Author: Brendan Campbell

Writing about the Red Sox and the Red Sox farm system.

Chris Sale Dominates with 13 Strikeouts over Eight Shutout Innings as Red Sox Blank Angels 3-0

After their series finale against the Kansas City Royals was suspended earlier in the morning, the Red Sox opened up a four-game weekend set against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday with a 3-0 shutout victory to improve to 61-56 on the season.

Making his 24th start of the season for Boston and first against the Angels at Fenway Park was Chris Sale, who came into the week fresh off a frustrating performance in his last time out against the New York Yankees.

Flipping the switch this time around, the left-hander put together a dominating showing, as he yielded just two hits and zero walks to go along with 13 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings.

A two-out double from Shohei Ohtani in the first got the Angels in the hit column early, but Sale stranded the Japanese phenom at second with a four-pitch punchout of Justin Upton before stringing together 15 consecutive outs from the beginning of the second up until the middle of the sixth.

A leadoff single off the bat of Mike Trout in the seventh broke that dominating stretch up, but Sale retaliated yet again by fanning the side in order from there, and that included a 1-2, 98.4 MPH four-seam fastball blown past Albert Pujols to end the top half of the frame.

And in the eighth, the Florida native capped his night off with his 13th and final strikeout, this one coming on two-out, 2-2, 97 MPH heater to fan Wilfredo Tovar and retire the side in order.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (67 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler turned to his four-seamer more than 45% of the time he was on the mound Thursday night, inducing nine swings and misses and topping out at 98.4 MPH with the pitch while Sandy Leon was behind the plate.

Ultimately improving to 6-11 while lowering his ERA on the season down to 4.41, this was vintage Chris Sale in his first start of seven or more innings pitched since June 10th. He’ll look to ride this momentum in his next time out, which should come against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

In relief of Sale, Brandon Workman entered the ninth with a three-run lead to protect, and he did just that by sitting down Brian Goodwin, David Fletcher, and Trout in order on 16 pitches to notch his seventh save of the year and secure the 3-0 win.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Angels left-hander Dillon Peters, a former Miami Marlins prospect who had never faced off against Boston in his young career prior to Thursday.

Starting the scoring in the bottom half of the second, J.D. Martinez led things off with an opposite field single, and that would turn out to be the catalyst for a two-run inning, as Sam Travis followed that up by taking Peters deep to dead center off a first-pitch, 93 MPH heater right down the heart of the plate.

Travis’ fourth homer of the season, this one good for two runs, had an exit velocity of 107.7 MPH and traveled a projected 443 feet, per Statcast.

Fast forward all the way to the fifth, and Sandy Leon added on to his side’s two-run lead by unloading on a 1-1, 90 MPH four-seamer above the zone from Peters and sending it 389 feet over the Green Monster for his fifth big fly of the year.

That solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fifth put the Red Sox ahead 3-0, which would go on to be Thursday’s final score mostly thanks to the efforts of one Chris Sale.

Some notes from this win:

From Red Sox Notes:

From Red Sox Stats:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

From MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo:

Thursday’s game took two hours and 16 minutes to complete.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the second of this four-game weekend series on Friday night.

Left-hander Brian Johnson gets the start for Boston in the place of the now-shelved David Price, while right-hander Jaime Barria will do the same for Los Angeles.

In his first action since being activated off the injured list on August 3rd Johnson allowed three runs over three innings while starting Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Yankees.

In his career against the Angels, the 28-year-old has allowed one run over two appearances (one start) and seven innings pitched. That’s good for an ERA of 1.29.

Barria, meanwhile, has posted an 8.31 ERA and .288 batting average against in four outings (three starts) since the All-Star break.

The 23-year-old out of Panama has made one career start against the Red Sox, one in which he took the loss despite only yielding two runs over 5 1/3 innings of work back on June 28th of last season at Fenway Park.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for their second straight win.

Red Sox Place David Price on Injured List with TFCC Cyst on Left Wrist, Recall Hector Velazquez from Triple-A Pawtucket in Corresponding Move

Before opening up a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, the Red Sox announced that left-hander David Price had been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist injury. In a corresponding move, right-hander Hector Velazquez was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket. The club made the transaction official earlier Thursday.

Per the Sox’ official press release, Price, “underwent an MRI on his left wrist that revealed a TFCC cyst that was treated with a cortisone shot.”

According to Midwest Orthopedics at Rush, a top orthopedic clinic in Chicago, the TFCC, or triangular fibrocartilage complex, is, “a cartilage structure located on the small finger side of the wrist that, cushions and supports the small carpal bones in the wrist.”

Price dealt with a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome last season, where he was scratched from a May 9th start against the New York Yankees but did not miss any time on the IL.

Speaking of the Yankees, this move comes less than four full days after the 33-year-old surrendered a season-worst seven earned runs over 2 2/3 innings this past Sunday in the Bronx.

On the 2019 campaign as a whole, Price owns an ERA of 4.36 and batting average against of .260 over 21 starts and 105 1/3 innings of work. That includes an ERA of 8.59 in five outings since the All-Star break.

As of this moment, there is no timetable for when Price may be able to return.

In Price’s place, right-hander Hector Velazquez was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket a little more than three weeks after being optioned there.

While with the PawSox, the 30-year-old allowed three earned runs on five hits and three walks over six relief appearances and 6 2/3 innings pitched.

With Price’s spot in Boston’s rotation vacated for the time being, expect Velazquez or fellow righty Ryan Weber to fill in beginning on Friday.

Series Finale Between Red Sox and Royals Suspended Due to Rain, Game Will Resume on August 22nd

After waiting out a near two-hour rain delay that began late Wednesday night and trickled into early Thursday morning, the series finale between the Red Sox and Royals at Fenway Park has been suspended in the top half of the 10th inning. Per the Red Sox’ official Twitter account, the game will resume on Thursday, August 22nd at 1:05 PM EDT.

As things stood before the weather delay went into effect on Wednesday, left-hander Josh Taylor was on the mound for Boston and Meibrys Viloria was at the plate for Kansas City, up in the count at 2-1 with the bases empty and no outs in the 10th.

The Red Sox were supposed to have the 22nd off after heading out to San Diego to begin an eight-game west coast trip against the Padres, but will now have to make that cross-country flight a day later.

As for the Royals, they begin a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit on Thursday, so they could not stick around in Boston any longer.

Both the Sox and Royals shared off days on the 22nd, so that date obviously works for the two sides. Kansas City will be making a quick pit stop in Boston in between road series’ against the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians.

First(?) pitch on the 22nd is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT.

With that settled, the Sox welcome in the Los Angeles Angels for a four-game weekend set beginning on Thursday night.

Left-hander Chris Sale will get the ball for Boston in the opener of that series, while fellow southpaw Dillon Peters will do the same for Los Angeles.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN.

Andrew Cashner Gets Taken Deep Three Times as Red Sox Fall to Lowly Royals

After snapping an eight-game losing streak with a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday, the Red Sox were unable to gain any momentum from that win, as they dropped the middle game of this three-game set by a final score of 6-2 to fall back to 60-56 on the season.

Making his fifth start for Boston and 22nd of the season as a whole was Andrew Cashner, who came into the week having only faced off against divisional opponents since being acquired from the Baltimore Orioles last month.

Working into the sixth inning of this one, the right-hander surrendered six runs, all of which were earned, on seven hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts on the night.

The first two of those Royals runs came across on one swing of the bat in the top half of the fourth, when with two outs and a runner at first, Cashner served up a two-run mammoth shot to Jorge Soler on a first-pitch, 94 MPH four-seam fastball on the inner half of the plate.

The Texas native had been cruising up until that point, retiring nine of the first 11 hitters he faced before walking Hunter Dozier on seven pitches to set up Soler in that spot.

A Cheslor Cuthbert ground out Cashner out of the fourth, but the home run ball came back to bite him an inning later, when Ryan O’Hearn led things off in the fifth by crushing a solo homer to right off a 3-2, 85 MPH changeup at the top of the zone to make it a 3-1 game.

In the sixth, a Whit Merrifield single, followed by a Cashner wild pitch and Alex Gordon groundout to short, set up Dozier in a prime run-scoring spot with a runner at third, and he capitalized with an RBI single to right. 4-1.

With Soler due up next to hit for Kansas City, Cashner remained in the game and proceeded to give up another two-run shot to the Royals slugger, this one coming off a 1-0, 87 MPH slider down the middle of the plate.

That put the lowly Royals up 6-1, and a single off the bat of Cuthbert would signal the end of the line for Cashner.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 83 (58 strikes), the 32-year-old hurler relied on his four-seamer nearly 46% of the time he was on the mound Tuesday, inducing two swings and misses and topping out at 96.2 MPH with the pitch while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately falling to 10-7 while raising his ERA on the year up to 4.68, Cashner’s first five starts with the Red Sox have been far from memorable.

Since the beginning of play of on July 16th, Cashner has given up six home runs in 28 2/3 innings pitched. Compare that to just the 11 homers he gave up in 96 1/3 innings pitched as an Oriole, and it becomes clear that something isn’t quite right.

Regardless, Cashner’s next start should come against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

In relief of Cashner, Josh Taylor entered the top of the sixth with one runner on and two outs to get, and he got both of those outs with the help of a 4-6-3 double play started by Michael Chavis off a ground ball from O’Hearn.

Taylor also worked his way around a two-out walk in a scoreless seventh before making way for Marcus Walden in the eighth.

There, Walden received some great help from a sprawling Chavis on a pop fly off the bat of Dozier while also walking one in another scoreless frame of relief.

And in the ninth, left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez came on for his 11th appearance out of the Red Sox ‘pen, and he punched out the side on 20 pitches to keep the deficit at four runs.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Royals right-hander Jakob Junius, who only had one prior start at Fenway Park under his belt before Tuesday.

Kicking off the scoring in the bottom half of the third, Andrew Benintendi got his side on the board first by knocking in Rafael Devers from second on a two-out bloop of an RBI single to right.

Brock Holt managed to move Benintendi up to third on a single of his own, but Christian Vazquez could not come through, as he flew out to center to strand Benintendi and Holt at the corners.

An inning later, after falling behind by a run in the top half of the fourth, Devers had the chance to take that lead back with two outs and runners at first and second following a Betts walk.

Instead, the 23-year-old flew out to center on the first pitch he saw from Junis, thus extinguishing another threat.

Fast forward all the way to the eighth, with reliever Richard Lovelady in for Kansas City and the Red Sox trailing by five runs, and J.D. Martinez broke up a string of 10 straight Boston hitters being retired by lacing a leadoff ground-rule double down the right field line.

Neither Benintendi nor Holt were able to do anything with that, but Vazquez cut the deficit down to four runs with a line-drive RBI single to left-center.

That made it a 6-2 contest in favor of Kansas City, and that would go on to be Tuesday’s final score after Vazquez was stranded at second and Chavis, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Betts were retired in order by Ian Kennedy in the ninth.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. They left eight men on base as a team.

From The Eagle-Tribune’s Chris Mason:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

—

So, the Red Sox are 1-9 in their last 10 games and now stand 6 1/2 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second American League Wild Card spot.

They still have the chance to take this series from the Royals on Wednesday, but you have to beat inferior teams at home. Playing .500 baseball at Fenway Park is simply not a sustainable model of success.

With that, it will be left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez getting the ball for Boston in the series finale, while right-hander Glenn Sparkman will do the same for Kansas City.

Rodriguez took the loss in his last time out against the New York Yankees this past Friday, allowing four earned runs over 6 2/3 innings of work to mark his worst start in terms of runs given up since June 24th.

In his career against the Royals, the 26-year-old owns a lifetime 5.46 ERA and .285 batting average against over six starts and 31 1/3 innings pitched. That includes an outing back on June 4th at Kauffman Stadium, where he held the opposition to two runs over 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win.

Sparkman, meanwhile, has yielded 14 earned runs over his last two starts and 9 2/3 innings to raise his ERA on the season up to 5.58.

The 27-year-old also opposed Rodriguez in that June 4th tilt, and he too put together a solid performance where he allowed just one run over 5 1/3 innings of work.

Sparkman has never pitched at Fenway Park.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for the series win.

Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez Both in Red Sox Lineup for Second Game Against Royals

After one was a late scratch and the other was an early departure in the opener of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Monday, both J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts are in the Red Sox’ lineup for the middle game on Tuesday.

Martinez was initially slated to start at designated hitter and bat cleanup on Monday, but was later scratched due to back soreness.

Betts, meanwhile, was 0-for-2 with a pair of walks and runs scored before being removed in the eighth inning on Monday after taking a foul ball off his left shin in the bottom half of the seventh.

The 26-year-old was able to stay in to draw his second walk and eventually come in to score his second run, but could not remain in the game defensively.

Later ruled with a left shin contusion, Betts told reporters postgame Monday that everything is perfectly normal and he would be good to go for Tuesday.

That much turned out to be true, as Betts will be leading off against Jakob Junis and the Royals while Martinez will bat third with Xander Bogaerts presumably getting a day off.

In their careers against Kansas City, Betts owns a lifetime .358/.409/.657 slash line to go along with 10 home runs and 22 RBI over 32 games played, while Martinez owns a lifetime .302/.362/.527 slash line to go along with 12 home runs and 38 RBI over 74 games played.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Andrew Cashner gets the ball for the Red Sox.

Red Sox Unveil 2019 Players’ Weekend Nicknames, Uniforms

Major League Baseball unveiled all uniforms and nicknames more than two weeks ahead of the third installment of Players’ Weekend, which will take place from August 23rd through the 25th.

All 30 clubs will be wearing all-black or all-white uniforms, per Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net.

The Red Sox will be spending Players’ Weekend in Sunny southern California, taking on the San Diego Padres at Petco Park for the first time since late in the 2016 season.

As indicated by Creamer, the Sox will be the team wearing all-black, while the Padres will be wearing all-white.

Given how a white cap might affect how a hitter picks up the ball from the pitcher’s hand, “pitchers on Team White will be wearing a black cap with their uniform to avoid any issues with hitters seeing the ball,” per Creamer.

Despite being the road team for this series, the Red Sox will not be wearing uniforms that sport the word ‘BOSTON’ across the chest and will instead wear uniforms that resemble the ones they wear at Fenway Park.

As for the nicknames on the back of the uniforms, MLB.com lists 27 different Red Sox players with their nicknames. Here they are in alphabetical order, courtesy of MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.

Notables on this list include rookie Michael Chavis going with “Chief” instead of “Ice Horse”, Nathan Eovaldi going with “Nitro” instead of “Evo”, Brock Holt going with “BH” instead of “Brock Star”, David Price going with “X’, presumably for his son, Xavier, Chris Sale going with “The Conductor”, and Sam Travis going with “Dr. Chill.”

Since its inception in 2017, the Red Sox are 0-6 all-time in Players’ Weekend games. They were swept in three games at home by the Baltimore Orioles two years ago and were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays on the road last August, which turned out to be the only time they got swept in 2018.

Mookie Betts was named as the Sox’ ambassador for Players’ Weekend 2019. He will be going with “Mookie” as his nickname once again.

 

 

Rick Porcello Allows One Run over Six Strong Innings as Red Sox Halt Losing Streak at Eight Games with 7-5 Victory over Royals

At long last, the Red Sox have won a baseball game, as they opened a seven-game homestand on Monday with a 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals to halt their losing streak at eight.

Making his 23rd start of the season for Boston to begin the new week was Rick Porcello, coming off a month of July where he went 4-1 despite allowing 25 earned runs over his last five starts and 28 1/3 innings pitched.

Tossing six full innings in this one, the right-hander surrendered just one earned run on four hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts on the night, marking the first time since Friday that a Sox starter had made it to the sixth.

That lone Kansas City tally came in the top half of the sixth inning, when with two outs and the bases empty, Porcello served up a solo home run to Cheslor Cuthbert off a 1-2, 84 MPH slider on the outer half of the plate.

The New Jersey native had retired nine of the the last 10 hitters he faced before giving up that bomb to make it a 4-1 contest, but Porcello did not falter, as he got Ryan O’Hearn to pop out to first to end the frame and thus end his evening on a more positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (67 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler relied on his four-seam fastball more than 31% of the time he was on the mound Monday, inducing three swings and misses and topping out at 93.2 MPH with the pitch while Sandy Leon was behind the plate.

Ultimately improving to 10-8 while lowering his ERA on the year down to 5.54, Porcello now has quality starts in two of his last three outings, both of which have come at Fenway Park. He’ll look to keep that trend going in his next time out, which should come against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.

In relief of Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi entered the seventh with a three-run lead to protect, and he, in his first action since Friday, saw that lead shrink to two by giving up a one-out solo homer to Meibrys Viloria off an 0-2, 97 MPH heater at the top of the zone.

That made it a 4-2 game, but Eovaldi rebounded well enough to strand another runner at first following a two-out walk and get out of the inning with the two-run lead still intact.

Matt Barnes came in right after his team had gone up 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh only to give all three of those runs back on a three-run homer off the bat of Bubba Starling. Granted, it was a bit of a Fenway Park special, as it only traveled 332 feet and had an expected batting average of .040, but it was good for three runs nonetheless, and that cut Boston’s lead down to 7-5.

Like Eovaldi, Barnes was also able to recover by punching out Viloria on five pitches, making way for Brandon Workman in the ninth.

There, Workman allowed the tying run to come to the plate following a Whit Merrifield one-out double, but ultimately finished things off by getting Alex Gordon to ground out to first before striking Dozier out on six pitches to secure the 7-5 victory and notch his sixth save of the season.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against left-hander Mike Montgomery, someone who had surrendered 10 runs in his first three starts as a Royal since being acquired from the Chicago Cubs last month.

Kicking the scoring off in the bottom half of the third after Xander Bogaerts was called out at home for the final out of the first, Bogaerts made up for his earlier mistake by lacing a hard-hit grounder to Nicky Lopez over at short, one hit so hard that the rookie infielder could not field it cleanly, and that allowed Mookie Betts to score from third for his side’s first run.

Two batters later, with two outs in the frame and Rafael Devers at third, Sam Travis unloaded on a 2-1, 92 MPH sinker from Montgomery and sent it a booming 429 feet over the Green Monster to make it a 3-0 game.

Fast forward to the fifth, Rafael Devers put his opposite field power on display, as he deposited a one-out, 1-0, 77 MPH curveball 364 feet to left for his 23rd big fly of 2019. 4-0.

And in the seventh, Sandy Leon and Betts both greeted new Royals reliever Tim Hill by reaching base on a leadoff walk and single, allowing Devers to move Leon up to third on a fly out to right field.

Another Kansas City pitching change saw right-hander Scott Barlow take over for Hill, and he proved to be pretty wild, as he let Leon coast in from third in the process of walking Bogaerts on four straight pitches.

With runners at first and second now, Andrew Benintendi came to the plate having faced off against Barlow on three separate occasions before Monday, and he came through by dropping to one knee and ripping a two-run double through the right side of the infield.

That two-RBI double put the Red Sox ahead 7-2, and after the Royals made things a bit interesting in the eighth, 7-5 would go on to be Monday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

Mookie Betts had to be removed from Monday’s game before the start of the eighth inning after taking a foul ball off his left shin in the bottom of the seventh. He was later diagnosed with a left shin contusion and has been ruled day-to-day, but is expected to be good to go for Tuesday. This comes on the same night that J.D. Martinez was scratched from Boston’s starting lineup due to back soreness.

From Red Sox Notes:

Andrew Benintendi’s last 15 games: .415/.433/.785 with five homers and 17 RBI.

—

With the Red Sox winning on Monday night and the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and Tampa Bay Rays all losing, the Sox are back to within 5 1/2 games back of the Rays for the second American League Wild Card spot.

Now that that eight-game nightmare is done and over with, the Red Sox should adopt a one-game-at-a-time kind of mentality for the remaining two months of the 2019 season.

As things stand right now, the defending World Series champions are viewed as long shots to make it back to the postseason. That much is evident by how Fangraphs is giving the Sox just a 20.4% chance to get back to October baseball.

With that, Boston needs to take advantage of all the doubt surrounding them.

It starts with this soft spot in their schedule, but picks up next week when they head to Cleveland for a pivotal three-game series against the Indians.

Many have said that the Red Sox are done. I’m saying that they are 1-0 in their last one game.

Anyway, this series against the Royals picks up again on Tuesday night, with right-hander Andrew Cashner getting the ball for Boston and fellow righty Jakob Junis doing the same for Kansas City.

This will be Cashner’s first start as a member of the Red Sox where he is not facing off against a division rival.

In his career against the Royals, the 32-year-old owns a lifetime 3.29 ERA and .271 batting average against over five prior starts and 27 1/3 innings pitched.

Junis, meanwhile, has surrendered 11 earned runs over 26 innings in four starts since the All-Star break. That’s good for an ERA of 3.81.

In one prior start at Fenway Park, Junis took the no-decision while allowing two runs on seven hits over six quality innings in a game the Royals eventually won back on May 1st, 2018.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking to make it two wins in a row.

 

 

Red Sox Starting Pitching Has Been Abysmal Since the All-Star Break

The Red Sox entered the 2019 All-Star break winners of five of their last six after returning from London. At 49-41 headed into the four-day hiatus last month, they stood just two games behind the Cleveland Indians for the second American League Wild Card spot.

Since that time, the 2019 campaign has begun to unravel for the defending World Series champions. That much is evident by how this current eight-game tail spin now has them at 10-14 since the break, which is the fourth-worst record in the American League over that span behind only the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Seattle Mariners, three teams not trying to compete for anything this year.

Despite those poor results, the Red Sox lead all of baseball over that time in runs scored, as they have plated 143 runs over their last 24 games. or in other words, are averaging 5.94 runs per game since the All-Star break.

Sure, there have been some blowouts mixed in there that may skew the numbers, but it goes without saying that the Sox have one of the better offenses in baseball that can compete with anyone at any given time.

That said, it becomes difficult to continuosly produce at a rampant rate when you’re falling behind early in games, which leads me to my next point.

To put it simply, Red Sox starting pitchers have not carried their weight this season.

David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi, and Chris Sale are four of the highest paid non-position players on this staff, earning $31 million, $20.6 million, $16.9 million, and $15 million in 2019 respectively.

Per FanGraphs, Boston starters rank 20th out of the 30 big league clubs in ERA (5.07) and 14th in fWAR (8.3) since the start of the season. Going back to the start of the second half, they rank 27th in ERA (6.40) and 27th in fWAR (0.3) over these last 24 games.

The rotation was supposed to be the strength of this Red Sox team and instead has turned into one of their bigger weaknesses. The fact that the Sox are 17-27 in games started by Price or Sale this year is crazy enough.

Among qualified American League starters, Porcello ranks second-to-last in ERA (5.74) and third-to-last in xFIP (5.27) through 22 starts and 122 1/3 innings pitches so far this season.

Eovaldi, meanwhile, has been moved to the bullpen after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow back in April.

Andrew Cashner was brought over from the Baltimore Orioles in a three-player trade last month in hopes of stabilizing the back-end of Boston’s rotation.

The 32-yar-old has averaged close to six innings per start since making his Red Sox debut on July 16th, but he has also surrendered 18 earned runs over 23 1/3 innings pitched in that four start span, which is good for an ERA of 6.94.

Eduardo Rodriguez has been one of the few bright spots pitching-wise for Boston overall, as he leads the team in starts (23), wins (13), innings pitched (135 1/3), and ERA (4.19).

All in all, if the Red Sox have any shot of digging themselves out this hole they have dug for themselves in the Wild Card race, starting pitching needs to improve immensely. If it doesn’t, the 2019 season will more than likely go for naught.

David Price Surrenders Seven Runs, Can’t Escape Third Inning as Red Sox Get Swept and Drop Eighth Straight in 7-4 Loss to Yankees

After getting swept in a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, the Red Sox were unable to avoid getting swept in four games by the New York Yankees on Sunday, as they fell by a final score of 7-4 to cap off a weekend in the Bronx that saw their losing streak grow to eight consecutive games.

Making his 21st start of the season and second against New York for Boston David Price, who was activated from paternity leave earlier Sunday afternoon.

Working into just the third inning, the left-hander’s post-All-Star break woes continued in this one, as he got lit up for a season-worst seven runs, all of which were earned, on nine hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts on the night.

The first of those seven Yankees runs crossed the plate right away in the bottom half of the first, with slugger Aaron Judge taking Price deep to right-center off a one-out, 2-2, 92 MPH two-seam fastball on the inner half of the plate for his 12th home run of the year.

In the third, the Tennessee native was one out away from stranding Judge at first following a one-out walk, but Gio Urshela had different plans, as he unloaded on a 1-1, 83 MPH changeup for his 12th homer to make it a 3-0 contest.

Back-to-back doubles from Brett Gardner and Cameron Maybin increased that lead to four, and three more consecutive hits from Mike Ford, Kyle Higashioka, and Mike Tauchman increased the Yankees’ lead all the way up to seven.

A nine-pitch walk would ultimately spell the end for Price, as Red Sox manager Alex Cora was forced to turn to his bullpen earlier than he probably would have liked.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 75 (46 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler relied on his cut fastball 36% of the time he was on the mound Sunday, inducing three swings and misses with the pitch. He also topped out at 93.3 MPH with his four-seamer, a pitch he threw 12 times while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Eventually getting hit with his fifth loss of the year while inflating his ERA up to 4.36, Price has not been able to pitch deep into games at an effective rate since about the midpoint of July.

In five starts since the All-Star break, Price is 0-3 with an 8.59 ERA. He is averaging 4.4 innings per start over that span.

Price’s next start should come this Friday, back at Fenway Park against the Los Angeles Angels.

In relief of Price, left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez entered with runners at first and second and one out to get in the third, and he got that out by getting Judge to line out to Jackie Bradley Jr., who covered a great deal of ground in a short amount of time to come up with a spectacular grab.

From there, the recently called up Ryan Weber came on in the middle of the fifth with his team trailing by five runs, and he retired 12 of the 13 hitters he faced with the help of Mookie Betts over four scoreless, one-hit frames of relief to hold the Yankees at seven runs.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against veteran left-hander J.A. Happ, who like Price, was also activated off the paternity leave list earlier Sunday.

Getting little help from their starter and falling behind by seven before the start of the fourth inning, Christian Vazquez got things going for Boston with one out in the top half of the fifth by blasting his 17th home run of the year off a 2-2, 94 MPH heater from Happ.

Three pitches later, Michael Chavis followed suit with his 18th big fly of the season, this one coming off a 2-0, 91 MPH four-seamer and being sent 435 feet to left-center field. Per Statcast, it was the hardest hit ball all night in terms of exit velocity (109.9 MPH off the bat).

In the sixth, a two-out single from J.D. Martinez would wind up being the catalyst for a two-run rally, as Sam Travis moved Martinez up to second on a seven-pitch walk before a wild pitch from Happ with Andrew Benintendi at the plate advanced both runners into scoring position.

Taking full advantage of his opponent’s mistake, Benintendi broke out of an 0-for-9 spell by lacing a two-run single back up the middle to score both Martinez and Travis to pick up his 56th and 57th RBI of the year.

That base hit cut New York’s advantage down to three runs at 7-4, and it also knocked Happ out of the game.

The thing is, the reliever who came in for Happ, right-hander Luis Cessa, snuffed out any chance of that deficit shrinking, as he walked Vazquez on five pitches before fanning Chavis on six to escape the inning unscathed.

The trio of Bradley Jr., Betts, and Rafael Devers went down in order against Cessa in the seventh, and the trio of Xander Bogaerts, Martinez, and Travis did the same in the eighth.

Down to their final three outs in the ninth and facing off against Chad Green, who started for the Yankees in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader, Benintendi and Vazquez both grounded out, the pinch-hitting Brock Holt drew an eight-pitch walk, and Bradley Jr. struck out swinging for the third and final out, ending Sunday’s contest with a final score of 7-4.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position on Sunday to finish the four-game series hitting .158 (3-for-19) in that scenario. They also left men on base in this game alone.

From Red Sox Stats:

From The Eagle-Tribune’s Chris Mason:

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The Red Sox have not won a game since last Saturday, and with a record of 59-55 now, they have already lost more games in the 2019 regular season than they did a year ago.

Sunday’s loss also drops Boston to 6 1/2 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second American League Wild Card Spot.

In short, it was a terrible week. They began this now completed stretch of 14 straight games against the Rays and Yankees winners of five of their first six, and then went ahead and dropped eight straight.

Monday is a new day though, and the Red Sox will be opening up a seven-game homestand with the first of three against the Kansas City Royals.

Right-hander Rick Porcello is set to get the Ball for Boston in that one, while left-hander Mike Montgomery will do the same for Kansas City.

Porcello is coming off a July where he posted a dismal 7.94 ERA and .333 batting average against over five starts and 28 1/3 innings pitched. Somehow, the Red Sox went 4-1 in  those games.

In 23 career starts against the Royals, the 30-year-old owns a lifetime 4.66 ERA and .292 batting average against over 137 total innings of work.

Montgomery, meanwhile, was acquired by Kansas City in a deal that sent catcher Martin Maldonado to the Chicago Cubs on July 15th.

Since then, Maldonado now plays for the Houston Astros once again, and Montgomery has allowed 10 runs on 18 hits over 11 1/3 innings in his first three starts as a Royal.

Against the Red Sox, Montgomery is 0-1 with an ERA of 12.27 and batting average against of .444 over three career appearances (one start) and 7 1/3 total innings pitched.

First pitch Monday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking to finally put an end to this skid back at Fenway Park.

 

 

Red Sox Activate David Price from Paternity Leave List, Recall Ryan Weber from Triple-A Pawtucket in Slew of Roster Moves

Before taking on the New York Yankees in the finale of a four-game weekend series on Sunday night, the Red Sox announced that left-hander David Price was activated from the paternity leave list and right-hander Ryan Weber was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.

In a trio of corresponding moves, right-handers Colten Brewer and Josh Smith, as well as utility infielder Marco Hernandez, were optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket. The club announced the transactions earlier Sunday.

Price and his wife, Tiffany, welcomed their second child together on Thursday, one day before the 33-year-old hurler was placed on paternity leave.

Now, Price is back on the active roster and will go up against Yankees southpaw J.A. Happ, who was also activated off paternity leave on Sunday.

In addition to Price re-joining the big league club, right-hander Ryan Weber was recalled from the PawSox two weeks after being optioned there for the second time this season.

Through eight appearances (three starts) with Boston this year, the 28-year-old owns an ERA of 5.25 and batting average against of .297 over 24 total innings pitched.

Right-handers Colten Brewer and Josh Smith were both sent down to Pawtucket one day after both were used a total of three times during Saturday’s doubleheader. Smith’s role will essentially be taken over by Weber, as the Sox may need to eat some innings tonight given how much their bullpen has already been used this weekend.

Finally, Marco Hernandez, the player who was added to the 25-man roster once Price went on paternity leave on Friday, was optioned to Triple-A.

In his second, albeit, brief stint with Boston, Hernandez went 1-for-4 with one run scored, one double, and one walk during Saturday’s doubleheader.

On the 2019 campaign as a whole, Hernandez is slashing .333/.362/.500 with two homers and seven RBI over 29 games played.

With these moves, as well as left-hander Brian Johnson being added to the active roster after serving as Boston’s 26th man on Saturday, the Red Sox’ roster now stands at 25.

First pitch against the Yankees Sunday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN.