Red Sox lose fourth in a row, fall season-worst nine games below .500

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on May 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — This time last week it looked like the Red Sox might be showing signs of life, but now they’re sinking like a rock.

The Red Sox lost their fourth straight game on Tuesday, falling 7-6 to the Atlanta Braves thanks in large part to a pair of two-run home runs by Matt Olson and Michael Harris II.

Boston opened the game with back-to-back home runs by Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela to lead off the first and nearly rallied from down three in the bottom of the ninth, but overall the offense couldn’t keep pace with a Braves lineup that came into the day with MLB’s No. 2 scoring offense.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 22-31 and a season-low nine games below .500. The last time Boston was that far underwater was Oct. 2, 2022.

With first-pitch temperature a beautiful 82 degrees, the ball was primed to carry and early on the Red Sox took full advantage.

Duran greeted Braves starter Spencer Strider with a solo shot to right field on the second pitch he threw, crushing an 0-1 fastball 412 feet into the bleachers. It was the 10th leadoff home run of his career, tying Jacoby Ellsbury for second most in franchise history.

Three pitches later, Rafaela gave Strider the same treatment, smoking a slider high over the Green Monster for a solo homer of his own. Duran and Rafaela became just the second Red Sox players to hit back-to-back home runs this season, following Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu back on May 5 against the Detroit Tigers.

According to the Red Sox, it was the first time the club has led off a game with back-to-back shots since May 31, 2016, when Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia went yard against the Orioles.

That was all the offense either team mustered for a while.

Strider settled down and retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced, and Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez kept the Braves at bay through the first four innings. Atlanta stranded men in scoring position in both the second and third innings, and it looked as if Suarez was set to cruise through an uneventful fifth when the Braves finally struck.

After drawing a pop out from Sandy Leon and striking out Ronald Acuña Jr., Suarez walked Mauricio Dubon on five pitches to bring up Braves slugger Matt Olson. The first baseman already ranked among MLB’s leaders in home runs and RBIs, and he added to both those categories by smacking a two-run shot to right field to tie the game at 2-2.

It was Olson’s 15th homer of the season, which brought him to 44 RBIs.

Suarez got one more out to complete the fifth but immediately ran into more trouble to start the sixth. He allowed a leadoff triple to Austin Riley, walked Eli White and gave up an RBI ground rule double to Harris.

That was all for Suarez, who was pulled with no outs and men at second and third. Reliever Greg Weissert was tasked with getting out of the jam but allowed both inherited runners to score, the first on an infield groundout to first and the second on an RBI single by Acuña to make it 5-2 Braves.

Weissert has now come on with 18 inherited runners and allowed nine to score.

Suarez was charged with five runs over five-plus innings with six hits, three walks, four strikeouts and a hit batsman. It was the most earned runs Suarez has allowed in a game this season.

The Red Sox had a golden opportunity to respond in the bottom of the sixth when they loaded the bases with no outs, but all they managed was one run, which scored when Mickey Gasper grounded into a double play.

Boston crept closer in the seventh when Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit hits first home run of the season to make it 5-4, but the Braves answered back in the eighth with a two-run homer by Harris, who finished 4 for 4 with three RBIs and fell a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

The Red Sox rallied one more time in the bottom of the ninth, getting men at second and third with no outs on a Gasper single and Nick Sogard double. Kiner-Falefa came up big again with a two-run single to cut the deficit to one once more, and Duran singled to move him into scoring position, but the Red Sox couldn’t get the last big hit to tie things up. Rafaela grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out and Abreu grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

At this point the Red Sox are in serious danger, and the only reason the club is even within striking distance of a playoff spot is because the rest of the American League has been so poor. But with two more games against the Braves, who boast MLB’s best record at 37-18, plus a weekend series against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians looming, the Red Sox need to right the ship soon or they could find themselves in too deep a hole to climb out of.

The best way to start is by coming out strong on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.