The Boston Red Sox Monday, August 19, 2019
* The Boston Globe
Nathan Eovaldi out of control in return to starting rotation
Nicole Yang
Orioles third baseman Renato Nunez thought he was pitched ball four and looked to take his free base in the first inning of Sunday’s matinee at Fenway Park. But Nunez’s slow jog to first was quickly halted before it could begin, as home plate umpire Jansen Visconti deemed Red Sox starter Nate Eovaldi’s 97.2 miles-per-hour fastball a strike.
So, instead, Nunez retook his spot in the batter’s box and proceeded to pummel Eovaldi’s very next pitch, a hanging curveball, over the Green Monster for a three-run homer.
“Boy, you hang it, they bang it,” color commentator Dennis Eckersley said on the NESN television broadcast.
The 415-foot blast was the most glaring of the several blemishes on Eovaldi’s showing — his first start in four months — and prompted pitching coach Dana LeVangie to visit the mound.
Though manager Alex Cora said before the game he was hoping for 55–60 pitches from the 29-year-old righty, he pulled the plug after 43.
Eovaldi lasted just two innings, surrendering three hits and five earned runs. The offense bailed him out, erasing a 6-0 deficit en route to a 13-7 win, but the performance left much to be desired from a pitcher set to be a regular part of the rotation moving forward.
“I felt fine physically, but I was just all over the place,” Eovaldi said after his no-decision. “I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to. They needed me to go out there and go a little deeper in the game.”
Signs of trouble emerged early.
Eovaldi’s second pitch of the afternoon was a 95.5 m.p.h. fastball that Orioles shortstop Jonathan Villar pounded off the wall for a double. His third was a curveball ruled a wild pitch.
While velocity seemed to be a non-issue, Eovaldi walked three of the 11 batters he faced — all of whom scored. He finished with 23 strikes in those 43 pitches, a 53.5 percent strike rate well below his season average of 63 percent.
“Location-wise, he was off,” Cora said. “Just one of those [days] that he wasn’t as effective or throwing pitches in the zone like he usually does.”
Eovaldi had been used exclusively in relief since returning from the injured list July 20. He said he doesn’t think the transition from the bullpen was a factor in his struggles on Sunday.
Since logging a 1.61 ERA during last year’s World Series run, the Red Sox winning five of his six appearances, Eovaldi has struggled. Before undergoing right elbow surgery in April, he posted a 6.00 ERA, and gave up six home runs in four starts. Sunday’s outing certainly didn’t help his case.
With ace Chris Sale’s elbow inflammation muddying his future, the Red Sox will need Eovaldi to channel some of his 2018 postseason energy for potentially 7–8 starts in their playoff push.
Cora noted he doesn’t plan to use Eovaldi in the bullpen this week; he is scheduled to start at the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
“He’ll be back in San Diego,” Cora said. “He’ll be OK.”
Rafael Devers is having fun, leading the Red Sox, and possibly the AL MVP
Peter Abraham
Xander Bogaerts has made it a habit of sprinting out to the mound in the first inning and flipping the rosin bag in his right hand a few times before continuing to shortstop.
In the last few weeks, Rafael Devers has playfully raced his teammate to the spot, the two of them laughing like oversized Little Leaguers as they take the field.
Bogaerts got there first on Sunday afternoon and threw the bag at Devers when his back was turned, leaving a small patch of powder on his jersey.
Devers turned around in surprise then jogged over to third base smiling the whole time.
Maybe that helps explain why Devers could well be the Most Valuable Player in the American League this season. Nobody is having more fun.
Devers had four more hits and drove in four more runs as the Red Sox rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 13-7.
The 22-year-old had a single, two doubles and a two-run homer to lift the Sox to their fifth consecutive victory. Devers is now hitting .332 with a .976 OPS, 27 home runs, 46 doubles, 103 runs, and 101 RBIs.
All that with 35 games still to play.
“A young superstar,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “A guy who’s an absolute force offensively and is going to be an incredible player in this league for a long time.”
Mike Trout, a spectacular hitter, defender and base runner, is clearly the best overall player in the league. But Devers is stacking up traditional statistics. He leads the majors in hits, doubles and RBIs and is third in runs.
“It feels good. But overall it’s just good to get a win. That’s what is most important to me right now, us continuing to play well,” Devers said via a translator.
Devers is the first player with at least 100 runs and 100 RBIs before turning 23 since Miguel Cabrera for the Marlins in 2005. No Red Sox player has done that since Ted Williams in both 1939 and ’40.
“He did that twice?” Devers said in English. “Wow.”
But even the great Williams would be impressed with Devers, a hitter with power to all fields. Sunday’s show included a double that thudded into the wall in left and a home run down the line in right that disappeared deep into the stands.
“It seems like everything that is in the zone he’s hitting hard,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The quality of the at-bats are great. He keeps working. He’s not taking anything for granted.”
The Sox needed the offense on Sunday after Nate Eovaldi put them in a 5-0 hole.
In his first start since April 17, Eovaldi allowed five runs on three hits, three walks and two wild pitches over only two innings. Renato Nunez’s long three-run homer to left field in the first inning was the big hit for Baltimore.
When Darwinzon Hernandez allowed a run in the third inning, the deficit grew to 6-0.
“We know the type of team we have and we know we had what it takes to get back in the game,” Devers said.
The comeback started with two runs in the third inning against Ty Blach. When Sam Travis belted a home run to center in the fourth, it gained steam. Then the Sox sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth and scored six runs.
J.D. Martinez led off with a double to left field and moved up to third when Andrew Benintendi flied out to center.
After Travis drew a walk, Blach was done. Christian Vazquez then doubled off Gabriel Ynoa to drive in a run. When the Sox sent up Mitch Moreland as a pinch hitter for Sandy Leon, Hyde countered with lefthander Paul Fry.
Moreland’s popup to shallow left field should have been caught. But it fell between three players.
A wayward throw from shortstop Jonathan Villar forced catcher Chance Sisco to reach across the plate trying to tag Travis and the ball rolled away. That allowed Vazquez to score the tying run.
“I’ll take it. It works,” Moreland said. “Then it kind of was a snowball fight there. Guys were running everywhere.”
With two outs, Mookie Betts walked to keep the inning going. Devers followed with a double to drive in Moreland with the go-ahead run.
Bogaerts reached on an infield single and Betts scored. When Shawn Armstrong replaced Fry, it appeared the Orioles were out of the inning when Martinez grounded to first.
But when Chris Davis looked to second base for a force play, nobody was covering the bag and Devers scored.
The Sox added four more runs in the seventh, two on Devers’s home run.
Devers has hit safely in eight consecutive games at 20 of 37 with eight doubles, four home runs, and 14 RBIs.
Along with Bogaerts, Moreland has been a mentor to Devers, particularly in helping him use scouting reports to prepare for opposing pitchers.
“I’m running out of stuff to say about him,” Moreland said. “It seems like a bad day for him is 2 for 4 with a double. He’s been incredible.”
The Sox have won five straight and seven of their last 10. But they remained 6½ games behind Tampa Bay in the race for the second wild card in the American League when the Rays came back from a three-run deficit to beat Detroit, 5-4.
After a day off on Monday, the Sox start a two-game series against Philadelphia on Tuesday night at Fenway.
Chris Sale to have elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews on Monday
Peter Abraham
It will be an eventful day off for the Red Sox on Monday with Chris Sale scheduled to travel to Gulf Breeze, Fla., to have his sore left elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews.
Red Sox head athletic trainer Brad Pearson will join Sale on the trip. The fear is Sale tore a ligament during his last start and will need Tommy John surgery.
Sale has not been available to reporters since the Sox placed him on the injured list on Saturday.
“He just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to [the media],” manager Alex Cora said before a 13-7 victory against Baltimore on Sunday. “He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions and go from there.”
Sale was injured in his start against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.
The Sox have not named a starter in Sale’s place for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. They also will need a starter for Sunday’s game in San Diego against the Padres.
Lefthander Brian Johnson is a candidate for Tuesday, or the Sox could try a pitcher from the minors. That Johnson was not used this weekend suggests it could be him.
David Price, who is on the injured list with inflammation in his wrist, is scheduled for a bullpen session on Tuesday. He is a possibility to start next Sunday at San Diego.
Price threw 30 pitches in the bullpen on Saturday.
Sale is 6-11 with a 4.40 earned run average in 25 starts. The seven-time All-Star is 35-23 with a 3.08 ERA in three seasons with the Sox.
Bullpen chips in
Six relievers held the Orioles to one earned run over seven innings after Nate Eovaldi allowed five runs over the first two.
Darwinzon Hernandez, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Marcus Walden, Andrew Cashner, and Travis Lakins combined to allow only six hits and struck out nine.
Brasier struck out two in the fourth inning. It was his first game in the majors since July 15.
Cashner allowed a single in the seventh, then started an inning-ending double play. He has pitched three scoreless innings and struck out four without a walk since coming out of the rotation. The Sox seem inclined to keep him in the bullpen as a result.
Sox relievers have allowed five earned runs over 31⅔ innings in the last seven games.
Fan connects with Davis
Henry Frasca, a 9-year-old Red Sox fan from Sudbury, was on the field with the Orioles for batting practice on Saturday, a guest of Chris Davis.
In April, Henry wrote Davis a letter wishing him well in breaking an 0-for-54 slump.
“How many hits you get has nothing to do with how good a person you are,” Henry wrote. “You weren’t a better person when you were hitting more home runs. You aren’t a worse person now.”
Henry, the son of noted chef Gabriel Frasca, was able to give the letter to an Orioles staffer at Fenway on April 13 and it found its way to Davis, who was touched by the sentiment.
With the letter in the back pocket of his uniform pants, Davis went 3 for 5 with two doubles that day to break the slump. He has since kept the letter in his Bible.
“Kind of made me step back and take a look at the bigger picture,” Davis told the Baltimore Sun. “Just knowing that he was keen enough to pick that up and bold enough to say something about it, it meant a lot to me.
“He’s definitely a lot sharper than I was when I was 9 years old. He’s probably sharper than I am right now.”
The Orioles invited Henry to the game on Saturday, and had him in the dugout and on the field before the game. He caught a fly ball in BP and signed his name inside the Green Monster.
Comeback kids
Sunday was the first time this season the Sox came back from a six-run deficit. It also was the first time since 2007 the Sox won a game by six runs after trailing by six runs. That was in a 16-10 victory against the Rays . . . The Sox are 11-5 against the Orioles this season and have averaged 6.3 runs . . . The Sox have homered in 11 consecutive games, hitting 21 in that stretch . . . Orioles catcher Chance Sisco had a rough sixth inning. He was knocked down by Sam Travis while reaching across the plate for an errant throw, but stayed in the game after being attended to by a trainer. Four batters later, Sisco was struck in the groin by a foul ball off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. Cisco collapsed and was replaced by Pedro Severino.
* The Boston Herald
Red Sox’ five-game streak just feels too late
Jason Mastrodonato
Round and round they go, the wheels spinning as the Red Sox continue the most frustrating winning season in recent memory.
But has anything really changed?
The Sox scored 13 unanswered runs to erase a six-run deficit and humiliate the Baltimore Orioles, 13-7, on Sunday, completing a sweep of a team that should be welcomed back with flowers and chocolates when it returns to Fenway Park for the season’s three final games at the end of September.
The Red Sox are 11-5 this season against the O’s, who quite literally tripped over themselves in a disgraceful six-run, lead-changing sixth inning.
The play that will be shown on blooper reels happened with the O’s clinging to a 6-4 lead in the sixth. The Sox had runners at second and third and one out, and Mitch Moreland hit a shallow fly to left. Let’s quickly recap this disaster.
Left fielder Jace Peterson inexplicably was playing right up against the warning track, the shortest left field in the big leagues, giving himself no chance to reach anything shallow. Third baseman Renato Nunez could have run 10 feet to make the catch, but for some reason he stopped halfway to the spot and looked at shortstop Jonathan Villar, who was sprinting from second base, where he had been shifted on the lefty Moreland.
Nobody caught the ball.
“We got lucky there,” manager Alex Cora said.
Sam Travis scored easily from third. Villar picked the ball up and threw home. You can watch the replay 300 times and never understand why Chris Davis tried to cut off the throw, leaping near the third base line. Bouncing around like Seinfeld’s magic loogie, the ball then took a left turn and ricocheted behind home plate, allowing the tying run to score from second on a pop fly that traveled 110 feet at the most.
Wow.
Maybe these games should only count as half-wins against an Orioles team with the fourth-worst winning percentage in the past 15 years.
Unfortunately for Cora’s club, the Rays, who the Red Sox are frantically chasing, are 8-4 against the Orioles this year and still get to play them seven more times, with another seven games against the Blue Jays.
The Sox only have three games each left against the O’s and Jays but might have an easier remaining schedule overall, with eight games against three non-competitive teams — the Angels, Rockies and Padres — on the West Coast starting Friday. But remember what happened the last time the Sox were in the Pacific time zone? They began the year 3-8.
So here we are with exactly six weeks to go and the Sox still are 6½ games behind the Rays for the second wild card spot. They’re five games behind the A’s, who also are chasing the Rays.
We’ve learned almost nothing.
This team doesn’t quit, which is a good quality and is a reason not to give up. But they’ve been that way all year. The offense is a juggernaut. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts would be fine choices for AL MVP if Mike Trout wasn’t so much better than the field.
The starting rotation has no MVP candidates. That hasn’t changed either.
Nathan Eovaldi was gaining momentum out of the bullpen as the Sox were stretching him into a multi- inning role with an eye on using him in the rotation. But they might have waited too long after using him in quick stints last Sunday against the Angels and Tuesday against the Indians, all leading up to this start against the Orioles.
He lasted two innings and put the Sox in a 5-0 hole.
“I was just all over the place,” Eovaldi said.
Cora admitted it hasn’t been easy for Eovaldi to shuffle between short relief, long relief and now the rotation. And it won’t happen again.
“He’ll be back in (the rotation) in San Diego,” Cora said. “He’ll be OK. No, we’re not going to (use him in relief before his next start).”
Cora paused, then said, “Unless we need him.”
The all-in mentality, managing like every game is a playoff game, is absolutely necessary at this point. And it’s led to five straight wins. The team seems to be responding well.
But something is missing. Dave Dombrowski’s inactivity at the trade deadline still stands out as perhaps the most costly mistake of the season. Chris Sale is visiting with Dr. James Andrews on Monday. David Price is on the injured list.
The starting rotation currently consists of Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and who else?
The Sox can hit. They can erase big deficits. They can beat up on bad teams, take advantage of mistakes and build little winning streaks when the stars align.
What they haven’t been able to do all season is what they’ll need to do in the final six weeks if they want a prayer’s chance: beat the good teams, too.
It feels like there isn’t enough time or enough arms. It feels like it’s just too late.
Rafael Devers powers Red Sox to comeback win, sweep of Orioles
Steve Hewitt
There was a time early this season when Rafael Devers was asking Mitch Moreland for tips on how to approach pitchers as a fellow left-handed hitter.
Things have changed a bit since then.
“I’m like, ‘Look, you tell me what I need to do,’” Moreland said.
Nowadays, Devers seems to have all the answers.
He has since become one of the league’s best hitters, and at 22 years old, a phenom with a future as bright as anyone. Day by day, his legend seems to continue to grow. Sunday was no exception.
Devers continued his monster season, going for 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI as the Red Sox came back to earn a 13-7 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, completing a series sweep at Fenway Park.
“He’s unbelievable,” Moreland said. “He hits everything. I know one of his hits today was a ball, but you just watch it. He just barrels everything. I’ve never seen a tear like this watching him do that day in and day out, but he’s been huge for us. He comes up in every big situation and gets the job done. He’s having a special year, for sure.”
After showing promise late last season in the Red Sox’ run to a World Series title, Devers has more than bloomed. He’s emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate, and it seems he’s joining elite company in the record books on almost a daily basis.
It continued on Sunday. He eclipsed 103 runs and 101 RBI, which leads MLB, becoming the first player to hit those markers in the same season before turning 23 since Miguel Cabrera in 2005. The other Red Sox players in history to produce 100 RBI in a season before turning 23? The list only includes Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice, all Hall-of-Famers.
“It feels good, but overall it’s just good to get a win,” Devers said. “That’s what’s most important for me right now is us continuing to play well and continuing to get wins. We know what’s at stake. That’s really what I’m trying to do is just help contribute as much as I can.”
He’s certainly doing that, too. Though he wasn’t solely responsible for Sunday’s victory, he again came through with huge hits.
Nathan Eovaldi returned to the starting rotation with a lousy day, giving up five runs in two innings as the Red Sox fell behind 6-0, but they chipped away before exploding with a six-run sixth.
The Red Sox benefited from a defensive gaffe from the Orioles to aid their rally when Moreland hit a harmless pop-up to shallow left. But it somehow dropped in between three Orioles and two runs scored to tie the game. Two batters later, Devers crushed his league-leading 46th double of the season off the Green Monster to give the Sox the lead, and they didn’t look back.
Devers finished off his big day with a two-run homer to right in the seventh, his 27th blast of the season. It almost comes as a shock right now if Devers doesn’t get a hit. He’s hitting .541 with a ridiculous 1.656 OPS with 12 extra-base hits in his last eight games.
“I’m running out of stuff to say about him now,” Moreland said. “It just seems like a bad day for him is 2- for-4 with a double right now. He’s been incredible. This run he’s on right now is fun to watch. …
“He’s doing everything right right now. He barrels everything. It seems like every ball he hits is hard, too. He’s special.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora recalled a time early this season when there were calls to send Devers to Triple-A to figure things out after he struggled offensively through the first month. That suggestion is simply laughable at this point.
“He keeps working,” Cora said. “He’s not taking anything for granted. Every day he shows up he takes his routine, studies and goes out and performs the way he’s doing. It’s fun to watch.”
Chris Sale’s visit with Dr. James Andrews scheduled for Monday
Steve Hewitt
Chris Sale doesn’t seem to be taking any chances when it comes to his new injury.
The Red Sox ace, who was put on the injured list with left elbow inflammation on Saturday, will head to Pensacola, Fla., on Monday with Sox trainer Brad Pearson to visit with Dr. James Andrews as he tries to obtain more information.
Sale has not addressed the media on the situation since Saturday’s news. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Saturday that the left-hander needed a couple of days to himself. Manager Alex Cora said Sale would be back Tuesday, when he should have more information on the severity of the injury and what the future holds for him.
“I actually just talked to him – he just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys (the media),” Cora said.” He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions that he wants to get and he goes from there. It’s not that he’s hiding from you guys. He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys, which I think is fair.”
Cora said there are no plans at this point for Sale to see any other doctors beyond Andrews, a renowned sports orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee, elbow and shoulder injuries. Asked if he’s visiting with Andrews out of caution, Cora said, “That’s way over my head. … I know they’re going to Pensacola.”
Eovaldi struggles
Nathan Eovaldi was a mess in his return to the starting rotation in Sunday’s 13-7 win. He gave up five runs, three walks and threw two wild pitches in two innings. Cora was hopeful he’d throw 55-60 pitches, but he only made 43, with 23 of them strikes.
Eovaldi was making his first start since April 17. He missed more than three months with elbow issues before taking a role out of the bullpen for nearly a month, but the hard-throwing right-hander says he felt fine physically. His location was off, particularly a hanging curve in the first that Renato Nunez belted for a three-run homer.
“I was just all over the place,” Eovaldi said. “I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to. I mean, they needed me to go out there and go a little deeper in the game and I was only able to go two innings. I felt like the quality of my pitches was OK, I mean breaking-ball wise., but I just wasn’t ahead in the count for the most part. …
“I felt a little off mechanically. I felt like I was rushing to the plate a little bit. So hopefully I’ll be able to fix that the next time around. But I’ve gotta be able to make the adjustments while I’m out there in the game.”
Rotation in limbo
The starting rotation is up in the air in light of Sale’s injury and David Price (left wrist) continuing to be out. Cora doesn’t know yet who will start Tuesday when the Phillies come to town. The only definites right now are Rick Porcello on Wednesday and Eduardo Rodriguez on Friday. If Eovaldi responds well (physically) to his start Sunday, he’d likely start again on Saturday, so Cora will have to figure out who’s starting Tuesday and next Sunday.
Cora said they’ll make a decision going forward on Monday, which is an off day.
“We don’t know yet,” the manager said. “After the game, see where we’re at, and see the Phillies, what they got, how can we match up?”
Price threw 30 pitches, a combination of fastballs and changeups, in his bullpen on Saturday, and Cora said he’ll throw another one on Tuesday.
“We’ll wait for that one and see what’s the next step,” Cora said.
Cora didn’t rule out Andrew Cashner returning to the rotation, but he certainly likes what he’s seen from him out of the bullpen. He threw another scoreless inning on Sunday.
“We’ll talk about it in the next 24 hours,” Cora said. “We talked about it, the stuff plays a little better. Velocity, you saw it. He defends his position. He’s able to spin the ball for strikes and he’s able to expand with the fastball. Seems like he’s in a good place right now.” …
Ryan Brasier, who was activated Saturday following a month in Triple-A, made his return on Sunday. He threw a scoreless fourth inning with two strikeouts.
* The Providence Journal
Rafael Devers makes Red Sox history with dominant Sunday performance
Bill Koch
Rafael Devers and Ted Williams.
That’s it. That’s the list of Red Sox players who have scored 100 runs and driven in 100 runs in a single season before celebrating their 23rd birthday.
It’s been eight decades since Williams turned the trick in back-to-back years, reaching both marks in 1939 and 1940. Miguel Cabrera was the last player in the big leagues to do so back in 2005. Williams is enshrined in the Hall of Fame and Cabrera almost certainly will be following his eventual retirement.
Which begs the question – where exactly is this going for Boston’s current third baseman? Devers has reached that very special point where his own teammates marvel at his accomplishments, the latest of which were secured in Sunday’s 13-7 rally past the helpless Orioles.
“Running out of stuff to say about him right now,” Mitch Moreland said. “It just seems like a bad day for him is 2-for-4 with a double. He’s been incredible.”
Devers started August a chilly 5-for-37 and finally seemed to be entering a bit of a rut after an extended hot streak. What’s followed is a 20-for-37 binge featuring eight doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI. His eight- game hitting streak includes a historic 6-for-6 performance Tuesday in Cleveland and Sunday’s 4-for-5, four-RBI explosion against Baltimore.
“It’s funny, because 10 days ago or 15 days ago we were talking about him chasing pitches and being in a slump and all that stuff,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Now it seems like everything that’s in the zone, he’s hitting it hard. The quality of the at-bats is great.”
The Red Sox were in a 6-0 hole after the top of the third inning and still attempting to claw back when Devers stepped to the plate in the sixth. Orioles left-hander Paul Fry threw five straight sliders and induced Devers to swing at all five. Four foul balls were followed by an RBI double off the Green Monster, snapping a 6-6 tie.
“Obviously you don’t want to be down that many runs, but we know the type of team that we have,” Devers said through translator Bryan Almonte. “We know that we have what it takes to get back into the ballgame.”
Devers hit just .229 with a .619 OPS against southpaws in 2018. He was platooned throughout most of the season with Eduardo Nunez, who has since found himself designated for assignment and released. Devers stripped most of Nunez’s playing time thanks to his significant improvement – he was hitting .288 with an .801 OPS against left-handers into Sunday.
“Earlier in the year he was asking me what we’re going to do against pitchers – me and him being left- handed hitters,” Moreland said. “Here lately I’m like, ‘Look, you tell me what I need to do.’ Because he’s doing everything right.”
Devers is reaping the rewards of a professional approach both before and during the season. He hired a nutritionist and worked out hard during the winter in his native Dominican Republic, reporting to Fort Myers early for spring training and in the best shape of his career. Devers has continued that attention to detail into his second full season with Boston.
“He’s been outstanding as far as his program throughout the season,” Cora said. “Working out, watching video – he’s been very disciplined.”
And so we arrived Sunday at this point. Boston’s players refer to Devers in the clubhouse by his nickname – Carita, or baby face. It seems somewhat appropriate he’d be the one after all this time to join The Kid in Red Sox history.
Red Sox 13, Orioles 7: Boston overcomes six-run deficit to sweep Baltimore
Bill Koch
Just when Red Sox fans might have thought all hope was lost, along came the Orioles to provide them with perhaps a final glimmer.
Making up ground in the American League wild card chase is always a possibility when Baltimore comes to town. That’s exactly what Boston did thanks to this three-game sweep and some help from the Tigers against the Rays.
Not even a six-run deficit and a rocky return to the starting rotation from Nathan Eovaldi could slow the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon. The Orioles proceeded to do what they do best – lose, and in spectacular fashion at that.
Boston finally pulled ahead thanks to a six-run bottom of the sixth inning filled with the sort of hi-jinks that would have made Abbott and Costello proud. But we’ve long since passed the point where the Red Sox can afford to worry about style points. Results are all that matter now, and Boston achieved the desired one thanks to a 13-7 victory.
Rafael Devers highlighted his latest dominant performance with the go-ahead double in the sixth, one of his three extra-base hits on the day. The Red Sox tacked on four more runs in the seventh to pull away, two on a Devers homer to the grandstand in deep right. Boston scored eight times against the Baltimore bullpen to win its fifth straight game and remain 6½ games behind Tampa Bay.
“Obviously today wasn’t great in the beginning, but we did a good job as a group – especially the bullpen,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “They’ve been outstanding for the last seven days.”
Christian Vazquez doubled to the corner in left to make it 6-4 in the sixth and the tying run came across on a bizarre play. Mitch Moreland looped an RBI single to short left and the throw to the plate went to the backstop, allowing Vazquez to race around all the way from second. Devers broke that 6-6 tie when he sliced a slider from Paul Fry off the Green Monster in left.
“That’s what’s most important to me right now – us continuing to play well and continuing to get wins,” Devers said through translator Bryan Almonte. “We know what’s at stake.”
Infield singles by Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez completed the Red Sox uprising, but there was more to come in the seventh. Mookie Betts sent a sacrifice fly to deep center before Devers laced a pitch from Shawn Armstrong down the line in deep right. Another Martinez RBI single through the right side completed the comeback in front of a sellout crowd of 36,350 fans.
“You’ve got to credit everybody for continuing to fight and giving ourselves an opportunity to win it,” Moreland said. “That was a big one for us.”
Two infield outs by Devers and Bogaerts put the Red Sox on the board in the second. Sam Travis smoked a solo home run to the bleachers in straightaway center in the third, halving the deficit to 6-3. Boston finally chased Ty Blach in the sixth and feasted against his replacements.
The Red Sox were in a 6-0 hole in the top of the third in large part due to Eovaldi’s ineffectiveness. His first start since April 17 went off track early, as Renato Nunez smashed a three-run homer off the light tower in left. Baltimore held a three-run lead after one and punished Eovaldi for all three of his walks, as each man ultimately came around to score.
“I felt fine physically,” Eovaldi said. “I just was all over the place. I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to.”
Darwinzon Hernandez allowed a lone run in the third on a Hanser Alberto double to left, and that was all the Orioles could manage against six Red Sox relievers until the ninth. Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Marcus Walden, Andrew Cashner and Travis Lakins combined for 18 outs and surrendered just five hits. Lakins worked the final two innings and Walden was credited with the victory.
Brandon Workman has locked down the role of Red Sox closer
Bill Koch
Brandon Workman closed out Saturday’s 4-0 shutout of the Orioles with a perfect top of the ninth inning.
It marked the 22nd time this season Workman has finished at least one inning while not allowing a base runner. Only Astros closer Roberto Osuna has more such outings with 23.
“I do believe he’s been the most consistent reliever we’ve had from the get-go,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He’s able to bounce back.”
Workman entered Sunday having not allowed a home run to his last 150 batters. The right-hander has allowed just one earned run over his last 10 appearances and hasn’t issued a walk in those 10 1/3 innings. Workman tops the big leagues in opposing batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.
Red Sox left-hander David Price to throw a second bullpen session Tuesday
Bill Koch
The Red Sox rotation would seem in need of reinforcements.
Chris Sale (left elbow) has been placed on the injured list and Andrew Cashner has been demoted to the bullpen. This would seem an ideal time for David Price (left wrist) to make his return.
Price threw fastballs and changeups in a 30-pitch bullpen session on Saturday, his first since being placed on the injured list. The left-hander had a cortisone shot to treat a cyst a couple days following a 7-4 loss to the Yankees on Aug. 4. Barring any setbacks, price is expected to throw another bullpen session on Tuesday.
“Obviously we know where we’re at,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Let’s see how David goes on Tuesday and how that comes out.”
Nathan Eovaldi returned to the rotation on Sunday, but the right-hander was capped at 60 pitches. Rick Porcello is scheduled to start on Wednesday against Philadelphia and Eduardo Rodriguez will begin a three-city road trip with his start at San Diego on Friday. Boston remains uncertain regarding a pitching plan for its Tuesday game against the Phillies or Thursday’s completion of a suspended game against the Royals.
“We’re going to talk about it after the game and see where we’re at,” Cora said. “See the Phillies, who they’ve got and how we can match up. We’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
Price struggled to a 10.59 earned-run average over his last four starts. The 17 prior to that saw him work to a 3.16 ERA, which was tops among Red Sox starters.
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale to meet with Dr. James Andrews on Monday
Bill Koch
Chris Sale will see noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on Monday.
The Red Sox left-hander will travel to Florida on the scheduled off day to meet with Andrews. Sale was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday while suffering from what Boston described as elbow inflammation. Sale told Red Sox medical staff he felt stiffness in the elbow Wednesday and Thursday and reported his symptoms to them on Friday.
“He just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions and he goes from there.”
Sale will be accompanied by Brad Pearson, who serves as Boston’s director of sports medicine service and head athletic trainer. The Red Sox set up an MRI on Saturday for Sale, and those results will be discussed. Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Saturday he wasn’t sure if Sale would pitch again this season.
“You always want to have second opinions on this type of thing,” Dombrowski said. “When you get to a person of Chris’s magnitude and you have elbow inflammation, you want people to look at it. We’re all on the same page in that regard.”
Sale’s last outing came on Tuesday, as he finished 6 2/3 innings in a victory at Cleveland. Sale became the fastest pitcher to reach 2,000 career strikeouts, requiring just 1626 innings. That highlight is one of few in what has been a generally difficult season for Sale, as his career-worst 4.40 earned-run average can attest.
“It’s not that he’s hiding from you guys,” Cora said. “He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys, which I think is fair.”
Sale agreed to a five-year, $145-million extension with the club late in spring training. That contract begins in the 2020 season, and any discovery of a severe elbow injury by Andrews or Red Sox medical staff could result in surgery that would waste the first year of that deal. Boston is left to scramble for starting pitching in the interim, with Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez the lone remaining members of the projected rotation who have taken a regular turn since the beginning of the season.
* MassLive.com
With Red Sox rotation in shambles, Eovaldi doesn’t do much to ease concerns in return to starting
Chris Cotillo
Winning five games in a row has conveniently covered up the for the Red Sox over the last few days.
Their rotation is pretty much in shambles right now.
Chris Sale might be lost for the season, David Price is still on the injured list and Nathan Eovaldi and Brian Johnson combined to go 4 2/3 innings in their two most recent starts. What does that leave Boston with? An overperforming Eduardo Rodriguez and an underperforming Rick Porcello as the only two starters capable of pitching deep into games for the foreseeable future.
A good outing from Eovaldi against Baltimore in his return to the rotation would have gone a long way to ease some of those concerns, but the righty allowed five runs on three hits while walking three Orioles on Sunday afternoon. Eovaldi’s first start since mid-April lasted two innings and he threw just 43 pitches, falling short of the 55 to 60 the Sox hoped they would get.
The struggles of Andrew Cashner and the injury to Price forced the Sox to renege on their plan to make Eovaldi a late-inning reliever, deciding to build Eovaldi back up out of pure necessity. Just as he was starting to find his way as a reliever-- throwing 2 1/3 pristine high-leverage innings in Cleveland-- he was thrust into starting again. His return did not go as planned.
“I felt fine physically but I was just all over the place,” Eovaldi said. “I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to. They needed me to go out there and go a little deeper into the game and I was only able to go two innings. I felt like the quality of my pitches was okay, breaking-ball wise. I just wasn’t ahead of the count.”
Boston’s bullpen held Baltimore to one run over the final seven innings as the offense exploded in a 13-7 win. The Sox ended up using six relievers, marking the third time in five games they have had to use more than five.
Monday’s off day will help things, but don’t be surprised if the bullpen is running on fumes soon. As manager Alex Cora put it, the team has “no idea” who is starting Tuesday night in Sale’s spot, meaning the relief corps will likely be taxed heavily again.
On paper, the next week looks easy for the Sox, who have five games in seven days. In reality, they’ll need a lot out of their bullpen on Tuesday (with the starter TBD), Thursday (for the continuation of the suspended game against the Royals) and Saturday (with the starter TBD again).
Price, who is scheduled to throw a bullpen Tuesday, could theoretically factor in. That’s a big “if" less than two weeks after the lefty received a cortisone shot to treat a cyst on his left wrist.
“Obviously, we know where we’re at,” Cora said before the game. “We’ll see how David goes on Tuesday and how that comes out. As for the week, we’ll figure out Tuesday and we’ll figure out Sunday. Rick on Wednesday, Eduardo on Friday and if everything goes well with Nate, he’ll be due for Saturday.”
The Sox have off days (including Thursday’s continuation game) separating their next five series, so it’s possible they’ll be able to survive with only two full-strength starters. After that, it gets much more tricky when the Twins and Yankees come to town to begin a stretch of 10 games in 10 days on Sept. 4.
Someone will need to step up for the Red Sox to survive. It might be Eovaldi, who might deserve a mulligan after a crazy week in which he was used twice in high-leverage relief roles after Cora announced he was going back to the bullpen. It could be Johnson, who has thrown more than three innings just once this season, or even Cashner, who has looked like a dominant reliever in his first three outings. Maybe Price comes back feeling better than he has in months and is able to look like the dominant pitcher he was in the first half.
If one of those things doesn’t happen, it’s hard to see the Sox weathering this storm. There’s just too much working against them.
Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox overcome Nathan Eovaldi’s shaky start to sweep Baltimore Orioles
Meredith Perri
In one trip through the order Sunday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox went from climbing out of a hole to sweeping the Baltimore Orioles.
Behind a six-run sixth inning, the Red Sox defeated Baltimore 13-7 to win their fifth straight game.
After Nathan Eovaldi’s two-inning return to the starting rotation turned into a five-run deficit, Boston slowly cut away at the Orioles’ lead.
The Orioles pitching and defense then fell apart with a 6-3 lead in the sixth as the Red Sox sent 12 men to the plate.
With runners on first and second and one out, Christian Vazquez laced a double to left field off of Baltimore reliever Gabriel Ynoa to cut the deficit down to two runs. Mitch Moreland then pinch hit for Sandy León as Paul Fry replaced Ynoa. On the third pitch of his at-bat, Moreland hit a fly ball to shallow left field that landed between three Orioles.
Two runs came around to score on the play, tying the game up at 6-6.
A couple batters later, Rafael Devers hit his second double of the day to score Moreland and give the Red Sox the lead. Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez each singled in a run to extend that lead to 9-6.
Devers tacked on a two-run homer during a four-run seventh inning and finished the day 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored. He has hit an extra-base hit in five consecutive games and has hit seven doubles since Aug. 13.
Eovaldi struggles in return to rotation
While the Red Sox ultimately battled back for the sweep, Nathan Eovaldi’s return to the team’s beleaguered rotation left Boston with more questions than answers.
Eovaldi struggled, going just two innings while putting the Red Sox in a five-run hole. Sunday marked Eovaldi’s first start since he had surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow earlier this spring. The goal was for him to reach approximately 55 to 60 pitches.
After giving up a double, a home run, three walks and two wild pitches in two innings, Eovaldi left the game after 43 pitches.
With Chris Sale on the injured list alongside David Price, the Red Sox were already looking to fill a rotation spot for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before Sunday’s game that if all went well with Eovaldi, he would slot into the rotation for Saturday’s game.
In a game where the Red Sox bullpen knew it would see work, six of the team’s relievers combined to give up just just two runs in seven innings of work and strike out nine.
What’s next
The Red Sox will take Monday off before a two-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway.
Boston Red Sox’s Alex Cora offers mea culpa on first-half bullpen plan: ‘We recognized it’s hard for an individual to go against the best all the time’
Chris Cotillo
Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged for the first time Sunday that the bullpen-by-committee plan the team tried at the beginning of the season might not have been the best strategy.
Instead of naming a set closer to replace Craig Kimbrel to begin the season, the Sox decided to use Matt Barnes in the highest-leverage situations of games while employing Ryan Brasier, Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree in varying late-inning spots. That lack of structure largely backfired as Barnes struggled, Brasier was demoted to Pawtucket and Hembree suffered a serious elbow injury.
Cora admitted the idea of using Barnes as the preferred option in high-leverage situation looked easier on paper than in practicality.
“For everything everybody talks about with using the best relievers in the highest-leverage situations, it’s not easy to go out there and face the best all the time,” Cora said. “You see it in All-Star Games. You have the best of the best and they get hit because they’re facing the best competition.”
Barnes was dominant in the first two months of the season before hitting a wall in a busy June. In a career- high 15 appearances that month, Barnes blew three saves and posted a 9.69 ERA.
His struggles, along with Brasier’s regression and Hembree’s injury, forced the Red Sox to reimagine their bullpen for the second half. In early July, it became clear Boston viewed Workman, who has dominated all season, as the closer with Nathan Eovaldi, Barnes and others assuming larger roles.
“Little by little, we’ve tried to put the structure and all the sudden, we’ve found it,” Cora said. “We can help the other guys out. We’re still moving guys in the sixth, seventh and eighth. And even (Workman) can go more than four outs. I think everybody understands now, it’s not that we did it wrong early, but we recognized it’s kind of hard for an individual to go (against) the best all the time.”
Barnes settled into his new role nicely, stringing together 10 straight scoreless appearances before struggling to start August. Rookie lefties Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor have impressed at times while Marcus Walden has assumed a reworked role as a versatile option who can go multiple innings and pitch early in games.
Installing Workman in the ninth inning has allowed Cora to manage his bullpen in a way that has been more effective than it was in the first half. Cora doesn’t believe relying on one reliever for the biggest outs of every game is a sustainable model.
“We pushed him hard early and I recognize that. It’s cool and all that but it’s not great for the pitcher,” Cora said. “If they can do that for 80 games, that guy should make $40 million, honestly. It’s honestly impossible to face the best of the best every time and be successful. You see now around the league, certain guys. You see them over and over and over again. You’re going to get to them.”
Cora’s first go-around managing a bullpen was much easier than the second, as he was able to simply hand the ball over to Kimbrel for the ninth inning with little worry. This time around, the Sox underestimated how hard it would be for a single reliever to pitch in the most critical situations on a nightly basis.
“I think the industry underestimates it. I think everybody does,” Cora said. “People write about it, too. I was like, ‘Woah.' This is almost impossible.”
Sale will visit Dr. James Andrews on Monday; Red Sox lefty to have elbow examined in Florida
Chris Cotillo
Red Sox starter Chris Sale will travel to Florida to have his elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews on Monday, manager Alex Cora said.
Sale was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday afternoon after an MRI revealed inflammation in his pitching elbow. There is concern that the injury could be a serious one, leading to the lefty’s decision to go to Florida with head athletic trainer Brad Pearson.
Sale will return to Boston before Tuesday’s game against the Phillies and is unlikely to seek any further opinions on his injury. Cora declined to go into further details when asked about the purpose of Sale’s visit with Dr. Andrews.
“That’s way over my head,” he said.
Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Saturday that Sale first complained about elbow stiffness Friday and that the damage to the elbow occurred during Sale’s start Tuesday night. Dombrowski was unsure about a timetable for Sale’s return and didn’t rule out the possibility of ligament damage.
Sale has not yet met with the media since being placed on the IL, with Dombrowski saying Saturday that the pitcher “needed some time” to gather himself before addressing the situation publicly.
Cora said Sale doesn’t want to speak about his injury before gathering all of the necessary information.
“He just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys,” Cora said. “He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions that he wants to get. Then he’ll go from there. He’s not hiding from you guys. He just wants to be straight-up and have all the information when he talks to you guys.”
Sale is 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 starts this season and had avoided the injured list before Saturday. He was scheduled to next pitch Tuesday against the Phillies, leaving the Red Sox with an open rotation spot after an off day Monday.
David Price Injury: Boston Red Sox lefty set to throw another bullpen session Tuesday
Meredith Perri
After throwing 30 pitches in a bullpen session Saturday, Boston Red Sox lefty David Price will pitch a second bullpen session Tuesday.
Price, who is working back from a cyst on his left wrist, threw both fastballs and changeups during Saturday’s session.
“We’ll wait for that one and see what’s the next move,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Price received a cortisone shot last week after an MRI showed he had a TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage complex) cyst on his left wrist.
With Chris Sale (elbow inflammation) joining the injured list as well, Cora said that the team has not decided who will start Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park.
When asked about moving to a four-man rotation, Cora referred back to seeing how Price does in his next bullpen session.
“Let’s see how David does on Tuesday -- how that comes out,” Cora said. "As for the week, we’ll figure out Tuesday. We’ll figure out Sunday. It’ll be Rick (Porcello) Wednesday, Eduardo (Rodriguez) Friday.
“If everything goes well with Nate (Eovaldi), Nate should be good for Saturday. We’ll just have to see which way we go Tuesday and Sunday.”
The Red Sox have three off days between Aug. 18 and Aug. 31, and will play the rest of a suspended game with the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 22. That game was in the top of the 10th when it was called.
* The Lawrence Eagle Tribune
Five Red Sox Takes: Rafael Devers is on a ridiculous tear
Chris Mason
The run Rafael Devers is on has gotten ridiculous at this point.
“I’m running out of stuff to say about him now,” Mitch Moreland said. “It just seems like a bad day for him is 2 for 4 with a double right now. He’s been incredible.”
Devers delivered more than that in Sunday’s 13-7 win over the Orioles. He sparked the offense with two doubles and a homer as the Sox won their fifth game in a row.
Here are five takes from a beautiful afternoon at Fenway Park:
1. Raffy on ridiculous run
With a 4-for-5 showing and four RBIs, Devers became the first player in the majors to eclipse the 100-RBI mark on the season. He finished the afternoon with 101, and is the first Red Sox player since Ted Williams to have 100 runs scored and 100 RBI before turning 23.
“He’s a joy to watch,” Alex Cora said.
It feels like Devers has been hitting everything for months now, but he’s been exceptionally hot during an eight-game hitting streak, batting .541 with 12 extra-base hits and an eye-popping 1.656 OPS.
“I’ve never seen a tear like this,” Moreland said. “Early in the year, he was asking me what we were going to do against pitchers, me and him being left-handed hitters, and here lately I’m like, ‘Look, you tell me what I need to do.’”
2. Eovaldi implodes
Things got off to an ugly start for the Sox, as Nathan Eovaldi’s reintroduction to the rotation didn’t go as planned.
The flamethrower allowed five runs in two innings, thanks in large part to three walks. Boston fell behind 6-0 before rallying back with 13 straight runs.
“I felt a little off mechanically,” Eovaldi said. “I felt like I was rushing to the plate a little bit. So hopefully I’ll be able to fix that the next time around. But I’ve gotta be able to make the adjustments while I’m out there.”
3. Cash looks sharp again
After an underwhelming stint as a starter, Andrew Cashner has looked at home in the Red Sox bullpen.
He delivered another crisp inning of relief in yesterday’s win, and though the Sox are short on starters, Cora will consider keeping Cashner in the ‘pen.
“The stuff plays a little better,” Cora said. “Velocity, you saw it. He defends his position. He’s able to spin the ball for strikes and he’s able to expand with the fastball. Seems like he’s in a good place right now.”
4. Moreland delivers in a pinch
Moreland had a three-hit afternoon, which is especially impressive given the fact that he started the game on the bench.
Summoned in the sixth inning, Moreland hit a blooper that went for an RBI single, then followed it with two more better-struck singles.
“I think with that first one falling it got me going a little bit,” he chuckled.
5. Brasier is back
After a month ironing out some kinks in Triple A, Ryan Brasier returned to the big league mound. Early results were pretty good. He delivered a scoreless inning of relief, striking out a pair. If they can get him close to last year’s form, Brasier would be a huge boost for the bullpen.
Tanking Orioles brought terrible product to Fenway Park this weekend
Chris Mason
Maybe the English Premier League is onto something with this whole relegation thing.
If you caught yesterday’s Red Sox game, surely you’ve wasted enough of your time watching Orioles baseball. Baltimore wasn’t built to be competitive, and the product certainly wasn’t this weekend, as they were swept by Boston in straight sets: 9-1, 4-0, and 13-7.
It was particularly egregious on Sunday afternoon.
Spotted a 6-0 lead in a series finale with a wild Nathan Eovaldi chased after two innings, the Orioles didn’t just lose. They turned losing into an art form with a train-wreck sixth inning.
Red Sox batters were treated to an all-you-can-hit buffet, as 12 men came to the plate, and Baltimore defenders were happy to help extend the inning. Things got going when Mitch Moreland’s blooper that nobody called in left field led to two runs.
“When it went up, I was like, well, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Probably out,” Moreland said. “I wasn’t very happy with myself and then I was like, well, they shifted so much that it might fall, you know? And then it was coming down quick and when it hit the ground I was like, ‘I’ll take it. It works.’
“Then it kind of snowballed right there, guys running everywhere, we got two runs out of the deal.”
There were more to come, like when no Oriole decided to cover second on a dribbler back to the mound. Though they were only charged with one error in the inning, there were at least three miscues, and the optics were terrible. Heck, at one point the catcher overthrew the pitcher and the ball rolled around the infield for awhile.
That won’t happen to the Little League teams playing in Williamsport this weekend. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde used four different arms in the inning, but it didn’t matter.
When the dust settled, the Sox had taken a 9-6 lead that would eventually balloon to a 13-7 victory and a decisive sweep. It was the kind of weekend that made you scratch your head and wonder how the 39-85 Orioles had mustered 39 wins.
But it’s not difficult to see why the disparity exists: The Orioles are content with tanking.
They’ll certainly deny it — “It’s a rebuild,” is the familiar refrain among tankers — but actions speak louder words. All one needs to do is glance at the Orioles’ payroll to see where their priorities lie; Baltimore’s front office isn’t paying up.
Aside from Chris Davis, Jonathan Villar was the highest paid Oriole to suit up this weekend. He’s making $4.8 million. The Red Sox are paying Pablo Sandoval ($18 million) and Eduardo Nunez ($5 million) more not to play for them. That’s because they’re actually trying to win.
Tanking is reaching epidemic levels in Major League Baseball because there are zero repercussions for futility like the Orioles have shown.
Teams at the bottom of the standings can cut payroll, accrue high draft picks, and promise the future to fans, whether or not they believe it. Small-market teams can still collect on revenue sharing while they do it, so while attendance may be thin, the owners’ pockets still get fatter.
Meanwhile more and more fans tune out. Attendance is on pace to be the lowest since 2003 — they’ve lost more than 1,000 fans per game in two seasons — and TV ratings are falling sharply, too.
The Red Sox 66-59 record is a good indicator that they’re a good, not great, team. But the gap between them and the Orioles is oceanic. Same goes for the Yankees, who clobbered Baltimore to the tune of a 17-2 record in 19 games this year.
Fans at Fenway Park paid full price to see a Major League Baseball game on Sunday afternoon.
What they saw was only one team worthy of wearing an MLB emblem.
Sale to see Dr. Andrews
The Red Sox may be off Monday, but it’ll still be a busy day for Chris Sale.
Boston’s ace is flying to Pensacola, Fla., for an appointment with Dr. James Andrews, where the renowned surgeon is going to give Sale a second opinion on the inflamed elbow that’s landed him on the 10-day injured list.
The Sox are also sending head trainer Brad Pearson along for the trip.
“I actually just talked to (Sale),” Alex Cora said. “He just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys. He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions that he wants to get, and then he goes from there.
“It’s not that he’s hiding from you guys (in the media). He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys. Which I think is fair.”
Fans often shudder when they hear Andrews’ name because it’s rarely followed by good news, but the Sox are still hoping to get some.
* RedSox.com
101 RBIs: Red-hot Devers joins elite company
Ian Browne
At the conclusion of an in-game interview on NESN, with his team trailing, 6-0, heading into the bottom of the third inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said enthusiastically, “Let’s go win this game. Let’s go!”.
Perhaps it’s easy for a manager to have such confidence when the red-hot Rafael Devers is in the lineup.
With Devers in the middle of much of the barrage, the Red Sox came storming back to grant Cora’s wish, completing a three-game sweep of the Orioles with a 13-7 thumping on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.
While it has been a difficult season in many ways for the defending World Series champions, Devers has emerged as the clear high point of the summer, emerging into an MVP candidate.
The 22-year-old third baseman capped his monster week with a big day, going 4-for-5 with a homer, two more doubles (46 for the season) and four RBIs to give him 101 on the season. Devers is the first player in MLB to hit the 100-RBI mark this season.
“It’s amazing,” said Cora. “We go back to April, like people were talking about him going to Triple-A and trying to find it down there. But his on-base percentage was way up there and he wasn’t striking out. So we saw a few things that we liked and he wasn’t hitting the ball in the air. When he found it, he just took off. Just quality at-bat after quality at-bat. He’s a joy to watch.”
Orioles' manager Brandon Hyde echoed Cora's praise of Devers.
"I think he's a young superstar, that is a guy that's an absolute major force offensively and going to be an incredible player in this league for a long time," said Hyde.
The production of Devers at such a young age has put him in rare company. The left-handed hitting masher is the first MLB player with 100-plus runs and RBIs in a season before 23 since future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera in 2005. The only other Red Sox player to accomplish the feat? A guy by the name of Ted Williams.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously it feels good to be a part of that group,” said Devers. “But overall I’m just trying to help the team as much as I can whether it’s baserunning, playing defense, that’s what I’m more focused on is just trying to contribute as much as I can to help the team win ballgames.”
And he had a lot to say about the win on Sunday.
It was Devers who put the Sox ahead for good when he lofted an RBI double off the Monster to snap a 6-6 tie during that six-run bottom of the sixth. Boston battered the Orioles for four more in the seventh, including a two-run shot by Devers to right, his 27th this season.
During his eight-game hitting streak, Devers is 20-for-37 with eight doubles, four homers and 14 RBIs. His OPS during that stretch? A ridiculous 1.656.
“I mean, going the other way, pulling the ball, staying in the zone. It’s funny because 10 or 15 days ago we were talking about him chasing pitches, and being in a slump and all that stuff,” Cora said. “And now, it’s like everything in the zone he’s hitting hard. The quality of the at-bats are great with two strikes early in the count. He keeps working. He’s not taking anything for granted. Every day he shows up he takes his routine, studies and goes out and performs the way he’s doing. It’s fun to watch.”
At a point in the season that every game is so crucial, the Sox have won five in a row but still trail the Rays by 6 1/2 games for the second Wild Card spot.
The streak started by taking the final two games in Cleveland, at which point Cora stared maneuvering his pitchers like each game was a playoff game. That continued into the weekend, though the Sox had more margin for error against the 39-85 Orioles.
Did the urgency from the manager trickle down to the team?
“You have to ask them but I think the quality of the at-bats and the way we’ve been able to pitch better [is key],” Cora said. “Obviously today wasn’t great in the beginning but we’ve done a good job as a group, especially the bullpen. They’ve been outstanding the last six or seven games.”
The move of Nathan Eovaldi back to the rotation didn’t go as hoped, as the hard-throwing righty was hammered for five hits over two innings in which he allowed five runs, walked three and uncorked two wild pitches.
Down big early, Cora turned it over to that suddenly-surging bullpen and they took care of business the rest of the afternoon.
That bought time for the offense to hit their way back into the game, and they did that, and then some, with Devers leading the charge.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland. “He hits everything. He just barrels everything. I’ve never seen a tear like this watching him do that day in and day out, but he’s been huge for us. He comes up in every big situation and gets the job done. He’s having a special year, for sure.”
Sale to meet with Dr. Andrews on Monday
Ian Browne
Ailing Red Sox ace Chris Sale will fly to Pensacola, Fla. on Monday to visit the most renowned elbow specialist in sports -- Dr. James Andrews.
Sale will be accompanied by Red Sox head trainer Brad Pearson to get a better handle on the extent of the left elbow injury that led to his placement on the 10-day injured list on Saturday.
The initial diagnosis from the MRI conducted by the Red Sox was inflammation.
But president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made it clear on Saturday that the team would wait for the opinion of Andrews and perhaps others before providing more details of what is next for Sale.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that as of Sunday morning, Sale wasn’t scheduled to meet with anyone else beyond Andrews.
Cora added that the fact Sale hasn’t spoken to the media yet doesn’t indicate anything about the severity of the injury.
“He’ll be back Tuesday,” said Cora. “I actually just talked to him. He just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys. He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions that he wants to get, and then he goes from there. It’s not that he’s hiding from you guys. He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys, which I think is fair.”
Price making progress
While Sale is out for an indefinite amount of time, lefty David Price could be back in the near future.
Price, who is sidelined due to a cyst on his left wrist, threw a bullpen session on Saturday at Fenway Park. The plan is for Price to throw again in the bullpen on Tuesday, at which point the Red Sox will determine his next step.
Is it possible Price returns for the eight-game West Coast trip that starts on Friday?
“We have to wait for Tuesday to see where he’s at,” said Cora.
Tuesday TBD
Cora is still unsure who will start in Sale’s place on Tuesday night against the Phillies. He said the team will use Monday’s off-day to make that determination.
The Red Sox have the option of moving Andrew Cashner back to the rotation just a week after he was sent to the bullpen. But Cora said those discussions are still ongoing. Cashner has been far more effective in his first two relief outings for the club than he was in his six starts after the trade from the Orioles.
The only starters in the current rotation are Eduardo Rodriguez, Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi.
Porcello will start Wednesday against Philadelphia. Rodriguez and Eovaldi should be able to start the first two games in San Diego over the weekend. After that, the Sox will again have decisions to make.
Every Red Sox Players' Weekend nickname
Jessica Camerato and Ian Browne
Players’ Weekend returns for the third straight season on Aug. 23-25. The Red Sox will wear their specialized uniforms and gear with their nicknames while they play the Padres in San Diego. Some of the players stuck with their favorite nicknames from seasons past, many gave shoutouts to their last names, while others chose names with unique backstories.
Matt Barnes: "BARNESY"
Andrew Benintendi: "BENNY"
Mookie Betts: "MOOKIE"
Xander Bogaerts: "X-MAN"
After choosing "X" and "Bogie" in the past, Bogaerts continues with a variation of his name.
Jackie Bradley Jr.: "JBJ"
Andrew Cashner: "CASH"
Michael Chavis: "CHIEF"
Chavis has the nickname “Chief” because of his father’s Cherokee heritage. He also plans to incorporate a new nickname he gained during this season: “Ice Horse.” The moniker was created after Barstool Sports. Follow along to connect the dots.
“It’s kind of a chain of events where they were trying to find stuff,” Chavis said. “I think it started with, ‘Chavis rhymes with shaved ice.’ Kind of a stretch there. So then they took the ice and with my 11:11 thing, they wanted something that’s lucky and that could be like the ‘Ice Leprechaun’ or the ‘Ice Rainbow.’ Apparently white horses are lucky.”
Rafael Devers: "CARITA"
Devers was given the nickname “Carita,” which means “baby face,” because he was so happy and smiling as a child.
Nathan Eovaldi: "NITRO"
Eovaldi’s high school coach Mike Rogers dubbed the pitcher “Nitro” because of his speedy fastball.
“It was given to me a long time ago and I’ve just kind of kept it with the fastball and how hard I throw,” said Eovaldi. “I threw hard in high school. I wasn’t as consistent as I am now, but I could still get it up there. I had a couple of nicknames throughout the years.”
Darwinzon Hernandez: "HERNANDEZ"
Brock Holt: "BH"
Holt changed from his well-known moniker “Brockstar” to his initials this season.
Brian Johnson: "BJ"
Sandy Leon: "NOAH"
“I don’t have any nicknames, so I did my first born, my first son,” Leon said. “He’s always with me in my heart. So having him on my jersey made me feel good, too, because I play for him, for my family.”
J.D. Martinez: "FLACO"
Why did the home-run belting designated hitter choose “Flaco,” which translates from Spanish into English as “skinny?” The story goes back to when Martinez was 12 years old. His hitting instructor, former Major Leaguer Paul Casanova, quickly came up with the name.
"He played with Hank Aaron on the Braves,” Martinez explained last season, when he also wore the name. “He was kind of like my mentor growing up as far as hitting. The first time I walked in there, I was really skinny, so he started calling me 'Flaco.'"
Mitch Moreland: "2 - BAGS"
Steve Pearce: "PEARCE"
Rick Porcello: "PORCELLO"
David Price: "X"
Like Leon, Price chose the name of his son, Xavier. Price also changed his uniform number to 10 this season, representing the roman numeral X.
Eduardo Rodriguez: "EL GUALO"
Chris Sale: "THE CONDUCTOR"
Sale was given his nickname by Dustin Pedroia, who pointed out train conductors punch tickets. Sale specializes in strikeouts, also known as punchouts.
Josh Taylor: "TAYLOR"
Sam Travis: "DR. CHILL"
Davis was given the nickname from Minor League teammate Danny Mars because of how often Travis used the word "chill."
“I changed my Twitter name and Instagram name, and it kind of stuck,” Travis said. “It’s kind of a lot bigger than I ever thought it would be. It’s kind of funny.”
Travis believes the nickname fits his personality, too.
“I just think I’m a pretty low-key guy,” he said. “I’m always chillin.’”
Christian Vazquez: "COLO"
Also his Instagram nickname, Vazquez is called “Colo” during winter ball in Puerto Rico.
Marcus Walden: "WALDO"
Ryan Weber: "WEB"
Brandon Workman: "WORK"
* ESPN.com
Red Sox present, future hinges on Chris Sale's elbow
Buster Olney
The looming story: The Boston Red Sox will soon reveal what was learned about the condition of Chris Sale's elbow in an MRI the other day. Sale is scheduled to visit with Dr. James Andrews today, for what is ostensibly a second opinion. Dr. Andrews has a long history of conducting elbow reconstructions on pitchers.
Best-case scenario: Through the years, players have liked consulting with Dr. Andrews because he is sometimes more conservative in his recommended course of treatment, giving athletes some hope of avoiding significant surgery -- and this is what Sale and the Red Sox presumably prefer. In recent years, both the Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka and Boston's David Price suffered partially torn elbow ligaments that could have led to Tommy John surgery, but through treatment and rehabilitation, each has continued to pitch.
Worst-case scenario: A major elbow injury, of course -- a tear that is so significant it requires a reconstruction. If that occurs, Sale would miss the rest of this season, as well as all of 2020. Sale's past two outings were some of his best work of 2019, and to lose him now could turn out to be the coup de grace to Boston's fading playoff chances this year -- and an early body blow on the 2020 Red Sox, as they look to bounce back from what has been a disappointing season.
His contractual situation: Next year is the first year of Sale's whopper five-year, $145 million deal signed five months ago, before he threw a pitch in the regular season, and evaluators with other teams were greatly surprised the Red Sox didn't wait a little longer to finish the deal, to make sure Sale was physically sound. He had a shoulder issue that affected him in a big way down the stretch last year, reducing his velocity and affecting his command, and the perception around the team was that the final relief appearance that he made to close out the World Series -- that last great slider to Manny Machado -- was a case of a competitor giving all he had to give. "He was done after that," said one source.
The big complication: Boston has spent a lot of resources in prospects and dollars, trading for Sale and signing Price, J.D. Martinez and others, and won a championship last year. But the credit card bill has come due. Price has also been hampered by physical issues, and Nathan Eovaldi, who signed a four-year, $67.5 million deal last winter, has pitched a total of 36 1/3 innings this year, with a 6.69 ERA. Over the next three seasons, Boston is committed to pay the trio of the Sale (who'll be 31 at the start of next season), Price (who turns 34 later this month) and Eovaldi close to $80 million annually -- and it's very unclear now what return the Red Sox can expect from them. The enormous financial commitment to that group of starting pitchers will inevitably compel Boston's front office to make other very difficult financial decisions.
The biggest possible domino: The payroll crunch, exacerbated by the uncertain rotation investments, could affect the future of Mookie Betts in Boston. Betts is making $20 million this season and could get a record- setting arbitration award before next year, on his way to free agency in the fall of 2020. The Red Sox have tried to sign Betts, without gaining traction, and, as he closes in on his shot at the open market, there is much skepticism within the Red Sox organization about whether an agreement can be reached.
Executives with other teams expect Boston to dangle Betts in the trade market this winter to at least see what the possible return could be, as it considers ways to fill in the gaps in the team's farm system -- and, perhaps, a huge hole in the Red Sox rotation if Sale is lost for all of next year.
* WEEI.com
Can this Rafael Devers kid save the Red Sox' season?
Rob Bradford
The guy David Dombrowski signed up to be the top-of-the-rotation ace for the next five years, Chris Sale, was packing his bags to visit Dr. James Andrews.
Another pitcher the Sox were counting on to slide into the elite portion of starters, Nathan Eovaldi, offered a really uncomfortable outing, giving up five runs over just two innings.
Even the hope that the Rays Wild Card lead over Alex Cora's club might shrink to 5 1/2 games went out the window when Tampa Bay claimed its second straight walk-off win over the Tigers.
A win is a win. But, let's be honest, this was against the Orioles. There were bigger fish to fry.
Through the clouds, however, there was that image. The smiley baseball player bee bopping around Fenway Park giving the feeling that there is still something to pay attention to these days. Rafael Devers has become the hopes and dreams of this team.
One position player isn't going to put a team on his back and manufacture the type of run the Red Sox are starving for with 36 games to play. Typically, if your starting pitcher digs the kind of hole Eovaldi supplied a hitter can go 10-for-10 and it still isn't going to make up the difference. But, once again, this was the Orioles, one of the best gift-givers in Major League Baseball history.
What Sunday did remind us once again is what Devers is doing, and why he may have become the most important player on this team. The 22-year-old went 4-for-5 with a homer, two doubles and four more RBIs to give him a Major League-leading 101 for the season. He is the first player since Miguel Cabrera in 2005 to manage 100 or more runs and RBI in a season before turning 23, with the last Red Sox to accomplish the feat being a young man named Ted Williams.
"It’s amazing," said Cora. "We go back to April, like people were talking about him going to Triple-A and trying to find it down there. But his on-base percentage was way up there and he wasn’t striking out. So we saw a few things that we liked and he wasn’t hitting the ball in the air. When he found it, he just took off. Just quality at-bat after quality at-bat. He’s a joy to watch."
"I’m running out of stuff to say about him now," said Mitch Moreland of Devers. "It just seems like a bad day for him is 2-for-4 with a double right now. He’s been incredible. This run he’s on right now is fun to watch. Early in the year, he was asking me what we were going to do against pitchers, me and him being left-handed hitters, and here lately I’m like, ‘Look, you tell me what I need to do.’ He’s doing everything right right now. He barrels everything. It seems like every ball he hits is hard, too. He’s special."
The stats have been recited over and over the last few weeks,with Devers living life as a legitimate MVP candidate because of them.
But it's how he's doing it that offers the impression of a player who can make this seemingly impossible situation for the Red Sox somewhat plausible.
Nobody in baseball has more go-ahead hits, with Devers also leading the American League in game- winners. And his 203 balls of 95 mph or better is far and away tops in all the majors. These are the kind of things that make one feel something notable is going to happen when the righty hitter steps into the batter's box and takes his deep breath. It is the kind of vibe reserved for a select few, as we were reminded a year ago thanks to Mookie Betts. My childhood example? Jim Rice in 1978.
It helps that he isn't alone, living a good life in the No. 2 spot (where Devers has totaled a gaudy .370 batting average since being moved up behind Betts). He has the reigning MVP in front of him, and another Top 5 MVP candidate in Xander Bogaerts making sure there aren't a whole lot of intentional walks or pitching around. Then comes the suddenly red-hot J.D. Martinez. The strength of this team has undoubtedly become the first half of the lineup, with Devers currently representing the captain of that four-man ship.
It is, however, understood the third baseman won't be able to make up for starting-pitching shortcomings every day. And for that reason, the idea of watching Devers continue this unforgettable run in October still seems like a longshot. But he is the one, perhaps above everyone else, who is keeping the door cracked open just a bit.
The Red Sox are still hanging off a cliff. Fortunately for them, they have a kid named Devers holding the rope.
* NBC Sports Boston
Chris Sale's injury is only the start of a potential catastrophe in the Red Sox rotation
John Tomase
It turns out Dave Dombrowski flunked a test with only wrong answers, unless you count nihilism, and who chooses that? It would be like sitting for the SATs and immediately setting the Scantron sheet on fire.
Was Dombrowski really supposed to walk away from every member of a World Series-winning rotation? Of course not. But it's looking more and more like he shouldn't have kept any of them, either. That's what Starfleet cadets would call a Kobayashi Maru -- an unwinnable scenario that may very well cost Dombrowski his job.
Saturday's news that erstwhile ace Chris Sale is headed to the injured list with elbow inflammation surely set off the hull breach alarms at Fenway Park. Not only has Sale endured a trying season -- posting the worst record (6-11) and ERA (4.40) of his career -- but his $145 million contract extension doesn't even kick in until next season.
Next on Sale's agenda is a visit Dr. James Andrews, the famed orthopedist. Sometimes those exams yield good news, like when David Price learned about his unique Wolverine elbow, which has mostly held up since 2017. But Andrews is often a harbinger of Tommy John doom, which means we must steel ourselves for the possibility that Sale doesn't pitch again until 2021.
Nothing like writing off Year 1 of a nine-figure investment. The issue extends well beyond Sale, though, because outside of cost-controlled left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, every member of the rotation looks like a bad investment. The Red Sox will feel the repercussions of those decisions for years to come, with the unreliable and overpaid trio of Price, Nathan Eovaldi, and Sale on the books through 2022, 2022, and 2024, respectively.
We can't sit here and say no one saw this coming. Those of us who hated the Sale contract when he signed it this spring pointed to the way last season ended, with the left-hander virtually useless for the final three months because of a shoulder injury. He closed out the World Series, but it's telling that the Red Sox weren't comfortable using him until they had built a four-run lead in the ninth.
Owner John Henry had long opposed long-term contracts for pitchers in their 30s, at least until he blew the John Lester negotiations in 2014. Since then he has committed $217 million to Price, $145 million to Sale, and $68 million to Eovaldi, who doesn't turn 30 until February, but came with more red flags than a Chinese military parade.
Price represents a sunk cost at this point, and at least he played a starring role in last year's title, but the odds of him becoming more durable over the final three years and $96 million of his contract feel remote. His misanthropic behavior has turned off members of the organization at every level, but good luck moving on from that money. Despite his ability, he might as well be radioactive, especially with wrist tightness sending him to the IL and durability concerns following him like Pigpen's cloud of dust.
Then there's Eovaldi. For eight years, he delivered more promise than results. Then came three magical weeks in October, when ability and opportunity coalesced into a run of dominance that transformed him from a fringe free agent swingman to a starter in demand. The $68 million contract he signed is probably triple what he would've commanded if the Red Sox had missed the playoffs.
The Eovaldi deal felt like an overpay based on the emotion and euphoria of a title. The Red Sox ignored not only a history of arm surgery, including two Tommy Johns, but one of mediocrity, too. Eovaldi's lifetime ERA of 4.22 and strikeout rate of 6.9 suggested a pitcher whose results never matched his talent.
He lasted only four starts this April before undergoing yet another surgery to clean loose bodies out of his elbow. He has bounced around the bullpen since returning and is now being used as an opener, no one's idea of a good use of $17 million.
The only pitcher Dombrowski got right was Rick Porcello, whom he never seriously considered re-signing. The 30-year-old right-hander is statistically one of the worst starters in baseball, and the Red Sox will look to upgrade his rotation spot this winter.
Unfortunately, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Dombrowski's best approach would've been entirely impractical: let Eovaldi walk, watch Sale pitch out his contract, and try to find takers for Price and Porcello.
With the Duck Boat tracks still fresh on the warning track and champagne still soaking everyone's hair, Dombrowski decided to bring the band back.
It's hard to blame him, but oh man, has it cost him.
* Bostonsportsjournal.com
In desperate times, Red Sox taking guerilla approach to games
Sean McAdam
This is how it has to be now. They’ve given themselves no choice in the matter.
It’s getting late in the season, there’s ground to make up in the standings and their starting rotation is decimated by injuries, with their top two starters taking up space on the Injured List as the schedule comes down the home stretch.
It’s hardly the prescribed method. But given their level of desperation, they can’t afford to be choosy.
For the past two weeks, Alex Cora has been playing a game of whack-a-mole: solving one problem, only to have another pop up out of the ground.
Unable to continue running Andrew Cashner out to the mound as a starter, Cora shifted him to the bullpen and has seen Cashner’s stuff play up in relief. Cashner’s removal from the bullpen, in turn, created a vacancy in the rotation, which Sunday, he attempted to fill with Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi missed more than half the season with an elbow injury before being re-introduced as a reliever. It took Eovaldi weeks to get comfortable, but in the last week, there were signs that he was regaining his effectiveness. Without any other options, the Sox turned to him to start Sunday after he had given them two scoreless innings in relief Wednesday in Cleveland.
The hope was that Eovaldi could give them 50-60 pitches; instead, he provided 43 — all of them inside two innings that saw the Baltimore Orioles grab a 5-0 lead.
And so, Cora orchestrated a parade from the bullpen. Six relievers in all marched to the mound, most of them asked to do their small part, biting off three outs at a time.
Darwinzon Hernandez gave up a run in the third, but the relay approach then went unscored upon from the third until the ninth, when a garbage-time run off Travis Lakins barely registered.
Before the game, Cora has tacitly, almost casually, admitted that the bullpen-by-committee approach the team adopted at the start of the season, has been a failure. The trouble, Cora stipulated, came from asking the same reliever — in this case, Matt Barnes — to face the toughest part of the order, night after night.
(In actual truth, that’s only partly the issue. The other problems came from relievers other than Barnes never knowing when they would be used, and the general lack of quality options. Somehow, the team thought it could miraculously replace the 128 innings eaten by Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly without adding any experienced relievers to the mix.).
And now that the rotation is in tatters — Chris Sale, regardless of what he hears from Dr. James Andrews on Monday, would seem to have thrown his last pitch for 2019 and David Price is still a week away from returning from his second IL stint — the irony is, the Sox are going to have to depend on their bullpen to bail them out.
The offense is plenty good enough, now second in runs scored and in the top three in virtually every category imaginable. The rotation will, in time, consist of Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Eovaldi.
The rest? Who knows? A spate off-days will make things at least somewhat easier over the next couple of weeks, enabling the Sox to get by with four starters. But eventually, the schedule will get busy again and the Sox will have to patch and fill, the way they did Sunday.
The problem, naturally, is that not every opponent is going to be as beatable as the hapless Orioles, who were given a six-run head start Sunday and still managed to lose by six. That sort of 12-run swing isn’t common, and it helped that the Sox are off Monday, enabling Cora to go full-throttle with his bullpen.
Now is no time to mess around. When the Sox have a win within sight, they have to do everything to secure it.
It’s as if the playoffs have begun already. Cora continually advises against “chasing wins” — that is, selling out to do everything to win that day’s game, and damn the consequences — but now he has little choice but to do just that.
Every game will be an adventure. The pitchers will be pushed and prodded to just get one more out, just finish one more inning. Expanded rosters will provide additional bodies, but their trustworthiness will be limited. Mostly, they’ll be around to help out when games, one way or another, get out of hand.
It won’t be pretty. And it likely won’t, in the end, be successful.
But it sure is going to be interesting to watch.
BSJ Game Report: Red Sox 13, Orioles 7 – Streaking Sox overcome six-run deficit
Sean McAdam
HEADLINES
Trailing 6-0, the Sox rallied: It looked to be a long, ugly afternoon when the Red Sox fell behind 6-0 in the top of the third. Then, apparently, two things dawned on them: 1) These are the Orioles we’re facing and 2) Our offense can overcome most any deficit. And so it began, with a couple of run-scoring groundouts in the third and a solo homer from Sam Travis in the fourth. The big inning was the sixth, when the Sox managed six runs, then followed it up with four more in the seventh. At one point, the Sox tallied 13 unanswered runs before the O’s tacked on one more in the top of the ninth. The six-run deficit was the biggest overcome by the Sox this season, having overcome five-run leads four times previously this year. The game marked the first time the Sox trailed by at least six and ended up winning by at least six since September 11, 2007, when they trailed Tampa Bay 8-1 and ended up winning 16-10.
Devers does it again: Nearly every day — or so it seems — Rafael Devers does something amazing. On Sunday, it included collecting four more hits, nine total bases and becoming the first hitter in the big leagues to reach 100 RBI for the season. In so doing, he became the second Red Sox player in history to score 100 runs and knock in 100 runs in a season before turning 23. The other? Ted Williams, who did it in 1930 and 1940. In his last 58 games, he’s knocked in 61 runs. “It’s funny,” noted Alex Cora, “because 10, 15 days ago, we were talking about him chasing pitches and being in a slump. Now, it seems like everything he hits, he’s hitting it hard. The quality of the at-bats are great — with two strikes, early in the count. He keeps working and he’s not taking anything from granted.” Devers seemed wholly unimpressed with the fact that he was the first hitter in the big leagues to reach 100 RBI. “It feels good,” said Devers, “but overall, it’s just good to get a win. That’s what’s most important for me right now.”
Eovaldi’s return to rotation a rocky one: Nathan Eovaldi, who had pitched well during the week out of the bullpen, made his first start since the middle of April and it wasn’t a long one — or very successful, for that matter. Eovaldi lasted just two innings and allowed five runs while showing atypical wildness (three walks, two wild pitches). “I felt fine physically,” said Eovaldi, “but I was all over the place. I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to. They needed me to go a little deeper into the game and I was able to go only two innings.” Part of the issue, Eovaldi said, was because of mechanics, noting that he was “rushing to the plate a little bit.” He chastised himself for not being able to self-correct within the game, but noted that he was again comfortable in the starting role in terms of routine and mental approach.
TURNING POINT
It was a big uphill climb when the Sox fell behind 6-0 in the third, but after getting two in the bottom of the third, Travis’s solo blast into the center field bleachers, cutting the lead in half, was when it started to turn around for the Sox. “That’s when we got back into the game,” said Cora.
TWO UP
Mitch Moreland: Moreland came off the bench in the sixth to pinch-hit and delivered a blooper to left, then followed with two more hits.
J.D. Martinez: His torrid streak continued at the plate, with three more hits — all of them in the span of two innings.
ONE DOWN
Chris Owings: Owings isn’t making the most of his opportunity here. He had another brutal day at the plate, striking out three times.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
“The way our guys rallied back today was awesome. It’s not easy to be down in the hole, but we kept chipping away.” — Eovaldi.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING:
When the Sox scored six times in the sixth, it marked the 13th time this season that they had scored five or more runs in an inning.
In the last four games, the Red Sox bullpen has allowed just two earned runs in the last 18 innings.
The Sox have a .388 batting average in pinch-hitting situations this year.
The Sox have homered in each of their last 11 games.
UP NEXT
Following an off-day Monday, the Red Sox host the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. The Sox have yet to announce a starter vs. RHP Aaron Nola (13-6, 3.56).
* The Athletic
Dave Dombrowski took a risk with Chris Sale, and now the Red Sox may pay for it
Steve Buckley, The Athletic
Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox, is a man with a gift for saying nothing about just about everything. Two years ago, during a press conference to announce that John Farrell was being relieved of his managerial duties, Dombrowski offered so many variations of “I’m not going to get into specifics” that it began to sound like Farrell wasn’t being fired after all.
And yet there sat Dombrowski late Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park, same interview room, same platform, displaying some rare specificity in discussing the team’s decision to place Chris Sale on the injured list with what has been described as elbow inflammation.
“I mean there’s no question this happened Tuesday,” Dombrowski said, referring to Sale’s last start, during which he registered 12 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings against the Cleveland Indians. “Because when they read the MRI they can tell where the inflammation is, they can tell this was something that took place, that they can identify.
“So,” said Dombrowski, “this was not something that’s been bothering him all season long. It’s also a situation where we’ve worked with some stuff on mechanical issues more so with him, and you can see he’s been throwing the ball well the last couple times out in particular.”
Got that?
This happened last Tuesday. If pressed a little, Dombrowski might have revealed the time of night, the inning, and which Indians batter was digging in against Sale.
There’s no question.
The takeaway from that, one is to assume, is that whatever is ailing Chris Sale is not something that was revealed earlier this year when the Red Sox did a medical A to Z on the veteran lefty. This was during spring training, and the Sox were discussing a contract extension with Sale. Naturally, they wanted to make sure they were not, to use an ancient sportswriting term, buying damaged goods.
Satisfied with what they gleaned from the earlier medical examinations, the Red Sox announced, in March, they had come to terms with Sale on a five-year $145 contract extension. Sale will earn $15 million for this year, and then the new five-year deal kicks in. Sale has an opt-out clause after the 2022 season.
And then last Tuesday happened.
“I mean, there’s no question this happened Tuesday,” Dombrowski said.
OK, so let’s roll with that. Sale made his start against the Indians last Tuesday, and even though the total pitching line wasn’t spectacular — two of the five hits he allowed were home runs and he came out of it with a no-decision in Boston’s 7-6 victory — he did register his 2,000th career strikeout. Sale reached the milestone faster than any pitcher in the game’s history, in just 1,626 innings.
But none of that — not even the MRIs revealing that the elbow inflammation “happened” last Tuesday — alters my view that the Red Sox had already made a monumental miscalculation in giving Sale a contract extension. Depending on what is learned from further examinations — Sale is scheduled to meet this week with Dr. James Andrews, the noted orthopedic surgeon — this injury could hinder the Red Sox’ championship prospects for the next several years.
Forget about this season. This season is shot. Think in terms of Sale undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing all of next season — the first season in which his new deal begins. Boston’s starting rotation is already in transition, with Rick Porcello a free agent at the end of the year. And now there’s the possibility of Sale missing an entire season.
The Red Sox shouldn’t have needed “last Tuesday” to understand that Sale is a risky proposition. He is a tall, lanky, ball-slinging lefty who wore down in the second half of his first two seasons with the Red Sox, and now he’s likely lost for the remainder of this season.
It’s true that Sale rallied during last year’s postseason. His ninth-inning relief outing in Game 5 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium goes into the books as an epic moment in Red Sox history. It’s not just that he retired the Dodgers in order to secure Boston’s fourth championship this century; it’s that he did so with the kind of panache that fans remember for the rest of their lives, as he struck out the side, ending it by sending Red Sox villain Manny Machado falling to the ground as though he’d been struck by a runaway shopping cart.
Sale has been a solid Red Sox citizen. He did destroy some throwback uniforms back in his White Sox days, but in terms of attitude he’s been a throwback pitcher for the Red Sox. If the guy were hurtled back in time to South Station for an overnight train to Chicago with Doerr, Pesky, DiMaggio and Teddy Ballgame, he’d fit right in.
But that doesn’t mean Dombrowski should have given him a five-year contract extension. And, please, let’s not tie in this deal with the manner in which the Red Sox bolloxed the Jon Lester negotiations five years ago. This is not a makeup call.
Jon Lester wanted to remain with the Red Sox. His mistake was saying so. During spring training in 2014, Larry Lucchino, president of the Red Sox at the time, saw an opening and made an offer that was laughable and insulting. The Sox wound up trading Lester to Oakland and then the lefty signed with the Cubs, with whom he is quite happy.
Meeting with the media for his annual state-of-the-Red Sox chat during spring training earlier this year, principal owner John Henry admitted the team “blew it” with Lester.
But extending one World Series-winning lefty doesn’t make up for failing to sign another World Series- winning lefty. Lester is a horse, always has been. Coming into 2019 he had made 30 or more starts in 11 straight seasons; he’s currently at 24 starts for this season.
In his age 31-34 seasons — and, remember, the Red Sox once expressed a fear of signing pitchers over the age of 30 — Lester has given the Cubs exactly 32 starts in all four years. Chris Sale is now 30. Is anyone confident he can give the Red Sox 32 starts in each of the next four years?
My apologies for the hate-to-say-I-told-you-so bit, but as far back as last December, in a piece ranking the order in which the Sox should prioritize six of their potential free agents, I had Sale at the very bottom. “Given the millions awaiting Sale, his durability issues are scary,” I wrote.
The Red Sox didn’t see it that way.
And then last Tuesday arrived.
* The Baltimore Sun
Orioles allow 13 straight runs in 13-7 loss to Red Sox, completing winless road trip; Sisco injured
Nathan Ruiz
For a second time in a sixth inning with a seemingly unavoidable end, Orioles catcher Chance Sisco knelt in the dirt in obvious pain. Whatever ill feelings he felt after taking a foul ball in the groin were the physical manifestation of what the past two weeks have been for his team.
In what devolved into a 13-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday at Fenway Park, Sisco exited during a sixth inning in which the Orioles fully lost what was once a 6-0 lead. The defeat left the Orioles winless on their seven-game road trip and was their 12th in 13 games, all coming against teams with playoff aspirations in the Red Sox, New York Yankees and Houston Astros.
“I actually like playing these teams because they make you play your best baseball," first baseman Chris Davis said. “If you have a weakness, they expose it, and you find out what kind of team you are when you play the best teams.”
The sixth inning was an unwanted lesson, then. Left-hander Ty Blach, making his second start for the Orioles (39-85), took the mound with a 6-3 lead, having pitched more than four innings in a major league game for the first time since June 2018. He allowed a double to J.D. Martinez and, after a flyout, walked Sam Travis, prompting manager Brandon Hyde to bring in Gabriel Ynoa.
Ynoa faced one batter, Christian Vázquez, and gave up an RBI double. Batting against left-hander Paul Fry, pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland blooped a single into shallow left, a ball Hyde said should’ve been caught.
“That’s a play that needs to be made,” he said. "Should have been out of there with a two-run lead, and unfortunately, it steamrolled on us.”
Shortstop Jonathan Villar picked up the ball and flung it home with Travis already approaching the plate, where he appeared to make contact with Sisco and send him to the ground in pain in what Hyde said was his neck and left shoulder area. Sisco remained in the game after an evaluation.
Meanwhile, Davis jumped to cut off Villar’s throw but the ball deflected off his glove and into foul territory, allowing Vázquez to score the tying run.
“Just making the mistakes that we made today, we can’t afford to do that, and we’ve got to start pulling for one another,” Davis said. "We’ve got to stay in it together, and we’ve got to keep going.”
After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Fry walked Mookie Betts on four pitches to face the left- handed hitting Rafael Devers, who doubled off the Green Monster to give Boston its first lead. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, fouled a full-count pitch back into Sisco, who needed to come out of the game and was medically evaluated afterward. Bogaerts then reached on an infield single up the middle to score another run and end Fry’s outing.
Shawn Armstrong entered and induced a ground ball from Martinez to the right side to Davis, who looked to second to try to get Bogaerts out there. But with no teammate to be found at second base, he turned back toward first and got the ball to Armstrong too late, bringing in the sixth Red Sox (67-59) run of the frame. The 12-batter inning finally ended with a strikeout of Travis.
“We just made too many careless mistakes today,” Davis said. "We can’t leave bases uncovered. We can’t be overthrowing the cutoff guys. We’ve just got to do little things right.”
In the 124 sixth innings the Orioles have played in 2019, they have allowed 122 runs and been outscored by 73 runs.
First or famine
Alternatively, the Orioles’ most productive inning has been the first, in which they’ve scored 75 runs. Three came Sunday.
After Villar led off with a double against Nathan Eovaldi, Trey Mancini, serving as the designated hitter after fouling a ball off his left calf Saturday, followed with a walk. Renato Núñez twice thought he was going to do the same, taking steps toward first on consecutive three-ball pitches, but home plate umpire Jansen Visconti called both strikes. Instead, Núñez settled for a three-run home run on the full-count pitch.
The Orioles added two runs in the second on a single by Mancini. Hanser Alberto continued his success against left-handed pitchers with an RBI double off Darwinzon Hernandez in the third.
Boston then scored 13 straight runs before Núñez’s sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Record approaching
The Red Sox scored twice off Blach before Travis hit a solo shot off him in the fourth inning.
With Devers adding a two-run home run in the seventh off Armstrong, the Orioles are three away from matching the 2016 Cincinnati Reds for the most home runs allowed in major league history (258).
“Ty threw the ball outstanding today and really deserved the win, but we made too many mistakes,” Davis said. "When you make mistakes like that against a team like this, they’re gonna make it hurt.”
* Associated Press
Red-hot Devers helps Red Sox rally past Orioles, 13-7
Standing in the middle of Boston's clubhouse answering questions, a baby-faced Rafael Devers found himself immersed in Red Sox history.
Devers went 4 for 5 with a homer, two doubles and four RBI to reach 101 this season, and Boston rallied from an early six-run deficit for a 13-7 victory Sunday that completed a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.
The 22-year-old Devers joined Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice as the only Red Sox players to have a 100-RBI season before turning 23. He also has already scored 100 runs this year, matching Williams (1939 and '40) as the only two to post those totals before their 23rd birthday.
"The kid just keeps working. He's not taking anything for granted," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "Every day he shows, sticks to his routine, he studies and goes out there and performs the way he's doing. It's fun to watch."
J.D. Martinez added three hits and two RBI, and Sam Travis hit a solo homer for the Red Sox, who won their fifth straight as they try to climb out of a deep hole for the second AL wild card. Boston trails Tampa Bay by 6 1/2 games.
In his last eight games, Devers is 20 for 37 with 12 extra-base hits and 14 RBI.
"Obviously, it feels good to be a part of that group, but overall I'm just trying to help the team win," he said through a translator. "That's what I'm more focused on."
Renato Nunez had a three-run homer and four RBI, and Trey Mancini hit a two-run single for last-place Baltimore, which dropped its seventh in a row.
Trailing 6-3 in the sixth inning, the Red Sox completed their comeback and took the lead with six runs. Christian Vazquez drove in the first with an RBI double. Pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland followed with a shallow fly against Paul Fry (1-5) that dropped in behind shortstop between three players with a shifted infield.
Travis scored easily from third and Vazquez raced home when shortstop Jonathan Villar threw wildly to the plate. Devers followed with a go-ahead double off the Green Monster before Xander Bogaerts and Martinez each had a run-scoring infield hit. The second came when reliever Shawn Armstrong was late covering first.
"Should've been out of there with a two-run lead and unfortunately it steamrolled on us," Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said.
Marcus Walden (8-2), the fourth of six relievers, got the win by working a scoreless inning.
Held to one run over the first two games of the series, the Orioles jumped ahead when Nunez's drive left Fenway Park over the Monster. Mancini's single made it 5-0 and Hanser Alberto added an RBI double.
Boston chipped away with two in the third before Travis homered into the center field batter's eye an inning later.
LACKING COMMAND
Making his first start since April 17, Boston's Nathan Eovaldi was roughed up for five runs in two innings.
He didn't look sharp from the beginning, giving up a double to Villar on his third pitch before walking Mancini. Overall, the right-hander walked three and threw two wild pitches.
The 29-year-old Eovaldi was sidelined for nearly three months and made 11 relief appearances after surgery to remove a loose body from his right elbow in April.
"I felt fine physically," he said. "I was just all over the place. I wasn't able to execute my pitches when I needed to."
HOPE YOU DIDN'T MAKE PLANS
Boston's half of the sixth lasted 39 minutes, with the Red Sox getting six hits and three walks before it finally ended when Travis struck out with the bases loaded.
They followed with another four runs in the seventh, with Devers' two-run homer the key hit.
WASTED EFFORT
Baltimore starter Ty Blach left with a 6-3 lead and two on in the sixth.
"You control the things that you can control as a pitcher and go out there and try to execute as many pitches as you can," he said. "That's how you have to evaluate it."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Orioles: C Chance Sisco was shaken up after Travis collided with him, scoring a run. Sisco stayed in, but later in the inning was hit by a foul ball in the midsection and had to come out.
Red Sox: Cora said LHP Chris Sale will see Dr. James Andrews in Florida on Monday. Sale was put on the 10-day injured list Saturday after an MRI showed inflammation in his pitching elbow. The lefty hasn't spoken to reporters since going on the IL. "He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys," Cora said. ... LHP David Price (left wrist cyst) played catch in the outfield after throwing a bullpen Saturday.
UP NEXT
Orioles: LHP John Means (8-8, 3.76 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against Kansas City at Camden Yards on Monday night. RHP Jorge Lopez (1-7, 6.51) goes for the Royals.
Red Sox: Begin a two-game interleague series versus Philadelphia at Fenway Park on Tuesday. Cora hadn't announced a starter yet.