G90: Red Sox 15, Royals 4

Red Sox - 000 040 317 - 15 16  1
Royals  - 012 010 000 -  4  6  0

Updated below with some pitch count factoids.

It was great fun watching the Red Sox score a season-high 15 runs (which included a 13-batter top of the ninth inning) on 16 hits and 13 walks - the most free passes handed out by any team this year - but this was also a night that saw David Price (4.2-6-4-1-9, 102) unable to complete five innings against one of the worst teams in baseball.

Having a bad night against the Yankees is one thing (though Price appears to be making a habit of that). Making a fool of yourself against a team that has, since the beginning of June, gone 5-26 while batting .201, is another.

In what was Price's final inning, immediately after the Red Sox had grabbed a 4-3 lead, he allowed a leadoff single and then hit three batters, the last one forcing home the tying run.

In his previous 286 games, Price had never hit three batters. He did so tonight in the span of four batters (and 14 pitches). The three HBPs in one inning also tied a major league record.

But I don't really want to think about Price. .. Hey! There were not many zeroes in the box score:

Andrew Benintendi reached base six times, walking in his first four trips to the plate, then homering in the eighth and doubling in the ninth. ... Mookie Betts had four hits, including two doubles. ... Xander Bogaerts walked three times and had a three-run double in the fifth that gave Boston its first lead of the night. ... In the last three innings, the Red Sox scored 11 runs on 10 hits and seven walks.

The Red Sox have had only three games since 2003 in which they drew more than 13 or more walks:

April 16, 2014 - 15 walks, beat White Sox 6-4 (14)
April 7, 2006 - 14 walks, beat Orioles 14-8
June 30, 2017 - 14 walks, beat Blue Jays 7-4 (11)

The Red Sox record for walks is 18, on September 17, 1920, in a 14-13 loss in 12 innings to the Tigers. (The most walks issued by Boston pitchers is also 18, in a 13-4 loss to Cleveland on May 20, 1948.)

The Red Sox have had 16+ hits and 13+ walks in a game only three times (since at least 1908):

April 7, 2006 - 16 hits, 14 walks, beat Orioles 14-8
September 29, 1956 - 16 hits, 13 walks, beat Yankees 7-5 (13)
May 18, 1946 - 17 hits, 15 walks, beat Browns 18-8

(If you're wondering how the Red Sox had so many hits and walks and scored only seven times in that 1956 Yankees game, they left 19 men on base.)

In Saturday's game, the Red Sox left five men on base in the first three innings. Betts doubled and Benintendi walked in the first, but two fly outs and a caught stealing ended that opportunity. With one out in the third, Betts singled and Benintendi walked, but J.D. Martinez struck out and Mitch Moreland grounded out.

Meanwhile, Lucas Duda homered off Price in the second. Whit Merrifield singled with one out in the third and Jorge Bonifacio doubled him to third. Mike Moustakas singled in one run and a sac fly from Salvador Perez made it 3-0.

The Red Sox batted around in the fifth against Brad Keller (4.2-6-4-5-2, 89). And it all started with two outs! Betts grounded a single to center, Benintendi walked on four pitches, Martinez lined a single to left (one run), Moreland walked on four pitches, and Bogaerts doubled to deep right center (three runs). Tim Hill came in from the pen and promptly walked Brock Holt on five pitches. But Hill also struck out Rafael Devers.

Price needed a "shut-down" inning in the bottom of the fifth. Instead, he gave up a single to Merrifield. He struck out Bonifacio, but hit both Moustakas and Perez. After a mound visit, he got Hunter Dozier looking, but then drilled Duda in the back and Merrifield scored the tying run.

Heath Hembree got out of a slight mess in the sixth when he walked Merrifield with two outs and Bonifacio reached on an error by Devers (his 18th). Hembree got Moustakas to fly to center.

Jason Adam struck out the side in the sixth, but the Red Sox took the lead for good in the seventh. Adam walked Benintendi and gave up a double to Martinez. Enny Romero - taken off waivers by the Royals on Thursday - gave up a sac fly to Moreland and intentionally walked Bogaerts. Holt flied out, but Romero walked Devers to load the bases. Christian Vazquez lined a single to left-center for two runs. Boston led 7-4.

Benintendi hit his 14th home run of the year in the eighth. Devers and Sandy Leon both singled off Brandon Maurer with one out in the ninth. Bradley forced Leon at second but beat the relay, and Bogaerts scored. Betts ripped a double down the left field line, scoring JBJ. Benintendi doubled to center, scoring Betts. Blake Swihart (hitting for JDM) singled to right, scoring Benintendi. The score was 12-4 and the Royals brought in catcher Drew Butera to pitch. (It was his fourth pitching appearance since 2012.)

Moreland lined Butera's first pitch to the left of shortstop for a single. Bogaerts walked and the bases were once again full of Red Sox. Butera got Holt to swing and miss at his first pitch, but then threw three balls and eventually walked Holt, forcing in a run. Then he walked Devers, forcing in another run. Then Leon singled to right, bringing in Boston's 15th run of the night.

Update:

The Royals threw 215 pitches. There have been only six other games this year (of no more than nine innings) in which a team has thrown that many pitches. The most is 236, by the Pirates against the Phillies on July 6 (Friday!). Pittsburgh allowed 18 hits and 10 walks and lost 17-5.

Most pitches in a game of nine or fewer innings since 2000: 252.
June 27, 2003 - Marlins threw 252 pitches to the Red Sox in Boston's 25-8 win.
August 22, 2007 (G1) - Orioles threw 252 pitches to the Rangers in Texas's 30-3 win.

Most pitches in a nine-inning game for which data exists: 263.
April 13, 1993 - Athletics threw 263 pitches to the Tigers in Detroit's 20-4 win.

AL East: The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 8-5, but the Red Sox (with an MLB-best 61 wins) remain 2 GA.

David Price / Brad Keller

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Holt, 2B
Devers, 3B
Vazquez, C
Bradley, CF

Today in Baseball History:

1923 - Cleveland scores in all eight innings against the visiting Red Sox, winning 27-3. No American League has ever scored in all nine innings of a game.

1931 - In the White Sox's 10-9 win over the Browns in 12 innings, 103 batters come to the plate and no one strikes out. It is the longest game in history without anyone going down by way of the K.

That's one record that will not be tied or broken any time soon!

On July 3, the Rays took the lead in the 16th inning. Time to bring in the backup catcher to pitch.

There's nothing too terribly uncommon about a position player taking the mound. But almost literally all of the time, that happens when the team is losing by quite a lot. The Rays were winning. [Jesus] Sucre was supposed to protect the 16th-inning lead. According to the Rays' own TV broadcasters, they'd never seen such a maneuver before. ...

All Sucre had to do was get three outs before allowing five runs. Sucre had actually pitched three times before. The first time, he wound up with a scoreless inning. The second time, he allowed three runs in an inning. The third time, he allowed three runs in an inning. That's not comfortable, but that's also not five. ... It's hard to allow five runs in an inning, when you have an arm good enough to be a big-league catcher. So was the idea.

AL East: MFY/TOR, 4 PM. The Red Sox are 2 GA.

NESN: Dave O'Brien: "The Royals Have Never Lost More Than 100 Games In A Season" (Well, Except For That Five-Year Span (2002-06) When They Lost 100+ Games Four Times)

Another Red Sox game, another bit of misinformation from Dave O'Brien at NESN.

In the JoS gamethread, fenfan mentioned this major gaffe from O'Brien early in Friday's game:

OB just said the Royals have NEVER lost more than 100 games in a season

I had to rewind the game to confirm he said that

They lost at least 100 games four times between 2002 and 2006 (106 losses in 2005 is the high water mark)

I had the game on mute at work, so I went back to the bottom of the second inning. Adalberto Mondesi had fouled off an 0-2 pitch. Both O'Brien and Jerry Remy were quiet as the Kansas City PA blared the Ramones. Then O'Brien proclaimed:

The Royals have never lost more than 100 games in a season, although this team is on a pace to blow right by that, set a new club record.

And then there was quiet once more, until Chris Sale was set to pitch again.

As fenfan noted, the Royals lost:

100 games in 2002
104 games in 2004
106 games in 2005
100 games in 2006

Here is the evidence, from Baseball Reference's Kansas City Royals Franchise Page:

As I have said before, you cannot trust anything that O'Brien says. (One night, he wasn't sure if Ty Cobb had played against the Twins - when he would have been 74 years old or dead! Come on!)

If O'Brien is not clogging the airwaves with silly things like how well Chris Sale has pitched against the NL East teams or how the Red Sox are 24-1 when Craig Kimbrel pitches or referring to things like a "slide-in double" or a "swifty", then he is making mistakes on obvious (and easily-verified) facts that a prepared, professional announcer should never make.

G89: Red Sox 10, Royals 5

Red Sox - 440 000 011 - 10 15  1
Royals  - 010 000 121 -  5 10  0

Mookie Betts nailed Jason Hammel's third pitch of the evening for a home run - a true leadoff home run (the 12th of his career). The Red Sox batted around in the first and J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts both hit two-run homers in the second.

Chris Sale (6-5-1-1-12, 99) recorded 18 outs, but only one of them was out of the infield. He had twelve strikeouts, three popups, two groundouts, and a fly to right. The Red Sox cruised to victory, the first team to 60 wins. They also increased their AL East lead to two games, thanks to the Blue Jays' 6-2 win over the Yankees.

The Red Sox hit Hammel (2-9-8-1-0, 58) early and often. After Betts's homer (the 100th of his career), Andrew Benintendi lined out to center and Martinez cracked a single to left. Steve Pearce's 'excuse-me' swing resulted in an infield single to third. Bogaerts walked, loading the bases. Brock Holt lined a single to right, scoring two runs. After Eduardo Nunez's fouled to second, Sandy Leon hit a run-scoring single to right.

With one out in the second, Benintendi singled and Martinez went deep to right-center (#27). Pearce doubled and Bogaerts went boom to left (#14). Jackie Bradley's double in the eighth scored Nunez, who had also doubled. Blake Swihart (who had replaced Benintendi in left) singled in the ninth and scored on Pearce's third hit (and second double) of the night.

Tyler Thornburg made his long-awaited Red Sox debut - and his first major league appearance since October 2, 2016 - in the seventh. Lucas Duda, his first batter, tripled to right. Thornburg got the next three batters on a fly to center, a groundout to second (Duda scored), and a liner to center. Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer off Brandon Workman in the eighth and Hector Velazquez pitched the ninth.

Pearce had three hits and scored two runs. Martinez had two hits, two runs, and two RBI. Holt had two hits and two RBI. Bogaerts scored two runs, drove in two runs, and walked twice (Boston's only walks).

AL East: The Blue Jays scored five runs off Sonny Gray in the bottom of the second (Gray did not return for the third!) and won 6-2. The Red Sox are 2 GA. ... In fact, Gray was so terrible, the Daily News thought it warranted two headlines!

Chris Sale / Jason Hammel

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Pearce, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Holt, 2B
Nunez, 3B
Leon, C
Bradley, CF

The Royals (25-61) are terrible. Only the Orioles have a worse record, just barely (24-62). However, Kansas City has lost two of three against the Os this season.

Among the 15 American League teams, the Royals are 15th in runs scored, 12th in hits, 12th in doubles, 15th in home runs, 14th in walks, 12th in average, 14th in on-base, 15th in slugging, and 15th in OPS. They are also 15th in ERA, 15th in pitchers' K, and 14th in fewest walks allowed.

Five pitchers have made more than nine starts for the Royals this year. They all have ERAs over 5.10.

Kansas City last won back-to-back games on May 29-30.

Since June 2, the Royals are 4-24. (And they scored only 10 runs in those four wins.)

From June 5-26, they went 3-16, batting .176/.239/.276, with an average of 1.9 runs and 5.7 hits per game.

Jeff Sullivan, FanGraphs, July 3:

[S]ince the beginning of June, the Royals have scored all of [67] runs. The next-lowest total for anyone is [101]. There are [four] teams that have outscored the Royals by at least a hundred runs. Not all year. Over just more than one month. The Royals' pitching hasn't been especially bad of late, but it's not at all a team strength. The Royals don't have very many good pitchers. Therefore, since the beginning of June, the Royals have gone a baseball-worst [5-25]. ... Over this span, the Royals' Pythagorean winning percentage is [.177]. No one else is below [.346]. ...

[If] you're a fan ... you've probably thought to yourself that this has looked like one of the worst teams in memory. Your instincts have been rather accurate. Here's to a better July, from this point forward. I don't know how it could ever get worse.

(I updated Sullivan's stats through July 5.)

OTM's Matt Collins looks at the bullpen, which now includes Tyler Thornburg!

AL East: MFY/TOR, 7 PM. The Red Sox are 1 GA. (Gleyber Torres is on the 10-day DL with a right hip strain.)

           RS    RA    DIFF    EXPW-L     ACTUAL W-L
Red Sox   457   327    +130     57-31    59-29  ----
Yankees   434   318    +116     54-30    56-28  1 GB

Red Sox Pitchers With 3+ RBI In A Game

Since 1908, a Red Sox pitcher has driven in three or more runs in a game 94 times.

Rick Porcello is #94, of course. He is also the only Red Sox pitcher to have a 3+-RBI game in the DH-era (now in its 46th year).

The last Boston pitcher to drive in three or more runs was Sonny Siebert, who hit two home runs and had three RBI on September 2, 1971. Earlier that year, in the second game of a June 26, 1971 doubleheader, Siebert knocked in five runs against the Orioles.

Two Red Sox pitchers have driven in six runs in a game. Wes Ferrell drove in all six runs in the first game of a August 1, 1936 doubleheader against the Philadelphia A's and Ellis Kinder had six RBI in a 9-2 win over the White Sox in the first game of a doubleheader on August 6, 1950.

Siebert's two homers on September 2, 1971 tied the Red Sox record, which was set by Wes Ferrell on three occasions: July 13, 1934, July 31, 1935, and August 12, 1936 (G1).

Babe Ruth and Red Ruffing hold the Boston record with five 3+-RBI games. Joe Bush, Dave Ferriss, Earl Wilson, Lefty Grove, and Wes Ferrell did it four times. ... Bush did it three times in 1918. Ferrell did it twice in one week: July 6 and 13, 1934.

A major league pitcher has driven in six or more runs in a game 13 times since 1908. Tony Cloninger holds the record with nine RBI, on July 3, 1966. Vic Rashi and Robert Person have had games of seven RBI.

There are undoubtedly more than 94 such games in Red Sox history, as Baseball Reference's database does not include games from 1901-07.

G88: Red Sox 3, Nationals 0

Red Sox   - 000 000 201 - 3  9  1
Nationals - 000 000 000 - 0  6  1

Only one Nationals runner advanced past first base against Eduardo Rodriguez (6-3-0-1-6, 84) and that happened because of an infield throwing error, not Rodriguez's doing. Jackie Bradley drove in two runs and Eduardo Nunez scored twice as the Red Sox swept the three-game series.

Washington starting pitcher Erick Fedde (1-2-0-0-0, 25) left the game with an apparent injury after a single by Rafael Devers, the leadoff batter in the second. Matt Grace took over, picked Devers off, and pitched four innings of one-hit ball. J.D. Martinez doubled with one out in the fourth, but did not advance.

In the bottom of the fifth, Pedro Severino dropped down a one-out bunt to third and went to second on Devers's error. Rodriguez got two fly outs to keep the game scoreless.

Ian Browne, MLB.com:

The lefty washed away the shakiness of his past two starts by holding off the Nats. He did it by bringing back his changeup, using it 26 times in 84 pitches. Rodriguez had become far too fastball-happy last time out when he threw 15 changeups in 95 pitches in a disappointing loss to the Yankees.

Asked Tuesday how he would rebound from his last start, Rodriguez offered this: "You'll see."

Steve Pearce stranded runners at first and third in the sixth (Mookie Betts and Martinez had singled), but the Red Sox broke through in the seventh. Devers opened the inning with a double to left-center off Ryan Madson and Nunez singled to right. Bradley's opposite field fly was caught by left fielder Adam Eaton with a sliding catch in foul territory. Devers tagged up, took off, hesitated, then kept going to the plate. He still scored, but may have bruised his right shoulder on his slide. (The Nats appealed the play, thinking Devers left early.)

Eaton was charged with an error because Nunez went to third. With two outs, Andrew Benintendi pinch-hit for Rodriguez. Madson's 3-2 pitch went to the backstop and Nunez scored easily. Betts flied to center to end the inning.

Matt Barnes allowed a one-out single in the seventh and Joe Kelly pitched a clean eighth. After Boston added another run - Nunez singled and scored on Bradley's double - Craig Kimbrel came in for the ninth. Anthony Rendon singled and, after Bryce Harper struck out, so did Daniel Murphy. With runners at first and second and the potential tying run at the plate, Kimbrel struck out Michael Taylor, getting three strikes after ball 1. Wilmer Difo popped up a 2-2 pitch that Christian Vazquez caught in foul territory, near the first base on-deck circle.

The Red Sox are off tomorrow and begin a three-game series in Kansas City on Friday night. Then they come back to Fenway Park for a seven-game homestand (three against the Rangers and four against the Blue Jays) before the All-Star break.

AL East: The Yankees beat Atlanta 6-2. The Red Sox remain 1 GA.

Eduardo Rodriguez / Erick Fedde

Betts, RF
Holt, SS
Martinez, LF
Pearce, 1B
Devers, 3B
Nunez, 2B
Bradley, CF
Vazquez, C
Rodriguez, P

AL East: ATL/MFY, 1 PM. The Red Sox are 1 GA.

JD Martinez Leads MLB In RBI, But He's Not The Red Sox's Best At Driving In Runs

In the fifth inning on Tuesday night, NESN's Dave O'Brien said Xander Bogaerts had been doing "damage with runners in scoring position" and he cited X's 44 RBI as evidence.

Bogaerts's 44 RBI is fourth-best on the Red Sox, tied for 33rd-best in the American League, and tied for 55th-best in MLB. (Games played on July 3 are not included in online stats as I am writing this.)

Not all of those 44 RBI qualify, however. Five of Bogaerts's RBI came from runners on first base (i.e., not in so-called "scoring position") and he drove himself in 12 times on home runs, so his true amount of RBI from runners at second and/or third is 27.

Where does that rank on the Red Sox?

# of RBI From Runners At 2nd And/Or 3rd

Andrew Benintendi   35
J.D. Martinez       33
Rafael Devers       27
Xander Bogaerts     27
Mitch Moreland      21
Mookie Betts        17
Brock Holt          15
Jackie Bradley      14
Eduardo Nunez       13
Sandy Leon           9
Christian Vazquez    7
Blake Swihart        3
Rick Porcello        2

The more opportunities a batter has to drive in runs, the more runs he will likely drive in. That should be obvious and it's why RBI totals - as a counting stat - can be misleading. You might think Player A is a better "run producer" because he finished the season with 120 RBI and Player B had only 95 RBI, but what if Player B drove in 95 of 320 possible runners (29.7%) while Player A drove in 120 of 450 runners (26.7%)?

Here is a concrete example from this year:

In 298 plate appearances, Mookie Betts has batted with runners on 97 times.
In 253 plate appearances, Mitch Moreland has batted with runners on 131 times.

Former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein:

Sometimes you guys [the media] get stuck evaluating players through home runs and RBIs. It's not the way most clubs do it these days. ... [Y]ou guys can talk about RBI if you want. We ignore them in the front office. ... If you want to talk about RBI at all, talk about them as a percentage of opportunity, but it simply is not a way that we use to evaluate offensive players.

Theo said that back in 2009.

The Red Sox's front office has not cared one whit about RBI totals for probably close to 15 years. But the perspective fans get from NESN (and other media) remains stuck in the dark ages. Is it crazy to want the network broadcasting the Red Sox's games to understand the team's philosophy and make an effort to enlighten fans?

"If you want to talk about RBI at all, talk about them as a percentage of opportunity ..."

Bogaerts has driven in 20.3% of runners on second base - fourth-best on the team, behind Martinez (23.4%), Benintendi (22.5%), and Betts (22.2%), and ahead of Leon (19.2%).

Bogaerts has also driven in 42.4% of runners on third base - third-best on the team, behind Benintendi (50.0%) and Holt (45.0%). After Bogaerts: Moreland (41.9%), Martinez (40.5%), Leon (40.0%), and Betts (36.8%).

And in case you are wondering which Red Sox batter is most successful in driving in runners from first base ... it's Sandy Leon (8.8%)! Beneath him on the list are Moreland (8.7%), Martinez (8.3%), Bogaerts (6.4%), Devers (6.2%), and Betts (5.9%).

So, put all of that together and we get:

Percentage Of All Runners On Base Batted In (Games 1-86)

Andrew Benintendi   18.87%
J.D. Martinez       18.83%
Xander Bogaerts     18.3 %
Sandy Leon          17.1 %
Mookie Betts        15.9 %
Mitch Moreland      15.7 %
Rafael Devers       15.28%
Brock Holt          15.25%
Jackie Bradley      10.6 %
Eduard Nunez         8.4 %
Christian Vazquez    6.8 %
Blake Swihart        5.7 %

Note #1: Martinez drove in three of four baserunners last night and passed Benintendi, who did not drive in any of his three baserunners. I am not changing my clickbait headline, though!

Note #2: Among all MLB hitters with at least 90 plate appearances, Steve Pearce has been the best at driving in runs this year: 28.6%.

Note #3: Aaron Judge: 16.2%, Didi Gregorius: 13.5%, Giancarlo Stanton: 12.0%.

G87: Red Sox 11, Nationals 4

Red Sox   - 030 060 002 - 11 12  0
Nationals - 000 201 001 -  4 12  0

Xander Bogaerts's three-run homer to center capped a six-run fifth inning and increased Boston's lead to 9-2. From there, it was smooth sailing to the Red Sox's 58th victory of the season.

J.D. Martinez drove in four runs with a single and his 26th home run of the year. His 71 RBI are easily the most in the majors (as I type this, Cincinnati's Eugenio Suarez has 63). Eduardo Nunez got the scoring started with a three-run dong.

Nationals starter Tanner Roark (7-10-9-2-4, 98) stayed in the game a bit longer than expected, presumably to avoid using an overworked bullpen for an additional inning or two. Roark faced eight more batters and recorded seven more outs than Red Sox starter Brian Johnson (4.2-8-2-2-2, 77).

Johnson looked pretty good for the first three innings. He pitched out of a 1st-and-2nd-no-out jam in the first, getting two popups and a strikeout. Sandy Leon helped out in the second by gunning down speedy Michael Taylor in his attempt to steal second. Johnson retired the Nats in order in the third.

Roark dispatched the Red Sox on seven pitches in the first, but Mitch Moreland singled to start the second. Bogaerts singled to right and Rafael Devers grounded into a force play. With runners on first and third, Nunez took a strike, then belted his sixth home run of the year to deep left-center. (Moreland left the game after this inning because of back spasms.)

Washington cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth. Bryce Harper doubled off the wall in right. Martinez twisted himself around as he went back, but it was hard to say if he would have had a shot at catching it anyway. Mark Reynolds's one-out single scored Harper. Reynolds moved to second on Taylor's single, took third on a fly to center, and came home on Roark's single to left.

Johnson got his first major league hit in the fifth, singling with one out. He was the first of seven consecutive Boston batters to reach base. Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi both singled to left, loading the bases. Roark threw inside to Martinez for ball 1 and then tried to throw another one. That pitched stayed over the plate and Martinez knocked it into left for two runs.

Steve Pearce, who had replaced Moreland and doubled in the fourth, lined a single towards the right field corner for another run. Bogaerts then crushed a 2-2 pitch to dead center. Through all of this, the Nationals' bullpen was a ghost town. Only after Roark walked Devers, the eighth batter of the inning, did the Nats dugout get on the phone to the pen. Someone may have thrown a few pitches, but he sat back down when Nunez, who had ended the fourth by hitting into a double play, ended the fifth by hitting into a double play. (Roark ended up pitching two more innings, retiring six straight batters.)

Johnson allowed a single and a walk in the fifth and was pulled after getting the second out. (There were two men on base, but Boston led 9-2 and Johnson (at 77 pitches) needed only one more out to qualify for a win. Alex Cora did not care.) Heath Hembree gave up a single, but left the bases loaded when he fanned Taylor. Pedro Severino homered off Hembree in the sixth and Brian Goodwin went deep off Michael Cuevas in the ninth.

The Red Sox had a double and two walks in the eighth, but hit into their third double play of the night, and did not score. In the ninth, Martinez homered to deep left with Benintendi on first.

AL East: The Yankees led 6-0 after four innings. Atlanta sent Luis Severino to the showers in the fifth, but New York held on 8-5.

NESN: Dave O'Brien recited a bizarre factoid when Betts batted in the fifth. It came from the Red Sox Game Notes, but I'm blaming OB because (a) he put it on the air and (b) he should know better about what qualifies as something worth mentioning and what is nonsense. Last night's game was the seventh game of Betts's career in which he had a home run and an outfield assist. Elias says Betts is tied with George Springer and Starling Marte for the most such games since the start of 2015.

Has counting games with a home run and an outfield assist ever been a thing? (No.) Will it ever - as in until the absolute end of time, after the sun had burned out and the universe shrinks back into pre-Big Bang nothingness - ever become a thing? (No.)

Brian Johnson / Tanner Roark

Betts, CF
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, RF
Moreland, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Nunez, 2B
Leon, C
Johnson, P

(Reminder: Tomorrow's game starts at 11 AM.)

The Red Sox went 17-10 in June. Matthew Kory of The Athletic writes that this team "might be one of the best Boston has seen in half a century, if not longer". They are on pace to win 107 games.

That would be more than any other Sox team has ever won, as the 1912 team currently holds the high mark with 105 wins. It is both amazing and preposterous that this Red Sox team is this good and yet isn't running away with the division. ...

The Sox were good at everything [in June]. They finished seventh in baseball in runs scored and slugging percentage, fifth in batting average and on-base percentage, sixth in ERA, fifth in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), and sixth in strikeout percentage. ...

After three games in Washington, the Red Sox don't face a team with a winning record again until July 30 at home against the Philadelphia Phillies. Boston plays 20 straight games against sub-.500 teams, including six against the Royals and Orioles who are on pace to lose 113 and 115 games, respectively.

Kory's lengthy summation also focuses on individual performances. Jen McCaffrey writes that manager Alex Cora has a picture from every Red Sox win this season taped to his office wall. Jon Sciambi tweeted a recent picture of Cora's gallery.

The Lowell Spinners (one of the Red Sox's Class A teams) have apologized for what "an awkward, and what some considered offensive, rendition of the Canadian national anthem" on Sunday. When the scheduled anthem singer canceled at the last minute, a member of the Spinners' staff volunteered. However, his inexperience, coupled with an audio delay between the microphone and the speakers resulted in a less-than-perfect performance (of which I can find no footage). The Spinners stated its promotion "was intended to celebrate Canada Day and show Canadian culture in a positive light, not to mock the great nation of Canada or anyone of Canadian descent."

On behalf of Canada, I accept this apology. 🇨🇦️

AL East: Atlanta/MFY, 7 PM. The Red Sox are 1 GA. (The Yankees lost in 11 innings last night when The Face of Baseball™ botched a catch at the wall. "Felt it in my glove, didn't go in, they got two runs." Lurch muffed a similar attempt on Rafael Devers's fly ball on Saturday.)

Watching MASN & NESN: "Strong. ... America." With Good Pop.

On Monday night, I split my time between MASN (the Nationals broadcast) and NESN.

The Nationals' broadcast team is Bob Carpenter (13th season with the Nats and 35th year of MLB play-by-play) and F.P. Santangelo (14-year career, 8th season with MASN).

Just before the first pitch, an on-screen graphic stated the Red Sox were 70-13 in interleague games since 2013 - and that record was the best in MLB. (Well, I should hope so.)

But that had to be wrong. There was no way the Red Sox had an .843 winning percentage against the NL. That's a 137-win pace. I made a note to check this factoid.

MASN's stats for the starting pitchers were given in two parts and they included opponents' average and on-base percentage, as well as groundball and flyball ratios. Then Carpenter mentioned Mookie Betts's on-base percentage after the second pitch of the game. This seemed like a promising start (that claim of a 70-13 record notwithstanding).

My partner Laura was ironing during the first inning, and was treating the TV audio as if it were a radio. "These guys are not calling the game." I said TV announcers rarely call every single pitch, but she said this was extreme. I paid closer attention to Carpenter when pitches were not put into play. She was right.

In the top of the second, Carpenter did not call any of the first 12 pitches that were fouled off, balls, or called or swinging strikes. None! It was like they had never happened. There was either dead air - sometimes for as long as 15 seconds* - or Carpenter just kept telling whatever story he was in the middle of. When he finally did note a pitch had been thrown, he conveyed no real information. "It goes off-speed" or "Cutter, a little faster" is not calling a pitch.

*: The booth is silent. ... A pitch is made. ... More silence. ... Absolutely nothing is said by either announcers until right before the pitcher delivers his next pitch! "2-2."

Saying "high one for strike two" was better, but he failed to mention that the batter had swung and missed. Carpenter did this for several innings. It's clearly his "style". I've never heard an announcer who regularly failed to acknowledge more than half the pitches in every half-inning.

In the third, they discussed the "new innovations" in baseball. Santangelo mentioned a roundtable discussion devoted to how the game is changing. He was either part of the discussion or just listened to it, I wasn't sure. Carpenter asked him: "Any ways to stop it?" (Okay, he thinks innovation is bad.) Santangelo did say that the idea of banning shifts was insane.

I heard a new foul verb: "bumped". ... My ears also perked up when Carpenter said Soto's fifth-inning single was "gashed through the shift".

While my listening history with Santangelo is only about five innings, he was lousy. He had nothing to say about either pitcher's performance to a specific batter or in a general sense. His comments about the hitters were likewise non-specific and bland. He mentions something about Bryce Harper rising up in his stance to swing at a high pitch, but acted like Harper was doing that on every swing, something for which no evidence was offered.

This series includes a game played on July 4, so both teams have stars and stripes on the lettering of their shirts and caps. (Joe Kelly sported some interesting socks late in the game.) The catchers wore bright blue chest protectors covered with white stars; they resembled pajamas. When Santangelo said he thought Nats catcher Pedro Severino's gear was "awesome", Carpenter said it looked like Scherrzer "is throwing to a flag".

As MASN showed Severino, Santangelo continued:

That's sweet. I love it. ... The sleeve. ... The chest protector. ... The shoulder guards. ... Strong ... America.

Seriously. That's what he said.

I got more annoyed as the innings went on. After Rendon homered in the fourth, both announcers acted like the Nationals had won the pennant, as opposed to being down by two runs. When Santangelo started talking about how the Nationals will be serious contenders in the NL East and that he can't wait until "we" turn this season around, I had had enough.

Yes, they drove me to NESN.

(Wait! That 70-13 interleague record! ... I checked the facts at Baseball Reference. Since 2013, the Red Sox are 70-35 against the NL. I have no idea where MASN came up with 13 losses.

2013: 14- 6
2014:  9-11
2015: 13- 7
2016: 14- 6
2017: 16- 4
2018:  4- 1 (now 5-1)

From the Red Sox's Game Notes for Monday (which seem to have an error, also; BRef has a 20-5 record since 2017, not 21-5):

NESN: I listened to Dave O'Brien mention home runs 382 times over the final four innings. I'm convinced that by the end of the season, he will have said that every team's lineup has "good pop" in it. And he will have praised upwards of 80% of all batters as having "good pop" or "surprising pop" in their bats.

In the eighth and ninth innings, O'Brien pressed the point that "nothing has been easy tonight" and that the Red Sox had "no easy innings" and the game has been "a grind". Yet at the same time (almost literally), he gushed about Porcello's "very strong start", which seemed like an obvious contradiction.

O'Brien also mentioned something that most viewers might not know about Bryce Harper. The Nationals' star may be a great hitter, but did you know he has never had 100 RBI in a season?

It is clear that O'Brien - in 40-50 years as a baseball fan and as an announcer who is paid to study and think about the game - has never considered that batters have absolutely no control over how many runners are on base when they come to the plate. My thought was interrupted when O'Brien added that Harper had driven in 99 runs in 2015. ... I stared at the TV screen. O'Brien is faulting this guy for not driving in one additional runner so he could hit this arbitrary magic counting number?

I'd think OB was trolling fans if I (and many others) didn't have the very strong impression that he fancies himself quite the knowledgeable baseball man. ... Meanwhile, he extolls Chris Sale's combined performance against AL East teams and praises Jackie Bradley because the team has an excellent record when JBJ hits a home run. (After all, he does have a bit of "pop" in his bat.)

G86: Red Sox 4, Nationals 3

Red Sox   - 030 000 100 - 4  7  0
Nationals - 000 101 010 - 3  9  0

Rick Porcello stepped in against his friend and former teammate Max Scherzer with two outs in the top of the second. The Nationals had intentionally walked Jackie Bradley to load the bases. Porcello's career batting average was .156 (5-for-32) and his only two RBI came way back on June 12, 2009, in the 12th start of his rookie season and his first game as a major league hitter.

Porcello swung and missed two pitches before driving a 96 mph fastball over the head of left fielder Juan Soto. The ball took two hops to the wall and all three runners scored. Porcello could not suppress a wide grin as he stood on second base, knowing he had increased his career RBI total by 150% with his first extra-base hit.

The Nationals got two of those runs back off Porcello (6-7-2-2-5, 92) on solo home runs from Rendon and Murphy. Mookie Betts's 21st dong of the season upped Boston's lead to 4-3. Bryce Harper's bomb to right-center cut the lead to 4-3, but Joe Kelly, who had surrendered it, stayed steady and Craig Kimbrel pitched a four-out save.

(Betts's homer was estimated at 430 feet. Harper obliterated the ball and it was announced at 439. This one example tells me that these distances are bullshit. Like Manny Ramirez's moonshot to left many years ago at Fenway Park was announced as 501 feet, suspiciously one foot shy of Ted Williams's team record.)

The Yankees lost leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and fell to Atlanta 5-3 in 11 innings. The Red Sox (57-29) are 1 GA.

This was only the second time (in 18 starts) that Scherzer (6-4-3-3-9, 108) allowed more than two earned runs. He breezed through the first inning on 11 pitches, but Mitch Moreland lined a single to center in the second. With one out, Scherzer hit Brock Holt near the left knee with a pitch. Sandy Leon struck out and the Nats put Bradley on. Porcello then showed that having a DH in both leagues would deny fans the thrill of seeing pitchers come up with huge hits.

Washington ran themselves out of a potential scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second. Daniel Murphy singled with one out and then tried to go to third when Wilmer Difo singled to right. It was a bone-head decision because Betts fielded the ball in short right and Murphy was just back from an injury. Mookie's strong, one-hop throw was to the left field side of the bag, but Rafael Devers still had time to reach for it and dive back towards the runner.

Scherzer drilled Xander Bogaerts to open the third and Holt's two-out single put runners at first and third. Scherzer got Leon to pop to center on his 35th pitch of the inning. His pitch count was then at 73 (11-27-35).

In the bottom of the ninth, Kimbrel struck out Adam Eaton and got Trea Turner to fly to right. Kimbrel's 2-1 pitch to Turner was too low, but plate umpire Jerry Layne called it a strike. (Dave O'Brien called it "a dandy" on NESN, even as the on-scren pitch tracker showed it well out of the strike zone.) With two outs, Kimbrel faced Soto and was ahead 0-2. His next pitch was over the plate and maybe six inches higher than the pitch Layne had called a strike only a few minutes earlier. This pitch was actually in the strike zone - and Layne called it a ball.

Kimbrel threw two more balls, Soto fouled a pitch off, and Kimbrel threw ball 4. Rendon watched three pitches out of the zone - and I could easily imagine the Nationals winning this game because of Layne's fuck-up. But Rendon swung on 3-0 and lined out to Andrew Benintendi in left for the final out.

Here are both pitches as shown by NESN's pitch tracker (pitch #4 in both cases):

Note: These were two consecutive calls by Layne. The pitches in between them were: foul, fly out to right, swinging strike, swinging strike, foul.

For a clearer view of how badly Layne screwed up, here is BrooksBaseball:

Turner:

Soto:

And for anyone thinking Layne might have realized his mistake (as far as the batter was concerned) and corrected it with a make-up call, that would be completely unacceptable. If you make an obvious mistake, you don't go out and make more obvious mistakes in the hopes that someone will forget the original one.

Fortunately, Layne's incompetence did not cost the Red Sox a win.

Rick Porcello / Max Scherzer

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Devers, 3B
Holt, 2B
Leon, C
Bradley, CF
Porcello, P

Scherzer has a 2.04 ERA in 17 starts. He has allowed more than two earned runs only once this year. (Eddie Matz, ESPN: "Max Scherzer swears he's normal. The evidence points to the contrary.")

Factoid: The Nationals have been shut out in three of his last four starts.

A bit more on David Price:

Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic:

According to The Athletic's Katie Sharp on Twitter, Price became the only pitcher in baseball history to have three career games against the Yankees of fewer than four innings pitched and eight-plus earned runs allowed.

It looks like Sharp pointed this out at River Avenue Blues, not Twitter. Regardless, here is the list of those pitchers since 1908.

Sean McAdam, Boston Sports Journal:

Price spent the last few weeks not-to-subtly mocking the narrative that he's not tough enough to pitch in big spots, sarcastically labeling himself "soft" while mocking the notion that he wasn't tough enough in big spots. He did so almost dripping with condescension, as if that suggestion was the most ludicrous explanation possible for his travails.

But it's hard to think otherwise, given the body of evidence. ...

[I]t's becoming increasingly obvious this is A Thing, and will remain so until Price demonstrates otherwise.

AL East: Atlanta/MFY, 7 PM. The Red Sox and Yankees are tied for first place.

G85: Yankees 11, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 000 000 001 -  1  4  0
Yankees - 420 300 02x - 11 16  0 

There was a gun fight in the Bronx on Sunday night - and David Price brought a peashooter.

Price (3.1-9-8-0-3, 71) became the fourth Red Sox pitcher in history to allow five home runs in a game to the Yankees. Previously in his 11-year career, the most long balls Price had been tagged for was three. He tied that mark tonight after facing only 10 batters. His eight earned runs allowed tied a career-worst.

Aaron Hicks led the pinstriped dong parade with three circuit blasts, with Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and Kyle Higashioka each hitting one. Higashioka's fourth-inning shot to left field was his first major league hit, and it allowed him to shed the 0-for-22 collar he had been wearing.

Luis Severino was expected to be on his game - and he was (6.2-2-0-3-6, 99) - so Price knew he had to stifle the Yankees' bats. He failed utterly. His second batter of the game (Judge) crushed a 2-2 pitch over the wall in center. Price then went to a 2-1 count on Giancarlo Stanton. Three pitches later, it was 4-0. Stanton singled, Didi Gregorius doubled, and Torres homered.

Brett Gardner singled with one out in the second and Hicks homered to right-center. 6-0. Price then retired five of the next six batters, but Higashioka led off the fourth with a solo shot and Hicks hit his second dong one out later. And that was it for Price.

Greg Joyce, Post:

When he was finally put out of his misery and lifted by manager Alex Cora ... Price received a standing ovation from the jeering crowd at Yankee Stadium, perhaps the only place he'll be so beloved any time soon.

Price has started five games for the Red Sox in the Bronx. The Yankees have batted .409 in those games and Boston has lost all five.

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

In the vernacular of the old "Batman" TV series:

BAM! — The Yankees kneecapped the Sox behind CC Sabathia Friday, 8-1.

BONK! — The Red Sox stomped Sonny Gray and Chris Sale suffocated the Yankees Saturday, 11-0.

KAPOW! — The Yankees slaughtered David Price, and Luis Severino was his usual genius self against the Sox in an 11-1 series-clincher Sunday. ...

[The last game] was as ugly as it was predictable ... given the fact that since [Price] signed his seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox prior to the 2016 season he has been little more than a glorified batting-practice pitcher against the Yankees. ...

The teams will take a breather from each other for a good month, go back to filleting the rest of the sport while they eye each other carefully. ...

What we took away from this series was simple and it was visceral: both teams can pound the baseball to frightening effect. Both teams have aces — Sale and Severino — who will help making losing streaks all but impossible on either side. The Yankees took two of three this weekend, and have won five of the first nine, but the teams are as closely (and as intriguingly) matched as the records hint that they should be.

David Price / Luis Severino

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Holt, 2B
Vazquez, C
Bradley, CF

David Price has not allowed more than three runs in any of his last nine starts (2.72 ERA), but a few members of the media are (surprise!) stirring the pot, wondering if Price can pitch well tonight against the Yankees.

Greg A. Bedard, Boston Sports Journal:

The first time Price faced the Yankees this season, he exited after one inning pitched with numbness in his hand due to cold weather and four earned runs on April 11. Price was scratched from his next start against the Yankees ... in what later became the infamous Fortnite episode. ...

Since joining the Sox in 2016, Price is 2-4 in seven starts against the Yankees with a 7.28 ERA. He's allowed 53 hits in 37.1 innings against the Pinstripers. ...

[I]f Price goes out and struggles against the Yankees, the pressure he's already not happy with is only going to escalate.

John Tomase, WEEI:

Since joining the Red Sox ... Price is 2-5 with a ghastly 7.42 ERA in eight starts vs. the Bombers. He has allowed at least six runs in half of them ...

Price's efforts have resulted in a litany of failure, including a one-inning, four-run outing this April that played a direct role in Price's petulant response on Tuesday night. ...

He has since made numerous sarcastic, sneering references to how soft he is ... If he delivers another stinker on Sunday, he'll merely confirm the worst suspicions of his harshest critics.

Outside of a loss to [Cleveland] in the 2016 playoffs, it's fair to say Sunday night marks the biggest start of Price's Red Sox career.

Ryan Hannable, WEEI:

[A]sked about his next start ... [Price] took it as a chance to make another sarcastic remark.

"I don't think I'll be able to go, so I don't think so," he said with a smirk. ... "Fortnite."

Appearing on The Jim Rome Show Wednesday, Price was asked about ... why he's been so sarcastic when speaking to the media this season.

"I guess it is just having a personality," he said. "That is all you're trying to do, just have fun with it and if it is viewed the wrong way or words get twisted around, so be it. You can't control what is said and all that, so you just go out there and have fun."

Alex Reimer, WEEI:

Nobody on this planet could possibly find David Price's bone-dry sarcasm amusing or enjoyable. He is joyless, not even offering a faint smirk when begins his passive-aggressive routine. ...

It's apparent Price has dropped any pretense that he can even tolerate Boston. He loathes the fans who cheer him and beat writers who defend him. So now, he's not even pretending to play along. ...

Price just doesn't like anybody. ... He's bitter and angry about Boston, because people criticize him on social media and the radio. ...

[Is Price] the most bitter man who's ever been guaranteed $217 million?

Bedard and Tomase offer different stats for Price's starts for Boston against the Yankees. For the record, Tomase is right and Bedard is wrong. (Bedard failed to include Price's start on September 27, 2016.)

The Yankees are 15-2 in Severino's 17 starts and he has a 2.10 ERA.

Back in May, the Globe's Nick Cafardo dubbed Luis Severino "the ace of aces".

But Severino has pitched poorly against the Red Sox this season. On April 10 at Fenway Park, he gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings as Boston won 14-1. On May 8 at Yankee Stadium, he gave up two runs in six innings and struck out 11. The Yankees won 3-2.

Severino's 2018 stats:

               GS    IP     H   R  ER  BB    K    ERA    WHIP
vs Red Sox      2    11    14   7   7   3   17   5.73   1.545
Everyone Else  15   100.2  67  20  19  23  115   1.70   0.894

Total          17   111.2  81  27  26  26  132   2.10   0.958

Severino: "I want to face any team. I'm not scared of anybody."

AL East: The Red Sox are 1 GA of the Yankees.

Chris Sale - Historic Dominance Over The Yankees

Chris Sale is the only pitcher in baseball history with more than one start against the Yankees in which he struck out 10+ batters and allowed one or no hits.

May 22, 2014 - 6 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts (White Sox won 3-2)

June 30, 2018 - 7 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts (Red Sox won 11-0)

Chris Sale is the only pitcher in MLB history with *multiple* outings of 10+ K and 1 H or fewer vs Yankees.

He also did it on May 22, 2014 with White Sox.

H/T @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/zVkbFDBdtM

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 1, 2018

On Bobby Bonilla Day, We Learn Bruce Sutter Is Still Drawing An MLB Check

Every year on July 1, a few sportswriters point out that Bobby Bonilla is receiving a check from the Mets for $1,193,248.20. Bonilla will receive a similar check each July until 2035.

However, as Michael Mayer points out, Bonilla is not alone. There are many former and current players who will receive millions of dollars after their careers are over. One example: Bruce Sutter threw his last pitch 30 years ago (!) and Atlanta has been paying him $1.12 million per year. Those payments will end in 2021, when Sutter receives a final payment of $9.1 million.

I grouped Michael Mayer's list - which is most likely not complete - by team and semi-chronologically (and edited it a little bit for consistency):

The Nationals

owe Joe Blanton deferred payments of $1 million in 2018 and $2 million in 2019

owe Rafael Soriano an annual deferred payment of $2,000,000 for seven years (2018 through 2024)

will pay Jayson Werth a one-time deferred payment of approximately $11 million in 2018

owe Daniel Murphy deferred payments of $2.5 million in 2019 and $3 million in 2020

owe Matt Wieters a one-time deferred payment of $5 million in 2021

will pay Stephen Strasburg deferred payments of $10 million each on July 1 from 2024 through 2030 (these payments can change according to opt-outs)

will pay Max Scherzer deferred payments of $15 million each on July 1 from 2022 through 2028

will pay Ryan Zimmerman a total of $10 million over a span of 5 years for personal services once his playing career ends

The Brewers

will pay the final of three deferred payments of $2,333,333 to Kyle Lohse in 2018

owe Ryan Braun $1,800,000 each year starting in 2022 through 2031

owe Lorenzo Cain $1 million annually as a deferred payment from 2023 to 2027

The Cardinals

owe Jim Edmonds a deferred payment of $300,000 in both 2018 and 2019 (the annual payments started in 2010)

will pay Matt Holliday $1.4 million on every July 15 from 2020 to 2029

The Mets

have paid Bret Saberhagen a deferred payment of $250,000 annually from 2004; these payments will continue through 2028

owe Carlos Beltran his final deferred payment of $3,142,857 in 2018

owe Johan Santana deferred payments of $5.5 million in 2018, 2019, and 2020

will cut a check for $1,193,248.20 to Bobby Bonilla today and will continue paying that annual amount through 2035; Bonilla also gets a second deferred payment of $500,000 every year that is split evenly between the Orioles and Mets; before the Bonilla deferred deal, the Mets deferred 40% of Darryl Strawberry's 1990 salary of $1.8 million at a 5.1% interest rate to be paid from 2004-2033 (that payment was sold by the IRS in 2015 to the highest bidder)

The Orioles

will give Chris Davis 15 deferred payments: $3.5 million annually from 2023 through 2032 and $1.4 million annually from 2033 through 2037

The Reds

began giving Ken Griffey Jr. a deferred payment of $3,593,750 in 2009 and will continue to do so annually through 2024

owe Bronson Arroyo a deferred payment of $1,363,636 each year from 2018 through 2021

The Rockies

are paying $13.1 million of the money they owed Todd Helton over a span of 10 years starting in 2014 with 3% interest

Atlanta

is still paying Bruce Sutter a deferred payment of $1.12 million each year and will do so through 2021, at which time he will receive a final balloon payment of $9.1 million

The Mariners

have a deferred payment set up with Ichiro Suzuki: $25 million at 5.5% interest in annual installments each January 30 starting with the year after his retirement from the major leagues until at least 2032

The Angels

agreed to pay Albert Pujols $10 million over 10 years in a personal-services contract that begins upon retirement or once his contract expires

The Tigers

agreed in 2009 to pay Gary Sheffield $12.5 million in deferred money with 3% interest; the final payment will be made in 2019

The Yankees

are also paying Sheffield an undisclosed amount in deferred payments

The Red Sox

will give Manny Ramirez a deferment payment of $2,003,389 this year and will continue paying that amount annually through 2026 at 2.5% interest

The Orioles Have Not Beaten An American League Team Since May 25

You read that right.

It's been five weeks since the Baltimore Orioles won a game against an American League team.

To paraphrase Hank Hill, "But, Bobby, you play in the American League."

Way back on May 25, the Orioles beat the Rays 2-0.

Since then:

May 26-27: Lost two games to the Rays

May 28-30: Lost three games to the Nationals

June 1-2: Lost two games to the Yankees

June 5-6: Won two games against the Mets

June 7-10: Lost four games to the Blue Jays (two of which were 10th-inning walkoffs in Toronto)

June 11-13: Lost three games to the Red Sox (one of which was 2-0 in 12 innings)

June 15-17: Lost two of three games to the Marlins

June 19-21: Lost two of three games to the Nationals

June 22-24: Won two of three games against Atlanta

June 25-28: Lost four games to the Mariners

June 29-30: Lost two games to the Angels

So:

Saturday morning, May 26: 17-34, last place in AL East, 18 GB

Sunday morning, July 1: 23-59, last place in AL East, 32 GB*

The Orioles have gone 6-25 over the last five weeks: 6-8 against the National League and 0-17 against the American League.

*: No other MLB team is even 20 GB.

Schadenfreude 223 (A Continuing Series)

In the 2,169 regular-season games between the Red Sox and Yankees since 1903, Boston has shutout New York while scoring 11 or more runs only three times:

May 30, 1941 (G2)

Yankees - 000 000 000 -  0  2  6
Red Sox - 302 520 10x - 13 16  1

September 6, 2003

Red Sox - 010 600 040 - 11 12  0
Yankees - 000 000 000 -  0  4  1

June 30, 2018

Red Sox - 420 001 211 - 11 17  0
Yankees - 000 000 000 -  0  2  0

(2003 Game Bonus: Losing Pitcher: Roger Clemens!)

(If you are curious, the Yankees have shutout the Red Sox by at least an 11-0 score four times, but not since July 1937.)

Here is a list of all Red Sox players who had 5+ hits and 4+ RBI in a game against the Yankees. (All three hit a home run in the first inning!):

Vern Stephens, May 30, 1951 (G1): 5-for-7, 3 runs scored, 2 home runs (3-run HR in 1st inning, solo HR in 15th inning), 4 RBI, walk (Red Sox won 11-10 (15))

Willie Tasby, July 10, 1960: 5-for-5, 3 runs scored, double, solo home run (1st inning), 4 RBI (Red Sox won 9-5)

Rafael Devers, June 30, 2018: 5-for-5, 3 runs scored, double, grand slam home run (1st inning), 4 RBI (Red Sox won 11-0)

Last night's rout was the Red Sox's 25th game since 1908 in which they held the Yankees to 2 hits or fewer and no runs. The first 10 games occurred between 1908 and 1916, with the next 10 games between 1917 and 1968. Here are the five games from the last 50 years:

June 7, 1990: Red Sox 3-0, Yankees had 1 hit off Harris/Reardon

June 9, 2009: Red Sox 7-0, Yankees had 2 hits off Beckett/Delcarmen/Ramirez/Bard

April 10, 2011: Red Sox 4-0, Yankees had 2 hits off Beckett/Papelbon

June 2, 2013: Red Sox 3-0 (6), Yankees had 2 hits off Buchholz

June 30, 2018: Red Sox 11-0, Yankees had 2 hits off Sale/Hembree/Velazquez

Dan Martin, Post:

A night after the Yankees did just about everything right against the Red Sox, they managed to do everything wrong on Saturday in an 11-0 loss at the Stadium.

That's what a Sonny Gray-Chris Sale mismatch will do.

Gray gave up a Rafael Devers grand slam in the first and didn't make it out of the third, while Sale allowed just a single to Giancarlo Stanton in seven dominant innings.

It was a debacle from start to finish for the Yankees, as Gray proved again that he's not good in The Bronx and even worse against the Red Sox.

He delivered his worst outing of the year, matching a season-worst by giving up six runs in just 2.1 innings. Gray was booed off the mound in the first and again in the third after he was pulled by Aaron Boone. ...

But Gray's problems aren't limited to the Red Sox. ...

With Saturday's loss, the Yankees fell to 7-9 when Gray starts and he went into the game ... with a 6.50 ERA in The Bronx overall since joining the Yankees. ...

The Yankees, who weren't shut out until June 10, have now been held scoreless three times in their past seven games.

Joel Sherman, Post:

Aaron Boone emerged from the dugout with one out in the third and in a moment of hesitancy the full house at Yankee Stadium hovered, confused whether to cheer his presence or get an early start on booing Sonny Gray's disappearance.

There were no mixed messages after Boone took the ball. Gray endured what played like a three-mile walk back to the home dugout. The Yankee starter was bathed in the kind of Bronx derision saved for Carl Pavano or A.J. Burnett — a throaty serenade of distaste, dismay, disappointment. ...

Gray can't pitch well in The Bronx or against Boston, and when it comes to being a Yankees starter that would be the equivalent of not being able to dance or sing, yet auditioning for a Broadway musical. ...

Before Boston tied this series, Boone insisted Gray was "a different guy" from the one who surrendered six runs in three innings in April in Fenway. ...

That looked prescient — for two batters. ... The next 14 Red Sox would go 7-for-11 with two walks and a sacrifice fly to oust the righty after 2.1 innings. ...

By the time he was lifted, Gray had an 8.25 ERA in eight 2018 home starts. That would outdo the current Yankee worst in at least eight starts, the 6.49 by Pavano in 2005.

The Yankees have lost all four of Gray's starts these past two years against the Red Sox. His ERA of 9.35 is the third worst (minimum four starts) by a Yankee against Boston, behind Jose Contreras (16.43) and Andy Hawkins (14.44) and ahead of Sidney Ponson (9.17) and Burnett (7.29). ...

Boone, as you would expect, said he believes that Gray can succeed in The Bronx and against Boston ... Joe Torre said similar stuff about Contreras, Joe Girardi about Burnett — right up until they were dispatched. ...

Gray was acquired to be a No. 2 starter and instead resides as the Yankees' No. 1 problem. He wilts in The Bronx, crumbles at the sight of the Red Sox. The Yankees have three more series vs. Boston after the trade deadline. With or without an addition, can the Yankees actually trust Gray to pitch in any of them with the stakes this high?

John Harper, Daily News:

[I]t's becoming more and more clear that Gray can't be trusted in a big game, especially against the Red Sox. ...

[T]he Yankees' need for a proven starting pitcher is becoming more of a headline-grabbing narrative by the day, it seems — all the more so after Gray's worst start of the season. ...

And now here was Gray, giving up six runs, four on Rafael Devers' first-inning grand slam, while lasting only 2.1 innings in what turned into an 11-0 loss to the Red Sox, raising his ERA to 5.44 for the season. ...

Gray was mostly awful against the Red Sox when he was with the A's as well, and now has a 6.97 career ERA against them in eight starts. ...

Before Saturday's game Aaron Boone suggested the April start in Fenway was largely irrelevant ...

"The start he had against them in Boston, I just don't think he was a in a good place yet throwing the ball," Boone said. "I feel like he's a much different guy right now than he was in early April. I feel he's much more equipped to be successful against them."

So much for that. Instead Gray was awful, and perhaps most significantly of all, at his locker afterward it sounded as if his poor season is getting to him. ...

[N]ow the Yankees have to worry about Gray's state of mind, and whether he is mentally tough enough to handle this type of failure. ...

"I'm well aware of the way I've struggled here. ... I've been bad against a lot of teams."

Kudos to him for his candor, but it only added to the concern about him.

Ken Davidoff, Post:

The Yankees never hit Chris Sale, and the Red Sox always hit Sonny Gray. Might as well knock out both guarantees in one fell swoop, right? ...

If we get the Yankees-Red Sox postseason series we desire and deserve, Boston will have the top starting pitcher in that heavyweight bout. ...

Sure, Luis Severino is a stud ... [but] Sale's sublime track record against the Yankees gives him — and his team — a significant edge.

With this masterpiece, Sale lowered his ERA to 1.61 in 16 appearances, 14 of them starts, against the Yankees. That's the finest such showing among pitchers with 10-plus starts against the Yankees in the Live Ball Era (since 1920). ...

Is there anyone in the game the Yankees would rather not face than this guy, especially in October?

John Healy, Daily News:

Long gone are the days of David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez tormenting the Yankees, but the Red Sox seem to have some new players to give their AL East foe nightmares.

Chris Sale and Rafael Devers are proving to be the kryptonite for the Bronx Bombers these days and demonstrated why in a 11-0 shellacking on Saturday night in the Bronx. ...

While his career is very young, Devers is developing a reputation for being a Yankee-killer. ...

Prior to Saturday's deflating first-inning grand slam, Devers silenced Yankee Stadium last August when he blasted a 102 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman into the Red Sox bullpen for a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of a 3-2 extra-inning victory. ...

Meanwhile, Sale continues to pose a serious problem for the Bombers. The Red Sox ace completely shut down the Yankees ... holding them to just one hit while striking out 11 over seven innings ...

"He looks like the best pitcher in the big leagues right now," manager Alex Cora said.

He's certainly the best pitcher when facing the Yankees. The 29-year-old southpaw now holds a 1.61 career ERA against them, the lowest among pitchers in the history of the live ball era.

Greg Joyce, Post:

The Yankees aren't the only team with young studs in this rivalry.

A night after Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres were difference-makers in a Yankees victory, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers sent a loud 356-foot reminder those pinstriped rookies aren't alone. And he was only getting started.

The 21-year-old cranked a two-out, opposite-field grand slam in the first inning to put the Red Sox on the board, the first of his career-high five hits ...

The baby-faced Devers ended the game 5-for-5 with three runs scored and finished a triple shy of the cycle — he never has tripled in 139 career games. He came within a few inches of another home run in the seventh inning, but the ball tipped off Aaron Judge's glove, onto the top of the right-field wall and back into play, forcing Devers to settle for a double. ...

[Devers] became the youngest player, at 21 years, 249 days, to hit a grand slam in a Red Sox-Yankees game, according to STATS. The previous record holders were two guys by the names of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio.

Howie Kussoy, Post:

Hitting cleanup for the first time had no impact on Gleyber Torres. Facing Chris Sale for the first time did.

[Torres] looked as lost as ever in Saturday's 11-0 loss to the Red Sox, tying a career-high with three strikeouts, while becoming the youngest Yankee (21 years, 199 days) since Mickey Mantle (1953) to bat fourth. Torres ... became the third-youngest Yankee to ever hit cleanup, following Mantle (21 years, 197 days) and Lou Gehrig (20 years, 100 days). ...

[Torres] was overmatched against the Boston ace. ...

In his first cleanup appearance, Torres had one of the few opportunities to do damage, stepping to the plate with two on and one out in the first inning. Torres quickly went down on three pitches, swinging — and missing — on the final two.

He then struck out on five pitches in his second at-bat.

In his seventh-inning encounter with Sale, Torres fouled off two pitches, but went down swinging against a 100 mph fastball.

Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:

According to Alex Rodriguez, the best offensive tandem in baseball doesn't play in the Bronx.

"While (Giancarlo) Stanton and Aaron Judge get a lot of attention, the Red Sox have the best 1-2 punch in baseball in Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez," A-Rod told the Boston Globe ...

Based on the numbers so far this season, he's right. Heading into Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game, Betts (1.104 OPS) and Martinez (1.028) ranked third and fifth in ESPN's Offensive WAR, while Judge (.954) was 12th and Stanton (.846) was 66th.

"If you asked the insiders in the game, they would put Mookie in the top three players in the game and that's a hell of a compliment for a guy who goes under the radar," A-Rod told the Globe. "And the reason he goes under the radar is because he's a consummate professional. He does everything really well and he gets better every year and does it with class, elegance, and stealth.

"J.D. is becoming a top slugger in our game, a combination of power and run production and contact... What the most impressive thing about him is, just about everybody who comes into a big market like New York and Boston, there's an adjustment period. ... J.D. hit the ground running. The one to credit here is (Red Sox president of baseball operations) Dave Dombrowski."