BOSTON — On an otherwise great day for the Red Sox, the Fenway Park debut of one key offseason addition didn’t go so well for Boston.
Starter Walker Buehler, pitching in Boston for the first time in his career, let the Cardinals back into a game the Red Sox dominated early and left having allowed five runs on seven hits, including two big homers, in just five innings. Buehler, who signed a one-year, $21.05 million contract as a free agent, has now been shaky in his first two Red Sox outings; he owns an 8.68 ERA so far.
Buehler, who came into 2025 with big expectations after a dominant postseason with the Dodgers last fall, described the beginning of his Red Sox tenure in one word: “flat.”
“For me, it’s hard to figure out everything other than that,“ he said after a 13-9 Red Sox loss. “I feel good. I feel physically good. I like the work I’ve gotten in every week and all through spring. I came in in a really good spot.
“It’s frustrating, to say the least. You come into a new team and whatever pedigree I have, I want to show that. I want to be that guy here. I want to help this team win. To not do that the first two weeks is frustrating, but it’s a long season. I’ve definitely struggled before and I’ll struggle again. I want to have the highs to go along with it.”
Buehler’s start in the home opener began well, as he tossed two shutout innings as the Sox’ offense got out to a 5-0 lead behind back-to-back homers from Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu. The middle innings were a different story. In the fourth, with Boston up 5-1, Nolan Arenado doubled and Alec Burleson singled to set the table for Iván Herrera‘s three-run homer. A Brendan Donovan solo shot made it 6-5 in the fifth. While Boston’s offense kept piling on and posting multi-run innings, Buehler kept letting the Cardinals get closer than they should have.
“It wasn’t great,” said manager Alex Cora. “He knows it. He didn’t execute his breaking ball. They put the ball in play. That’s a pretty good offensive club. They’ve got some left-handers that put the ball in play and hit the ball out of the ballpark. They’re good hitters.”
Buehler’s contract, while high in value for one season, represents an opportunity to prove himself in an attempt to secure a long-term contract after a poor regular season in 2024. After returning from Tommy John surgery, the once-dominant righty logged a 5.38 ERA in 16 regular season starts for Los Angeles before turning it on in October. He earned himself a short-term payday with a postseason run that ended with a save in the clinching game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. Five months later, he acknowleged he can’t live in the past forever.
“It’s been so long since I’ve been so dominant as I want to be or been the guy that I want to be,” Buehler said. “I’ve had it for two or three starts at a time throughout the past year and a half, especially in the playoffs. But you don’t make many playoff rosters with a 7.00, 8.00 or 9.00 ERA. I’m not going to keep hanging my hat on the fact I showed up in October. I want to show up in April, May, June, July and August and go about it that way.”
The Red Sox expect newly extended ace Garrett Crochet to be a force at the top of their rotation but there are plenty of question marks behind him. Both Tanner Houck (6.52 ERA through 2 starts) and Buehler have been iffy to start the season and Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and Kutter Crawford remain on the injured list. A strong stretch from Buehler would be welcomed while the other veteran starters are out. So far, he has not met expectations, but he doesn’t believe he’s far off from regaining form.
“All in all, there’s some encouraging stuff coming out of my hand with the way my body’s moving,” Buehler said. “I don’t want to revert to last year but I started with the same things where I didn’t have it flying out like it always has. We’re working hard and figuring some things out.”
Buehler, who departed with the Red Sox leading after five innings, took home the win despite his struggles. He took solace in the fact the team was victorious in its home opener for the first time since 2020.
“Fun day,“ Buehler said. ”I kinda dampened the mood for myself personally but I really enjoyed pitching here and feeling what pitching in Boston is all about.
“Not the outcome that I want but from a team perspective, very, very happy.”
