Tag: friday

RECAP: Rick Porcello loses fourteenth decision of the season as #RedSox fall out of first place.

It was quite a day for the Red Sox and their fans on Friday. David Price, who was supposed to pitch last night, was placed on the 10-Day Disabled List because of a sore elbow prior to the game. Many suspected this was done so that Price would not have to face the Fenway crowd, as this would be his first home start since the details of his confrontation with Dennis Eckersley were revealed. Dave Dombrowksi had to go in front of the press just to say it was not done for that reason. Manager John said that Price should be throwing by next Tuesday, so the injury doesn’t appear to be too severe. And while this was happening, Dustin Pedroia announced to the media that he is the leader in the clubhouse, so Fenway Park was pretty much a circus earlier Friday.

Anyway, Rick Porcello was matched up against Royals starter Jason Vargas, who is having a bit of a renaissance while coming back from Tommy John surgery. Vargas did out pitch Porcello, and Porcello did give up four runs, but he was really not that bad last night. The righty only gave up six hits and one walk in seven innings pitched, but unfortunately, two of those hits were home runs. Salvador Perez took Porcello deep with a solo shot in the second, and Mike Moustakas took him deep with a three-run shot in the fourth. Other than those two pitches though, I have nothing to complain about when it comes to Porcello’s start. I love the fact that he has consistently ate up innings this season, despite not putting up the best numbers. The last time he failed to pitch at least six innings was back on April 14th, so he has that going for him. It’s a shame the Red Sox offense hates scoring runs for Porcello, because that guy does not deserve fourteen losses.

Let me tell you how the Red Sox did at the plate last night: Seven hits and two runs, that is all. Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez both made their Fenway Park debuts, and both combined to reach base four times. Mookie Betts drove in the first run for the Red Sox in the fifth, scoring Rafael Devers on an RBI single, and Sandy Leon drove in the second run of the game for the Red Sox with an RBI ground out in the seventh, scoring Chris Young from third. They had a chance to perhaps tie things in the ninth with Andrew Benintendi singling to third with two outs, but Rafael Devers grounded out to second and that ended things.

I would have liked to see Devers be more patient, but it didn’t work out that way. This team needs a jolt, in my opinion. They’ve seemed pretty lifeless lately, and I think they’d be much worse if Chris Sale were not on the team. I’ve been pondering the idea of trading for Giancarlo Stanton, but I think I rather wait until the offseason for that. For now though, Xander Bogaerts needs some time off. He’s probably hurt, which has led to him producing next to nothing over the past few weeks.

First time in a month the Red Sox are out of first place, if the Royals sweep, they’ll have the same number of wins, which didn’t seem possible a few months ago.

56 down, ? to go. 

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RECAP: #RedSox start second half with a walk-off walk from Andrew Benintendi.

Quite the way to kick off the unofficial second half of the season. The second place Yankees come into town with the chance to leave in first place. The Red Sox have their four best starters for this series, and Drew Pomeranz started the first one on Friday. Though he did not toss a quality start, Pomeranz pitched the way you should expect him to, in my opinion. Six innings pitched, six hits, four runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts. He gave up one in the third, and three in the fifth. The biggest mistake pitch came in that fifth inning, when Gary Sanchez took Pomeranz deep and made it a 4-3 game.  A double play started by Sam Travis got the Red Sox out of the inning, and Pomeranz would pitch a scoreless sixth. When I say Pomeranz met expectations, I mean that’s how I think most of his outings will go. There’ll be times where he goes seven while only giving up two runs, but there’ll probably be more starts that look like the one we saw last night. After he was one, Matt Barnes got the call for the seventh, and he was lights out that inning and in the eighth. I don’t know what it is about Barnes, but he clearly has an easier time pitching at Fenway Park than anywhere else on the road, which is concerning, but still interesting. Robby Scott pitched the ninth for the Red Sox, and he also bounced back from a rough end to the first half by getting the Yankees in order. So, shout out to those guys in the bullpen locking things down and allowing the bats to win the game.

Speaking of the bats, there were plenty of missed opportunities while Jordan Montgomery was pitching for the Yankees. In the four innings he pitched, the Red Sox got on base a total of nine times, and could only score three times off of him. Two of those runs came off the bat of Hanley Ramirez, who drilled his fourteenth home run over the monster in the third, which gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead at the time. Dustin Pedroia drove in Sam Travis in the next inning, and they struggled to get anything off the Yankees bullpen until Aroldis Chapman entered the game in the ninth. Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia both singled and stole a base to start the inning. The Yankees defense helped the Red Sox a lot, as what looked like a ground out from Xander Bogaerts resulted in the tying run, Mookie Betts, scoring from third because of a Ronald Torreyes fielding error. After Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked, Andrew Benintendi came up in a huge spot, and Chapman walked him, winning the game without a single ball leaving the infield in that bottom half of the ninth.

A wild way to start the second half to say the least. The Yankees are looking less and less like a contender and Aroldis Chapman is looking like a rattled reliever instead of a dominant closer. The Yankees were 37-23 through 60 games on June 11th. Since then, they have gone 8-19, which has to be one of the worst records in baseball over that span. The Rays could be more legit than the Yankees, only time will tell. But anyway, great way to start the second half, I was pumped up, and it’s Sale Day. Also hearing the Red Sox are trying to get Todd Frazier from the White Sox, so that’s a name to pay close attention to.

51 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Drew Pomeranz tosses another quality outing; home runs help #RedSox even series with Rays in 8-3 win.

Coming into tonight’s game, it looked like the Red Sox had hit a mini skid. Nothing to get overly concerned about, but still, two straight losses. Making his seventeenth start of the season, Drew Pomeranz had the chance to end the skid, and he capitalized on it. The southpaw didn’t dominate the Rays lineup, but he didn’t need to. The only runs he allowed came in the fourth, when he gave up an RBI double to Wilson Ramos and an RBI single to Brad Miller. The Red Sox defense had a pretty significant role in the way Pomeranz’s outing went, as key double plays in the second and fifth kept the Rays off the board. It wasn’t his best stuff, but today’s start lowered his ERA to 3.60, and it is his fourth quality start since that stinker against Detroit on Sunday Night Baseball. The bullpen would be responsible for the final three innings. Heath Hembree had one of his worst appearances of the season, allowing three hits and one run while only recording one out. Matt Barnes ended the seventh with one pitch which turned into a double play, and he pitched a scoreless eighth as well. In a non save opportunity, Craig Kimbrel made his first appearance since the blown save in Texas, and he had a great rebound, striking out the side in order to end the game and get Drew Pomeranz his ninth win of the season. If you told me that Drew Pomeranz would be the second best pitcher in this rotation before the season started, I would have laughed in your face. Truth is, despite all the early struggles, he has been. All the other injuries and the inconsistency of Rick Porcello has put Pomeranz in that spot. I don’t know what Manager John told him after his awful start in Oakland, but whatever it was, it has been effective up to this point in the season.

Besides Christian Vazquez, every one in the lineup reached base at least one time, and even Vazquez drove in a run. The catalyst of this offensive outpour would have to be Dustin Pedroia. After Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi had already driven in two runs, Pedroia takes Jake Odorizzi deep for his third long ball of the season, making it a 4-0 game at that point. I don’t follow the Rays too closely, but I’d say Odorizzi is their best pitcher behind Chris Archer. Compared to what that Faria kid did last night, Odorizzi was awful. He gave up two home runs in the first four innings and walked three straight to give the Red Sox a run and load the bases. Jackie Bradley hit the second home run in the fourth, his twelfth, and he drove in the first run in the fifth on that walk. Vazquez drove in the second run of the inning in the fifth. To wrap things up, Hanley Ramirez went deep for his thirteenth of the season, all part of his three hit night.

I would just like to point out the fact that Andrew Benintendi has 51 RBIs and we’re not even at the break yet. He’s no Judge, but you can’t ignore what Benintendi has done for this team as a rookie. He just turned 23 yesterday, so happy belated Benny.

The big 50 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Doug Fister has another nice start as #RedSox take game one from Jays 7-4 in extras.

After a quality start last Sunday, Doug Fister made his first road start for the Red Sox, and he put together another solid outing. The Blue Jays scored all their runs off of Fister in the first, but Fister settled in after that. The 33 year-old only allowed two hits total after the first, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 5 K’s. He didn’t qualify for a quality start since he didn’t pitch six innings, but I’d be dumb to criticize that kind of start from a back-end of the rotation guy. The bullpen pretty much held the Jays in check over the last six innings after Fister departed, as the only real blip was Troy Tulowitzki’s solo home run off of Heath Hembree in the sixth, which tied the game at that point. Other than that though, Matt Barnes looked great with his two shutout innings, Blaine Boyer arguably had his best relief appearance in a Red Sox uniform with his two shutout innings, and Craig Kimbrel did what Craig Kimbrel does by recording his 23rd save of the season by pitching a scoreless frame in the eleventh. Like I said, Hembree made a bad pitch to Tulo, but the bullpen kept the Red Sox in the game, which eventually led to an offensive burst in the eleventh.

Despite the win, the Red Sox bats left a lot to be desired when it came to scoring opportunities. They left a total of 41 runners on base, including 11 alone from Mitch Moreland, who had himself an awful night at the plate. The first runs of the game were scored by Deven Marrero and Mookie Betts, who scored on a Dustin Pedroia double, making it a one run game. The Red Sox would take the lead briefly in the sixth, when Deven Marrero drove in the tying run on a RBI single and Andrew Benintendi scored the go-ahead run with an RBI double. The bats would go silent until the top of the eleventh, until Xander Bogaerts came up clutch with a key RBI single that scored Hanley Ramirez from third and gave the Red Sox the lead. Deven Marrero would continue on the good day he had at the plate by driving in key insurance runs on another RBI single, and that was all Craig Kimbrel needed to shut the lights off on the Blue Jays.

Good way to start the road trip, obviously. Chris Sale is on the mound today, John Farrell will not be managing today, Red Sox should win their third straight game today.

Ten games over .500 for the first time this season, also.

45 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Hanley Ramirez and Sandy Leon both go deep as #RedSox pick up 9-4 victory over the Angels.

Note: Prior to last night’s game, the Red Sox made some roster moves, adding a few players Dave Dombrowski is familiar with. First, Doug Fister was claimed off of waivers from the Angels. The 33-year-old RHP is on the back-end of his career, but he still has the opportunity to contribute to a team that is in need of a consistent option out of the back half of the rotation. He’ll start on Sunday against his former team. The second move was signing former Cardinals infielder Jhonny Peralta to a minor league deal. Peralta, 35, is also on the back-end of his career, but he too can provide depth at a position that has been a weakness for this team.

There's something in our eye! #34ever - #VoteRedSox (@redsox)

On to the game: Friday night was all about David Ortiz. The former Red Sox slugger has had himself quite a weekend, getting a street named after him and taking part in a roast and all. The ceremony before the game was great. Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, and Pedro Martinez were on all hand to see Ortiz’s number enshrined forever.

The most emotional part of the ceremony surprisingly came from Dustin Pedroia. Those two were teammates for nearly a decade, so they have experienced plenty of highs and lows wearing that uniform. In his short speech to Ortiz, Pedroia called him family:

The reaction out of Ortiz shows how close these guys were during their time as teammates. Like I said, they really have seem it all, from World Series titles to late season collapses all the way down to consecutive last place finishes. Although his style is completely different than that of Ortiz, Pedroia is that dude.

I should probably get on to the game now… Rick Porcello has been pretty awful this season, that’s what most Red Sox fans would tell you. Well, on Friday night, he made the first strides to get back to that 2016 form. Prior to the seventh, Porcello scattered six hits and gave up one run while walking one and whiffing eight. The seventh was a different story, but I’m not going to pay much attention to it because he could have been taken out sooner. The bullpen was responsible for eight outs, and they got all of them without allowing a run. Heath Hembree, new set-up man Joe Kelly, and Blaine Boyer combined to give up only two hits to the Angels, so that’s quality stuff.

The offense scored early and later too. Three runs crossed the plate and the Red Sox only needed one hit, a Xander Bogaerts RBI double, to score those runs. The other two came on wild pitches. In the fourth, Hanley Ramirez hit the 250th home run of the career, a 2-run shot that barely landed over the right field wall. That home run will definitely hold a special place in Ramirez’s heart. A milestone number on the same night his favorite player’s number is retired. Hanley wouldn’t be the only one to go deep though, as a suddenly hot Sandy Leon launched his fifth home run of the year to the bleachers, another 2-run shot that made it a 7-1 game. The Angels scored three in their half of the seventh, so the two runs the Red Sox scored in their half of the eighth were definitely helpful. Those runs came off the bat of Sandy Leon again, a 2 RBI double that scored Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley. Also, how about JBJ? Another multi-hit game has his BA at .272 right now. At the beginning of the month, it sat at .226, so in the month of June, he is hitting an impressive .350.

David Price is on the mound later tonight, I’ll be at the game, so I’m looking forward to seeing Papi’s number in person.

41 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Mookie Betts comes up clutch for #RedSox in 2-1 win over Astros.

Sorry for posting this so late, I’ll try to make this quick.

In his last start against Detroit, Drew Pomeranz was pretty awful, so awful, he couldn’t even get through five innings. Last night, he had a chance to redeem himself against the best team in the American League. I’m not gonna say he completely redeemed himself, but he definitely made strides towards doing that. The southpaw went the first six innings without giving up a single run. He probably should not have come out to start the seventh after nearly allowing a run, but he did. With one out, Brian McCann took him deep, tying the game and ending Pomeranz’s night. The bullpen continued their scoreless inning streak, upping it to 24 straight innings. Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Craig Kimbrel closed the game out, allowing four total base runners over the last 2.1 innings. It looks like Pomeranz will be making his next start in Kansas City, so he’ll look to build on this start against the Royals.

For the second night in a row, the Red Sox did not need to score much to keep themselves in the game. They scored the first run of the game, which came in the third when Mitch Moreland drove in Mookie Betts on an RBI single. Betts would score the only other run for the Red Sox, also. With the Astros just scoring in the previous inning and a new pitcher in the game, Betts swung at the first pitch he saw from Will Harris and he blasted one into the Crawford Boxes. That would be the only runs the Red Sox would need to pick up the win.

With the Yankees dropping their fourth game in a row last night, the Red Sox find themselves only one game back of first place.

Don Orsillo will be calling tonight’s game on Fox at eight, which is something most Red Sox fans have been looking forward to since it was announced a few weeks ago. Rick Porcello, also looking to rebound, makes the start against David Paulino.

 

RECAP: Mitch Moreland and JBJ save the day as #RedSox take game one against Tigers 5-3.

Just a quick Saturday recap for all you readers out there.

Brian Johnson made his first start since Memorial Day Weekend. He did not have the same type of performance he did that Saturday. Johnson only got through 4.1 innings before he was relieved by Heath Hembree. The bullpen was great on Friday night, as Hembree, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Craig Kimbrel pitched a combined 4.2 innings while striking out eight Tigers and not allowing a single run. This is going to sound dumb, but the core of Hembree, Kelly, and Barnes have been one of my favorite things about this Red Sox team. For the most part, they have been outstanding for a group that was supposed to be the weakest link. Obviously, Brian Johnson wasn’t great, but with ERod out for an extended period of time, he’s still the best option.

All the runs the Red Sox scored last night came off the bat of either Mitch Moreland or Jackie Bradley Jr. Moreland had one of his best days in a Red Sox uniform with three hits, including a home run and another double, along with two RBIs, and one of those was the tying run in the eighth. Jackie Bradley had the most important hit of the game, but before that, the center fielder drove in the team’s second run of the night. The Red Sox could’ve gotten more in that fourth inning, but Hanley Ramirez was called out at third to end the inning. Like I said, JBJ had the most important hit of the game, and that came in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and Mitch Moreland on first, Bradley took Alex Wilson deep, all the way to the seats in right field to give the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. That would be JBJ’s fourth home run over his last 13 games, and it would be all Craig Kimbrel would need to get the Tigers in order.

Big time pitching matchup tonight with Justin Verlander vs. Chris Sale on FOX.

33 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Rick Porcello shakes off rough first inning; #RedSox drop game two 3-2.

Note: Before this game even started the Red Sox received bad news pertaining to Eduardo Rodriguez. ERod was placed on the 10-Day DL with a right knee injury, which happened while he was warming up for his start yesterday. Brandon Workman getting called up was the corresponding move, but it looks Brian Johnson will get the start in ERod’s slot next time around the rotation.

Doesn’t get much worse for a starting pitcher to give up a leadoff home run to start his outing. Unfortunately for Rick Porcello, that’s exactly what Seth Smith had in mind, taking the 28 year-old RHP deep after a long AB. That wouldn’t be the only damage done in the first, as a scuffling Manny Machado blasted his 11th home run of the season to left field with only one out. This would be the only real trouble Porcello would run into, save the fact the Orioles scored another run in the fourth. If you take away the first inning though, the Orioles only got five hits and one run off Porcello in five innings, which is nothing to be ashamed of against an offensive team like that. The Red Sox bullpen would be responsible for the seventh and eighth innings, and they did not allow a single run in that span. Heath Hembree, Robby Scott, and Joe Kelly combined for only one hit while striking out two Orioles in two innings of work.

This Red Sox offense appears to be stuck in a rut. The fact that they struggle to score runs against mediocre pitchers is kind of embarrassing for a team that had one of, if not the best offense in baseball in 2016. In his first start at third since being activated from the DL, Pablo Sandoval hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the second. The only other run for the Red Sox would come in the seventh, when Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in Xander Bogaerts on a 2 out RBI single. The offensive struggles from the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Andrew Benintendi, and Mookie Betts have become quite evident during this road trip. Alec Asher got the best of this lineup today, hopefully Dylan Bundy doesn’t have the same luck.

By the way, shout out to Mookie for making one of the best catches you’ll see, just sprawled out for this one:

29 down, ? to go. 

RECAP: Eduardo Rodriguez pitches six scoreless innings; #RedSox beat Mariners 3-0 for fifth win in a row.

Up to this point in the season, I believe Eduardo Rodriguez can best be described as a solid number three starter out of the Red Sox rotation. He’s not an innings eater, but he is highly capable of limiting opposing teams in terms of hits and runs. Rodriguez gave up exactly one hit in every inning he pitched, except the sixth. He also struck out four while walking three. This performance lowered the 23 year old’s ERA down to a nice looking 2.77 on the year. The Red Sox bullpen didn’t allow any Mariners to cross the plate in a combined three innings of work. Heath Hembree got the seventh, Barnes got the eighth, and Craig Kimbrel recorded his thirteenth save of the season, unfortunately for Kimbrel, he failed to get any strikeouts. Next up for ERod, the Chicago White Sox, in Chicago.

The Red Sox offense managed to leave 19 runners on base Friday night, and they really didn’t have any trouble winning this game. The first run of the game was scored in the second, when Hanley Ramirez scored on a Josh Rutledge ground out. No more runs would score until the sixth, where the Red Sox scored twice without driving in either run. With one out and the bases loaded, Josh Rutledge scored on a wild pitch from M’s starter Yovani Gallardo. Later in the inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. scored on a Mike Zunino passed ball. That would be it in terms of scoring for the Red Sox bats. They had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, but failed to come up big with runners on base.

Like the title says, this team is low-key rolling with five straight wins. I may be too woke, but the Red Sox started this streak the day after Manager John chewed out Drew Pomeranz in front of the cameras, so there’s that.

26 down, ? to go.

RECAP: Sale K’s 10; JBJ makes outstanding catch; #RedSox still lose 3-2 in extras.

What a difference in quality of starting pitching between Hector Velazquez on Thursday and Chris Sale on Friday. Sale was matched up against Kendall Graveman, and to nobody’s surprise, Sale put in the better performance. He got things started right away, striking out the first batter he saw, Rajai Davis. After going the first four innings without allowing a run, Sale would run into some trouble over the next two innings. In the fifth, the Athletics managed to get one run across the plate, while reaching base twice. In the sixth, they scored another run, while also recording three hits. Those would be the only runs Sale would surrender in the seven innings he pitched. There was a bit of drama in the seventh, when Sale only had eight strikeouts with one out in the inning already. With his streak of starts with at least 10 K’s on the line, Sale struck out the last two batters he faced, getting to 10 strikeouts and extending his streak up to eight consecutive starts. With the way he pitched Friday night, Sale deserves a win for that performance, even when he’s not at his best, he still gives you solid outings, he deserves more in return for his efforts. Before the game went into extras, Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel held things down in terms of giving up any runs. In the ninth, just when it looked like Ryon Healy hit a walk-off home run, Jackie Bradley Jr. made one of the more outstanding home run robbing catches you’ll see.

Absurd, to say the least. Unfortunately, this play really didn’t matter. In the tenth, Mark Canha made sure he got all of one from Heath Hembree, as he put the nail in the coffin with his first career walk off home run, winning the game for the A’s. In the month of May, Hembree has an ERA north of 7, so I don’t have much to say about him.

Offensively, it would be nice if the only runs of the game didn’t come when Mitch Moreland launched a two-run home run to right field in the fourth, which also scored Xander Bogaerts. Kendall Graveman is no scrub, but that A’s bullpen is pretty awful and the Red Sox only managed to scatter four hits against three pitchers, which is disappointing.

Chris Sale obviously makes this team better. Without him, they’re probably under .500. If this the time the Red Sox are going all in to win a World Series, then they need to stop underperforming as much as they have.

21 down, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to go.