The Boston Red Sox have lost four of their first five games of the 2019 season, and the worst defeat might have been Monday night's 7-0 road loss to the Oakland Athletics.
The Red Sox rarely experienced this much losing in such a short span last year when they won a franchise record 108 regular-season games en route to a World Series championship.
Despite the unfamiliar feeling, Red Sox starter David Price made it clear the team isn't panicking.
"There’s no panic in this clubhouse, or in the dugout," Price told reporters. "Just nothing good is happening right now. We’d rather it happen right now than the last two weeks of September or whatever. So, we’ll get through this time and we’ll be better for it."
Price made his season debut Monday night and gave up four runs (all earned), five hits and two walks, along with nine strikeouts over six innings. It was the first time all season a Red Sox starter had pitched past the fifth inning, and it actually was Boston's best outing from a starter so far, which isn't saying much.
It's obviously still really early in the 162-game season, but the Red Sox already have the worst run differential (minus-17) in Major League Baseball and their starting pitching, which was supposed to be a strength of the team, has performed much worse than expected.
There's no reason to panic yet, but improvements need to be made ASAP so the Red Sox aren't playing catchup in the standings most of the summer.
Boston Red Sox
Find the latest Boston Red Sox news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.