What's up with the Red Sox pitching?

OK, so the Boston Red Sox season isn't going too well right about now.

Through six games, they are 1-5 on the season. Oh yeah, and they're on a four game losing streak as of Wednesday day. They never lost four straight games in 2018. In fact, they got off to a 17-2 start that time around. That said, it's fair to be a little worried.

Sure, it's early in the season, but something doesn't look right with the pitching staff. Sure, Chris Sale was sharp on Tuesday night, a game the Red Sox lost 1-0, but before that, the starters had been a train wreck.

According to ESPN, in the first time through the Red Sox rotation, its starters allowed 32 runs and 11 home runs in 21 innings pitched. It was the most amount of home runs allowed in such a span--tied with the 1955 Milwaukee Braves and the 1978 Toronto Blue Jays. So yeah, definitely problematic.

One has to wonder if the Red Sox were too lax in spring training, not giving their starters enough work. The Boston Globe notes Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello threw a combined 42.2 big league spring training innings in 2018; this year, it was only 27.2. And since Eduardo Rodriguez is always hurt and Nathan Eovaldi wasn't on the team in spring 2018, they were not included in the statistic.
It's tough to see this issue persisting for the Red Sox, especially because their bats are competent. However, it is pretty painful to watch and one has to wonder if the coaching staff had anything to do with it.

Regardless, west coast trips are brutal enough already. This has only made things worse. But for some people, it might not be all that bad since they can get some sleep if the games are blowouts.