Red Sox surge early, but ninth-inning rally against Braves falls short in fourth straight loss at Fenway Park

Another night with so little going right for the Red Sox, who were beaten by the Braves, 7-6, offered an occasion to wonder: How have their fortunes changed since the firings?

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Tuesday marked one month since Chad Tracy’s first game as interim manager. In that stretch, the Sox own a 12-14 record, including an active losing streak of four straight — not good, but actually an improvement from their 10-17 opening under Alex Cora.

This time, Isiah Kiner-Falefa blasted a home run in the seventh inning and added a two-run single in the ninth, carrying the Red Sox to within a run. But Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu grounded out to end the threat and the game — another near-comeback that fell agonizingly short, a specialty lately.

In each of the past three games, the Sox have stranded the potential tying run in scoring position in the final frame.

“It’s a loss, but at least we’re fighting,” Kiner-Falefa said. “The fight’s been great. Just haven’t been able to win.”

The Red Sox (22-31) are nine games under .500 for the first time since 2022.

It still hasn’t come together the way chief baseball officer Craig Breslow envisioned. Wednesday represents the exact one-third point of the Sox’ season, which has featured a longer settling-in phase than usual given the staff turnover.

“[Breslow and Tracy are] kind of feeling each other out, getting to build a relationship, and it’s been great to watch him operate and see the calming and stabilizing influence he’s had on the clubhouse,” Breslow said before the game. “I’m here to try and support him however I can.”

Through April 25, the day Breslow dumped Cora and six coaches, the pitchers posted a poor 4.44 ERA. The hitters averaged a mediocre 4.1 runs per game.

Since then, the Red Sox have been highly effective at limiting runs (3.18 ERA) but have struggled to score them (3.4 per game).

“You can start to see better at-bats, hitting the ball a little bit harder, better timing overall. We’ve pitched great in May. We’ve consistently played good defense,” Breslow said. “We haven’t sequenced those in a way where we ended up winning as many games as we’d like, but I still think our best baseball is ahead of us for sure.”

At the time of the staff swap, Breslow did not commit to keeping Tracy as interim manager through the end of this season, leaving the door open for a permanent hire in the intervening months.

Asked again Tuesday, Breslow remained noncommittal.

“It just hasn’t really been a subject that’s come up,” he said.

In the majors, “the day-to-day flow is different” than in the minors, said Tracy, who was in his fifth season as Triple-A Worcester’s manager. He has enjoyed the promotion, he added with a caveat.

“I want to see us win, just like our fans do,” Tracy said. “The magnitude of it is different, you know? And the expectations are different. I welcome those … But I definitely enjoy it. I love baseball, I love managing, and I love being around players.”

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For the Sox, Tuesday began with a bang — multiple bangs, in fact. Jarren Duran and Rafaela hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning against righthander Spencer Strider.

It was the first time the Sox led off a game with consecutive long balls since May 31, 2016, when Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia did it in Baltimore.

Then the bats went cold against Strider, who gave up just one additional hit in five-plus innings.

Lefthander Ranger Suarez, meanwhile, had a stinker: five-plus innings, five runs. He gave up as many runs in this game as he had in his previous seven starts (40⅓ innings) combined.

Over the first five innings, the Braves went 0 for 10 with less than two outs. With two outs, they were 4 for 9 with a home run.

That homer was the big blow, a two-run shot from Matt Olson that tied it in the fifth inning, 2-2. It came immediately after a walk.

“You never want to walk anybody with two outs, especially there,” Suarez said through an interpreter.

When Suarez returned for the sixth, the first three batters reached base, adding a run, before Tracy pulled him. Greg Weissert allowed both inherited runners to score as the Braves (37-18) surged to a 5-2 lead.

The Sox had a shot late, again. It was the first time in 16 appearances this season that Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias allowed a run. But it wound up not mattering.

“You love to see the group fight and put themselves in position again to not only tie the game but win the game. You want to see that,” Tracy said. “It’s awesome, but we want to put ourselves in some positions to be in the lead like they are.”

Duran said: “One of these times, we’re going to put together what we do in the ninth [for] the whole game, and we’re going to go on a run, and it’s going to be sick.”

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