Royals - 000 001 130 - 5 8 1 Red Sox - 003 010 30x - 7 10 1Rick Porcello (6-4-1-2-5, 99) threw six strong innings and the Red Sox's losing streak finally came to an end, at eight games. Boston also drew a game closer in the wild card standings.
Andrew Benintendi had a big two-run double in the seventh inning. Sam Travis and Rafael Devers hit home runs and Devers and Mookie Betts each scored twice.
Porcello - who had allowed six runs in four of his previous six starts - spent a few days working on some mechanical flaws in his delivery. "I've been working on it all week. ... I finally got some things I feel like are sticking and working well."
Betts left the game after fouling a ball off his left shin in the seventh inning. Alex Cora said the decision was only "precautionary" and Betts expects to be in the lineup tomorrow night.
AL Wild Card: CLE/TBR –, OAK 0.5, BOS 5.5, TEX 6.0.
Xander Bogaerts: "It's a bad time to be playing bad baseball."
Sean McAdam, Boston Sports Journal:
Boston's top three hitters in the lineup that seemed poised to explode just over a week ago, were nearly completely blanked. Together, Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts were 4-for-46. Of the four hits, three were singles. ...AL Wild Card: CLE/TBR –, OAK 0.5, BOS 6.5, TEX 7.0.
But here's the really troubling result ... Thanks to their four losses at home and their four in New York, they're now nearly as far back in the loss column for the second wild spot — seven games — as they were behind the Yankees (eight games) the last time they won a game. ...
The starters aren't giving them a chance [only Eduardo Rodriguez pitched past the fourth inning in the Yankees series and he gave up four runs], the bullpen can't be depended on, and now, the lineup, the one aspect of the team that has been strong for the past two months, has fallen off. There's literally nothing going right for the team currently. ...
[T]his weekend, it looked like the fight went out of the Red Sox. ...
It's tempting to say that a return to Fenway will cure what ails them — 12 of the next 15 are at home — until you remember that they're exactly .500 in Boston this season.
Besides the home run he gave up to the second-to-last batter he faced, Porcello otherwise looked good. Of course, pitching against the lowly Royals, one should expect that. FWIW, his next two starts are against the Angels and the Orioles, two sub-.500 teams.
ReplyDeleteSo can the Red Sox bounce back and win eight straight? Nice to consider...
Anything is possible.
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