BOSTON-- The Boston Red Sox have gotten off to one of the worst starts in franchise history, going 2-8 in their first ten games of the season. Red Sox manager Alex Cora made his weekly appearance on WEEI Afternoons with Andy Hart, Nick 'Fitzy' Stevens, and former Patriot Ted Johnson on Tuesday afternoon. Here's what you need to know from the interview: 

Naturally, the slow start was the driver of the conversation: "Obviously disappointed with the slow start, but to put everything in perspective, it's 10 games, so we've got a long way to go," Cora told Hart, Stevens, and Johnson. As for the reason for the slow start? Cora attributed that to the Red Sox' inability to pitch and play defense, two hallmarks of the team's roster construction in the offseason. 

After Alex Bregman's departure to the Chicago Cubs, Craig Breslow and the Boston front office pivoted to a team that was built upon pitching and run prevention, signing starter Ranger Suarez to a 5-year, $130 million contract, then trading starter Kyle Harrison in a package for third baseman Caleb Durbin. 

Through the first 10 games of the season, Boston has done neither pitch nor play defense. The sloppy defense that plagued the Red Sox in 2025 has carried over to 2026, with the team ranking second in baseball with 11 errors.

Boston shortstop Trevor Story, who finished with 19 errors in 2025, has already made three to kick off the '26 campaign, the second most in baseball. While 21-year-old phenom Roman Anthony has struggled to make throws from left field, rendering him a designated hitter mostly while he works through the issue. 

"At the end of the day, the name of the game is pitching and defense," said Cora. "You just gotta keep working, that's the bottom line... we have to make plays," he continued. 

As for the pitching staff, they currently rank 25th in baseball with a 4.84 ERA, ranking middle of the pack in both walks per nine innings (4.12) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.97). "We have to make pitches," Cora said of his staff. 

Boston's big-ticket free agent, Suarez, has been the big disappointment of the staff thus far. Through his first two starts, Suarez has given Cora just 8.1 innings, with an ERA of 8.64. Cora attributed Suarez's lack of innings to a slow buildup due to the World Baseball Classic, where he struggled mightily, allowing six earned runs on six hits in 4.2 innings across two starts for Venezuela. "The volume was not where it should be," Cora told the program. "For him its more about execution than anything else. The volume is the volume, but we gotta throw the ball where we want to, and he's been on and off so far this season." 

When asked about the chemistry in the clubhouse, Cora dispelled any talk of dissent, instead pointing to the slow start as a learning experience for a young team. "It's a good learning experience as a team, it's a young team that got off the blocks slow, and we're learning, we're getting better," said Cora, citing the offense scoring 12 runs across their last two games, both losses. "We did a lot of good things, obviously the pitching is not to what we want it, but offensively we're getting there". 

There have only been 14 teams in the history of Major League Baseball that have made the playoffs after starting a season 2-7 and Cora looked to the team reaching the .500 mark as a reset point to the season: "The first 10 didn't go well, oh well, let's play well the next 10, see where we’re at, get closer to .500, which is kind of like to reset the season... there's two hot streaks for every team, hopefully ours is when we're getting to .500 and then we take off". 

The Red Sox will look to get one game closer to .500 with Garrett Crochet on the mound against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night. First pitch from Fenway Park at 6:45 p.m. ET.  

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