3 overreactions from Reds Opening Day loss to Red Sox already taking over

The Cincinnati Reds lost their Opening Day game against the Boston Red Sox by a final score of 3-0. It's the first time the Reds have been shut out on Opening Day since 2018 against the Washington Nationals.

As fans are prone to do, many folks throughout Reds Country took to social media to overreact following the results of the first game of the season. If you look hard enough, there's undoubtedly some posts that read "Sell The Team" or "0-162" or some other type of gloom and doom scenario.

But the Reds weren't the only team with lofty expectations who lost a game on Opening Day. The Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros all began the 2026 season 0-1. Let's take a peek a few overreactions from Opening Day and see if we can't calm some of the fanbase's worst fears.

The Reds lineup still can't hit

The Reds collected just four hits on Opening Day, and three of them came off the bat of rookie infielder Sal Stewart. That won't offer much consolation to the group of Reds fans who were already questioning the team's offense heading into the 2026 season.

But it has to be said that Cincinnati was facing off against last year's AL Cy Young runner-up. Garrett Crochet is not the type of pitcher this Reds' lineup is going to face every game. He's elite. Obviously fans would've loved to have seen the Reds give Crochet the same type of treatment the New York Mets gave Paul Skenes (⅔ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K), but it wasn't meant to be.

Eugenio Suárez isn't clutch

In the bottom of the second inning with Stewart on second base and no outs, Eugenio Suárez flied out to right field. In the bottom of the sixth inning with the bases juiced, and just one out, Geno went down swinging. Finally, with two outs in the eighth inning and the tying run on second base, Suárez struck out.

One of the biggest reasons the Reds brought Suárez back to Cincinnati was to be the type of player they need during big moments. Suárez had three such opportunities on Thursday afternoon and he failed to deliver. He'll have more chances to come through in the clutch, and Reds fans are hoping the next time yields better results.

The Reds bullpen gave the game away

Reds starter Andrew Abbott navigated traffic on the base paths all afternoon and left after allowing seven hits over six innings, but the Red Sox failed to score. The moment Abbott was out the game, however, the Red Sox took advantage.

Pierce Johnson allowed one run on two hits and was lifted after recording just one out. Sam Moll had a flawless inning, and aside from one walk, Graham Ashcraft did as well. An ABS challenge reversal took away an inning-ending strikeout from Connor Phillips who then allowed two runs on two hits, and watched Boston's lead grow from one run to three.

In total, Reds relievers allowed three runs on five hits over three innings. Cincinnati's relief corps will have to be better moving forward, but even the best bullpens have a bad day. There's no need to panic, yet.