What should have been a quiet off-day for the Boston Red Sox has devolved into chaos.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was the subject of a profile article in The Boston Globe that didn’t paint a sunny picture of his tenure, including a tough nugget about his relationship with legend Theo Epstein. But Breslow’s harshest critic of the day was probably the father of one of his ex-players.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Hunter Dobbins made his second major league appearance on Sunday since being traded from the Red Sox in the deal that brought Willson Contreras to Boston. After Dobbins pitched well and featured his sinker more than expected, his father Lance Dobbins took to social media to excoriate the Red Sox and Breslow.

Lance Dobbins’ latest comments harsher than the first

We covered Lance Dobbins’ initial comments from late Sunday night that seemed to be directed at the Red Sox organization already on Boston Red Sox On SI. But on Monday evening, the elder Dobbins reentered the fray to absolve pitching coach Andrew Bailey of any blame, effectively throwing Breslow under the bus.

When asked if Breslow replacing Chaim Bloom as chief baseball officer led to Hunter throwing less sinkers and fewer four-seam fastballs in the Red Sox organization, Lance responded with this:

“Yes! In Bailey’s defense he wanted the addition, but people behind computers make those decisions. The coaching staff is literally working with one hand tied behind their backs. Driveline is the answer to everything, but winning games!

“Ask yourself, why are so many of our guys always injured (pitchers and position players), it’s not by pure bad luck. Pitchers are having constant issues and hitters are always hurting hands and wrist. It’s not a league wide problem. It has to be fixed or we’ll never win because half of our starters will always be on the IL.”

That last point has to hit home for the Red Sox because star outfielder Roman Anthony (who debuted in the majors a couple of months after Hunter Dobbins) has now had two long-lasting injuries that occurred on swings — an oblique strain in September that ended his season prematurely, and a partially torn finger ligament that has held him out of action since May 4, with no end in sight.

Monday just wasn’t a good day in the public relations department for the Red Sox front office, or for Breslow in particular. But it’s worth noting that Dobbins has only made two appearances in a Cardinals uniform, allowing four earned runs in eight innings, taking a loss and earning a save.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates sent out one of their relief pitchers, who they had recently moved on from.

The Pirates announced that they traded right-handed relief pitcher Justin Lawrence to the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations on June 1.

Pittsburgh designated Lawrence for assignment on May 29, as they activated right-handed starting pitcher Jared Jones from the 60-day injured list, making room for Jones on both the 26-man roster and the 40-man roster.

The Twins decided that instead of waiting for Lawrence to go on waivers, they sent cash considerations to the Pirates to get him over another potential ball club.

Overlook at Justin Lawrence’s Tenure With the Pirates

Lawrence struggled for the Pirates this season, posting a 5.32 ERA over 22.0 innings pitched and 23 outings, a 0-2 record, 25 strikeouts to 12 walks, a .244 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 1.55 WHIP.

He had a solid campaign for the Pirates in 2025, aside from missing four months due to injury, with a 0.51 ERA over 17 appearances and 17.2 innings pitched, where he looked to get even better this year.

Lawrence struggled with his sinker and his fastball, with a .282 BAA and a 44.7% hard hit rate on his sinker and a .353 BAA and a 36.4% hard hit rate on his fastball.

His sweeper was also not effective as it was a season prior, as hitters did have 31.3% hard hit rate, but he still had effectiveness with it, amassing 18 of his 25 strikeouts on it.

Lawrence had a poor stretch from April 6-12, where he gave up eight runs and six earned runs over 3.2 innings pitched and four outings.

He pitched in two losses to the San Diego Padres at PNC Park, April 6 and 8, and played a role in the Chicago Cubs forcing the game into extra innings on April 11 at Wrigley Field, which the Pirates won, then gave up the tying run in the 7-6 loss to the Cubs on April 12.

Lawrence bounced back with seven straight scoreless outings, before giving up eight runs and four earned runs over four outings from May 8 to May 16.

His last outing came vs. the Cubs at PNC Park, a 10-4 loss on May 27, where he gave up two runs over two innings on a two-run home run to left fielder Ian Happ.

It ends a little more than a year between Lawrence originally joining the Pirates off of waivers from the Colorado Rockies and serves as a disappointing ending from a promising start for the reliever.

Make sure to visit Pirates OnSI for the latest news, updates, interviews and insight on the Pittsburgh Pirates!

Advertisement

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow

Three Rocky Hill firefighters were honored Monday night for their part in a rescue on the Connecticut River in March.

Emergency crews responded to Ferry Park in Rocky Hill on March 23 in response to a report of a vehicle in the river.

When they arrived, they found a woman in a Jeep about 35 feet out from the riverbank.

Crews broke a window and pulled the woman to safety after about 10 minutes, according to fire officials.

The woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Monday evening, Captain William Kelly, Captain Roberto Leone, and Lt. Travis Gerace-Hicks were awarded the fire department’s valor award for their rescue efforts.