BOSTON, May 14, 2026, 19:06 EDT
- Rain held up Phillies-Red Sox at Fenway Park, scoreless after the first inning, 0-0.
- This game settles a three-game set locked 1-1.
- Boston and Philadelphia, both off to rough openings, are looking to stabilize things after making early changes at the manager spot.
Thursday night at Fenway, rain paused the Phillies-Red Sox finale, halting play in a scoreless first inning as both teams looked to break the tie in their three-game series. According to ESPN’s tracker, Philadelphia sat at 20-23, Boston at 18-24. The Phillies had Jesús Luzardo on the mound, while Ranger Suárez was set to start for Boston.
This isn’t your typical May rainout. Boston pointed out that the Phillies don’t have another Fenway date on the calendar, making Thursday the only real shot to get the contest in after the showers cleared out. The club said “every effort will be made” to play. SI
Baseball pressure is mounting. The Phillies trail the Atlanta Braves by 10 games in the National League East, stuck in third, and the Red Sox are at the bottom of the American League East, behind both the Rays and Yankees. Still early, sure, but both teams are already on interim managers—temporary fill-ins after firings.
Suárez faces the Phillies for the first time since leaving the team, as local previews note. For Philadelphia, it’s Luzardo on the mound — his ERA sat at 5.77 coming into this game. Suárez, meanwhile, entered with a 2-2 record and a 2.77 ERA.
MLB.com called it an unusual matchup—two clubs facing off after swapping managers before May. Pulling from Elias Sports Bureau data, the site noted this hadn’t happened since 2002: a pair of teams, both with new skippers, squaring off within their first 45 games.
Philadelphia’s turnaround has been more pronounced. According to MLB.com, the Phillies were riding a 10-3 surge after swapping out Rob Thomson for Don Mattingly, compared with Boston’s 7-6 record under Chad Tracy, who stepped in for Alex Cora. The win-loss columns have shifted since, but that split still tells you plenty.
Boston pulled even in the series on Wednesday, taking a 3-1 victory. Ceddanne Rafaela’s two-run pinch-hit homer in the sixth made the difference. Sonny Gray gave up just one run over six innings, while Aroldis Chapman wrapped things up for his ninth save.
Kyle Schwarber homered for a fifth consecutive game—matching a franchise mark—as the Phillies edged Tuesday’s opener 2-1, with Zack Wheeler working 7-1/3 innings. The victory pushed Philadelphia to 11-3 since Mattingly took over.
On Wednesday, Mattingly yanked rookie Andrew Painter after five one-run frames—despite the righty settling back in command. “We wanted to be proactive,” he explained to MLB.com. Painter, for his part, shrugged it off. “I totally get it,” he said, with Philadelphia juggling bullpen freshness, lineup matchups, and the season’s grind. Mlb
Earlier in the series, betting markets picked up on Boston’s pitching as a real advantage. OutKick’s David Troy, in a Wednesday note, flagged Gray’s track record at Fenway and Painter’s numbers away from home, arguing the better option was Boston for the first five innings—despite Philadelphia’s streak with Mattingly in charge.
Here’s the issue: weather, pitching decisions, and travel logistics can flip a clean series wrap into chaos after dark. Sports Illustrated noted Boston’s got a road set in Atlanta starting Friday. If the game gets pushed, MLB and both clubs would have to hunt for a make-up date—with no Philly trip back to Boston on the schedule.
This isn’t October, but it’s not just a soggy Thursday either. The Phillies have to keep pushing in a packed NL race. As for the Red Sox, they can’t afford to let the AL East deficit become more than just a blip this early in the season.
