Red Sox Strut: Outfielder Jackie Bradley, LHP Drew Pomeranz
The weekly article series where we examine two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week – Jackie Bradley, Drew Pomeranz.
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 had an opportunity to leap over a floundering New York Yankees team in the division, only for their own struggles to keep them locked in a virtual tie atop the AL East.
Dropping two out of three in Kansas City was forgivable. The Royals have been playing much better baseball of late and own a winning record at home. Coming back to Fenway Park to lose a series against an Angles team missing the injured Mike Trout bordered on humiliating.
The franchise celebrated the number retirement of David Ortiz with a win Friday night, then struggled to retire Angels hitters over the course of the two weekend games in which they were outscored 10-5.
A lackluster week still had some silver linings. Not everyone performed poorly last week so there are still several candidates to Strut.
Position Player Candidates
Sandy Leon only appeared in three of the six games last week but he made the most of his playing time. The Sandyman went 5-for-8 (.625) with two doubles and a home run. His six RBI led the team last week despite playing in only half the games.
Rookie outfielder Andrew Benintendi is heating up, going 7-for-20 (.350) with a double, triple and a home run. Those hits didn’t all come in the same game, so he doesn’t get credit for hitting for the cycle, but it’s a solid week nonetheless. Five of the 10 home runs Benintendi has hit this season have come in June, a month where he’s hitting .307 in 21 games.
Xander Bogaerts added another home run, his third of the month and fifth of the season. He hit .333 last week while adding a pair of doubles and four RBI. Bogaerts produced three multi-hit performances last week, but an 0-for-4 day on Sunday dropped him into a tie for fifth in the batting title race.
Mitch Moreland tallied only four hits for a putrid .211 average last week. At least he made his hits count, with two of them clearing the fence for home runs. Both were solo shots that came in the weekend games that Boston lost to the Angels, but the homers from Moreland gave the team a chance to climb back into the game.
Position Player who gets to Strut
It’s hard to find a hotter hitter than Jackie Bradley this month. He’s hitting .346 with a 1.023 OPS, four home runs and 14 RBI in June.
Last week, Bradley slashed .381/.480/.714, smashing a pair of home runs and a double.
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His first homer came as part of a three-hit performance in Kansas City. The two-run shot accounted for both of Boston’s runs in a 4-2 loss. Bradley homered again against the Angels on Sunday, matching the solo shot by Moreland for the team’s only runs of the day in another 4-2 loss.
The one blemish on Bradley’s week was a rare miscue in the outfield. With the score tied at two in the seventh inning against the Royals, Bradley dove for a ball that was just out his reach. No error was charged since it would have been a tremendous play had he made it. However, playing it safe by fielding the ball on a hop would have held the runner to a single. Instead, backup catcher Drew Butera rounded the bases for a triple. One batter later he would score on a base hit by Whit Merrifield to give Kansas City a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Bradley still makes more outstanding plays with his glove than mistakes. Now his bat is starting to catch up to his abilities in the field. He enters the day sporting a .269 batting average and .850 OPS, both of which surpass the career-highs he set in last year’s All-Star season.
Pitching Candidates
Only two Red Sox pitchers earned a win last week, one of which went to Chris Sale. The ace of the staff allowed three runs on four hits over 8 1/3 innings. He struck out 10 batters for the second consecutive start and now has double-digit strikeouts in 10 of his 15 starts. The only real concern is that he allowed two home runs, the second time he’s done that this season, after avoiding the long ball in his previous three outings this month.
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Sunday marked the Red Sox debut of Doug Fister, who faced the team that waived him earlier this season. The veteran pitched about as well as we could have hoped for, delivering a quality start by allowing three runs over six innings. A middling performance would have been brilliant if it weren’t for a potential inning-ending double-play being overturned by reply. Instead of escaping the inning unscathed, Fister would end up giving up three runs in the frame.
Another start, another injury concern for David Price. Last time out it was a blister, now it’s a cracked fingernail. It doesn’t appear either will result in the lefty missing time and his performance hasn’t been hindered by these issues. Price took the loss against the Angels on Saturday but allowed only two runs over six innings. His velocity is up to the 95-97 mph range, indicating he’s getting closer to returning to form.
Joe Kelly has officially been moved into the 8th inning setup role. Manager John Farrell remains reluctant to use him on consecutive days, so we haven’t seen the last of Matt Barnes in that role. As long as Kelly is available that day, the task of bridging the gap to the closer belongs to Kelly. The right-hander is in the midst of a dominant stretch. Kelly hasn’t allowed an earned run since April, piling up 19 1/3 scoreless innings over his last 21 appearances. His 1.10 ERA is tied with Craig Kimbrel for the best in the AL among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched.
Pitcher who gets to Strut
How many solid outings will it take before fans start to believe in Drew Pomeranz?
The lefty settled for a no-decision in his last start in Kansas City. He left with a lead, having held the Royals to two runs over 6 1/3 innings. Then the bullpen melted down in the eighth. Matt Barnes and Robby Scott combined to walk the first three batters to load the bases, followed by Scott giving up a grand slam to Salvador Perez.
It was a frustrating loss for the Red Sox, although not one we can pin on Pomeranz. He has now allowed two runs or less in seven of his last eight starts. He’s only made it to seven innings in one of those starts, but when Pomeranz keeps his team in the game for five or six innings it’s usually enough for the bullpen to finish the job. This was not one of those times.
Pomeranz was pulled with one out in the seventh after sandwiching a strikeout between a pair of singles. He was only at 93 pitches, yet Farrell couldn’t trust him to clean up his own mess. It was probably the right move and Kelly was able to escape the inning with the lead intact. Still, we can’t help but wonder if the outcome would have been different if Pomeranz was allowed to get out of the jam on his own. Kelly then could have pitched a clean eighth inning setting up for Kimbrel, which is as automatic a pairing as you’ll find at the end of games.
Pomeranz still has a ways to go before he earns the trust of his manager to finish those types of innings. Or Farrell may have too much faith in Barnes. It’s probably a bit of both.
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The failure of the bullpen behind him and the questionable managerial decisions do nothing to detract from the performance of Pomeranz. He’s been the second best pitcher among the healthy starters currently in the Red Sox rotation and it’s time to give him credit. It’s time for Drew Pomeranz to Strut.