Red Sox: Martin Perez’s string of strong starts screeches to a stop

Nationals batters beat-up Red Sox lefty Martin Perez

Well, tonight didn’t quite go how many members of Red Sox Nation would’ve liked. For much of 2020, when Martin Perez is on the bump, it’s been a pretty good night, at least for his innings of work. Unfortunately, August 28th, 2020 will not be a “Perez Day,” that will be remembered fondly. Things seemed to be lining up well for Boston as the Nationals are having an equally awful season, but not tonight.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Boston’s southpaw though as he started out pretty damn strong. Washington had their ace on the mound and Max Scherzer was doing what he does best. When you talk about great pitchings matchups and battles, I can guarantee nobody would’ve said Perez-Scherzer.

For the first two innings though it looked like we were going to have a duel of the aces. Then the one inning that the Red Sox can’t seem to get beyond had to rear its ugly head, the dreaded third.

After mowing down the Nats with relative ease in the first two innings, things went off the rails for Martin in the third, and in a real hurry. The inning included three doubles and a single while being highlighted by a two-run shot by Juan Soto and a solo bomb by Howie Kendrick. Washington earned six hits and five runs in the inning, basically taking the game before it could really begin.

The inning would equate to half of the Nationals’ runs and nearly half of their hits. Not an outing that will go on the highlight reel for the Boston southpaw. Scherzer, on the other hand, didn’t give the Red Sox any breathing room and once again showed why he’s one of the best in the game today.

For Perez, his night was done soon after that nightmare of an inning. His final line for tonight was 4.0 IP/8H/6ER/1K, easily one of his worst starts of the year. It was a bit of a shock to see the lefty crumble as he did when you consider he looked like Cy Young in his last start against Baltimore.

He was absolutely electric that night against the Orioles going seven innings with just five hits and six strikeouts. He didn’t earn the win that night either, but he sure as hell did his best to walk away with it.

Boston’s pitching staff took a punch early in the year when David Price was sent to Los Angeles along with Mookie Betts. Soon after, Chris Sale would announce that he needed to undergo Tommy John Surgery.

Fast-forward a few months and Eduardo Rodriguez was lost for the year due to developing Myocarditis in relation to having COVID-19. The Red Sox were effectively left with just Nathan Eovaldi and Perez to anchor their starting rotation.

Both have been pretty sharp but we’ve seen Nate stumble a few times lately. Perez has been the lone constant for Ron Roenicke and the Red Sox this year and tonight’s blowout was a hit to that confidence. It could merely be a blip on the radar, and one that I wouldn’t be shocked at considering how dangerous the Washington lineup can be.

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I won’t shy away from the fact that I’ve been driving the Martin Perez War Wagon all season long. There’s nothing better than a player who has all of the potential but hasn’t quite made it click and then does. It feels like this has been a statement year for the starter and he’s garnered plenty of trade rumors ahead of Monday’s deadline. Even with this start being a complete nightmare, I hope we don’t see him moved in the next few days.

In all actuality, I’d love for Chaim Bloom to activate his option for 2021 and bring him back as the fifth starter for next year. We hope that Sale and E-Rod are back at full strength but there’s no way to know for sure. Having Perez come back to a familiar situation could only bode well for his performance quality and for the team.

Tonight didn’t go well for Martin Perez and the Red Sox, honestly, it was embarrassing. He had been the rock of the Boston starting rotation and today that rock got demolished. Hopefully, he’s able to have a bounceback in his next start and gets back to his winning ways. Not only does he need it for his future as free agency once again looms, but the Red Sox need to know that they have an arm they can count on going forward.