The Boston Red Sox have won just three of their last 10 games after a historic winning streak.
As they return for a week-long homestand, they’ll shake up the starting rotation a little.
The Red Sox will have a bullpen day on Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Alec Gamboa starting and Brayan Bello in a bulk-relief role. With Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray starting after that, with an off day in between, Boston has an interesting strategy with one of their rookie contributors.
Rookie starter Jake Bennett will likely pitch over the weekend on eight or nine days of rest, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
What Will the Boston Red Sox Do With Jake Bennett?
The upcoming schedule will push Bennett’s start back a few days. Whether it will affect him positively or negatively is unclear.
“It pushes Bennett back,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Mostly, we’re gonna push him back (to) the next series with San Francisco. He’ll get eight or nine (days of rest). It helps to do that, and it gives a couple of the guys behind him an extra day. Gives them some (rest), and we can back J.B. up. That’s the plan right now.”
Overall, Bennett has had a terrific rookie season, pitching to a 3.46 ERA in 14 starts (80.2 innings). However, he has struggled of late, allowing three or more runs in each of his last five starts, going six or more innings just once.
“I’m not overly concerned,” Tracy said. “I think he just left some soft pitches in very hittable spots is all it was. They were obviously able to string some together. JB didn’t get balls in the corner. But no, I wouldn’t say I was overly concerned about that.”
The hope for Boston is that Bennett will come back energized and ready to pitch as he did in his first nine starts (2.35 ERA).
More On Bennett, Team
The Washington Nationals selected Bennett in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of Oklahoma.
He was traded to Boston in exchange for Luis Perales in December, and it’s safe to say that this trade was a win for Boston.
After Connelly Early’s trade to Washington at the deadline, Bennett and Tolle are forming a powerful young pitching duo in Boston. Because of veterans Gray, Suarez, Patrick Sandoval and an injured Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox have a dangerous rotation.
How they use it will be interesting to see in the coming years. Bennett and Tolle are obviously under control for a while due to their rookie status. Gray has a mutual option in 2027 worth $30 million. While he’s been elite, mutual options are rarely picked up, so he might be with a new team soon.
Suarez was just signed to a free agent contract, so he’s under control through 2030. Sandoval is an unrestricted free agent after this season and given his injury history might not be retained. Crochet was extended recently and is under club control into the 2030’s.
This Red Sox rotation is built to succeed long-term and given their recent run, they are more than capable of turning around this less than ideal stretch of games.
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