Red Sox Strut: Xander Bogaerts, Brian Johnson are stars of the week
By Sean Penney
Pitching Candidates
Eduardo Rodriguez moved to 4-1 on the season by tossing six shutout innings against the Mariners over the weekend. He now owns a 2.77 ERA that puts him on the verge of breaking into the top-10 in the league, solidifying the 24-year old as a legitimate No. 2 starter in a rotation that has been without David Price all season and has seen Rick Porcello struggle.
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He still isn’t going deep into games, but the latest outing for Drew Pomeranz was promising. The lefty held the Rangers to two runs over six innings and tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts.
As impressive as the start by Pomeranz was, the end of the game was even better. Craig Kimbrel slammed the door on the victory by punching out four batters in the ninth inning, a rare accomplishment that was only made possible by an umpire’s blunder. Kimbrel’s final strikeout gave the Red Sox pitching staff 20 for the game, tying an MLB record for a nine-inning game.
Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly have done solid work setting up for Kimbrel of late. Neither allowed a run last week over a combined 4 2/3 innings that included six strikeouts and no walks.
It almost seems like a prerequisite to at least give Chris Sale some consideration given how dominant he’s been this season. Somehow allowing three earned runs and only striking out six seems like a disappointment. That would be a good week for many pitchers, but for one with Sale’s expectations it’s not enough to Strut.