Red Sox - 000 004 000 - 4 7 2 White Sox - 010 000 000 - 1 7 0Drew Pomeranz (7-7-1-0-8, 108) turned in another solid start and the Red Sox rallied against one of the White Sox's best relievers to win, moving to 2 GB the Yankees, who were pounded by the Orioles 10-4.
The Red Sox stranded two men on base in each of the third and fourth innings, before breaking through in the sixth against reliever Anthony Swarzak. (White Sox starter Mike Pelfrey did well (5-2-0-2-5, 83). Looking at his stat line, you'd think he could have pitched another inning. However, he had faced 19 batters and opponents have batted .556 with a 1.849 OPS against him (21 PA) the third time through the order this year.)
Swarzak began the season with 19.2 scoreless innings and had allowed runs in only one of his 19 appearances. Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland singled with one out. Jackie Bradley was intentionally walked to load the bases. Josh Rutledge grounded to shortstop, but the White Sox could get only the force at second, and Bogaerts scored. Pablo Sandoval singled in Moreland to give Boston the lead. Christian Vazquez followed with a two-run double.
Pomeranz got into and out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth. Todd Frazier and Avisail Garcia began the inning with singles. Pomeranz got Matt Davidson to pop to shortstop and got Tim Anderson to strike out. Kevan Smith grounded back to Pomeranz and he threw to third to force Frazier for the third out.
Chicago did not get anyone on base in the final three innings. Pomeranz wrapped up his night with a perfect seventh, Matt Barnes needed only eight pitches to retire three batters in the eighth, and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth (he started each batter off 0-2).
Sandoval made his first start since April 23 and went 3-for-4 as the DH.
Betts, RFI am surprised to learn that the Red Sox bullpen has thrown only 150.2 innings. That's the second-fewest innings in the American League and third-fewest in MLB. Boston's bullpen ERA of 3.17 is fifth among all major league teams.
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Bradley, CF
Rutledge, 2B
Sandoval, DH
Vazquez, C
Marrero, 3B
After this game, the Red Sox head to Baltimore for four games against the slumping Orioles. Over its past 18 games, Baltimore has gone 4-14. Since May 10, its rotation has a 6.10 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP, both of which are easily the worst in the American League.
In MFY Land: Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost has "admitted the Yankees want to keep the riff raff away from the wealthy people who spend the big bucks". He said the swells are often "frustrated" when they have to sit next to some working class yob. Well, Trost's strategy is working. Ticket sales are way down and the team has lost about $166 million since 2010.
I was surprised by the number of innings thrown by the bullpen too. There are good starters but so far, the rotation has the 14th best team-starter WHIP in baseball. I have no idea how they are by inning and leaving them in may be justified often. But I can't help but think critics of Farrell's slow hook may be more right than I realized.
ReplyDeleteRight handed batters are now 0-for-45 versus Kimbrel this season
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