Red Sox Strut: Mookie Betts, Craig Kimbrel earn top honors of the week

Pitching Candidates

We can consider Chris Sale essentially every week and this time is no different. The lefty continued his Cy Young campaign in his latest appearance by striking out 12 Rays while earning his fourth win of the season. Sale has now recorded double-digit strikeouts in seven consecutive games, putting him in elite company in major league history.

As impressive as the strikeout totals were, Sale wasn’t quite as sharp as usual. He allowed multiple home runs for the first time this season, surrendering three earned runs overall. Shockingly, both homers came against left-handed hitters, whom Sale has dominated throughout his career. Entering the game he had only allowed a home run to a lefty eight times in his entire career!

Eduardo Rodriguez had a solid outing, holding a lethal Milwaukee Brewers lineup to only one run. While the Red Sox would go on to beat the Brew Crew, E-Rod pitched only six innings and didn’t hang around long enough to be credited with the win.

While the bullpen has had some issues lately, Joe Kelly hasn’t been one of them. The right-hander threw three scoreless innings last week, allowing only two hits and zero walks. It’s also encouraging that he struck out three batters, considering his diminishing strikeout rate has been a major red flag for Kelly this season.

Kelly’s last appearance came on Saturday when he entered the eighth inning in relief of Sale, protecting a three run lead to put the ball in the hands of their closer. This could be a sign that Kelly is starting to gain more of Farrell’s trust and could overtake the struggling Matt Barnes as the primary setup man.