The Red Sox avoided a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory over the White Sox on Sunday behind ace Garrett Crochet who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

With an 8-9 record, Boston heads to Tampa Bay to begin a three-game series Monday at the Rays’ temporary home, George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Below are 10 stats that tell the story through 17 games:

1) The Red Sox are sixth in the majors in runs with 77 in 17 games. That’s an average of 4.5 runs a game. But 31 of those runs (or 40.2%) came in two games. They scored 13 runs vs. the Cardinals on April 4 and 18 runs vs. the Cardinals on April 6.

So Boston has scored 46 runs in its other 15 games, an average of just 3.1 runs per game.

2) Red Sox starters have the sixth best starter ERA (3.59) among major league teams, giving up 37 earned runs in 92 ⅔ innings so far.

Garrett Crochet has allowed only four earned runs in 27 innings (1.38 ERA). The other five Boston pitchers to make starts have allowed 33 earned runs in 65 ⅔ innings, a 4.52 ERA. Help is on the way though. Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito are both expected to return from the IL soon.

3) A lot of fans on X have been calling for top shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer to be promoted. But the 22-year-old is only 9-for-45 (.200 batting average) with a .234 on-base percentage, two homers, nine RBIs, seven runs, two walks and 11 strikeouts at Triple-A Worcester.

Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Trevor Story is batting .308 with a .328 on-base percentage, .477 slugging percentage, .805 OPS, three homers, two doubles, eight RBIs, seven runs, two walks and 20 strikeouts. He has the fourth worst chase percentage (43.4%) among major league hitters and his advanced stats also aren’t great. But don’t write him off just yet. He has helped a struggling offense.

4) The Red Sox have the ninth worst chase percentage (29.7%) in the majors. Ceddanne Rafaela (46%) and Trevor Story (43.4%) have the second and third worst chase percentages among major league hitters.

5) Ceddanne Rafaela is 11-for-50 (.220) with a .291 on-base percentage, .260 slugging percentage, .551 OPS and just one extra-base hit (a triple) in 15 games. He’s obviously very valuable in center field with two defensive runs saved in 123 ⅓ innings so far. But how long can he continue to be an everyday player with an OPS below .600 and top prospect Roman Anthony hitting the ball extremely hard in Worcester?

As mentioned, he has the second worst chase percentage among major leaguers. Rafaela’s strikeout percentage of 16.4% is improved from last year (26.4%). His whiff percentage of 22% is also much better than last year (33%). He’s making weak contact. His 86.2 mph average exit velocity is in 12th percentile. He showed good bat-to-ball skills in the minors but the weak contact on pitches that he hit outside of the zone was a concern and one reason Boston wanted (and still wants) him to be more disciplined.

6) The Red Sox lead MLB with 19 errors, four more than any other team. Only six other teams have 10 or more. It marks the first season since 1996 that Boston committed 19 or more errors in its first 15 games. It had 21 errors in its first 15 games of 1996.

7) Manager Alex Cora finally moved Triston Casas (.185/.254/.296/.550 slash line) out of the cleanup spot to sixth in the order Sunday.

Casas start to 2025 is concerning. His chase percentage of 28.3% is up from 23.1% last year and 22.1% in 2023.

He’s also not walking like he typically does. He has a 6.8% walk percentage (four walks in 59 plate appearances) compared to a 12.3% walk rate last year and a 13.9% walk percentage as a rookie in 2023. His bat speed is in the 88th percentile (74.6), which is one positive.

Is he just a slow starter? He had a .576 OPS in 25 games during March/April as a rookie before finding his groove.

He had just one hit in his first 15 at-bats of 2024 but then had a 1.003 OPS in his next 18 games (73 plate appearances) before his rib injury.

8) Jarren Duran also is off to a slow start, going 16-for-70 (.229) with a .286 on-base percentage, .300 slugging percentage and .586 OPS in 16 games. He has just four extra-base hits (one triple, three doubles) after leading Boston with 83 extra-base hits last year. He’s on pace for 39 extra-base hits. His 32.1% chase percentage is in the 30th percentile.

9) Kristian Campbell sure does know how to control an at-bat for a 22-year-old rookie. He has a 15.2% walk percentage (10 walks, 66 plate appearances).

10) Boston is 22nd in the majors in reliever ERA (3.99). They have allowed 26 earned runs in 58 ⅔ innings. Justin Slaten allowed four runs without recording an out March 31 at Baltimore. He has allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings over his other six outings. Aroldis Chapman has allowed just one run in 7 innings. Liam Hendriks is nearing a return.