Tag: boston

David Price Allows Three Runs over Six Innings as Red Sox Drop Series Finale to Rays Under Protest

After just hanging on to take the middle game of their three-game set on Tuesday night, the Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were engaged in another one-run contest in the series’ finale on Wednesday. The only difference this time around being that it was Boston, not Tampa Bay, that fell by a final score of 3-2 under protest to drop back to 56-47 on the season.

Making his 19th start of the season for Boston and fourth against his former club was David Price, who saw his streak of five straight outings with at least five innings pitched and two or fewer earned runs given up come to an end in his last time out against the Baltimore Orioles.

Tossing six full innings in this one, the left-hander surrendered three runs, all of which were earned, on four hits and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts on the afternoon.

The first of these three Rays runs came across in the bottom half of the fourth, when after maintaining a no-hitter up until that point, Price served up a leadoff home run to outfielder Tommy Pham off a 1-1, 83 MPH changeup to cut the Sox’ lead in half at 2-1.

An inning later, three straight hits, with the last two going for RBI, from Michael Brosseau, Joey Wendle, and Guillermo Heredia to lead off the fifth gave Tampa Bay their first lead of the day at 3-2. A wild pitch was mixed in there as well.

It appeared as though Price’s then-solid start was on the brink of blowing up, but fortunately for Boston, the Tennessee native buckled down, got out of the fifth with an inning-ending double play, and sat down the side in order in the sixth, the point in which his day came to a close on a more positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 98 (63 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler relied on his two-seam fastball nearly 35% of the time he was on the mound Wednesday, inducing zero swings and misses and topping out at 94.9 MPH with the pitch He also topped out at 93.7 MPH with his four-seamer, a pitch thrown 28 times while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately falling to 7-4 while raising his ERA on the season from 3.61 to 3.66, Price’s 20th start of the year should come against this same Rays club once again next Tuesday.

In relief of Price, Heath Hembree came on for the bottom of the seventh and got the first two outs of the frame, but not before allowing a pair of Rays to reach on a one-out double and intentional walk of Ji-Man Choi, which in turn led to Colten Brewer coming on to face Travis d’Arnaud.

Brewer proceeded to walk d’Arnaud on six pitches to fill the bases for a dangerous Pham, but won that battle by getting the outfielder to ground out to Rafael Devers at third.

The bottom half of the eighth inning is where things got a bit sticky, and that was due to what transpired in the top half of the frame, which I’ll explain later.

Regardless of that, left-hander Josh Taylor had to wait nearly 10 minutes until this contest was ready to resume, and with it now under protest, worked his way around a one-out walk in an otheriwise clean frame of relief to keep his side within the one run they trailed by.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Rays right-hander and two-time All-Star Charlie Morton, someone who entered the finale on Wednesday with a league-best 2.90 ERA on the season.

Starting the scoring in the third inning for Boston, a Brock Holt leadoff single and Mookie Betts two-out double brought Rafael Devers to the plate with runners at second and third.

On the third pitch he saw from Morton, a 2-0, 80 MPH curveball, Devers snuck a two-run single to left field with the Rays infield playing in, allowing both Holt and Betts to easily score to give the Red Sox their first lead of the afternoon at 2-0.

Other than that though, Morton dominated the rest of the way, as he retired 14 of the final 15 Red Sox hitters he faced after giving up that single to Devers.

Heading into the eighth trailing by one run, the Boston bats were greeted by Rays left-handed reliever Adam Kolarek to begin the inning.

Sam Travis, pinch-hitting for Jackie Bradley Jr., popped up to first for the first out of the frame, and that led to Rays manager Kevin Cash making the call to his bullpen for right-hander Chaz Roe with Betts due up next for Boston.

The only thing was, instead of making a conventional change, Cash put Kolarek in as the first baseman, thus removing Choi from the game.

Betts, too, flied out to left for the second out, so Cash went back out to bring Kolarek back in to pitch against the left-handed Devers, which in turn led to Nate Lowe replacing Roe at first.

What ensued after that was somewhat head-scratching, as Sox manager Alex Cora argued that since Kolarek took the spot of Austin Meadows in Tampa Bay’s lineup, the Rays should then have to forefiet the designated hitter. Essentially, the Rays could have had 10 players in a nine-man lineup.

I’m not the most fit to explain this, so here are some tweets from WEEI’s Rob Bradford to clarify:

Either way, all that came out of this was that the game was protested by Cora and Kolarek was able to remain in the game as the pitcher. He got Devers to ground out to first of all places for the final out of the inning after a 20-minute delay. Fun times!

Finally, in the ninth, Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Andrew Benintendi all went down in order against right-hander Emilio Pagan, and 3-2 would wind up being Wednesday’s final score.

Some notes from this loss, which is still under protest:

From MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo:

Rafael Devers’ July thus far: .321/.382/.704 with eight home runs and 29 RBI.

J.D. Martinez has multiple hits in four of his last five games.

—

So, the Red Sox finish their six-game road trip with a 3-3 record and have won two of their first three games as part of this pivotal 14-game stretch against the Rays and New York Yankees.

Speaking of the Yankees, the Red Sox will welcome the American League East leaders to Fenway Park for the first time this season to kick off a four-game weekend series on Thursday night.

Right-hander Rick Porcello will get the ball for Boston in the opener, while fellow righty Masahiro Tanaka will do the same for New York.

Last time these two hurlers matched up against each other, their teams combined for 30 total runs in the opening game of the London Series back on June 29th. Porcello and Tanaka themselves combined to record just three total outs.

In his career against New York, Porcello owns a lifetime 3.68 ERA and .250 batting average against over 24 total starts and 146 2/3 innings pitched.

Tanaka, meanwhile, has posted a career 4.82 ERA and .257 batting average against in 19 previous starts against the Red Sox.

Since tossing that seven-inning shutout against the Minnesota Twins on June 27th, Porcello has yielded five, six, six, four, and six runs in each of his last five outings. That’s good for an ERA of 10.57. Not ideal.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking to get back to 10 games over .500.

 

 

Christian Vazquez Comes Through with Go-Ahead, Pinch-Hit Home Run as Red Sox Hold on to Take Series from Rays and Improve to 10 Games over .500 for First Time This Season

After kicking off the most important stretch of their season with a 9-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, the Red Sox narrowly escaped with their second consecutive victory on Tuesday, taking the series from their divisional foes by a final score of 5-4 to improve to 10 games over .500 on the year at 56-46.

Making his 21st start of the season and second against Tampa Bay for Boston was Chris Sale, who came into Tuesday fresh off his best outing in quite some time with six scoreless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays last Thursday.

Tossing six more strong innings this time around, the left-hander surrendered just two earned runs on four hits and three walks to go along with 10 strikeouts on the night.

Both of those two Rays tallies came in their half of the third, when with two outs and Mike Zunino at first following a hard-fought nine-pitch walk, Sale got up 0-2 against his next opponent in Travis d’Arnaud, but could not sneak a third-pitch, 82 MPH slider past the ex-Met, and he deposited it 370 feet to left field to make it a 2-2 game at the time.

Other than that one blip, Sale stranded runners at first and third in the fourth with a five-pitch punchout of Willy Adames, stranded Tommy Pham at second following a two-out double, in the fifth, and managed to convince Sox manager Alex Cora to let him come back out for the sixth.

There, the Florida native fanned Michael Brosseau for the second out of the frame with a runner at first, and it looked as though Cora was about to turn to his bullpen.

Already with a pitch count north of the century mark, Sale told his manager that he needed just three more pitches to complete the inning. And fortunately for Boston, he delivered on that promise, as he got Guillermo Heredia to line out to short on the second pitch of the at-bat, thus retiring the side and ending his evening on a positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 116 (75 strikes) to set a new season-high, the 30-year-old hurler turned to both his four-seam fastball and slider nearly 83% of the time he was on the mound Tuesday, inducing three swings and misses with the four-seamer and 10 with the slider. He also topped out at 97.6 MPH and averaged 95 MPH with that heater while Sandy Leon was behind the plate.

Ultimately improving to 5-9 while lowering his ERA on the season down to 4.00 on the dot, Sale’s latest two starts in July certainly went better than his first two did. He’ll look to keep this recent run of success going in his next time out, which should come against the New York Yankees on Sunday.

In relief of Sale, Matt Barnes entered the seventh with a brand new one-run lead to protect, and he did just that by sitting down the only three Rays he faced in order.

Brandon Workman got the call for the eighth, and he, like Barnes, before him, came in with a new three-run lead to work with.

The 30-year-old got the job done by hurling a scoreless eighth, but when called upon once more for the ninth is where things got a bit sticky.

That being the case because Workman yielded a leadoff single to Matt Duffy, nearly induced a double-play off the bat of Joey Wendle, which instead went for just one out at second, and struck out Nate Lowe on four pitches.

All was looking fine there, but Workman proceeded to allow the next three hitters who came to the plate to reach base, with Adames drawing a seven-pitch walk, Ji-Man Choi ripping an RBI single through the middle part of the infield, and d’Arnaud taking another ball four to load the bases.

All of a sudden, Boston’s three-run cushion had been cut down to two, and in came Marcus Walden with still one out to get in the ninth.

Walden immediately walked Tommy Pham on four straight balls, allowing Adames to score from third to make it a one-run game.

It really looked like the Red Sox were about to pick up their 19th blown save of the season, but Walden did not allow that to happen, as he got Austin Meadows to sharply ground out to Christian Vazquez at first to secure the 5-4 win as well as his second save of 2019.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos, someone who held them scoreless over eight quality innings back on June 7th.

Rafael Devers made sure history did not repeat itself on Tuesday though, as reached on a one-out, first-pitch single in the first and plated his team’s first run by scoring from third on a wild pitch from Chirinos with Andrew Benintendi at the plate.

In that same at-bat, with J.D. Martinez having advanced to second himself on that wild pitch, Benintendi laced an RBI single up the middle off a 3-2, 93 MPH sinker, driving in Martinez to make it a 2-0 contest early on.

Fast forward all the way to the seventh, after the Rays had knotted things up at two, and Cora turned to his bench with left-handed reliever Colin Poche in for Tampa Bay.

Batting in the place of Mitch Moreland, who went 0-for-2 in his return from the injured list Tuesday, Christian Vazquez came through with his side’s clutchest hit of the night, as he led off the seventh with a towering go-ahead, 403-foot solo shot for his 16th home run of the season to put the Sox ahead 3-2.

An inning later, Devers, Xander Bogaerts, and Martinez all reached with no outs to fill the bases for Benintendi against new Rays lefty Adam Kolarek.

On the second pitch he saw from Kolarek, Benintendi grounded into what should have been a crushing double-play, but instead went for just one out at first thanks to a defensive miscue from Brosseau at second.

Devers was able to score on the play as well, making it a 4-2 game.

A strikeout of Michael Chavis and intentional walk of Vazquez brought Jackie Bradley Jr. to the plate, representing the final out of the inning.

In what should have been a tough lefty-on-lefty matchup, Bradley Jr. did not even see one competitive pitch, as he was immediately plunked by Kolarek to bring Bogaerts in from third.

That gave the Red Sox the 5-2 edge, and after a late scare from the Rays in their half of the ninth, 5-4 would go on to be Tuesday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

From NESN’s Tom Caron:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

From MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith:

J.D. Martinez’s last four games: .444 (8-for-18) with one home run, two doubles, and six RBI.

Rafael Devers’ last seven games: .323/.344/.774 with three homers and 11 RBI.

Through eight appearances this month, Matt Barnes has posted an ERA of 0.00 and batting average against of .105 over his last 5 2/3 innings of work.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll have the chance to go for the three-game sweep and surpass the Rays in the American League East standings on Wednesday afternoon.

Left-hander David Price is set to get the ball for Boston, while veteran right-hander Charlie Morton will do the same for Tampa Bay.

Coming off his worst outing since that six-run blow up against the Texas Rangers in his last time out against the Baltimore Orioles last Friday, Price brings a 3.61 ERA through 18 starts this season with him into Wednesday’s contest.

In 94 career appearances (92 starts) at Tropicana Field, the former Ray owns a lifetime 2.84 ERA and .221 batting average against over 628 1/3 total innings pitched.

Morton, meanwhile, has had a fantastic first season in Tampa Bay, pitching to the tune of a 2.61 ERA and an All-Star selection through his first 21 starts of 2019.

As it turns out though, the 25-year-old’s worst start of the year in terms of Game Score took place in his last time out against the New York Yankees on July 18th, where he surrendered five earned runs in less than six innings pitched and took the loss.

In six previous starts against the Red Sox, Morton is 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA and .246 batting average against over 32 2/3 total innings of work.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 12:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for the sweep.

Red Sox Activate Mitch Moreland from Injured List, Option Marco Hernandez to Triple-A Pawtucket in Corresponding Move

Before taking on the Tampa Bay Rays in the second of a three-game series on Tuesday, the Red Sox announced that first baseman Mitch Moreland had been returned from his rehab assignment and activated off the 10-day injured list.

In a corresponding move, Marco Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket to make room for Moreland on the 25-man roster. The club made the transaction official earlier Tuesday.

This move comes more than a month after Moreland was initially placed on the injured list due to a right quad strain back on June 8th. The 33-year-old also missed nearly two weeks of action right before that due to a lower back strain suffered on May 25th.

Through 47 games this season, Moreland is slashing .225/.316/.543 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI over 174 plate appearances. The veteran infielder led the Sox in homers up until June 7th.

On the other side of this move, Marco Hernandez was optioned down to the PawSox more than six weeks after making his long-awaited return to the majors.

This is in no way a demotion for the 26-year-old, as he posted a .339/.359/.500 slash line with a pair of home runs and seven runs driven in while providing steady defense around the infield in 27 games played with Boston.

With the possibility of rookie infielder Michael Chavis hitting the IL himself because of back spasms, it’s likely that Hernandez would be the next man up if that were the case.

For now though, Sam Travis, with two dingers in his last two starts, remains up with the big league club.

Here’s how the Red Sox will be lining up behind Chris Sale against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Moreland is back in there, batting seventh and starting at first, while Chavis sits yet again.

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

‘Just Because You Go to Free Agency Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Want to Be Somewhere’ – Red Sox’ Mookie Betts

Before taking on the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of a pivotal 14-game stretch for the Red Sox’ season on Monday, Mookie Betts opened up a bit about his impending free agency.

Betts, set to become a free agent for the first time following the 2020 season, expressed his desire in wanting to hit the open market, but defended his reasoning for wanting to do so.

“I’ve loved it here,” the reigning American League MVP told reporters Monday. “I love the front office, my teammates, coaches. Everybody. It’s been nothing but amazing here. Just because you go to free agency doesn’t mean you don’t want to be somewhere. It’s just a part of the business.”

This comes amid speculation that Betts would prefer to play in a different market due to a certain disdain for Boston, but the 26-year-old shut that right down, saying that, “I’ve always said I loved it here. It’s been amazing to me, my family. It’s … like a home to me. It’s been all I know. And just because you exercise something in the business, that doesn’t mean I don’t like it.”

There also remains the distinct possibility that Betts could be dealt before the July 31st trade deadline depending on how the next week-or-so goes for Boston, given the fact he can become a free agent in just over a year.

“I think that’s a part of it,” Betts said regarding being traded. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I have to go out and put on my uniform every day. And if that time comes, that time comes. But right now I’m here, and I’m enjoying my time here. It’s above my pay grade.”

What’s fascinating to me is how some Red Sox fans seem fine with letting the club deal Betts away for prospects. Sure, getting something in return is better than getting nothing outside of a compensatory draft pick if he does leave via free agency, but it’s not like replacing a top-five talent is easy to do.

There’s no sure thing that any of the prospects the Sox would acquire in this scenario would pan out to be an everyday player in the majors, let alone one of Betts’ caliber.

At the end of the day, the Red Sox are the Red Sox. If Betts wants to test the market and go where he feels the most desired, then principal owner John Henry and co. should be ready to pay their man.

Through 99 games this season, Betts is slashing .282/.396/.479 with 15 home runs, 47 RBI, and a league-leading 89 runs scored.

Since the start of July, the Tennessee native has posted an impressive .382/.463/.603 slash line to go along with two homers, 10 RBI, and 23 runs scored over his last 17 games played.

It’s not often a perennial All-Star and MVP candidate falls into your lap in the fifth round of a amateur draft. The Red Sox should do their part to keep Betts in Boston for the rest of his playing career and beyond.

Eduardo Rodriguez Hurls Seven Scoreless Innings, Improves to 4-0 in July as Red Sox Take Opener from Rays to Begin Pivotal Stretch of Season

After dropping two out of three against the lowly Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, the Red Sox headed south to St. Petersburg, Fla. with something to prove, as Monday marked the first of 14 straight games against the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees.

With the decision to be buyers or sellers hanging in this balance during this crucial stretch, the Sox took an important first step Monday, taking the opener from their divisional foes by a final score of 9-4.

Making his 21st start of the season for Boston and third against Tampa Bay was Eduardo Rodriguez, who came into the week having never come out victorious in any of his previous two career outings at Tropicana Field.

Bucking the trend this time around, the left-hander held the Rays scoreless over seven quality innings, yielding just a pair of hits and four walks to go along with six strikeouts on the night.

Oddly enough, Rodriguez began his outing by walking the first man he faced in Travis d’Arnaud. Leadoff walks typically do not lead to positive results, but the Venezuela native wound up facing the minimum in the frame thanks to a 4-3 double play from Tommy Pham and a simple groundout off the bat of Austin Meadows.

From there, Rodriguez faced no more than four hitters in a single inning and retired 18 of the next 23 Rays who came to the plate leading into the end of the seventh, the point in which his impressive evening came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 113 (70 strikes), the 26-year-old hurler relied on his four-seam fastball nearly 39% of the time he was on the mound Monday, inducing five swings and misses and topping out at 94.4 MPH with the pitch while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately improving to 12-4 while lowering his ERA on the season down to 4.10, Rodriguez has enjoyed a great deal of success thus far in July.

In four starts this month, Rodriguez is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA and .159 batting average against over his last 25 1/3 innings of work. He’ll look to keep it going in his next time out, which should come against the Yankees on Saturday.

In relief of Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi made his first appearance out of the Red Sox bullpen since being activated off the injured list this past Saturday.

Sox manager Alex Cora said pregame that Eovaldi would be used regardless of that score, and that turned out to be a positive development for Boston, as he entered the eighth inning with his team up by eight runs.

Only able to record the first two outs of the frame, Eovaldi allowed three Tampa Bay runs to cross the plate on four hits, two of which went for extra bases. He struck out two and averaged 97.8 MPH with his heater, but did give up a fair amount of fair contact.

Granted, this was just the second time the 29-year-old had seen in-game action since he hit the IL in late April, so this simply could have been an instance of shaking off the rust.

Still, Boston’s lead had been cut down to five runs, and Eovaldi got the hook in favor of Matt Barnes, who got that final out of the eighth by getting Willy Adames to ground out to short.

And finally, in the ninth, left-hander Josh Taylor surrendered one run on a leadoff walk and back-to-back one-out knocks from d’Arnaud and Tommy Pham before securing the 9-4 victory with a five-pitch punchout of Yandy Diaz and Nate Lowe.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a familiar foe in Rays southpaw Jalen Beeks, a former Sox prospect that made the trade for Eovaldi last year possible.

Entering Monday with a solid 2.78 ERA in his first 20 appearances of 2019, Beeks did not find that same kind of success in his first start of the season and first as a Ray.

It took until the top half of the third inning, but a one-out single off the bat of Marco Hernandez is what got the Boston bats going.

That being the case because two at-bats later, after Mookie Betts had advanced Hernandez into scoring position by drawing an eight-pitch walk, Rafael Devers got his team on the board first with a two-run opposite field double off a 1-1, 94 MPH fastball. 2-0.

Another walk drawn by Xander Bogaerts put runners at first and second for J.D. Martinez, who took the first five pitches he saw before fouling the sixth one off and depositing the seventh one, a 3-2, 92 MPH heater, 415 feet to right-center for his 20th home run of the season. That one nearly got into the Rays tank. 5-0.

Two batters later, with two outs in the inning now, Andrew Benintendi took his old college teammate yard on his eight big fly of 2019. This one coming off a 3-1, 75 MPH curveball and being sent 394 feet into the right field seats.

Sam Travis followed that up with a dinger of his own on the very next pitch from Beeks, his second in four days, and just like that, the Red Sox were up seven runs early.

In the fourth, with Beeks out, right-hander Chaz Roe in, and Hernandez at second after reaching on a leadoff single against the Rays starter, Bogaerts provided his team with more two-out run support, plating Hernandez on a hustle RBI bloop double to right field to make it an eight-run contest.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, with infielder Michael Brosseau pitching for Tampa Bay despite it only being a five-run game, and J.D. Martinez put this one to bed by collecting his fourth RBI of the night on a two-out, run-scoring two-bagger to drive in Bogaerts from second.

Martinez’s second hit gave the Red Sox the 9-3 edge, and after the Rays got one back in their half of the ninth, 9-4 would go on to be Monday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

Andrew Benintendi finished a triple shy of the cycle on Monday.

Xander Bogaerts’ last 15 games: .377/.441/.705 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

—

With the win on Monday, the Red Sox stand just one game behind the Rays in the American League Standings. They’ll look to make that one a zero on Tuesday.

Left-hander Chris Sale is set to get the ball for Boston in the middle game of the three-game series, while right-hander Yonny Chirinos will do the same for Tampa Bay.

Fresh off his best outing in quite some time in his last time out against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sale has only faced the Rays one time this season back on April 28th, where he allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks over seven innings pitched.

In 10 prior outings (nine starts) at Tropicana Field, the 30-year-old is 4-3 with a 1.92 ERA and .213 batting average against over 65 2/3 total innings of work.

Chirinos, meanwhile, brings with him a 3.29 ERA through his first 20 appearances (14 starts) of 2019. His best start of the season in terms of Game Score came against the Red Sox, where he tossed eight shutout innings en route to a 5-1 win back on June 7th.

Including that gem, Chirinos owns a lifetime 2.88 ERA over five outings (three starts) and 25 innings pitching against Boston.

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

 

Red Sox Reportedly ‘Showing Active Interest’ in Blue Jays’ Ken Giles and Padres’ Kirby Yates

The Red Sox are ‘showing active interest’ in San Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates and Toronto Blue Jays closer Ken Giles, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

Giles, 28, has posted a 1.64 ERA and .205 batting average against over 33 appearances and 33 innings pitched for Toronto this season. He has converted 14 out of a possible 15 save opportunities.

Set to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, Giles’ asking price could be quite high. In fact, it’s already been reported by TSN’s Scott Mitchell that other clubs such as the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees have reached out to the Blue Jays about a potential package deal including both Giles and All-Star right-hander Marcus Stroman.

Yates, on the other hand, also does not become a free agent until the winter of 2020/2021.

The 32-year-old All-Star owns a minuscule ERA of 1.07 and a nice batting average against of .169 over 40 appearances and 42 innings of work to go along with a National League-leading 31 saves in 33 opportunities so far in 2019.

Originally drafted by the Sox out of Kauai High School in Lihue, Hawaii back in 2005, Yates has experienced a career renaissance while with the Padres after bouncing around between the Tampa Bay Rays, Yankees, and Los Angeles Angels.

Similar to Giles, Yates is likely to come with a hefty asking price, and given the lack of quality prospects Boston has to offer, it’s not hard to imagine that other teams may be able to put together a better proposal.

According to MLB.com, the Red Sox have one top-100 prospect in the form of 19-year-old first baseman Triston Casas, who the club selected with their first pitck in last year’s amateur draft.

When Boston acquired right-hander Andrew Cashner from the Baltimore Orioles on July 13th, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that, “We’re trying to win. We have a chance to win. We know we have to play better. But also we’re trying to rebuild our system. And I think we’re getting to the point where we’re starting to get to that.”

With that, if Dombrowski has the chance to acquire either of these aforementioned relievers without Boston’s farm system taking a major hit, expect a move to be made.

Red Sox Held to Just One Hit by Asher Wojciechowski, Drop Series to Orioles in 5-0 Shutout Loss

After exploding for a season-high 17 runs on Saturday, the Red Sox were certainly held in check by the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, as they were shut out for the first time since April 16th in an underwhelming 5-0 loss, marking the first time they have dropped a series to their divisional foes in nearly two years.

Making his second start of the season for Boston and 19th overall was Andrew Cashner, who was dealt by Baltimore on July 14th for a pair of Dominican Summer League prospects.

Tossing six full innings against his former club, Cashner surrendered four runs, all of which were earned, on six hits, two walks, and one HBP to go along with seven strikeouts on the afternoon.

All four of those Baltimore tallies came across to score within the first three innings Sunday, with Trey Mancini getting things started on a one-out, first-pitch solo home run off his old friend in the first.

A leadoff walk of Dwight Smith Jr. came back to bite Cashner in the second, with Smith Jr. advancing to second on the first out of the frame, and then scoring from second on a one-out RBI double off the bat of Chris Davis.

Cashner managed to sit down the next two Orioles he faced to strand Davis at second, but ran into additional trouble in the third, with Jonathan Villar reaching on an infield single to lead off the inning and Mancini blasting his second big fly of the day off a 3-1, 84 MPH changeup.

That put the Orioles up 5-0, and it seemed as though Cashner’s leash was shortening every at-bat, but fortunately for Boston, the Texas native settled in a bit and retired nine of the last 13 hitters he faced leading into the end of the sixth, where his outing came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 105 (62), the 32-year-old hurler relied on his four-seam fastball more than 49% of the time he was on the mound Sunday, inducing five swings and misses and topping out at 95.6 MPH with the pitch while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately falling to 0-2 as a Red Sox, Cashner’s first two starts with Boston certainly haven’t been memorable. I don’t want to make excuses, but when you consider that those first two starts have come against the Toronto Blue Jays, the team Cashner faced in his last start as an Oriole, and the Orioles, the team Cashner spent the season-and-a-half with, it’s not too crazy to think that they might have the slight advantage.

Cashner’s next start should come against neither of those teams and instead against the New York Yankees on Friday.

In relief of Cashner, Marcus Walden entered the seventh with his team trailing by four, and he maintained that deficit with a 1-2-3 inning.

Heath Hembree, on the other hand, saw that four-run gap widen to five by serving up a leadoff solo shot to Villar in an otherwise scoreless eighth.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against journeyman right-hander Asher Wojciechowski for Baltimore, who brought with him a 5.74 ERA through four appearances (three starts) this season.

Despite what those numbers may indicate, the Sox got Wojciechowski at his best, as the Orioles starter took a perfect game into the third and a no-hitter into a seventh.

There, Rafael Devers laced a leadoff, opposite-field double that nearly sneaked over the fence in right, but it was still good for his side’s first hit of the day.

Other than that one knock though, Devers was left at second and Jackie Bradley Jr. was left at first an inning later following a one-out walk.

Bradley Jr. would wind up being the final batter Wojciechowski faced in this one. His final line: 7 1/3 innings pitched, one hit, zero runs, two walks, one HBP, and a career-high 10 punchouts.

The Boston bats didn’t fare much better against the O’s bullpen either, with left-hander Paul Fry fanning the only two Red Sox hitters he faced to end the top half of the eighth, and Mychal Givens stranding Mookie Betts at third in the ninth after walking him to lead off the inning.

A first-pitch ground out to first from J.D. Martinez is how this one ended, and 5-0 would go on to be Sunday’s final score.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox dropped a series to the Orioles on Sunday for the first time since August 25th-27th, 2017.

One hit is the fewest the Red Sox have had in a single game since, you guessed it, when they were no-hit by Sean Manaea and the Oakland Athletics on April 21st, 2018. It’s also the first time they’ve been one-hit in the Alex Cora era.

The Red Sox are 5-5 out of the All-Star break.

—

With two losses in their last three games, the Red Sox are currently 11 games off the pace for first place in the American League East. They also sit three games back of the Oakland Athletics for the second Wild Card spot.

Boston’s next 14 games come against either the New York Yankees or Tampa Bay Rays, with the first three of those 14 taking place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will get the ball for Boston, while fellow southpaw and former Red Sox prospect Jalen Beeks will do the same for Tampa Bay.

Rodriguez has had himself a solid July thus far, pitching to the tune of a 1.96 ERA and .182 batting average against over his last three starts and 18 1/3 innings pitched. The Red Sox are 3-0 in those games.

In four career starts at the Trop, the 26-year-old is 0-2 with a lifetime ERA of 7.11 and batting average against of .333 over 19 total innings of work.

Beeks, meanwhile, will be making his first start of the season for the Rays after appearing in 20 games out of the bullpen.

The 26-year-old owns a 2.78 ERA to go along with a .244 batting average against over 64 2/3 total innings pitched.

In two prior meetings against the team that drafted him, Beeks has allowed a total of three runs over 9 1/3 innings. That’s good for an ERA of 2.89.

First pitch Monday is scheduled for 7:10 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking to prove that they can still contend.

 

Jackie Bradley Jr. Goes Yard Twice, Drives in Six Runs as Red Sox Tee off on Orioles in 17-6 Win

After an ‘unacceptable’ 11-2 loss to open a three-game weekend series on Friday, the Red Sox bounced back against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, blowing out their divisional foes by a final score of 17-6 to improve to 54-45 on the season.

Making his 20th start of the season for Boston and second against Baltimore was Rick Porcello, coming off an outing in which he allowed four runs in six innings against the Toronto Blue Jays in a win this past Monday.

Tossing five full innings this time around, the right-hander, like David Price before him, got shelled for six runs, all of which were earned, on a season-high 11 hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts on the night.

The first five of those six Orioles tallies came in the bottom half of the third, when after his team had jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, Porcello gave it right back by serving up a one-run double to Trey Mancini to cap off a string of three straight hitters reaching base to begin the inning, a one-out, three-run home run to Renato Nunez off a 1-0, 81 MPH changeup, and a two-out RBI single to Chris Davis.

Those three hits resulted in the Red Sox’ initial five-run advantage completely disappearing, but fortunately for Porcello, his side tacked on a total off 11 runs over the next two innings, and he did not give that lead up.

The only other damage the Orioles got off Porcello took place in the fifth, when with two outs and the bases empty, outfielder Anthony Santander stayed hot and took the New Jersey native deep to right on an 0-2, 84 MPH slider on the inner half of the plate for his second homer in as many days.

Porcello was just one pitch away from his first 1-2-3 inning, but instead yielded hits to three of the last four Orioles he faced and wrapped up the fifth by getting Richie Martin to ground out to second.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 99 (67 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler turned to his two-seam fastball more than 31% of the time he was on the mound Saturday, inducing one swing and miss with the pitch. He also topped out at 91.2 MPH with his four-seamer, a pitch he threw 26 times and got four whiffs on while Christian Vazquez was behind the plate.

Ultimately picking up his eighth winning decision of the season despite his ERA inflating to 5.61, July has not been Porcello’s best month, as he owns a 8.64 ERA over his last three starts. As it turns out though, the Sox are 3-0 in those games. Porcello’s next start should come against the New York Yankees on Thursday.

In relief of Porcello, Heath Hembree entered in the middle of the sixth with a cushy 10-run lead to protect, and he retired the side in order.

From there, left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez punched out the side, walked one, and gave up a hit to another in the seventh in his third appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on the 16th, fellow lefty Josh Taylor worked his way around a leadoff single in an otherwise perfect eighth, and Colten Brewer finished things off with a clean ninth inning to secure the 17-6 blowout victory for the Red Sox.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Orioles rookie right-hander Tom Eshelman, making his third career big league start and first against a team besides the Tampa Bay Rays.

A leadoff single from J.D. Martinez would turn out to be the catalyst for a huge four-run second inning, with Andrew Benintendi reaching base on a four-pitch walk, and Christian Vazquez getting his team on the board first with an RBI single to left, driving in Martinez all the way from second.

Jackie Bradley Jr., with a large group of family and friends in attendance, padded that early lead by blasting his 10th home run of the season, a 410-foot, three-run shot off a first-pitch 76 MPH curveball from Eshelman.

An inning later, Rafael Devers reached the 20-homer plateau for the second straight season, as he led off the third by taking Eshelman deep to right off a 3-2, 86 MPH two-seamer right down Broadway.

That gave the Red Sox an early five-run lead, and it looked like they were on their way to running away with this one. They eventually did, but not before the Orioles made this a new game with a five-run frame of their own in their half of the third.

The 5-5 stalemate did not last long, though. Not with Michael Chavis reaching first on a one-out throwing error in the fourth and Mookie Betts plating him, as well as himself, on his 15th big fly of the year. This one sent 364 feet over the left field fence to give the Red Sox a new 7-5 lead.

A pitching change following a Devers walk and Xander Bogaerts single saw Jimmy Yacabonis take over for Eshelman, and he was immediately greeted by Martinez, who ripped his second hit of the night, a two-run double to left, to score both Devers and Bogaerts. 9-5.

A wild pitch with Benintendi at the plate allowed Martinez to advance to third easily, and Vazquez capitalized on Baltimore’s miscue by collecting his second RBI of the contest on a bloop single to left. 10-5.

With runners at first and second and still one out to get, Bradley Jr. laced an 0-2, 86 MPH slider from Yacabonis and just snuck his second three-run homer of the night off the right field foul pole.

Per Statcast, Bradley Jr.’s 11th dinger of 2019 had an exit velocity of 99.9 MPH, good enough to put the Red Sox up 13-5.

In the fifth, a Brock Holt leadoff double resulted in three more Boston runs crossing the plate, with Betts, Devers, and Bogaerts stringing together back-to-back-to-back RBI hits off Yacabonis, making it an 11-run contest in the process of doing so.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, with outfielder Stevie Wilkerson pitching for the O’s, Sandy Leon, who entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh, put this one to bed by blasting home run number three on the season off a 1-0, 55(!!!) MPH slider.

Leon’s first non-three-run shot of the year gave the Red Sox the 17-6 lead, which would go on to be Saturday’s final score.

Some notes from this win:

Michael Chavis left in the fifth inning Saturday due to back spasms. He won’t play tomorrow, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t too concerned.

From Red Sox Notes:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

Rafael Devers’ July to this point: .333/.408/.794 with eight home runs and 25 RBI.

Xander Bogaerts’ last seven games: .500/.559/.767 with two homers and five RBI.

Mookie Betts, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games on Saturday, is slashing .426/.493/.672 with two homers, 10 RBI, and 10 walks over his last 15 games.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the final game of this weekend series on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner gets the start for Boston against his former club, while fellow righty Asher Wojciechowski will do the Same for Baltimore.

Fresh off a five-inning, five-run performance in his Red Sox debut last Tuesday, Cashner made 17 starts with the O’s before being traded on July 13th.

In his career at Camden Yards, the 32-year-old is 6-8 with a lifetime 4.49 ERA and .260 batting average against over 22 starts and 130 1/3 total innings pitched.

Wojciechowski, meanwhile, brings with him a 5.74 ERA over four appearances (three starts) and 15 2/3 innings of work on the 2019 season.

The 30-year-old has only faced off against Boston one time, and that came back in September of 2017 when he was with the Cincinnati Reds. In that one appearance, Wojciechowski tossed two scoreless innings of relief in an eventual 5-4 loss.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox going for a much-needed series win.

Red Sox Activate Nathan Eovaldi from Injured List

Before taking on the Baltimore Orioles in the second of a three-game weekend set on Saturday, the Red Sox activated right-hander Nathan Eovaldi from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, right-hander Ryan Weber was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket. The club made the transaction official earlier Saturday.

Shelved since April 20th due to loose bodies in his right elbow, Eovaldi underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on April 23rd to remove said loose bodies.

Before being placed on the IL, the 29-year-old posted a 6.00 ERA and .266 batting average against over his first four starts and 21 innings pitched of the 2019 season.

Now, Eovaldi will look to provide the Red Sox with some help out of a bullpen that has had their fair share of struggles this year.

In his lone rehab outing with Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday, the Texas Native struck out the side and walked one in a scoreless second inning against the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. 11 of the 19 pitches he threw went for strikes.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is treating Eovaldi’s return as a trade deadline acquisition, saying last Saturday that, “We are going to add Nathan Eovaldi. For some reason, people seem to, not, like, grasp on to that. He’s a big addition for us coming and we feel he’ll be ready to go within about a week to join us on a full-time basis out there.”

On the other side of this roster move, Ryan Weber was optioned back down to the PawSox the same night he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk over 3 2/3 innings of relief in Friday’s loss to the Orioles.

Weber, 28, owns an ERA of 5.25 through eight appearances (three starts) with Boston this year and an ERA of 5.16 through 11 starts with Pawtucket.

First pitch for the Red Sox on Saturday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN. Rick Porcello gets the start, while Eovaldi will more than likely make his debut as a reliever regardless of the score.

David Price Gets Shelled for Six Runs as Red Sox Get Blown out by Orioles in Baltimore

After taking three out of four from the Toronto Blue Jays this past week, the Red Sox came into the weekend with a three-game weekend set against the Baltimore Orioles on deck. As it was with the Toronto series, the main objective was to sweep Baltimore, especially with a stretch of 14 straight games against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays beginning of Monday. Instead of a sweep though, the best the Sox can hope for going forward is a series win, as they dropped the opener in disappointing fashion by a final score of 11-2 Friday.

Making his 18th start of the season for Boston and second against the O’s was David Price, fresh off throwing a season-high 113 pitches in his last time out against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Tossing just four full innings in this one, the left-hander surrendered six runs, all of which were earned, on eight hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts on the humid night.

The first three of those Baltimore runs came right away in the bottom half of the first, when with two outs and runners on the corners following a one-out single and walk in consecutive order, Price served up a three-run home run to Anthony Santander on a 2-2, 93 MPH two-seam fastball over the outer half of the plate.

An inning later, after the Red Sox responded with two runs of their own, more two-out trouble arose for the Tennessee native, this time with Richie Martin ripping a triple off the right field wall and coming into score on a fielding error committed by J.D. Martinez, making it a 4-2 game.

In the fourth, Keon Broxton doubled his team’s lead, taking Price deep to left off a 2-2, 84 MPH changeup for a 407-foot, two-run blast.

Here are the locations of the two pitches Price gave up for home runs. Notice where Sandy Leon is set up. Not great.

If there are any positives to take away from Price’s performance, he did end his evening by punching out the last three Orioles he faced.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 88 (58 strikes), the 33-year-old hurler turned to his four-seamer more than 35% of the time he was on the mound Friday, inducing six swings and misses and topping out at 95.5 MPH with the pitch while Leon was at the plate.

Losing at Camden Yards for the first time in his career, Price is now 7-3 on the season to go along with a 3.61 ERA. His next start should come next Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In relief of Price, Colten Brewer entered the fifth with the Red Sox trailing 6-2, and he filled the bases with the three first Orioles who came to the plate before allowing a run to cross the plate on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Stevie Wilkerson.

A six-pitch walk of Broxton to re-load the bases led to another change, this time with Ryan Weber taking over for Brewer.

Weber did yield another Baltimore run by getting Martin to ground into a force out at second, but ultimately escaped the frame without further damage.

From there, with the Red Sox already behind six runs to begin with, Weber took one for the team as they say, as he saw three more Orioles runs runs (two earned) cross the plate in a three-run seventh for Baltimore before tossing a scoreless bottom of the eighth to keep any hopes of a nine-run comeback alive.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against left-hander John Means, who was Baltimore’s lone representative in the 2019 All-Star Game earlier this month.

Sam Travis, getting the start in left field with the southpaw on the mound, got the scoring started for Boston in the second, when with no outs and Christian Vazquez at first following a leadoff walk, the 25-year-old belted his first home run of the season. A two-run blast that had an exit velocity of 98 MPH and traveled 396 feet, per Statcast.

Travis’ second career big league homer cut the Orioles’ deficit from three runs to just one, but the Sox failed to capitalize on any run-scoring chances the remainder of the night.

Means sat down 15 of the next 18 Red Sox hitters he faced following the home run, stranding runners at first and second in the fifth in the process of doing so.

The Boston bats didn’t fare much better against the Orioles bullpen either, despite Jackie Bradley Jr. and Sandy Leon putting runners at the corners with one out in the seventh.

Nope, left-hander Richard Bleier got out of that mess, while Jimmy Yacabonis fanned two in a shutout eighth inning of work and Miguel Castro gave up a two-out single to Bradley Jr. in an otherwise clean frame of relief to close this 11-2 blowout loss for the Red Sox out.

Some notes from this loss:

The Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position Friday. They left seven men on base.

Xander Bogaerts’ 10-game hitting streak came to an end, while Mookie Betts extended his to 11 with a leadoff single in the first inning.

J.D. Martinez’s last seven games: .103/.212/.207 with one home run and one RBI.

From NESN’s Guerin Austin:

—

Simply put, the Red Sox got outplayed by the Orioles in nearly every facet of the game on Friday. And that seems to be the theme with this 2019 team, one minute, you think they’re about to go on a tear, then they go ahead and take a step backwards like this.

Next up, Rick Porcello gets the start for the Sox on Saturday night. He’ll be opposed by Orioles righty Tom Eshelman.

In his only other start against the O’s this year, Porcello surrendered three runs on five hits over four innings, eventually taking the loss back on April 13th.

When pitching at Camden Yards, Porcello has posted a lifetime 4.38 ERA and .219 batting average against over 10 outings and 61 2/3 total innings pitched.

Eshelman, meanwhile, was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in 2015 and was part of the deal that sent Ken Giles from the Philadelphia Phillies to Houston in December of that same year.

Acquired by the Orioles from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus slot money on June 9th, Eshelman’s first two major league starts have come against the Rays, where he has allowed a total of six runs over 10 2/3 total innings of work.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT on NESN. Red Sox looking for a much-needed win.

Also, it’s hot in Baltimore this weekend.