Red Sox: Rick Porcello’s 20th victory rekindles memories

Rick Porcello placed himself in exclusive company with his 20^th victory. He also provided the impetus for a stroll through Red Sox history.

Last Friday, Rick Porcello earned his 20^th victory of the season, as the Red Sox routed the Blue Jays 13-3 at The Rogers Centre and became the first Red Sox pitcher to win 20 games since Josh Beckett in 2007.

In winning 20 games in a single season for the Boston Red Sox, Porcello gained membership to an exclusive club that is composed of only seven other members: Curt Schilling, Dennis Eckersley, Derek Lowe, Josh Beckett, Pedro Martinez (twice), Roger Clemens (thrice), and Luis Tiant (thrice). This list only includes pitchers from 1969, the year that the pitching mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 inches, to the present.

Porcello required only 23 decisions to reach his 20^th victory, the fewest by any Red Sox pitcher in the entire storied history of the Boston Red Sox.

In addition, the post-1968 Red Sox record for wins in a season is 24, established by Clemens in 1986. Porcello is likely to get four or, at the most, five more starts this season. Hence, breaking or tying Clemens’ record is possible, although seemingly unlikely.

One more interesting factoid about Porcello and his 105 career victories that would likely surprise most fans: Porcello is one of only five active pitchers in all of Major League Baseball to attain 100 career victories prior to the age of 28. The four other active pitchers to accomplish said feat include Clayton Kershaw, CC Sabathia, Felix Hernandez, and Justin Verlander, placing Porcello in very select company.

Next: Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling

In 2004, at the age of 37, Schilling won 21 games against only six losses with an ERA of 3.26. This was his third and final season, and the only one in Boston, in which Schilling won at least 20 games.

Schilling, a 6-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young Award runner-up, finished his 20-year career with a record of 216 victories against only 146 defeats, while posting a career ERA of 3.46, and amassing over 3100 strikeouts. There are only 16 members of the 3,000 strikeout club and all of them, with the exceptions of Schilling and Clemens are enshrined in Cooperstown.

Few fans realize that the Red Sox drafted Schilling in the second round of the 1986 amateur draft.

Schilling is a three-time World Series champion, in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox. In 2001, Schilling earned World Series MVP honors.

“Schill” was one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. In his postseason career, he has a record of 11 victories against only two defeats and possesses a sparkling 2.23 ERA.

Schilling will forever be associated with the “Bloody Sock” Game 6 victory against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. After a horrible three-inning performance in Game 1, as Schilling allowed six earned runs en route to the defeat, Schilling demonstrated the courage, valor, and heart that have defined over a century of Red Sox baseball.

With the Sox down three games to two, facing a third consecutive elimination game against the Yankees, Schilling took the mound with an ankle tendon stapled in place. Barely able to move and forced to pitch with below-average “stuff,” Schilling authored the most courageous and miraculous performance in the history of professional sports. On one leg, the righty held the Yankees to four hits and one run in seven innings, earning the win and forcing a decisive game seven.

The Red Sox emerged victorious in Game 7, becoming the only team in the history of baseball to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games of said series.

The Red Sox moved onto the World Series, sweeping the overmatched Cardinals and winning their first championship since 1918.

Next: Josh Beckett

Josh Beckett

The Florida Marlins selected Josh Beckett with the second pick in the 1999 baseball amateur draft. The 3-time All-Star selection and runner-up to CC Sabathia for the 2007 Cy Young Award, won 20 games only once, as a member of the 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox. Beckett won exactly 20 games while losing seven contests and posting a 3.27 ERA.

He is a two-time world champion, in 2003, as a member of the World Champion Florida Marlins and in 2007, as a member of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

In 2003, as a member of the Marlins, Beckett won the World Series MVP after tossing a five-hit shutout in Game 6 against the New York Yankees to clinch the championship. In 2007, as a member of the Red Sox, Beckett won the ALCS MVP, largely for his masterful Game 5 performance in Cleveland, returning the series to Boston, where the Sox won games 6 and 7 to reach the World Series. They went on to sweep the Colorado Rockies and claim their second title in four years.

The Red Sox acquired Beckett and Mike Lowell, who won the 2007 WS MVP, on November 24, 2005 in a deal with the Florida Marlins to whom we surrendered Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez.

On August 25, 2012, in a nearly $300-million salary dump, Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez were sent to the Dodgers for, primarily, pitchers Allen Webster and Rubby De La Rosa.

Beckett’s career record was 138 wins with 106 defeats with a very respectable 3.88 ERA.

As I have heard baseball reporter Peter Gammons say on multiple occasions, “If only Josh Beckett could have stayed healthy. He could have been one of the greats of this game.”

Unfortunately, Beckett’s career was injury-plagued, and those injuries robbed him of an electric fastball and a yellow hammer for a curveball.

Next: Derek Lowe

Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley enjoyed a 24-year baseball career, which could actually be viewed as two separate careers. In the first dozen years of Eckersley’s career, he performed as a starting pitcher with the Indians, Red Sox, and Cubs. In the second dozen seasons of Eckersley’s he transitioned into an all-world closer for the Oakland Athletics and Saint Louis Cardinals. He even found his way back to Boston in his final season, although he did not close.

For his career, Eckersley has attained 197 victories, suffered 171 defeats, saved 390 games, and posted a 3.50 ERA.

Although Eckersley enjoyed success as a starting pitcher, it was as a closer for Tony Larussa’s Oakland teams where Eckersley truly thrived.

From 1975-1986, when Eckersley functioned as a starting pitcher, he won 151 games, lost 128 games and posted a solid 3.67 ERA. In addition, Eckersley was selected to two all-star games as a starting pitcher.

In 1978, as a member of the Red Sox rotation, “Eck” won 20 games, lost only 8 games, while posting a 2.99 ERA.

In the 10 seasons between 1988 and 1997, inclusive, Eckersley functioned exclusively as a closer, and posted an ERA of 2.84 while saving 370 contests.

Eckersley’s prime seasons were the five years between 1988 and 1992, inclusive. Eckersley was selected to the Mid-Summer Classic in four of those five years, posting a 1.90 ERA and amassing 220 saves. In that period, Eckersley struck out 378 batters, while displaying pinpoint control, issuing a miniscule 26 unintentional walks.

In 1992, Eckersley led the American League with 51 saves and had the hardware to prove it, earning both the AL Cy Young Award and the AL MVP.

Presently, Eckersley can be seen occasionally filling in for the RemDawg during Red Sox telecasts.

Next: Luis Tiant

Luis Tiant

Luis Tiant is best known for his extremely unorthodox and unmistakable pitching motion. During his delivery, Tiant does a 180-degree turn at the waist and, at the point of greatest rotation, can look the centerfielder straight in the eye.

Tiant had a 19-year career with a record of 229 victories accompanied by 172 defeats and an ERA of 3.30. He was a three-time All-Star, with two of those selections occurring while a member of the Red Sox. He was a four-time twenty-game winner, with three of those campaigns occurring during his tenure in Boston.

Tiant was in his prime with the Red Sox, the team whom he is most closely associated and with whom he played 8 years of his career, from 1971 to 1978. His most productive 5-year stretch occurred from 1972 to 1976. During that span, Tiant posted a record of 96 wins, 58 defeats, and a 3.12 ERA.

In 1973, 1974, and 1976, all as a member of the Red Sox, Tiant amassed 20, 22, and 21 wins, respectively.

“El Tiante,” as he is affectionately referred to, won two American League ERA titles, posting a 1.60 ERA with the 1968 Cleveland Indians, and a 1.91 ERA with the 1972 Boston Red Sox.

Next: Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez

Standing a diminutive 5 feet and 11 inches tall and only weighing 165 pounds, Pedro Martinez dominated the pitching landscape at the peak of the steroid era.

One slide cannot remotely do justice to the great Pedro Martinez, one of the greatest pitchers in Major League Baseball history; however, he requires mention as a two-time 20-game winner for the Boston Red Sox.

In Pedro’s seven seasons in Boston, he won 23 games in 1999 and 20 games in 2002. It is difficult to fathom that he only won 20 games twice in his career.

Martinez owns perhaps the greatest seven-year span ever produced by a starting pitcher, and unquestionably the greatest two-year span ever produced.

In the seven years from 1997-2003, Martinez won 118 games, losing only 36 games and posting a 2.20 ERA. In 1408 innings pitched, Martinez struck out 1761 batters and posted a WHIP of .940.

Pedro’s 1999 and 2000 seasons comprise the greatest two-year period of pitching ever exhibited in Major League Baseball history.

Martinez won 41 games while losing only 10 games, and posted a 1.90 ERA. During those two years, he led the American League twice in Earned Run Average, Strikeouts, WHIP, Hits and Home Runs, per 9 innings pitched, Strikeouts per nine innings pitched, and strikeout/walk ratio.

In case I failed to mention it, he also won the Cy Young Award in both of the aforementioned years.

Next: Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens had a remarkable baseball career, in terms of his longevity and his ability to maintain that high level of performance throughout that longevity. The only comparison that comes to mind is Nolan Ryan.

How much, if any, of Clemens’ success was chemically enhanced is certainly in question, but neither the reader nor I know the answer.

Clemens pitched for 24 years, winning 354 games, losing 184 games and producing a 3.12 ERA. He won an astounding seven Cy Young Awards, and led the league in ERA seven times.

The most amazing stat about Roger Clemens is that he won league ERA titles nearly two decades apart. He won the AL ERA title in 1986 with Boston at age 23, posting a 2.48 value. He won the NL ERA title in 2005 with the Houston Astros at age 42, posting a 1.87 value.

Roger Clemens won 20 games on six separate occasions and thrice in Boston. In 1986, 1987, and 1990, Clemens won 24, 20, and 21 games, respectively, as a Red Sox hurler.

Clemens is a member of the 4000 strikeout club, a club that includes only four members, Clemens, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, and Nolan Ryan.

Next: Red Sox pitching staff is AL's best since All-Star break

While the impetus for this article was Porcello’s 20^th win of the 2016 campaign, I hope the readers enjoyed learning about this segment of Red Sox history as much as I did.