Boston burned challenges early, Sonny Gray was off, and Boston ultimately could not recover
The Boston Red Sox (1-1) didn’t just lose their second game of the season.
They lived through one of the strangest, most chaotic games you’ll see all year.
Saturday’s 6-5 extra-inning loss to the Cincinnati Reds (1-1) had everything:
Early sloppiness, late heroics, controversial umpiring, and a crash course in Major League Baseball’s new ABS challenge system.
By the end, it was less about one moment and more about how many different ways the game managed to twist.
Start with the beginning, where Boston immediately put itself behind the eight ball.
Sonny Gray’s Red Sox debut never quite found a rhythm. He needed 35 pitches just to get through the first inning, was charged with 3 earned runs (4 total on the day), and was undone as much by defensive miscues as anything else.
A botched play at the plate and an error behind him helped Cincinnati grab early control, setting a tone Boston spent the rest of the afternoon trying to chase.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray (54) drops the ball (Albert Cesare/The Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK/Imagn Images)And to their credit, they kept responding.
Trevor Story answered his own early error with the Red Sox’ first home run of the season.
Marcelo Mayer flashed both sides of his game - delivering key hits and making a slick defensive play late.
Carlos Narvaez reached base and kept innings alive.
But every time it felt like Boston was about to take control, something pulled it back the other way.
Sometimes, it was self-inflicted.
The Red Sox burned through their ABS challenges by the third inning - a costly mistake that loomed larger as the game wore on. Without that safety net, several borderline calls went against them, none bigger than a controversial check-swing strikeout on Story that ended a key rally and led to Alex Cora’s ejection.
Other times, it was simply a missed opportunity.
Boston struck out 15 times, went 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position, and repeatedly left innings unfinished. Even a clutch, two-out, game-tying home run from Wilyer Abreu in the ninth couldn’t fully flip the momentum.
There were bright spots.
Rookie Ryan Watson steadied things with a composed MLB debut out of the bullpen, navigating a bizarre, challenge-filled inning and keeping the game within reach.
But in the end, the Red Sox ran out of answers. And maybe more importantly, ran out of margin for error.
Two games into the season, they’ve already seen both sides of baseball’s new reality.
Execution still matters.
But now, so does everything else.
Mar 28, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dane Myers (17) celebrates after hitting an RBI walk-off single against the Boston Red Sox in the 11th inning at Great American Ball Park. (Aaron Doster/Imagn Images)JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.