Beyond Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony on Opening Day, and Wilyer Abreu, in general, not much is going right for the Boston Red Sox in the first games of the 2026 season.

After dropping the last two games of their opening series in Cincinnati, the underwhelming road trip moved on to Houston, where two Red Sox offseason pitching additions were hit hard in their team debuts and Boston lost its most lopsided game yet to the Astros, 8-1, on Monday night.

Left-hander Ranger Suárez lasted 4 1/3 innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits, one walk and three strikeouts. He gave up home runs to Yordan Alvarez and Brice Matthews.

“There was some good,” manager Alex Cora told reporters of Suárez, “and there were some things that we’ve got to work (on).”

Suarez, whose five-year, $130 million contract is the fourth-richest for a pitcher in franchise history, is coming off a peculiar spring training in which he missed a significant portion of camp due to the World Baseball Classic, but ultimately only pitched once in Team Venezuela’s championship run. He told reporters health wasn’t a factor in Monday’s performance.

“Obviously it wasn’t the result that we all wanted, but physically I felt good,” Suárez said via team translator.

Johan Oviedo, acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in December, relieved Suárez but the Astros kept scoring. Yainer Diaz plated Houston’s fifth run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Jose Altuve took Oviedo deep on the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh, and Christian Walker’s double high off the wall made it 7-1, before Altuve homered off Oviedo again in the eighth.

“The little man (Altuve) got him,” Cora said. “That’s what he does.”

While the Astros blasted Suárez and Oviedo, Lance McCullers Jr. made mincemeat of the Boston bats. Over seven practically-perfect innings, he yielded just one earned run on four hits, one walk and nine strikeouts.

McCullers retired the first seven Red Sox batters before allowing a baserunner. He faced the minimum three batters per inning until one out in the seventh, because the first two Boston batters to reach – Carlos Narváez and Wilyer Abreu on one-out singles in the third and fifth innings, respectively – immediately became part of inning-ending double plays.

“He was really good,” Cora said of McCullers. “We didn’t put pressure on him early on. … And then when we had him on the ropes, he went to his breaking ball.”

Anthony’s fourth-inning flyout was Boston’s only hard-hit ball with a positive launch angle until the top of the seventh, when the Red Sox briefly broke through and ensured they would at least avoid being shut out.

With one out in the seventh, Trevor Story lined a ball to left and dove into second with a swim move that flipped him over and sent Altuve rolling away from the bag. On his back with his right hand on the base and his legs in the air, Story, who was initially called out, immediately began gesturing emphatically with his left hand. Upon review, the veteran shortstop was safe at second with a double.

Jarren Duran joined Story on the bases with a walk, and though Willson Contreras’ force-out sent Story back to the dugout, Abreu’s ground-rule double brought Duran home to score. Pinch-hitting for Caleb Durbin, who is now 0 for 14 to begin his Red Sox career, Masataka Yoshida forced McCullers to throw eight pitches before he struck out to end the inning.

Marcelo Mayer led off the eighth with a walk against Astros reliever Ryan Weiss, but the Red Sox rally bid ended there. Weiss retired the next six Boston batters.

The Red Sox tallied just four hits, two walks and struck out 12 times. Four games into the MLB season they’ve struck out 41 times, ninth-most in the majors, and scored 11 runs, tied for fourth-fewest.

The New York Islanders had control of a pivotal game — until it all slipped away.

Holding a 3-1 lead midway through the second period, the Islanders unraveled in a stunning 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night, a result that could have major implications in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

What had been a composed, structured effort quickly turned chaotic.

Pittsburgh erupted for four goals in less than 6 1/2 minutes during the second period, flipping the game on its head and exposing defensive breakdowns the Islanders couldn’t recover from. Anthony Mantha led the charge with two goals and an assist, while Rickard Rakell added two goals of his own as the Penguins overwhelmed New York with wave after wave of pressure.

Even Sidney Crosby, returning from injury, made his presence felt as one of 15 Penguins skaters to record a point in a balanced offensive attack.

For the Islanders, it was a collapse that overshadowed what had been a strong start. New York built its 3-1 lead through timely offense and early control, but mistakes began to pile up — turnovers, missed assignments, and an inability to slow Pittsburgh’s transition game.

Ilya Sorokin, who has carried the Islanders for much of the season, had little help. After allowing seven goals on 28 shots, he was pulled in the third period, with David Rittich stepping in as the game got out of hand.

The defeat not only halted momentum but also shifted the standings. The Penguins leapfrogged the Islanders with the regulation win, moving ahead 90-89 and tightening an already crowded playoff picture.

For a team that has thrived in tight, one-goal games all season, this was the opposite — a game that got away quickly and decisively.

And with little time left, the margin for error is gone

A major change could be coming to Milford schools. The district is looking to reduce the number of elementary schools to improve the student experience. It’s not the first time this has happened in our state.

Meadowside Elementary School has been a fixture in Milford for about 70 years, but its time may soon be up. The district is looking at closing it for good. One parent with a third-grader there says he’s worried about disruptions.

“There’s going to be a lot of transitions going on, and I know that can be very disruptive to a child and his development,” Richard Cudy, a parent, said.

Milford Superintendent Dr. Anna Cutaia says the district wants to reduce its elementary schools from eight to six by closing Meadowside and Calf Pen Meadow, but that wouldn’t happen for a few years.  She says it’s due to declining enrollment and the need for more modern facilities, with every elementary school built in the 50s and 60s unable to host all the programs, students, and parents may want.

“We share the gym with the lunchroom and assembly room. We have spaces that are not conducive to music instruction,” Dr. Cutaia said.

Milford is not the only district closing or combining schools. In Wallingford, the district is merging its two high schools into one to address declining enrollment there and operational costs, and in New Haven, two schools are consolidating to once again deal with fewer students in the classroom, but also because of how close they are to one another.

Declining enrollment is a statewide issue with data showing that in the 2016-17 school year, there were about 539,000 public school students, compared to this school year, where that number dropped to about 498,000.

Quinnipiac University education professor and former Branford superintendent Hamlet Hernandez says enrollment numbers and the cost of maintaining buildings are the big factors districts should consider.

“We want those dollars to go to students and not necessarily to keep buildings at 70, 80% occupancy,” he said.

Hernandez says while closing or combining schools doesn’t happen often, it does need to be considered if the town or city sees a population change. He understands it can be disruptive for students.

“They may be now on a different bus route. They may have different students that they are riding the bus with,” he said.

Parents in Milford recognize that the elementary schools need updating and say they’ll support the decision as long as their kids can learn and the district has a plan.

“All we’re concerned about is ultimately their success as a student,” Cudy said.