Deja vu for Red Sox fans. A game that was once again over fast. Porcello wasn’t his Cy Young self and the bats couldn’t quite overcome the hefty deficit.
If your sick of watching the game in the first few inning and already seeing the Boston Red Sox down a pile of runs then raise your hand.
From Steven Wright’s six runs in the first, Eduardo Rodriguez’ two runs in the first (thank God the team came back) and now Rick Porcello’s brutal outing last night, the Red Sox haven’t started games they way they wanted to. Putting yourself in the hole that early and often isn’t a good way to win. The team can’t rely on comeback wins every damn day. I wish the Red Sox hitters loved scoring runs as much as the starters love giving up runs.
Porcello’s line was ugly. He went 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits, eight runs, four home runs, two walks, and five strikeouts. His ERA is now at 7.56. He was living up in the zone with a lot of pitches right down the plate. As Farrell said after the game, location, location, location. You can have all the stuff in the world, but if you can’t locate it, you’re going to get hit.
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The home run ball killed him today and that was something we didn’t see a lot last year. He did give up a lot of home runs through three games last year, but his ERA is much higher this season. He’s looking like 2015 Porcello more and more with all the runs he has given up.
I have feeling that he has some type of injury, most likely minor. By the end of the 2015 season, he was a new pitcher after returning from a trip to the disabled list and pitched very well. He’s pitching now like the Porcello before the DL stint.
I don’t expect him to be as great as he was last year, but he still shouldn’t be giving up eight runs in one game. His 20 game start streak of six innings or more is now over and same with his streak of five innings or more in 43 straight starts.
Rick Porcello has snapped a streak of 43 consecutive starts of at least 5.0 innings, 3rd-longest by a Red Sox pitcher since 1920.
— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) April 15, 2017
Nothing else mattered after Porcello’s outing. It was already 8-0 and it was up to the Sox offense. It has been pretty bad to start the season, but it could be worse – like the 1-9 Toronto Blue Jays.
Boston is a middle of the pack offensive team, but should be top five. The team is 16th in the majors in runs scored, 14th in OPS and last in home runs so far in the season. The team had multiple chances to score a bunch of runs to try to help the comeback, but failed.
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The bottom of the fourth was a big opportunity for the Sox that ended up failing. The team had bases loaded with two outs and Pablo Sandoval grounded out. Sandoval had another few opportunities to drive in runs, but the Rays got lucky due to the positioning and speed of the hits. A lot of floaters and hits were feet away from being big moments, but it all came up short. Two outs have also been the Sox rally killers of late. They tend to get more hits with two outs and then just end the inning right after with nothing to show for it.
The Sox finally got hot in the last innings, but like always, it was too late to change anything. They scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth after a Betts RBI single, Ramirez RBI ground out and Bogaerts RBI single. The rally shortly ended with a Sandoval line out and Young pop out.
The Red Sox now fall to 5-5. They aren’t the worst team in their division or even in the AL, but with such high expectations and outcomes of these games, it has been very frustrating to watch. They could be playing much better with more wins to show. It’s too early to panic, but bad baseball is bad baseball.
Next: Red Sox Prediction: Is Drew Pomeranz a Henry Owens or a Jon Lester?
On the bright side, Sale is pitching tomorrow. He’s been the only positive note for the pitching staff with a 1.23 ERA.