Tag: friday

RECAP: Joe Mauer hits his first career walk-off home run as #RedSox lose 4-3.

I’ll make this brief. I’m writing this on a Friday night, and I’m gonna be pretty busy the next six days, so, keep that in mind.

It turns out that Eduardo Rodriguez may be a legitimate starter, whoa. After giving up two runs in the first, which weren’t really his fault, ERod limited the Twins to four hits and zero runs over the next four innings. Rodriguez would be taken out in the sixth, failing to record an out while allowing a triple to Eddie Rosario. Joe Kelly would come in to relieve Erod, and he got the first two outs while allowing Rosario to score off a Joe Mauer double. Robby Scott would finish the inning, pitch the eighth, and get the first out in the ninth. Matt Barnes would then record the second out. With Joe Mauer at the plate, Barnes lost the matchup by serving up a nice home run to the veteran first baseman. Instead of going with Kimbrel, John Farrell made the decision to go with Barnes and paid dearly for it.

The Red Sox offense sucked up until the very end on Friday night. Before that, the only run they scored came on Andrew Benintendi’s fourth home run of the season, which came in the top of the third. With one out int the eighth, Chris Young came in the game to pinch hit for Christian Vazquez, and he came up clutch with a game-tying double that drove in Deven Marrero and Josh Rutledge. This offense really stinks, man. They made Phil Hughes look much better then he actually was. They need a spark of some kind. I mean, I’d eventually like to see Chase d’Arnaud play eventually, that would be nice. I’ve already voiced my opinion on acquiring a guy like Mike Moustakas. I don’t know, try offering David Ortiz a stake in ownership if he comes back? What I do know is that Jackie Bradley, Jr. is in a major slump, and should probably sit for a few days.

15 down, 79 to go. 

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RECAP: #RedSox loss gets overshadowed by Manny Machado’s late slide.

I’m gonna be honest here when I say that I am not the biggest fan of Manny Machado. I used to like him, and even today I appreciate what he does on the field. But, man, some of the stuff he’s done during games is really questionable. The first time I saw this was in 2014 during a game between the Oakland Athletics and the Orioles.

Then, in the same series, he does this:

The point should be made that this was from three years ago and it does appear that Machado has done some growing up since then. There was another incident last season between Machado and Yordano Ventura (RIP), but I didn’t think Machado was in the wrong for that one, so we’ll move on to the game.

Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz was looking for back to back quality starts on Friday night, facing the Orioles for the second time this season. Pomeranz was not awful, as he kept the Red Sox in the game the entire time he was on the mound, going 5.1 innings and giving up two earned runs and five hits while walking two and striking out four. Again, this was far from a great start, but it certainly wasn’t terrible. With Pomeranz’s ERA currently sitting at 4.60, the type of start we saw on Friday might be his standard. The Red Sox bullpen was able to shut down the Orioles offense, as Joe Kelly went two scoreless while Fernando Abad finished off the bottom of the eighth by getting the last two outs.

The star of the game had to be Orioles starter Dylan Bundy, who pitched seven scoreless, scattering six hits, and only walking one. The Red Sox offense came up short in a game they could have won. The only players that reached base more than once were Marco Hernandez and Dustin Pedroia. Despite leading the league in hits with 162 in 17 games, the Red Sox are only 14th in runs scored, with 69 (nice). This correlation can most likely be attributed to the lack of power in the lineup, since they have only hit 7, which is the worst total in all of baseball. In fact, Brewers first baseman Eric Thames has hit more home runs (8) than the entire Red Sox team. Hopefully, as the weather gets warmer, the balls off the Red Sox bats will travel further, leading to more home runs.

Now, let’s talk about the biggest moment of the game. In the bottom of the eighth, with Manny Machado reaching first on a single, Mark Trumbo grounded out to Marco Hernandez. While Hernandez flipped the ball to Pedroia, Machado slid into the bag. During the slide, Machado’s foot caught the calf of Pedroia, leading to Pedroia being taken out of the game. On Twitter, there was a lot of bickering between Red Sox and Orioles twitter debating if the slide was dirty or not. The beginning of the slide looks fine, but then Machado raises his right leg, which leads to that right cleat going into Pedroia’s left calf.
Screen Shot 2017-04-21 at 11.21.53 PM

With Machado’s history, it’s hard to say this was not a dirty slide. After it happened, it looked like Machado was genuinely upset about what he did, as he tried to keep him up on his feet after. Most of the team was not happy with Machado. Joe Kelly was seen yelling at Machado, and then Brian Butterfield got ejected for arguing with the third base umpire. Anyway, my verdict is…dirty slide.  After the game, Pedroia was asked about the slide, and his response was classic Laser Show:

10 down, 84 to go.  

 

RECAP: Porcello struggles against Rays; Red Sox lose 10-5

Red Sox ace Rick Porcello did not look like himself last night, as he gave up a whopping eight earned runs over 4.1 innings pitched. It was a very unusual start for Porcello, in fact, it was his worst start since 2015. So, some credit goes to him for being so good for that extended period of time. Pitching 15 quality starts in a row before his outing last night is really impressive stuff. Anyway, the weirdest part of Porcello’s night had to be giving up four home runs, including a grand slam from Rays first baseman Logan Morrison. I’m not going to say Rick Porcello was awful before last night, but we certainly haven’t seen the Rick Porcello that locked down the American League Cy Young Award last season. Through three starts, Porcello has given up 25 hits over 16.2 innings, certainly not Cy Young Award winning stuff. With an ERA in the sevens and a WHIP of 1.74, Porcello will need to turn things around next time he takes the mound. In relief of Porcello, the Red Sox bullpen did not do anything to help the team. Robbie Ross Jr. struggled last night, as he gave up two more runs in 2.2 innings pitched. Fernando Abad and Robby Scott were able to hold it down though, pitching a combined two shutout innings while only allowing the Rays to reach base twice.

Rays starter Chris Archer recorded his first win against the Red Sox since 2012, pitching 5.2 innings of one run ball. The Red Sox offense couldn’t put anything together against Archer. Catcher Sandy Leon has cooled off modestly as his batting average now sits at .296. Xander Bogaerts continues to see the ball well, collecting another three hits while driving in a run. Mookie Betts had his best offensive game of the 2017 thus far, reaching base 4 times on 4 hits, including a double. 10 games into the season and I’d say I am most impressed with what Andrew Benintendi has been doing at the plate. Sure, he’s not hitting for a phenomenal average, .263, but he has reached base in all 10 games, and he has already collected 7 RBIs. Put it this way, in 105 AB’s last season, Benintendi only collected 14 RBIs. Through 38 AB’s this season, he already has collected 50% of that amount, so there is clearly a progression there. Most of the damage the Red Sox did last night came in the bottom of the 9th, scoring 3 of their 5 runs. The Red Sox actually out hit the Rays last night, despite taking the loss. Also, Mitch Moreland sadly failed to record a double last night. Hopefully, he can start a new streak today.

5 down, 89 to go. 

RECAP: Red Sox pick up first loss in series opener in Detroit

AP

After yesterday’s rainout, the Red Sox had an extra off day as they traveled to Detroit for a four game series against the Tigers. Stephen Wright and Michael Fulmer were the two pitchers to square off today. The Red Sox had many absences from the starting lineup, such as Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, and Hanley Ramirez. The Sox offense was quiet for most of the day, as they did not score until the top of the 8th, where the offense woke up and drove in 5 runs, including Pablo Sandoval’s first home run of the 2017 campaign.

http://www.thescore.com/news/1274590

Stephen Wright was okay in his first start since he got hurt last year, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts over 6.2 innings pitched. The biggest dissapointment of this game was the Red Sox bullpen. Over the past two games, it appeared that the bullpen could be consistently good this season, I’m not saying they can’t, but they were a letdown today. Ben Taylor made his Major League Debut and got his first strikeout to end the 7th, so congratulations to him. After the Red Sox took the lead in the top of the 8th, Robby Scott, Heath Hembree, and Joe Kelly gave up a combined two runs and allowed the Tigers to retake the lead and that was that.

Also, after reading the Red Sox Twitter mentions, I can conclude there are too many Red Sox fans who are overreacting. RELAX. 

2 down, 92 to go. 
That’s right, I came up with a concrete number.