Red Sox turn in historically-weak performance against Phillies’ Zack Wheeler

The Red Sox didn’t need a reminder that they failed to add a big bat during the offseason.

Kyle Schwarber gave them one anyway.

Schwarber, a fan-favorite trade deadline addition by Boston in 2021, put the Philadelphia Phillies on the board in the top of the first with his 17th home run of the season.

Though members of the front office stated and reiterated throughout the offseason that power-hitting was a need and priority, the Red Sox never made an offer to Schwarber when he briefly became a free agent before re-signing with the Phillies.

Power remains a need for the Red Sox, who’ve hit a combined 29 home runs this year and have the fourth-lowest run total in the majors. Willson Contreras, absent from Tuesday’s lineup after a hit-by-pitch on the hand Sunday, leads the roster with eight homers.

The Red Sox out-hit their guests seven to five, but wasted their scarce opportunities and fell 2-1 in a quick and quiet two hours and 29 minutes.

Zack Wheeler looked like a man en route to a complete-game shutout for most of the night. Philly’s veteran ace dominated the Boston bats for 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, with six hits, one hit batsman, zero walks and four strikeouts.

It’s not hyperbole to say the Red Sox lineup’s early innings were the weakest offensive performance in over a quarter-century. Wheeler’s 16 pitches after three 1-2-3 innings were the fewest by any major league starter through the first three innings since at least 2000.

Said frames were even more impressive given the two leadoff baserunners the Wheeler allowed; he hit Masataka Yoshida with the first pitch of the second, and gave up a leadoff single to Marcelo Mayer in the third. The Red Sox erased both almost instantly with double plays by Trevor Story and Caleb Durbin.

The game continued at a breakneck pace. The fewest pitches thrown in a nine-inning outing since 1988 were 74 by Carlos Silva in 2005 and Aaron Cook in 2007. It looked like Wheeler was well on his way to a similar performance. He averaged 2.75 pitches per batter through five innings, faced the minimum in five of the first six, and his pitch count sat at 59 after the sixth.

The Red Sox didn’t put multiple men on base until the seventh. Mickey Gasper led off with a single. For a brief, shining moment it looked like Wilyer Abreu had tied the game with a home run to deep right field. And it would have been, at any of the other 29 major league ballparks.

Story’s two-out single put two men on for Ceddanne Rafaela, who blooped a single to shallow right to end Wheeler’s shutout bid and cut Philly’s deficit to one.

Wheeler’s performance overshadowed a similarly dominant bulk-innings outing by Brayan Bello, who held the Phillies to one earned run on four hits, one walk, and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings from the top second through one out in the eighth.

Left-hander Jovani Morán opened for Bello for the second consecutive turn in the rotation, and again couldn’t pitch a clean first inning. Schwarber went deep before Morán struck out Bryce Harper and Adolis Garcia to end the frame.

Bello battled when he entered for the top of the second, then settled in. Brandon Marsh greeted the Red Sox righty with a first-pitch single and scored on Bryson Stott’s one-out ground-rule double to right field. Bello issued a walk to Justin Crawford, whose father Carl played for Boston in 2011-12. Stott and Crawford completed a successful double steal before Bello struck out leadoff man Trea Turner to end the inning.

Beginning with Turner, Bello retired 17 of his last 19 batters. The exceptions were two-out singles by Stott and Alec Bohm in fourth and seventh, respectively, but neither man advanced past first base.

Leading with his sinker (56%), Bello racked up 11 swing-and-misses. Only six of the Phillies’ 18 batted-ball events against him were hard-hit (an exit velocity of at least 95 mph).

Tyler Samaniego replaced Bello and finished the eighth inning with a strikeout swinging for Adolis Garcia, who splintered his bat in frustration before he walked back to the visitors’ dugout. Samaniego is the second pitcher in franchise history to begin his career with at least 13 consecutive scoreless appearances (Robby Scott, 2016-17).

The game slowed down when Wheeler exited in the bottom of the eighth, but the results were the same. Carlos Narvaez led off the eighth with a first-pitch single and Wheeler got a first-pitch flyout from Durbin, his final batter of the night.

Jarren Duran greeted left-hander Jose Alvarado with what was initially ruled a single, but upon review pinch-runner Connor Wong was out at second on an unassisted fielder’s choice by Turner. Duran advanced to third on a throwing error by Realmuto and his 100th career stolen base, but Gasper struck out swinging to end the threat.

There was little hope when the Phillies deployed flamethrower Jhoan Duran. Yoshida rocketed a one-out single through the left side of the infield, and the replay review showed pinch-runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa hadn’t been caught stealing second after all. Jhoan Duran walked Story to put two on, then struck out Rafaela and got a game-ending groundout from Mayer.

The Red Sox were 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. They are 17-24 this season.