Red Sox fans seeing the real Rick Porcello in May

An average pitching performance is what Boston Red Sox fans should expect out of Rick Porcello.

Coming into tonight’s game in Kansas City, Rick Porcello had the distinction of having all quality starts to begin the season. Steven Wright had that kind of run until his last rain-soaked disaster (five earned runs allowed). Were we seeing the real Rick Porcello or did we just see a good month from a highly paid pitcher?

Of course this is only one start, but with the bad news of Eduardo Rodriguez potentially being out for an extended period, the Red Sox could have used a big night from Porcello. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Porcello put them in a hole they couldn’t crawl out of, as the Red Sox lost to Kansas City Tuesday night, 8-4.

Porcello had trouble putting hitters away. Four of the eight hits the ex-Tiger gave up were with two strikes on the batter. The home run bug caught him again, as he surrendered a solo home run to Eric Hosmer. Considering Hosmer was batting ahead of Kendrys Morales, who is having a terrible season with an OPS of just .602, Porcello should have been smarter about leaving anything near the strike zone. Twice Porcello walked Hosmer, but the one time he didn’t, Hosmer burned him with a home run.

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Sometimes stats can be deceiving. Yes, Porcello had a 3.11 ERA coming into the game and he had all quality starts this season, but a quality start is just six innings pitched and three earned runs (4.50 ERA). While Porcello had two outings earlier in the season where he kept the opposition scoreless, they were against two offensively challenged teams, the Yankees and the Braves (who fired their manager Tuesday). Four earned runs (one unearned) on eight hits in five innings for Porcello, striking out three and walking two just isn’t good enough night to night.

Then General Manager Ben Cherington did not do Porcello any favors in terms of added pressure by giving him a four year, $82.5 million extension before he even threw a pitch in Boston. This was a guy with a 4.30 career ERA (ERA+ of 97, below league average), whose best year was a 3.43 ERA. Awfully expensive for a ground ball pitcher. What could they expect out of Porcello? He is who they thought he was.

The Red Sox were trying to be proactive after they botched the Jon Lester negotiations. Ironically, they had only offered Lester $70 million over four years despite two rings won with the franchise. This soured Lester so much that he bolted for the Chicago Cubs and their $155 million.

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Porcello started out last year terribly. A 5.81 ERA through July prompted the team to give him a break for a month. When he came back, he ended the season well with a 3.14 ERA over his last 57.1 innings. When he started out 2016 with a 2.76 ERA through April, it seemed that he had turned things around. When your offense is getting 10 runs a game, many potential problems can be masked. But when you are going down every night after a poor performance by the starter as the Red Sox have been lately, no offense can bail you out every time. Every game isn’t going to be against the quality of Kansas City’s bullpen, but eventually it is going to be too much for this offense.

Next: Is Xander Bogaerts the best shorstop in baseball?

After the news of Rodriguez’ knee was revealed today, the calls for the Red Sox to obtain another quality starter became loud. After Porcello’s mediocre start tonight, giving him a 4.82 May ERA, those calls are going to get even louder. What should the Red Sox do?

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