Alex Cora Bluntly Challenges Red Sox Starters Amid Struggles

One of the expected strengths of the 2025 Red Sox was an improved starting pitching rotation headlined by marquee offseason addition Garrett Crochet.

The superstar southpaw largely has held up his end of the bargain thus far. But outside of Crochet, Boston hasn’t received much at all from its group of starters.

Those struggles continued Sunday when the Red Sox dropped their weekend series against the Braves at Fenway Park. Starter Brayan Bello only lasted 4 1/3 innings, and he surrendered seven of the 10 runs that Atlanta put up in the matinee matchup. As Memorial Day quickly approaches, Boston has only seen two wins by starters this month to date.

Alex Cora didn’t sugarcoat the situation after his club dipped to two games below .500.

“They need to step up,” Cora told reporters Sunday, per MassLive. “That’s the bottom line. We have to step up as a rotation. It’s not only Garrett. It’s everybody. We have to do a better job as a group.”

Cora’s criticism certainly was warranted. Boston entered Monday with the seventh-worst ERA among starters in all of baseball and opposing hitters currently are hitting .271 off those Red Sox arms. The two teams with a worse mark in the latter stat — the Baltimore Orioles and the Colorado Rockies — have a combined 23 wins on the season.

Hunter Dobbins, one of the bigger bright spots on Boston’s entire pitching staff this season, will try to help set the tone for his peers Monday when the Red Sox kick off a three-game set against the New York Mets. NESN’s full coverage of the opener at Fenway begins at 5:30 p.m. ET.