Red Sox - 001 001 000 - 2 7 0 Orioles - 021 002 00x - 5 10 0The Red Sox's seven-run rally in Sunday's eighth inning against Oakland is beginning to look more like an aberration than a catalyst.
Boston lost its second straight game to the Orioles on Wednesday night. Down 2-0 after two innings - considering the Red Sox's weak offense, even that seemed a little insurmountable - Boston scored single runs in the third and sixth innings, but in each case, the Orioles immediately struck back with a run or two of their own.
Rick Porcello (5.1-10-5-0-5, 80) struck out the side in the first inning, but faltered in the next two frames. In the second, he had two outs and a runner on second when he allowed an RBI double to J.J. Hardy and a run-scoring single to Ryan Flaherty.
The Red Sox cut that to 2-1 with two gone in the third. Dustin Pedroia singled and scored on Brock Holt's opposite field double.
Pedroia sparked the scoring in the sixth, too, beginning the inning with a double into the right field corner. Holt singled and Pedroia wisely stopped at third (Boston had two consecutive batters (Xander Boagerts and Pablo Sandoval) thrown out in the second inning trying to stretch singles into doubles.) Pedroia eventually scored on Mike Napoli's fielder's choice, bringing Boston to within one run again.
And again, Baltimore added to its lead. Porcello gave up singles to the first three Orioles. That made it 4-2 and a sac fly both brought in the fifth run for the home team and ended Porcello's night.
The Red Sox did absolutely nothing in the late innings, going down in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, and hitting only one ball out of the infield. In fact, Tommy Hunter struck out the 3-4-5 hitters in the ninth to put an exclamation point on Baltimore's victory.
Pedroia, 2BThis will be Porcello's third start against Baltimore this season. In the two previous starts, on April 19 and 24, he allowed a total of 12 runs and 18 hits in 11 innings.
Holt, LF
Ramirez, DH
Napoli, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Sandoval, 3B
Betts, CF
Swihart, C
Castillo, RF
X-rays on Hanley Ramirez's left knee last night were negative. Ramirez was asked if he saw himself becoming an infielder again. "Hell, no. ... I consider myself an outfielder." (Ramirez played only shortstop and third base before this season.)
David Ortiz ranks last among AL designated hitters in batting average (.219), RBIs (21) and runs scored (16). ... Since May 20, he is 11-for-65 (.169). ... His OPS splits this season, by month: April (.782), May (.624), June (.522).
From OTM: Ben Buchanan says it's time to fire hitting coach Chili Davis. ... Alex Skillin looks at Rusney Castillo: "Castillo has hit an astounding 68.4% of his balls in play on the ground. That rate ranks third highest in all of baseball ... Conversely, his 7.9% line-drive rate is the fourth lowest of any batter in MLB ..."
Worth Repeating: Eduardo Rodriguez is the only pitcher in baseball history to throw at least six innings and allow three or fewer hits and one or zero runs in his first three big league starts.
5 comments:
So he considers himself an outfielder. Indeed, that's what I always think when I watch him stoop over like an arthritic grandfather whenever he has to pick up the ball in left field. "That right there is a natural born outfielder."
Context alert! So the media guys continue to ram this super-duper incredible "18-7 when scoring first stat" down our throats, without ever giving any context. It doesn't take a genius to know that you're more likely to win if you score first. But how much more likely? I went to retrosheet and started on a random date in 2014 (June 6th) and kept track of the record of the team that scored first over the next 20 days. In 278 games, they won 208 times. So you win just about 3 out of every 4 games when you score first. 74.8 percent of the time to be exact, at least over those 278 games--I can't imagine the percentage would change much the more games you tack on to this sample. 74.8%. Compare that to the Red Sox current record when scoring first--72%! So they're right about exactly where they should be, a touch worse in fact.
Verdict: the fact that the Red Sox are 18-7 in games where they score first is...completely useless. (Unless you're using it to say how pedestrian they are in that scenario.)
Who knows, though, maybe if you factor in their record when scoring first compared to their overall record, they're above average in that difference. Or something. If anyone wants to do a thesis, feel free, I'm going to bed at this point....
"I watch him stoop over like an arthritic grandfather..."
Speaking as an arthritic grandfather who stoops over like a Red Sox left fielder, I have to say, Maxwell: yes.
WEEI: "[Porcello] has now allowed runs immediately after the Red Sox scored nine times in 19 chances this year (47.4 percent), and needless to say, that's too high."
In the two games, five Orioles relievers have pitched 8.2 innings and allowed one little ol' single.
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