ATLANTA — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (28-32) are shut out for the first time in 2025, losing 5-0 to the Braves and dominant starter Spencer Schwellenbach to finish May four games under .500:
1) Walker Buehler’s day wasn’t good by any means, but the story was Schwellenbach. The 25-year-old was locked in from the jump, flashing 100 mph as he got through three perfect innings on just 36 pitches.
Schwellenbach went 6 ⅓ shutout innings, striking out 11 Red Sox and working around five hits. He got 16 swings-and-misses, including some horrific, as-bad-as-you’ll-see-in-the-majors-type swings by both Kristian Campbell and Trevor Story, too. He was truly dominant in every way.
2) Buehler hasn’t been the reason the Red Sox have a losing record but he hasn’t emerged as the No. 2 option behind Garrett Crochet that Boston was hoping for, either. A strong run of starts before his injured list stint has been followed by a so-so return bid. Saturday was a big step back.
Buehler was hit around in the first inning, struggled with command and ended up with an ugly line. He allowed five earned runs on 10 hits (including two homers) while walking two and striking out six in 5 ⅔ innings. He has a 4.44 ERA through the first nine starts of his Red Sox tenure.
3) Story came very close to homering for a second straight night. In the third, he smashed a Schwellenbach fastball to deep center, but elite center fielder Michael Harris II leaped and caught it at the wall. What would have been a homer in six of 30 parks (including Fenway) was a 103.1 mph, 405-foot F8.
Story was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
4) The game looks to be really speeding up on Campbell, who struck out three more times and misplayed a hard-hit ball at second base. He finished May with a .182 average (11-for-82) and 27 strikeouts in 22 games.
Campbell will make his first base debut Sunday.
5) The fourth-inning sequence in which Austin Riley narrowly missed a solo homer down the left field line, then straightened it out three pitches later for a 400 foot homer, was emblematic of the first 60-games of the Red Sox’ season.
That frame was what did Buehler in. Riley’s homer was the first of two blasts as Ronald Acuña Jr. made it 5-0 with a two-run opposite field blast.
6) Yes, that 60-game sample size means it’s worth bringing up 2020 (sorry). These Red Sox are only four games better (28-32) than that bunch was in total (24-36). That’s somewhat impossible to comprehend.
Boston was 11-17 in May. They’ve lost six of seven.
7) The sky is blue — and Brennan Bernardino pitched again. Boston’s everyday lefty relieved Buehler in the sixth and needed a single pitch to get Drake Baldwin to ground out.
It was Bernardino’s 16th appearance in 28 May games. He has pitched in four of the first five games on the road trip. Bernardino had a stellar 0.71 ERA (1 ER in 12.2 innings) in May. His 27 appearances are one behind the nine MLB relievers who have 28.
8) It’s somewhat hard to believe for a team with such an inconsistent offense so far, but the Sox were the last team in baseball to be shut out this year.
9) The consolation prize for the Red Sox is that ace Garrett Crochet (4-4, 2.04 ERA) will pitch in the series finale Sunday afternoon. Atlanta, which originally had Spencer Strider scheduled to pitch, will go with righty Bryce Elder (2-2, 4.50 ERA) in the rubber game. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Boston is 6-6 in Crochet starts this year.
