As James relayed in his pregame story, Davis Martin said he regarded his six innings against the Yankees -- one where he gave up four first-inning runs before posting zeros the rest of the way -- as one of his top-three favorite starts of the year.
An extremely uncharitable interpretation of that sentiment would lead you to believe tonight's first inning suggested he was chasing the wrong kind of high.
Martin dug an even bigger hole, falling behind 6-0 before he could even record a second out, and while he once again responded with credible baseball through five, an attempt to get a sixth inning out of him led to a second six-run outburst and a true laugher in the series opener at Fenway Park.
He got whomped on from the get-go, allowing a wall-banging double by Nick Sogard, then backfilling first with a plunking of Cedanne Rafaela. After a deep flyout gave Martin the faintest sense of a grip on the inning, a soft single by Willson Contreras put the first run on the board, a rifled single by Masataka Yoshida loaded the bases, and Caleb Durbin unloaded them by unloading on a down-and-in sinker and sending it over the Green Monster for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
If that wasn't bad enough, Jarren Duran made it back-to-back for a touchdown on the first drive.
From there, the best thing you could say about this game is that it had the makings of an ordinary loss. Martin eventually settled in with the thanks of double plays unusual and routine to get through five. On the other side, the White Sox offense made Patrick Sandoval sweat, even if the multiple threats only amounted to a pair of single tallies on productive outs. Miguel Vargas aimed for a Monster double with runners on the corners and nobody out in the fifth, but settled for a sac fly on the warning track. An inning later, Colson Montgomery and Joey Bart led off the inning with walks, the first of which chased Sandoval from the game after 5⅓ innings. Groundouts by Sam Antonacci and Braden Montgomery pushed home another run that made it 7-2.
But then Martin came out for the sixth, and the Red Sox blasted off the veneer of respectability. He walked Durbin, and a stolen base and a Duran single put runners on the corners. That's when Will Venable called for Erick Fedde to test out the new bullpen role, and in hindsight, it probably would've been better to give Fedde a clean inning.
A stolen base put two runners in scoring position, and Andruw Monsterio reached out and guided a cutter off the plate through a drawn-in infield for a 9-2 lead. After a flyout, Fedde walked Nick Sogard, and then gave up another hit on another non-strike. It just happened that Rafaela swung at a sweeper farther out of the zone for strike two, so when Fedde stayed on the outside edge and low, it looked far more hittable, and Rafaela looped it down the left-field line for two-run two-bagger and an 11-2 lead.
Fedde recorded a second out, but Contreras kept the door open with an RBI single off the base of the Monster, which effectively turned into a double when Grichuk's rapid throw to second got through Sam Antonacci. Those 90 feet mattered when Yoshida doubled to center, allowing Contreras to score easily to make it 13-2. Wilyer Abreu added an extra point with a solo shot in the eighth.
This time, the White Sox offense couldn't mount a response of any kind. Instead, Erick Bello retired all nine batters he faced for an easy three-inning save, and preceded by Greg Weissert and Erick Miller, the Red Sox bullpen combined to set down the last 12 White Sox that came to the plate.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox are now 0-4 against Boston thus far in 2026, and have been outscored 29-4.
*Brenton Doyle had himself a decent White Sox debut, going 1-for-2 with an infield single and the lone hit with runners in scoring position before Antonacci pinch-hit for him against a lefty, and starting an 8-6 double play that got Martin out of potential trouble in the second inning.
*Bart was the other guy making his White Sox debut tonight, and he went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
*One streak of silver lining: While Martin and Fedde both wore it, the White Sox used fewer pitchers than the Red Sox.
*A second streak: The Guardians lost to the Mets, and we'll see what happens to the Twins, who have shown that no Royals lead is ever safe.
