Red Sox Strut: Mitch Moreland catches fire, Craig Kimbrel throws fire
The weekly article series where we examine two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week – Mitch Moreland, Craig Kimbrel.
If you want to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.
The Boston Red Sox won three of their six games over the past week. While they remain in second place in the AL East, they’ve fallen four games behind the division leading New York Yankees.
Dropping two out of three in the Bronx last week certainly didn’t help their chances of catching the Yankees. Rick Porcello and David Price both got knocked around by a powerful Yankees lineup, which isn’t a great sign for two of Boston’s vaunted Big Three.
The Red Sox salvaged the week by taking two out of three against the Detroit Tigers over the weekend at Fenway Park. Boston took advantage of the worst bullpen in baseball to take the first two games but couldn’t climb out of the hole Drew Pomeranz put them in Sunday night.
It was a mediocre week for the team, treading water at .500, but there were still some Strut-worthy performances.
Position Player candidates
Playing time has been sporadic for Josh Rutledge over the last six weeks but the utility infielder found his way into the starting lineup in four of the last five games. Rutledge went 5-for-13 (.385) last week with a double, triple and two RBI. He also swiped his first bag of the season.
The weekend series against the Tigers saw the return of Dustin Pedroia from a shot stint on the disabled list. After going without a hit in his first game back, the veteran second baseman followed with a pair of multi-hit games. Pedroia finished his abbreviated week going 4-for-11 (.364) with two doubles and two RBI.
Jackie Bradley continues to swing the bat well, hitting .286 with an .899 OPS last week. His two-run homer capped an 8th inning rally as the Red Sox stormed back to beat the Tigers Friday night. The next day he helped Chris Sale out of a jam with a spectacular diving catch to keep Detroit off the scoreboard.
Rookie first baseman Sam Travis went 1-for-3 in his only game of the week before being optioned back to Triple-A Pawtucket. Clearly not enough production to Strut over, I just wanted to point out that the Red Sox demoted a guy hitting .471 while Pablo Sandoval remains on the roster to continue his battle to stay above the Mendoza line.
Position Player who gets to Strut
No hitter in the Red Sox lineup is hotter than Mitch Moreland right now. The first baseman went 8-for-18 (.444) with a 1.434 OPS last week. Moreland led the team over the last six games with two home runs and seven RBI.
Moreland also added a pair of doubles. The Fox announcers for Saturday’s nationally televised game even dropped the Mitchy Two Bags nickname, which was certain to please Jared Carrabis. He’s no longer leading the league in doubles but Moreland still resides in the top-five in that category. His 18 doubles have already nearly matched last year’s total and he seems to be a lock to top his career-high of 27.
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The home runs haven’t been as plentiful, with the two he hit last week bringing his total to eight this season. However, both of those home runs proved meaningful. The first broke a fourth inning tie with the Yankees on Tuesday, with Moreland and Hanley Ramirez going back-to-back to give the Red Sox a lead they would not relinquish.
Moreland ignited a rally when he homered again on Friday against the Tigers to put Boston on the scoreboard. He also knocked in the tying run with a base hit in the eighth and was on base for Bradley’s game-winning homer later that inning.
Those two home runs put Moreland on pace to top 20 for the fourth time in the last five years. His current .279/.378/.485/.863 slash line would represent career highs in each category and his 1.3 WAR puts him more than halfway to reaching his career high with plenty of season left to play.
Pitching candidates
Joe Kelly grabbed our attention with a blazing fastball that was initially believed to be the fastest of the season. The radar gun at Yankee Stadium clocked Kelly’s fastball to Aaron Judge at 103 mph and NESN claimed it was 104. MLB Statcast would later officially record the pitch at 102.2 mph, which tied his previous mark for the fastest pitch thrown in 2017.
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It wasn’t exactly a standout week for the Red Sox starting rotation. Chris Sale is the only starter who can be even remotely pleased with his performance last week and his outing was below his typical standards. Sale allowed three runs on nine hits over seven innings, striking out seven and walking none. Not bad, certainly good enough to win, but for Sale it was a fairly ho-hum outing.
Drew Pomeranz got his week off to a good start with a win in New York. He only lasted five innings but held a dangerous Yankees lineup in check, allowing only one run on six hits. Somehow his pitch count got up to 123 in only five innings. If pitching a complete game in under 100 pitches is called a “Maddux” then can tossing over 100 in five innings or less be called a Pomeranz?
Any chance of Pomeranz getting to Strut was erased Sunday night when he was battered around for five runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Tigers. That dud ended a streak of five consecutive starts where Pomeranz had allowed two earned runs or less.
Pitcher who gets to Strut
In a week that the Red Sox pitching staff would like to forget, at least we can still count on Craig Kimbrel.
The fire-breathing closer picked up a pair of saves last week, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He didn’t allow a hit over that span, walked only one and struck out seven.
Manager John Farrell once again called on his closer for more than three outs in a game last week. Kimbrel entered with two outs in the eighth with Boston clinging to a one-run lead. He struck out Didi Gregorius on a wicked pitch that bounced out of the reach of catcher Christian Vazquez. It was ruled a wild pitch that allowed the batter to reach first base safely, despite Kimbrel being credited with a strikeout.
After walking the next batter to put the winning run on base, Kimbrel escaped the inning by striking out Chris Carter. He followed that by striking out the side in the ninth inning, giving him five strikeouts in a game where he officially only recorded four outs.
Kimbrel tied a major league record earlier this season by striking out four batters in an inning. This appearance doesn’t quite match it from a historical perspective, yet when factoring in the additional workload it may have been even more impressive.
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His 18 saves are tied for the most in the AL, which only begins to describe how dominant Kimbrel has been. His 0.98 ERA is less than half of any closer in the league with more than five saves. Only Cleveland’s Andrew Miller has a lower ERA, while Kimbrel’s 0.47 WHIP and 17.89 K/9 are the best in the league among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings this season.