Red Sox split first home series of 2022 with the Twins
By Daniel Fox
Game Four Thoughts: Twins 8, Red Sox 3
- You could be mad that the Red Sox played a fairly lifeless game on Patriots Day. However, all eight runs the Twins scored were against pitchers who won’t be on the roster come July. These are just the games you have in April when you’re still trying to work out the kinks.
- I’m really more disappointed in the offense. There’s just no reason a pitcher like Dylan Bundy should carve a up this lineup. They might have been put in a early hole by their starter, but the bats need to be better
- Rich Hill just cannot be starting games anymore. This isn’t an overreaction based on two appearances but rather an assessment on his overall stuff. With only two pitches in his arsenal, Hill is in deep trouble if batters can spit on his curveball. The margin for error is just so small, and on this day, it was zero.
- I haven’t criticized Cora all season, but I’m going to do it here. The Red Sox had a real chance to come back after Christian Vazquez’s seventh inning home run cut a lead to two. Why give Kutter Crawford a second inning of relief? Crawford predictably allowed four runs in the top of the eighth that put the game out of reach. I would have much rather seen Hirokazu Sawamura or Hansel Robles in that situation.
- Jackie Bradley Jr’s at-bats are starting to look really good. He saw 27 pitches in his four plate appearances, which included a walk and a double. If he can be a nuisance at the bottom of the order, it would make a dangerous Red Sox lineup even more difficult to navigate
- One player who is not a nuisance, at least for his opponents, is Travis Shaw. An 0-4 day with three punchouts showed again just how much his bat speed has slowed. You wonder how long the Red Sox can keep giving him at-bats
- We’re not going to remember this game for any of the above reasons. We’re only going to remember this game for Devers’ absurd slide in the bottom of the sixth. How could Urshela possibly have missed that tag?