The Red Sox pitching staff has been the half of the team that has figured out what was going on. They are sitting 8th in the league in ERA, 12th in opponent batting average, and 10th in WHIP.

My Hottest Take: Payton Tolle and Connelly Early have been the most consistent pitchers

The most consistent pitchers on the staff have been Payton Tolle and Connelly Early. Early was one of the best pitchers in the rotation before Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez figured things out. Payton Tolle has been lights out for the most part since coming up from the Worcester Red Sox after Crochet went to the 15-day injured list.

Tolle is currently sitting at a 2-2 record, with a 2.05 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched in his five starts. He has only gone fewer than five innings in one start, that coming against the Toronto Blue Jays; his other loss came when he had a 1.99 ERA against the Tampa Bay Rays. Early is sitting at a 3-2 record, with a 3.21 ERA in 47.2 innings pitched in his nine starts. Early has gone at least five innings in six of his nine starts. His best ERA in a game was his first start of the season, where he put up a 1.69 ERA in 5.1 innings pitched.

You Should Know: Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez are what was advertised

Gray and Suarez are now the pitchers the team expected to see when they signed them during this past offseason. Both pitchers, after their brief injured list stints, have been pretty much lights out for the team. The only unfortunate side is that they cannot get any run support to help them continue pounding the strike zone.

Gray is the only Red Sox starter with one loss in his starts. In Gray’s three starts in May, he has a record of 3-0, with a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings pitched. His season record is 5-1 in eight starts, with a 2.93 ERA in 40 innings pitched with 30 strikeouts. Suarez is showing off what he used to be. In Suarez’s three starts in May, he has a record of 0-0 but is currently sitting at a 0.66 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 13.2 innings pitched.

Once Garrett Crochet gets healthy once again, it might be time to send Brayan Bello to the bullpen or even to Worcester to figure things out. The rotation is solid unless Bello starts on his own.

Before You Go: The pitching staff has been lights out; the offense needs to catch up

While the pitching has been lights out in terms of earned runs and other things, the offense needs to catch up. The starting pitching has been keeping the Red Sox in games. The offense has scored three or fewer runs in its last ten games. If the team does not score first, they also will not win a game, as they cannot hit in scoring position either. Before the series with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Red Sox were 81-for-331 with runners in scoring position; that translates to a .244 average with runners in scoring position.

If the offense can start hitting with runners in scoring position, while also managing to get runs on the board before the 7th inning and not relying solely on Willson Contreras or the starting pitcher to go 5 or more innings, this team is going to be scary.