Red Sox Make Dubious History With 5-Error Night Vs. Lowly White Sox

About as ugly as a baseball game can get

Apr 11, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox third base Lenyn Sosa (50) slides safely into home plate as Boston Red Sox catcher Blake Sabol (18) misses the tag during the eighth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images / Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox aren't necessarily destined to have a bad defensive team again in 2025, but the early returns are anything but promising.

After the defense was excellent on the Red Sox's opening road trip, things crashed back to earth when the team returned home, especially during the frigid night games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Then, on Friday night against the 2-10 Chicago White Sox, things hit a new low.

In an 11-1 loss against a White Sox team that entered the night on an eight-game losing streak, the Red Sox's defense was putrid. They made five errors, including two catchers interference calls on catcher Blake Sabol in his first start with the big-league club.

With 19 errors on the season, the Red Sox now have their worst total as a team through 15 games since the 1996 season, when they committed 21. That stat came from Red Sox Public Relations on Friday night, with a hat tip to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald.

It was also the Red Sox' first five-error game since Aug. 21, 2021, against the Texas Rangers.

Sabol committed his first offense in the bottom of the third inning. Then, in the fourth, first baseman Triston Casas committed a key throwing error that sparked a four-run rally. All of the runs scored with two outs.

Ceddanne Rafaela fumbled a ball in center field the next inning, turning a Michael A. Taylor double into a triple. Reliever Josh Winckowski committed a throwing error in the seventh. And Sabol added the exclamation mark with another catcher's interference in the eighth. Both were against the same batter (Luis Robert Jr.).

The White Sox also went four-for-four on steal attempts against Sabol, and it felt like they could have gone 10-for-10 if they cared enough, or if the game was at all close.

Sabol shouldn't factor into the picture for long. And Rafaela has been one of the best defensive center fielders in the majors this season. But when added up together, the night paints an ugly picture.

It's still very early in the season, but the Red Sox are undeniably in a funk, and there's no better time to snap out of it than Saturday.

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