9 to 3. Reliever Brad Keller took over for Tanner Houck, and threw three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.

With the first place Yankees in town, who had the best record in the majors, the Sox lost the opener. But in the second game on June 15th, they bashed the Yanks, 8 to 4. Three doubles in the first inning by Duran, O'Neill and Jamie Westbrook netted three runs. The biggest out game came when the Yankees loaded the bases and Justin Slaten got Alex Verdugo on a grounder and struck out Giancarlo Stanton to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox ran wild against the Yankees in the series final game on June 16th, winning 9 to 3. They set a franchise record for stolen bases with nine, led by speedy David Hamilton who swiped four of them. But the accoclades have to be given to reliever Zack Kelly (1.88 ERA), who came in with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, with the Sox clinging to a one-run lead. After falling behind 3-0 to Gleyber Torres, he struck him out. He then struck the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center.

That was 2-of-3 from each of the top two teams in the majors. In the two wins against the Yankees, the Sox won without hitting a home run, scoring 17 runs, and leading the league in triples and with 69 stolen bases.

On June 17th in Toronto the Sox bashed four home runs. Tyler O'Neill accounted for two of them as the Sox beat the Jays, 7 to 3. Ceddanne Rafaela (3-for-4) continued his torrid month of June (.377 for the month) by knocking in David Hamilton with the deciding run, that gave the Sox a 4-3 victory in Toronto the next night. O'Neill homered for the third time in two days to tie the game in the eighth inning.

The Sox left Toronto after sweeping the series and taking the final game on June 19th, 7 to 3. Jarren Duran smashed a solo homer to break a 2-2 tie, and stole two more bases. Five of his six home runs this year have either tied the game or given the Sox the lead.

Their bad defense took down the Sox in Cincinnati on June 21st, losing 5-2. They committed three errors that cost them the game. The Sox ranked last in fielding percentage (.979), with 57 errors and 48 unearned runs allowed.

The second game in Cincy was won by the speed, agressiveness and athleticism of Jarren Duran, 4 to 3, on June 22nd. Duran's aggressive attitude and speed allowed him to score the go-ahead run from third base, on a short fly to left. Then in the ninth, he scaled the center field fence to take away the game-tying home run. Duran had three more hits as the Sox took the final game in Cincinnati, 7 to 4, on June 23rd.

Back at Fenway on June 24th, the Sox held a one run lead over the visiting Blue Jays, until the visitors scored five runs in the seventh to take a 6-1 lead. After hitting a pop-up that landed between two players, Duran ended up on second and scored ahead of Dave Hamilton's homer in the eighth. Then with the bases loaded, Romy Gonzalez tied the game with a single to left. In the ninth, Cedanne Rafaela reached on an error, was balked to second and driven home by Duran's walk-off single to right, 7 to 6 .... Mercy!

With the season at the halfway point, the Sox were 7 1/2 games out of first place. Led by Tanner Houck (2.18 ERA) and Cutter Crawford, the pitching staff was sixth best in the majors with a 3.54 ERA. The offense came alive in spite of losing starters live Triston Casas and Trevor Story. Connor Wong (.330 BA) and Jarren Duran helped refocus the team on using speed as a weapon. Duran led the majors with 10 triples and had started every game thus far, while Rob Refsnyder became the go-to clutch hitter.

After the San Diego Padres pounded the Red Sox by an aggregate 20-3 in the first two games of their weekend series at Fenway, Josh Winckowski restored the order on June 30th, by pitching five scoeless innings in a 4-1 win. Rafael Devers pounded his 18th homer and Jarren Duran hit his 9th.

In Miami on July 2nd, homers by Cedanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran as well as a fine game pitched by Kutter Crawford, led to an 8-3 Sox victory. The next night, Brayan Bello delivered one of his best performances of the year, beating the Marlins 7-2, while Sox batters delivered 13 hits.

Nick Pivetta had 6 2/3 scoreless innings in the series finale. After he allowed the first Miami hit in the seventh, he left and the fireworks started. The lead see-sawed back and forth until the Sox won-out in the 12th inning, 6 to 5. The defensive star was Jarren Duran who threw the runner out at home in the ninth, who reeked havoc on the bases again.

CEDANNE RAFAELA

At Yankee Stadium, on July 5th, Tanner Houck was brilliant for a couple of innings. Then the rains came and he couldn't find the plate after the delay, to put the Sox behind 3-0. Up to the ninth inning and down now only two runs, with two outs away from it being a sloppy loss, Dom Smith singled. Next was Masa Yoshida, and he was down to seeing his last pitch with a full count. Masa turned on a sinker and lined it into the right field stands to tie the game. An inning later, in the 10th, Cedanne Rafaela, playing for the first time in the Bronx, homered into the stands in right-center and the Sox were 5-3 winners.

The Sox lost the middle game in New York, but Rafael Devers banged out his 1000th career hit, as wll as a home run off Gerrit Cole, who he has owned over the years. But in the finale, on July 7th, Devers put the Sox on his shoulders and broke up a pitcher's duel with two home runs, giving the Sox a 3-0 decision. The Sox half of that duel was Kutter Crawford who shut down the Yankees efficiently for seven innings on four hits.

At Fenway on July 9th, the Red Sox produced an historic offensive outburst. All nine members had a hit and scored at least a run in the first two innings. They hit for eight runs in the second inning, for a season's high in runs scored in an inning, and earned a 12-9 win over Oakland. Although Bryan Bello gave up five runs, he established a moden day strike-out record by having his first ten outs, coming on only strikeouts. The Sox lost the second game of the series, but Nick Pivetta tied a Red Sox club record, established by Roger Clemens, when he struck out eight straight batters.

On July 11th, in the series finale, Tanner Houck (2.54 ERA) took a no-hitter into the fifth and limited the A's to just two hits in six innings for a 7-0 shutout win. Chase Anderson pitched the last three innings of one-hit ball without any trouble. Connor Wong, Masataka Yoshida (3-for-4) and Wilyer Abreu (3-for-4) made it easy for their pitchers by all belting home runs.

Kutter Crawford pounded the strike zone again and shutout the Royals, 5-0, on July 13th. He limited Kansas City to just two hits over seven-plus inning, the longest he had ever pitched in a game. With their 11th shutout of the season, the Sox are tied for the most in the season with the Braves. The Sox flashed some leather in the ninth inning and concluded the first half by beating the Royals 5-4 on July 14th.

The Sox (53-42) went into the All-Star break in third place, 4 1/2 games out of first and holding the third wild card by two games. Tanner Houck, Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers were all name to the American League All Star team.