Red Sox: 5 takeaways from ALDS Game 1 against Astros
An inauspicious start to the postseason for the Red Sox to say the least, as they fall 8-2 in Houston. Here’s what we learned.
So, that wasn’t a great start to the American League Division Series. We still have hope heading into Game 2, right? Guys? Where are you going? Anyway, the Boston Red Sox postseason got off to disastrous start from the get go today.
Between Chris Sale‘s brutal October debut, Eduardo Nunez re-injuring his knee, John Farrell‘s mismanagement, and the Red Sox base running, pretty much everything went wrong.
But we still have tomorrow! Game 2 will see Drew Pomeranz (17-6, 3.32 ERA) go against Houston’s lefty Dallas Keuchel (14-5, 2.90 ERA). If it makes you feel better though, the Red Sox slashed .249/.327/.390 against left handed starters this year. What do you mean that didn’t help?Here’s to being optimistic though! *raises very tall glass of alcohol*
Back to Game 1, from the first inning on you could tell this game was headed in a less than ideal direction. Which brings us to our first takeaway….
Chris Young will be in the lineup tomorrow:
As soon as Nunez left the batters box upon grounding out to short, you could tell something wasn’t right. While he admirably limped down to first base, ultimately collapsing before touching the bag, the Red Sox were very clearly down a man before even taking the field. After being carried off the field by manager John Farrell and the team trainer, he was replaced by Hanley Ramirez in the lineup. Later on during the game, the Red Sox would announce that Nunez suffered a “re-aggravation” of his right knee injury. Something that sounds very ominous.
Seeing as Nunez is a position player, and by all accounts will not be available for the rest of this series let alone the rest of the postseason, the Red Sox will have to replace him with another position player. There were many today, fans and media alike, who were surprised when outfielder Chris Young failed to make the postseason roster. Well guys what, folks? He’s sure as heck on his way to Houston now!
With Keuchel on the hill tomorrow, there’s no doubt in my mind the Red Sox will be adding the right-handed hitting Young to the roster and immediately place him in the starting lineup. He’ll presumably take Nunez’ spot as the DH for the day with Hanley playing first base.
Red Sox base running strikes again:
All season long, the Red Sox have played with what at times amounted to reckless abandon on the base paths. Today was another such case. After mounting a rally in the top of the 2nd after falling behind 2-0 in the 1st, the Red Sox were threatening as Sandy Leon grounded a base hit up the middle through the shift. With Mitch Moreland on second and Dustin Pedroia on first, Moreland should have been able to score easily and without drama.
HOWEVER – Pedroia, still thinking he’s in his mid-20s and stealing 20 bags each year, tried to make it from first to third on the strong arm of Astros right fielder and old friend Josh Reddick. While Pedroia was promptly thrown out, Moreland was barely able to score in time for the third and final out of the inning to be recorded. It was a dangerous play by Pedroia to make and one that ultimately killed the potential for an even greater rally with Jackie Bradley Jr. and the top of the lineup coming up against a Justin Verlander, who seemed less than stellar early on in the game.
If the Red Sox want to push this series to 4, even 5 games, they’ll need to be smarter on the bases. While I’m all for aggressive base running, the players need to know what constitutes reckless base running and what constitutes opportunistic base running. Too often does this team seem to tow that line. If they want to be able to hang with this Houston offense, they can’t be giving up outs on the bases.
Sale’s disastrous debut:
Now we come to Chris Sale, the Red Sox’ ace. After saying he’d been waiting 23 years for this moment, Sale came out and showed us that he was anything but an ace, promptly going 6+ innings and getting rocked for 7 runs on 9 hits, 3 of which were solo home runs to Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve (2).
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His second half slump aside, both the Red Sox and their fans were counting on and expecting Sale to come into this game and deliver. He failed the test on all accounts. After giving up back-to-back solo bombs to Bregman and Altuve in the first, Sale seemed to settle down until the 4th, where he was tagged for two more runs on a Marwin Gonzalez double.
The trouble for Sale today was found in his fastball and slider. On more than one occasion, when trying to bury a 0-2 slider, Sale let it catch too much of the plate and often times it cost him extra bases (i.e. Bregman’s HR, Gattis’ double). For his fastball, any and all location was giving him fits throughout. On both homers to Altuve, Sale was caught leaving the fastball up in the middle of the zone, allowing Altuve to drive the pitch to deep left center each time.
While he gave up 5 runs in 5 lackluster innings, I blame the final two runs he was charged with solely on Farell. Which brings us to….
Farrell’s mismanagement blows Sox out of the game:
Down 5-2 heading into the 6th, the Sox were very much in position to claw their way back into this game. With Sale having struggled already, and the Sox having given themselves chances to score against Verlander, there seemed no sense in bringing Sale back out, right? RIGHT???
Well, if you’re like me and the rest of the Sox fans I saw on my Twitter timeline, you’d be wrong. Farrell left Sale in and it went how you’d expect. Gattis promptly doubled down the line on an 0-2 pitch, Reddick walked thereafter, and once Sale had put himself and the team in a dire situation, it was then that Farrell chose to relieve his beleaguered ace.
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Who might he go to? Price? Rodriguez? Reed? Maybe, if he was feeling emboldened enough, his closer Craig Kimbrel? Nope. He instead brought in Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly. With a postseason game in the balance. Joe Kelly. John Farrell brought in Joe Kelly. How many times do I have to say it?? He brought in Joe Kelly!
Unless you thought my reaction to that decision promised a better result, Kelly then saw Yuli Gurriel line a single off him to load the bases, and then after a strikeout of Gonzalez he served up a two-run single to Brian McCann – effectively putting the game out of reach. 7-2 ‘Stros.
And to think, this might not have even been Farrell’s worst move of the night! Down 8-2 in the 8th, Farrell brought in Rick Porcello to mop up the game. Rick Porcello. The starting pitcher you moved to the bullpen in case you needed multiple innings in these crucial playoff games. By using Porcello today to throw a meaningless inning, Farrell burns a long man he could have used if he needed him tomorrow. It made absolutely no sense and if you’re like myself and many other Sox writers and fans, I’m really looking forward to what Farrell says about his decisions post-game.
From leaving Sale in to start the 6th, to bringing Kelly in with the game on the line, to then burning Porcello for an irrelevant inning of work, Farrell truly was in rare form today. This game alone will do well to fan the flames of the #FireFarrell contingency on twitter if the Sox see themselves out in 3 games once again this fall. Let’s hope Farrell and the rest of the team can get their head’s straight moving forward.
Mighty Mouse, Atomic Ant, whatever you choose to call him, Jose Altuve is just really good:
Lastly, you simply have to give credit where credit is due. Jose Altuve is just a phenomenal all-around player. While we talk so much about his height and stature, regardless Altuve remains one of the best players in the game. It’s a gift to watch his ability and boy was it on display at Minute Maid Park today. From his booming home runs off Sale to left center, to his third and final homer off Austin Maddox in the 7th into the Crawford Boxes, Altuve put on a postseason show for the ages.
With his three-HR game today, Altuve joins the likes of the great Pablo Sandoval, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Adam Kennedy, Reggie Jackson, George Brett, Bob Robertson, and Babe Ruth as the only players to hit three home runs in a postseason game.
When Altuve’s name is likely announced as the American League MVP at season’s end, Red Sox fans will look back on today and realize why. If they weren’t aware of Altuve’s greatness before today, they sure as heck are now.
The best thing right now for the Red Sox is that they play again in less than 24 hours. With Pomeranz on the mound they still stand a very good chance of winning. Take Game 2 and head back to Fenway with the series tied and the attitude around this team changes dramatically.
Next: Sale implodes in first career postseason start
For now though, we’ll lick our wounds until first pitch tomorrow and try to pretend that we’re still mad at Altuve’s home runs, even though we know they were pretty cool.