Boston Red Sox' Poor Defense Leads to Little League Home Run For Yandy Diaz

The Boston Red Sox' defense has been a consistent problem all season and it reared it's ugly head on Sunday afternoon as a routine single turned into a Little League Home Run for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora has spoken recently about his team's defense not being up to par. In fact, the Red Sox lost a game earlier this week, in part, because of an error by Rafael Devers.

The defense hasn't gotten better in the days since, and it cost the Sox again on Sunday.

Against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox committed a comedy of errors that led to a Little League home run for Yandy Diaz.

With Diaz hitting against Corey Kluber, the runner from first took off for second. Diaz appropriately hit the ball through the right side for a single. It should have been runners at first and third, but the Red Sox threw the ball all around the field, leading to both hitter and runner scoring.

You can watch the whole sequence here.

Just can’t happen.

https://t.co/vP6x9BXqJg

— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) June 4, 2023

At the time of this posting, the Red Sox trail the Rays, 6-2, in the bottom of the sixth.

In addition to the poor defensive play, the Rays have gotten scoring thanks to a Josh Lowe sac fly, a Manuel Margot single and a Luke Raley double.

If the Rays are able to win this game, they'll improve to a major-league best 42-19. A loss would drop the Red Sox to 30-29. They are in last place in the American League East.

These two teams will finish up the series on Monday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. ET. It's the makeup from a game that was postponed on Friday because of rain.

Shane McClanahan will pitch against Brayan Bello.

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