BOSTON — As the Red Sox ventured into their third game without Triston Casas at first base, Abraham Toro got the start at the position on Tuesday night.
Toro, who’s played for five big-league teams over a seven-year career, made a nice unassisted double play on a hard liner with a runner on first in the second inning. He dove to snare the hard shot, his momentum bringing him into the bag to tag it for the second out.
Toro makin’ plays.
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— Red Sox (@redsox.com) May 6, 2025 at 4:53 PM
That Toro’s play was the highlight of the Red Sox’s night told the story of another rough game, as they fell 6-1 to the Texas Rangers. Texas entered the game with the fewest runs scored (113) in the American League and having lost nine of 12.
In soggy weather conditions, Lucas Giolito struggled in his second start of the season, particularly in the fourth inning when the Rangers batted around, recording seven hits and five runs in the frame. Giolito exited after 3 2/3 innings.
Conversely, Nathan Eovaldi had little trouble on the mound for Texas, holding the Red Sox offense to one run on five hits in six innings.
And the beat goes on.
“I’m not concerned,” manager Alex Cora said. “It’s just part of the season. Are we happy with what’s going on? Of course not. We believe we’re better, and it hasn’t happened, right? But we’ve got to keep working. We’re going to be better. We know that. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
For now, even with the first base situation in flux, Cora says there are no changes on the way.
Utility man Romy Gonzalez played first base over the weekend and Cora noted he likes the combination of Gonzalez’s right-handed bat and Toro’s ability to switch-hit.
After signing a minor-league deal this winter, Toro played 28 games for Triple-A Worcester before he was added to the roster on Saturday following Casas’ injury. With the WooSox, he hit .310 with an .883 OPS and played five games at first base. Since making his MLB debut in 2019, Toro has a .637 OPS in 366 MLB games, while playing mostly second and third base. He had logged 15 games at first in the majors prior to Tuesday.
Gonzalez and Toro don’t appear to be long-term solutions at first for the Red Sox, particularly since the team is in need of an offensive jolt.
Before Tuesday’s game, Cora said that he’s had no discussions with Rafael Devers about moving to first base. Devers has been asked by the media to discuss the matter, but so far he has declined to talk.
There have been plenty of opinions about how the Red Sox should proceed with Casas out for the year and Cora said he’s heard many of them.
“A lot of people are sending texts and messages,” he said. “But no, we’re staying the course. We got these two guys (Gonzalez and Toro) here, Toro starting today. Romy has done an amazing job in the starts over there so we’ll keep going that way.”
Toro impressed in spring training, hitting .310 with a .951 OPS, but, like Gonzalez, has never played a full major-league season, with 109 games his career high in 2022.
“A good at-bat, good defender, versatile,” Cora said of Toro. “You sign those guys in the offseason for situations like this. We expect them to play at first and we expect them to contribute.”
Cora spoke with Casas on Tuesday and said the 25-year-old has been resting at home following surgery on Sunday, though not getting much sleep because of the pain. Team trainers were set to visit Casas on Tuesday to check on his incisions and recovery.
Cora did not have a timetable for Casas’ recovery and did not know yet if he would be ready for spring training next year. He did relay some positive news.
“For how bad it is, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario, that’s what he expressed to me that the doctor said,” Cora noted.
Either way it’s a long-term injury and the Red Sox don’t seem to have a long-term plan in place for how to replace him. For now, they’ve ruled out promoting top prospects Marcelo Mayer or Roman Anthony, and have been adamant neither will play first base.
“Given the bright futures that they have ahead of them at their respective positions, introducing additional variables doesn’t make a ton of sense right now,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said on Saturday.
With questions swirling about whether Devers will eventually move across the diamond to first, Masataka Yoshida’s role with the team hangs in the balance, too.
Yoshida has missed the start of the season following shoulder surgery in October and while he’s able to hit, as evidenced by a strong performance in spring training, he’s still having trouble throwing.
“There have been no setbacks, but I’m not recovering or making the progress at the pace I wanted to,” Yoshida said through a translator.
The 31-year-old returned to Boston last week for imaging on his shoulder, which showed nothing structurally wrong. Yoshida said on Tuesday he’s still experiencing pain when throwing at 120 feet and he received a cortisone shot. He will be shut down from throwing for another three days.
“When I had the surgery, I talked to the trainers and the pain, that’s something I have to deal with throughout the year, at least this year, I was aware of that,” Yoshida said.
“As far as hitting there’s no problem,” he added.
The Red Sox have said they only want to bring Yoshida back if he can play in the outfield. However, if Devers moved to first, an opening at DH would allow Yoshida to return earlier. Yoshida isn’t really an option at first base either. He lacks experience at the position like Devers, and he’s also 5-foot-8 and the position is better suited for taller players with the ability to stretch for catches.
“I know he’s frustrated,” Cora added. “I think we all are. It was major surgery. It was. We haven’t rushed him through the process. We’ve been very patient, and we will stay patient with him. He wants to play, and we gotta get it going throwing-wise. And, it’s been a challenge, but it’s not lack of effort. It’s not lack of resources. I think our guys have done amazing job. It just hasn’t happened yet.”
And so the Red Sox continue to spin their wheels.
Parity across the AL has prevented them from falling too far behind in the standings, but how long can they endure this malaise?
That the team is struggling at this point in the schedule is particularly disappointing because the Red Sox just finished a stretch in which they played only six of 36 games against teams with a record at or above .500. Three of their next four series are against teams with records above .500.
They can’t afford many more games like Tuesday, but without any changes these types of losses are bound to pile up.
(Photo of Devers avoiding a hit by pitch: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)