Tag: ron roenicke

Kevin Pillar and Jackie Bradley Jr. Both Homer but Red Sox Fall Short of Comeback Win Against Orioles in 5-4 Defeat

After suffering their first extra-innings loss of the year on Saturday, the Red Sox had to settle for a series split in Baltimore on Sunday following a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Orioles.

Zack Godley made his fifth start and sixth overall appearance of the season for Boston in this one, and he had a tough time consistently finding the strike zone.

Over just 2 2/3 innings pitched, the right-hander was charged with three runs, all of which were earned, on two hits, five walks, and one hit batsman to go along with three strikeouts on the afternoon.

All three of those Baltimore tallies came with Godley off the mound, but right after the South Carolina native had walked the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the third.

With his pitch count already at 70 (40 strikes), Godley got the hook from Sox manager Ron Roenicke in favor of the recently recalled Jeffrey Springs.

So, in came the left-handed Springs with one out to get in the third and nowhere to put Rio Ruiz.

Ruiz, in turn, laced a two-run single to right-center field and Andrew Velazquez followed by dropping down a bunt and reaching base on another run-scoring base hit.

That unfortunate sequence for Boston put the O’s up 3-1, and it officially closed the book on Godley’s disappointing day.

Dropping to 0-3 on the year while bumping his ERA up to 7.29, Godley’s spot in the Sox’ starting rotation may be in jeopardy moving forward. If he were to get another start, it would likely come against the Nationals next weekend.

Going back to Springs now, the 27-year-old, managed to escape any further damage in the third by getting Cedric Mullins to pop out to second and then danced his way around a leadoff double in a scoreless bottom of the fourth.

In the fifth, Springs again gave up another two-base hit, but also recorded the first two outs of the frame before Phillips Valdez came on and retired the side with a 4-3 putout.

Valdez returned for the sixth as well and needed just 14 pitches to face the minimum three batters despite giving up a two-out single to Renato Nunez. Kevin Pillar’s arm was the main reason for that.

From there, Robert Stock surrendered two runs on three hits in the seventh to put his side in a 5-2 hole, and Ryan Weber kept that deficit at three with a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

All in all, in relief of Godley, the Boston bullpen combined to allow two runs on eight hits, no walks, and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 total frames pitched. Not too shabby of an effort, although it really did not mean all that much in the end.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against another familiar foe in veteran left-hander Wade LeBlanc for the Orioles.

Kevin Pillar wasted no time in getting the Sox on the board on Sunday, as he greeted LeBlanc in the first by crushing his first career leadoff home run 401 feet to left-center field on the second pitch of the game.

In the sixth, Pillar struck again, this time leading off against Orioles reliever Miguel Castro, ripping a line-drive single to left, and coming around to score on a one-out RBI double off the bat of Xander Bogaerts.

The Sox cut Baltimore’s deficit to just one on Bogaerts’ 17th RBI of the year, and they could have even tacked on some more runs had J.D. Martinez not been gunned down at home on a Christian Vazquez fielder’s choice and Michael Chavis not punched out on five pitches to end the inning.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, with the Red Sox trailing 5-2 and down to their final out, things got a tad bit interesting when Jackie Bradley Jr. clubbed a two-run homer, his second long ball in as many days, off left-hander Tanner Scott to make it a 5-4 game.

Jonathan Arauz followed with a single back up the middle to put the tying run on base as the Boston lineup flipped back over and Pillar was due to hit next.

Alas, the 31-year-old swung at the first pitch he saw once again, but instead of sending it out of the park, grounded it to short, resulting in an inning-ending force out at second as 5-4 would go on to be Sunday’s final score.

Some notes and observations from this defeat:

The Red Sox went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. They left six runners on base as a team.

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

—

Next up for the 9-20 Red Sox, they will a day off on Monday for the first time since August 6, as this run of 17 games in 17 days has come to an end.

Following the off day, the Sox will open up a three-game series against the Blue Jays in Buffalo, the home of Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Boston took two out of three from the Jays in the only series between the two clubs thus far.

Left-hander Kyle Hart will get the starting nod for the Red Sox in the opener of that three-game set, while the Blue Jays have yet to name a starter.

Through his first two maj0r-league starts since getting called up on August 13, the 27-year-old southpaw has allowed nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits, seven walks, and nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 total innings pitched.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 6:37 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI.

Red Sox Lineup: Mitch Moreland Returns as Boston Seeks Series Win Over Orioles

After stringing together their fist three-game winning streak of the season following an 8-5 victory over the Orioles on Friday, the Red Sox will look to improve to 10-18 on the season with another win in Baltimore on Saturday.

Left-hander Martin Perez will make his sixth start of the year for Boston, and he will be opposed by veteran right-hander Alex Cobb for Baltimore.

The 29-year-old Perez is coming off a rain-shortened outing in his last time out against the Yankees in which he surrendered three earned runs over three innings of work.

On the season as a whole, the Venezuelan southpaw owns a 4.07 ERA, a 4.82 FIP, and a .665 OPS against through five outings and 24 1/3 total innings pitched.

In four prior starts at Camden Yards, Perez has yielded 14 runs (12 earned) on 24 hits and five walks over 25 total frames. That’s good for a 4.32 ERA.

Cobb, meanwhile, has made three of his five starts this season in Baltimore and owns an ERA of 4.60 and OPS against of .691 in those outings.

Back on July 25, the 32-year-old opposed Perez in his first outing of the year and held the Sox to just one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings on the mound.

Including that strong start, Cobb has posted a 3.73 ERA in 18 career outings against Boston.

Here is how the Red Sox will be lining up against Cobb and behind Perez to begin things on Saturday:

Outside of the fact that Alex Verdugo has moved back up to the leadoff spot and Kevin Pillar has slipped down to the seven-hole, there really is not too much to point out here. Mitch Moreland is also back in the lineup with a right-hander on the mound for Baltimore.

Among these nine hitters, Moreland, Pillar, and J.D. Martinez have all taken Cobb deep once before in their careers, while Christian Vazquez has accrued 10 hits and collected two RBI in 14 prior at-bats against the Orioles righty.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox going for the series win over the O’s as well as their fourth straight win overall.

Red Sox Recall Jeffrey Springs, Robert Stock From Alternate Training Site

One day after trading two of their better relievers — Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman — to the Philles on Friday, the Red Sox have recalled left-hander Jeffrey Springs and right-hander Robert Stock from the club’s alternate training site ahead of Saturday night’s game against the Orioles.

Both Springs and Stock will be making their second major-league stint with the Sox this season after the former was optioned to Pawtucket on August 11 and the latter was optioned on August 13.

In his first four relief outings with Boston, Springs, who turns 28 next month, posted a 15.43 ERA and 1.164 OPS against over 4 2/3 total innings pitched from July 27 until August 11. The North Carolina native was originally acquired by the Sox from the Rangers in exchange for Sam Travis back in January.

Stock, meanwhile, made just one appearance for Boston while he was up with the big-league club from August 11 until August 13.

In that one outing against the Rays on August 11, the 30-year-old hurler yielded one unearned run on two hits, three walks and three strikeouts over 1 1/3 total innings of work.

A former second-round draft pick out of the University of Southern California back in 2009, Stock was claimed off waivers by the Red Sox from the Phillies on July 27.

With these moves made, the Red Sox once again have 28 players on their active roster, 15 of which are pitchers.

Matt Barnes Not Only Reliever Who Could Close Out Games for Red Sox Following Brandon Workman Trade, Ron Roenicke Says

With Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman now Philadelphia Phillies, a couple late-inning spots just opened up in the back end of the Red Sox bullpen. More specifically, with Workman gone, the Sox do not exactly have a set closer at this point in time.

Right-hander Matt Barnes took charge of that responsibility in Boston’s 8-5 win over the Orioles on Friday and he looked good doing so, needing just 13 pitches to record his first save since last June.

Even with Barnes’ impressive importance fresh in his mind, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke didn’t really commit to the 30-year-old hurler as his set ninth-inning man moving forward.

“No doubt, I have faith in what he can do,” Roenicke said of Barnes during his postgame media availability. “I probably won’t do it the same way that we did with [Workman] because we had Barnes for the seventh or eighth or somebody and then going to [Workman]. This will be a little bit different, probably. I’m sure [Barnes] will get most of the opportunities, but if it matches up better with him in the eighth inning and another closer in the ninth, we’ll do that. I don’t think I’m just going to limit him to doing it for one inning.”

If it’s Barnes getting the call for the ninth, Roenicke named Austin Brice and Josh Taylor as relievers who could close out games if necassary.

“I think we have a couple guys that could do it,” the Sox skipper added. “I’m comfortable with all of them, so I think the match-ups will tell us what to do there.”

Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, who worked two scoreless innings in his 2020 debut on Friday after missing time on the COVID-19 related injured list, could be another candidate to close were it not for the plans the Red Sox have for the 23-year-old hurler.

“The only thing with Darwinzon is because we know he can give us two or three [innings], it may be more important to do that in the…sixth, seventh, or eighth, maybe,” said Roenicke. “I think he is more valuable in doing that than just keeping him to one inning. We’ll see as time goes on, but he was coming out [Friday] for the first time. He threw some nasty pitches. I know sometimes he may get a little wild, but his pitches, you see the swings they take and the bats that break and it’s just really good stuff.”

Out of the 40 pitches Hernandez threw in his first outing on Friday, the Venezuelan got the Orioles to swing and miss seven times. Because he accrued two innings of work against Baltimore, his next outing likely won’t come until the Red Sox’ next series against the Blue Jays in Buffalo.

Powered by Home Runs From Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Rafael Devers, Red Sox Extend Winning Streak To Three Following 8-5 Victory Over Orioles

On a night they made their first move before the trade deadline, the Red Sox extended their winning streak to a season-best three consecutive games on Friday following an 8-5 victory over the Orioles.

Colten Brewer made his second start and ninth overall appearance of the season for Boston, and he looked much better than he did in his first career start against the Yankees last week.

That being the case because over four strong innings of work, the right-hander held the O’s scoreless while scattering three hits and two walks to go along with two strikeouts on the night.

The only real trouble Brewer ran into came in the bottom of the first, when he yielded two straight two-out singles to Renato Nunez and Pedro Severino before getting out of the inning unscathed.

Other than that, Brewer proceeded to retire eight of the final 11 hitters he faced going into the end of the fourth, which is the point where his outing came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 71 (50 strikes), the 27-year-old turned to his four-seam fastball 49% of the time he was on the mound Friday, inducing two swings-and-misses and topping out at 95.2 mph with the pitch.

Unable to pick up the winning decision due to the length of his outing, Brewer did manage to lower his ERA on the season to 3.50. If he gets another start, it will likely come against the Blue Jays in Buffalo sometime next week.

In relief of Brewer, Darwinzon Hernandez got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen in what was his 2020 debut.

The 23-year-old southpaw faced eight batters over two scoreless frames of work, allowing one hit, walking another, and fanning three on his way to picking up his first career major-league victory.

From there, fellow lefty Josh Osich got lit up for five runs on three separate homers over 1 2/3 innings before Austin Brice had to come on and record the final out of the eighth.

And in the ninth, with Brandon Workman on his way to Philadelphia, Matt Barnes got the call to close this one out, and the right-hander did just that by maneuvering his way around a leadoff single in an otherwise clean inning to secure his first save and his team’s ninth win of the season in 8-5 fashion.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against Orioles ace left-hander John Means, who entered Friday with a 10.57 ERA through his first three starts of 2020.

After going down 1-2-3 in their half of the first, the Boston bats got it going in the second inning for a second straight night when a red-hot Xander Bogaerts led the frame off with a 412-foot solo shot to give his side an early one-run lead.

An inning later, the middle part of the Sox lineup struck once again, when after Kevin Pillar reached base on a one-out single, J.D. Martinez drove the outfielder and himself in on a 431-foot two-run blast to center field for his third homer of the year. 3-0 Boston.

Fast forward to the fifth, with reliever Jorge Lopez pitching for Baltimore, Rafael Devers put his power on display and had by far the best swing of the night.

With one out and runners at first and second, the 23-year-old took a 1-0, 85 mph changeup down the chute from the O’s right-hander and proceeded to deposit it 447 feet to dead center.

Per Statcast, Devers’ fourth big fly of the year had an exit velocity of 108.1 mph, which was the hardest hit ball of the evening for either side. It also put the Red Sox up 6-0.

In the sixth, Michael Chavis provided what would turn out to be some much-needed insurance with a two-run single off Lopez following back-to-back leadoff base knocks off the bats of Christian Vazquez and Alex Verdugo.

Chavis’ sixth and seventh RBI of the season put the Red Sox up 8-0, and 8-5 would go on to be Friday’s final score.

Some notes and observations from this victory:

With two hits on Friday, Alex Verdugo has extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games.

Rafael Devers has six hits in his last three games.

From Red Sox Notes:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the third game of this four-game weekend set on Saturday night.

Left-hander Martin Perez will get the ball for Boston, while veteran right-hander Alex Cobb will do the same for Baltimore.

Perez surrendered five runs (four runs) to the O’s in his Red Sox debut back on July 25. The 29-year-old has made four career starts at Camden Yards and owns a 4.32 ERA and .698 OPS against in those outings.

Cobb, meanwhile, held the Sox to just one run in that same game Perez started in July. The 32-year-old, who was born in Boston, comes into the weekend with a 3.76 ERA and .634 OPS against through his first five starts and 26 1/3 innings pitched this season.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox looking for their fourth straight victory.

Red Sox Lineup: Colten Brewer Making Second Start of Season in Second of Four Against Orioles

After picking up their second straight victory on Thursday, the Red Sox will look to kick off the weekend with another win over the Orioles in Baltimore on Friday night.

Right-hander Colten Brewer will make his second start and ninth overall appearance of the season for Boston, and he will be opposed by Orioles left-hander John Means.

In his first start of the year, Brewer surrendered two runs on four hits and three walks over 2 2/3 innings of work against the Yankees last Friday. Outside of that, the 27-year-old owns a 3.97 ERA and .756 OPS against as a reliever this season.

Upon completing anywhere from two to four innings against the O’s on Friday, Brewer will be followed by the recently-activated Darwinzon Hernandez out of the Boston bullpen.

Per Sox manager Ron Roenicke, the plan for the 23-year-old southpaw, who was activated from the COVID-19 related injured list on Thursday, is to pitch one or two innings in his season debut.

As for Boston’s opposition, fellow southpaw John Means owns a lifetime 4.02 ERA and .704 OPS against in six career outings (five starts) and 31 1/3 total innings pitched against the Red Sox.

The 27-year-old, who was Baltimore’s lone All-Star last season, has posted a 10.57 ERA and 6.56 FIP through his first three starts of 2020.

Here is how the Red Sox will be lining up behind Brewer and against Means to begin things on Friday:

With a left-hander on the mound for Baltimore, Kevin Pillar moves up to the leadoff spot while Alex Verdugo slips to the six-hole and Mitch Moreland takes a seat in favor of Michael Chavis at first base.

Among these nine hitters, Xander Bogaerts has by far seen Means the best, as the 27-year-old shortstop owns a lifetime .417/.429/.750 slash line with one home run in 12 career at-bats against the Orioles starter.

J.D. Martinez has also taken Means deep twice before.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox going for their third consecutive victory.

Red Sox Manager Ron Roenicke on Pace of Play in Major League Baseball: ‘We Like Action, So Let’s Have More Action’

Heading into their first series of the season in Baltimore this week, the Red Sox have played some of the longest games in baseball.

As a matter of fact, the Sox have needed an average time of 3 hours and 22 minutes to complete a game this year, which according to Baseball Reference is the second-highest mark in all of baseball behind only the Houston Astros.

If you have not guessed so already, this is indeed a problem, so much so that Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke even addressed it in his weekly segment with WEEI’s Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria on Thursday afternoon.

“I think they need to speed this up. I don’t like it,” Roenicke said of the pace of play in today’s game. “I don’t like a pitcher taking time, catching a ball, and taking forever to get back on the mound and throwing. I think your rhythm is way better and you make the hitter way more uncomfortable as soon as he gets back in the box and you’re ready to throw at him. So, I would like everything to be quickened up and I think they can do it.”

How might Major League Baseball quicken up the pace of play? Perhaps through the implementation of pitch clocks, which were used during 2019 spring training games but not the regular season. The same goes for the 2020 regular season as well, but they could be beneficial in the long run.

“If we have to bring in a clock to speed guys up, then bring in a clock,” Roenicke added. “I just don’t see any reason why this thing should be four hours a night. It makes no sense to me. … We like action, so let’s have more action going on out there.”

Red Sox Activate Darwinzon Herndandez From COVID-19 Related Injured List, Designate Christian Arroyo for Assignment

Before taking on the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, the Red Sox made yet another roster move, activating left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez from the 10-day COVID-19 related injured list and designating infielder Christian Arroyo for assignment.

Hernandez, 23, had been on the injured list since July 14 after testing positive for COVID-19 while at home in Venezuela.

Upon recovering from the virus, the southpaw reported to Fenway Park late last month for Summer Camp workouts and was subsequently shuttled down to the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket to continue to build up his stamina.

While in Pawtucket, Hernandez had been getting stretched out and most recently worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings in an intrasquad game this past Sunday.

Per Sox manager Ron Roenicke, Hernandez will likely be used as a bulk-inning reliever first before a potential move to the starting rotation is made towards the later stages of the 2020 season.

Because Hernandez was not counted towards Boston’s 40-man roster while he was on the IL, the Red Sox needed to clear a roster spot in order to activate the young hurler, hence the move, albeit a surprising one, to designate Arroyo.

Arroyo, who was claimed off waivers from the Indians last Thursday, was activated from the COVID-19 related injured list himself on Wednesday and appeared as if he would make his Red Sox debut in this series against the Orioles.

That outlook has since changed though, and I would have to imagine the Sox would like to see the 25-year-old former top prospect slip through waivers. If not, Arroyo’s tenure with the Red Sox was certainly a short one.

With this transaction made, the Sox’ 60-man player pool is now at 59, so the club has one open slot to work with there. Pretty solid breakdown from The Providence Journal’s Bill Koch on that matter here:

Alex Verdugo Extends Hitting Streak To 10 Games; Red Sox Manager Ron Roenicke Likes Energy Outfielder Brings To Team

Alex Verdugo extended his season-best hitting streak to 10 games in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Phillies with a one-out double off Jake Arrieta.

After striking out in his first two at-bats against the Phillies starter, reaching base there must have come as a relief for the Red Sox outfielder, but he did not spend too much time hanging around at second.

That being the case because just a few moments later, Kevin Pillar poked a soft grounder to the right side of the infield that Philly first baseman Rhys Hoskins had a difficult time corralling and wound up floating over Arrieta’s head as the hurler was rushing to cover the bag.

As a result of that mishap, Verdugo came around to score all the way from second with an emphatic slide across the plate to push across his side’s fourth run of the afternoon.

Fast forward to the seventh, and Verdugo was again active on the base paths, when after reaching first on a one-out walk, the 24-year-old almost immediately swiped second base off Phillies reliever Ramon Rosso. He likely would have tried to take third base as well since J.T. Realmuto’s throw landed in shallow center field, but wound up stuck at second after Neil Walker seemingly blocked his path.

In a friendly kind of way, Verdugo did not seem all too pleased with Walker’s actions, but again, he would not be sticking around there long enough for a legitimate, lengthy conversation, for Rafael Devers drove him in on a wall-ball RBI double moments later.

That put the Sox up 5-3 at the time it was hit, and 6-3 would go on to be Wednesday’s final score.

After Boston’s first win in well over a week, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke seemed quite pleased with Verdugo’s performance, and even cited what he did earlier Wednesday as a potential reason for that.

“The energy that he brings everyday,” Roenicke said of the young outfielder. “Before the game, he’s running around with energy and I think you need guys like that on your team.”

Verdugo isn’t usually that hyper before games, per Roenicke, but on a day the Red Sox were trying to snap a nine-game losing streak, it certainly was not met with disapproval.

“It’s good to see,” the Sox skipper added. “Where we [were] before that game I think it was needed. I think he decided that was what he was going to do to try to get us going and I like it. Like I said, I like when guys are vocal. Because if not, it seems like it’s always the manager and the coaches that are saying things and it’s a great thing when you have players jumping in.”

Through his first 23 games with the Red Sox, Verdugo is now slashing .284/.356/.531 with five home runs, five doubles, nine RBI, 13 runs scored, and two stolen bases.

On top of that offensive production, the former second-round pick has clearly emerged as one of the loudest, more energetic players on the team. A prime example of that emerged back on August 7, when Verdugo clubbed two homers against the Blue Jays and in the ninth inning, robbed Travis Shaw of a home run by reaching over the bullpen wall in right field.

Upon making that sensational catch, Verdugo belted out a loud, celebratory yell which could be heard throughout Fenway Park and likely on the streets surrounding the ballpark, too.

It all goes to show that this is the type of player Verdugo is. One who brings a wicked amount of energy and gives it his all nearly 100% of the time, whether that be at the plate, on the base paths, or in the outfield.

Also, Verdugo became the first Red Sox outfielder to hit at least one extra-base hit in seven consecutive games since Dwight Evans did so in 1982. A little bit of history for you there.

Red Sox Lineup: J.D. Martinez Out, Xander Bogaerts Gets Start at DH in Series Finale Against Phillies

After being removed in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s loss to the Phillies, J.D. Martinez is out of the Red Sox’ starting lineup in their series finale against Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon.

The Boston slugger had gone 1-for-2 with an RBI double before getting lifted from Tuesday’s contest on account of feeling dizzy and later being deemed dehydrated.

Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke sounded optimistic that Martinez would be back in the fold on Wednesday, but that is obviously not the case now, as Xander Bogaerts will get the start at DH and bat cleanup while Tzu-Wei LIn will get the start at shortstop and bat eighth.

In his seven-year major-league career, Bogaerts as only served as designated hitter one time, which actually came against the Giants last September.

The 27-year-old went 2-for-4 with three RBI in that contest, and he will look to do something similar against Philles right-hander Jake Arrieta, someone he has only reached base twice off of in nine career plate appearances.

Here is how the rest of the Red Sox will be lining up against Arrieta and behind rookie left-hander Kyle Hart on Wednesday afternoon:

First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN, MLB Network, and WEEI.