What a series it was for the Red Sox as they took on the Blue Jays for the second time in a matter of weeks. The Blue Jays took the first series convincingly and the Red Sox prevailed to take the series finale and win this series.

The first game was a home run derby for the Red Sox and they homered their way to a great victory and got a nice bounce back outing from Garrett Crochet. The Blue Jays responded with a thrilling comeback and what was the worse loss of the year for the Red Sox. It was a great pitchers duel between Jose Berrios and Tanner Houck and the Blue Jays managed to win the finale coming back once again. 

Now that the series is done, let’s get into key takeaways from this series and what stood out the most.

Red Sox Offense Flashes Their Potential

When you look at the Red Sox constructed lineup, it is scary. That top of the order is frightening and even the bottom of the order has its potential. When they are going, they are a force to be reckoned with. The main issue with the Red Sox this season is consistency. But the Red Sox offense is showing you it’s true potential and when it’s going it’s going.

1…2…3… GONE! pic.twitter.com/0kx7lEooqO

— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2025

The one player that is in the drivers seat for this offense is none other than Jarren Duran. If Duran is going, the rest of the team follows behind him. Duran is coming off a very impressive series against the Guardians and it has translated into this series. He hit the first home run of the series and it only took three pitches. It was not just him though. It was a collective effort.

410 feet to the second deck! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/pvvFS4rHup

— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2025

Six different players have hit a home run in this series, with Alex Bregman having two of them. Five different players have an OPS above 1.000 and catcher Carlos Narvaez is close to .900. That’s enormous for this group and you are seeing a collective effort on deck.

Aside from their numbers, they are doing good things at the plate. They are working counts and generating more 3-2 counts and getting their walks. They are hitting and you certainly love to see that. Kristian Campbell and Alex Bregman have become the right handed power bats the team has needed.

Lucas Giolito Looked Good

There is a lot to digest when it comes to this Red Sox rotation. Tanner Houck has been a mess. Brayan Bello has looked good and the same with Walker Buehler. Garrett Crochet had a massive bounce back start, which he got tremendous run support for. But the biggest question coming into this series was how would Lucas Giolito look? This is a guy who has yet to pitch a game in over a year. If you did have any concerns, you can put them to bed (at least for now).

Giolito was quite good for the Red Sox. He pitched near six flawless innings, until he gave up back to back home runs that cut the 6-0 lead in half. But his body of work was good and how he was executing was good.

Giolito did have good velocity, hovering between 94-96 MPH on his fastball. The only pitch be mixed in was his change up, which he was commanding well and locating them on the outside edges and painting the corners.

Painting corners. 🎨 pic.twitter.com/DG2mSiRIwH

— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 1, 2025

Giolito had seven strikeouts, five coming with the fastball and two with the change up. He did not have a ton of swing and miss, but did have a 31% whiff rate on his fastball. Aside from the home runs, very good and near flawless outing for him in his official Red Sox debut.

Tanner Houck Bounces Back Big Time

The Red Sox needed this outing, and so did Tanner Houck. There was everything to love about this outing, even though he did give up the home run to Varsho.

Houck went seven very strong innings and allowed four hits, while striking out six batters and walking zero. You love to see it.

The biggest thing for Houck was that the velocity was up. Houck hit 97 MPH ten times this game and was hovering around there majority of his outing. The swing and miss was there as well, finishing with 11 on the evening.

Also, the big key was his movement on his pitches. He’s lost some of that to start the season, notably the sweeper. In this outing, his sweeper was having more movement and had more horizontal break in this outing than he has all season.

You love to see this and we need to see more of this. But as good as those two starts have been, the bullpen blew both games.

The Bullpen…

The Red Sox back of the bullpen has been solid overall. Any given night you can have Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, and Garrett Whitlock out there and you are in good hands. Not this series.

Whitlock gave up a three run home run to have the game tied in the second game and eventually the Blue Jays walked it off. Justin Slaten came in at the right time and then coughed up a three run home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that gave the Jays a huge lead.

Bad bullpen breakdowns really sunk the Sox this series and it’s tough to see.