The Boston Red Sox return to Fenway Park for Wednesday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Angels with a 35–33 record and a sense of urgency to snap out of the inconsistency that has plagued them throughout May, where narrow losses, shaky bullpen outings, and missed scoring opportunities have limited their ability to build momentum. Rafael Devers continues to be the offensive anchor with 53 RBIs and a knack for clutch extra-base hits, while Jarren Duran has added a burst of energy at the top of the order with his speed and gap power, but the rest of the lineup has struggled to provide consistent run support, leaving too much pressure on the front half of the batting order. Boston’s biggest vulnerability remains its bullpen, which has been forced to adapt on the fly with key relievers like Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman unavailable, prompting manager Alex Cora to turn to younger arms like Hunter Dobbins and Kutter Crawford to bridge high-leverage innings—moves that have produced mixed results.

On the mound, Garrett Crochet has emerged as the staff ace, sporting a sub-2.00 ERA and striking out batters at an elite rate, but beyond him, the rotation has battled inconsistency and short outings, exposing the bullpen to more innings than ideal and contributing to the team’s poor 6–15 record in one-run games. Boston has not performed well as heavy favorites either, with an 8–14 ATS record in games where they’re favored by –130 or more, and they’ve struggled to close games despite frequent early leads, especially when facing lower-tier teams like the Angels, making execution in the final three innings critical to securing wins. With their offense often fading in the middle innings and their defense not sharp enough to consistently overcome bullpen volatility, the Red Sox will need to focus on capitalizing with runners in scoring position and avoiding free passes that turn into scoring threats. The return of Walker Buehler adds intrigue to the rotation, but the Red Sox need their current healthy arms to deliver immediately to keep pace in the division and avoid further slipping in the wild card race. Against an Angels team that lacks pitching depth and relies heavily on its top four hitters, Boston must dictate tempo early, take advantage of scoring chances before the bullpen becomes involved, and clean up defensive lapses that have cost them dearly in recent matchups. A win Wednesday would allow the Red Sox to salvage some confidence heading into a critical June stretch, while a loss would only deepen concerns about their inability to separate from the middle of the pack in the American League.