The Boston Red Sox Sunday, May 20, 2018 * the Boston Globe
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The Boston Red Sox Sunday, May 20, 2018 * The Boston Globe With Jackie Bradley mired in a slump, what are the Red Sox’ options? Alex Speier After Jackie Bradley Jr. swung and missed again, as he retreated to the dugout for a second straight time, the unmistakable sound bubbled from scattered regions of Fenway Park. This wasn’t a full-throated, universal expression of dismay, but nonetheless, there it was, undeniable: The boos. “The crowd doesn’t sway me one way or the other,” Bradley said. “I’m in my own zone when I’m out there.” Yet on the field, the zone in which Bradley currently resides seems stifling right now. On Friday night, the center fielder saw seven pitches from Orioles starter Kevin Gausman. All were fastballs between 91 and 93 m.p.h. – average to below-average velocity in today’s game, some of them roughly down the middle. Bradley took the one that was above the strike zone and swung at the other six. Unless one counts foul tips, he did not make contact once – not even for so much as a foul ball. Instead, Bradley waved and missed six times as part of an 0-for-2 night, his seventh game with multiple strikeouts in 10 contests this month. “I saw fastballs. That’s it,” said Bradley. “I’m missing the pitch, missing my pitches. Timing is not there.” Since the beginning of May, Bradley is hitting .083/.179/.083 with 18 strikeouts in 39 plate appearances (46 percent). He doesn’t have any extra-base hits in his last 20 games (18 starts), hitting just .097/.186/.097 with a 43 percent strikeout rate. For the season, his numbers tell the tale of someone who is being overmatched. He’s hitting .164/259/.246. Twice in the last 10 days, the Red Sox have given him three straight days off to focus on behind-the-scenes work. Bradley showed up early on Friday to take extra batting practice with manager Alex Cora. “[I am] always in a good mind-set,” Bradley said. “Every day is a new day.” Yet his struggles are becoming so extreme – Bradley has the lowest batting average by a Red Sox non- catcher through 45 team games since 1974, when Tommy Harper hit .155/.216/.273 to start the year – that the Sox must wrestle with the question of his role, and whether to push him to something of a reserve role while having Hanley Ramirez serve as designated hitter, Mitch Moreland play first, J.D. Martinez in left, and Andrew Benintendi in center. Such an alignment would compromise the team’s defense, but the impact of that lost defense could well be offset — if not exceeded — by the addition of more offense. If Bradley loses an everyday role, even bigger questions loom. He has the physical tools to overcome a difficult start and produce, something that happened in dramatic fashion in both 2015 and 2017. But if he can’t hit big-league fastballs, then the Red Sox must decide whether they’re best served to have him try to catch his breath in a reserve role. Are there more extreme possibilities? Sure. The Red Sox do retain one minor league option on Bradley. As hard as it is to imagine a $6.1 million player in Triple A, if that’s the best path to getting Bradley back in position to contribute as an above-average player in the big leagues, then the Sox certainly should consider it. The Sox are nearing an interesting roster dilemma with Dustin Pedroia’s return coming closer into view. While on the surface the most obvious logjam would appear to be with Eduardo Nunez, Brock Holt, and Blake Swihart, the Sox could go in another direction to create a roster spot for Pedroia. Could that include sending Bradley to Pawtucket, with Martinez assuming everyday outfield duties and Holt and Swihart offering bench outfield options? Again, that all seems extreme for a player with Bradley’s resume – an All-Star in 2016, one of the team’s two best position players from the middle of last May through late August – but Bradley’s struggles are becoming sufficiently severe that extreme measures can’t be ruled out entirely. It doesn’t appear any such conversations have transpired in the Sox organization. The fact that the top of the Sox order has been so impactful has bought the team, and Bradley, time. The Sox have a 30-15 record (.667), including a 23-11 (.676) mark when Bradley starts in the outfield. They’re still winning with him. But if a team slump comes, if Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez ever return from whatever intergalactic realm they’ve discovered, then the Sox could face some hard questions as they try to restore Bradley to status as a productive big leaguer. Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi strike back-to-back as Red Sox top Orioles Julian Benbow The almost-instant grimace on Orioles starter Dylan Bundy’s face was the product of realizing that he had not only thrown the wrong pitch at the wrong time but that he couldn’t have possibly chosen a worse hitter to throw it to. With a runner on and the game knotted at 1 in the fifth, Bundy was in the unenviable spot of being down in the count, 2 and 1, to Mookie Betts, who was swinging arguably the hottest bat in baseball. Bundy decided to go with his fastball, up and away. Off the crack of Betts’s bat, he knew how monstrous his mistake was. From the on-deck circle, Andrew Benintendi knew it, too. Hitting behind Betts all season, he knew what was about to happen. Betts sent a shot soaring toward the Monster seats. Bundy’s head sunk immediately as Betts rounded the bases with a two-run homer. “Him hunting pitches in the strike zone, that’s the key,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. Things only got worse for Bundy a batter later. He got ahead 0 and 2 to Benintendi but tried to use a slider as his putaway pitch. It stayed knee high and Benintendi swatted it into the Orioles bullpen. The back-to-back homers effectively ended Bundy’s night and pushed the Red Sox to a 6-3 win on Saturday night at Fenway Park. The Sox hadn’t hit back-to-back homers since 2016. For the 10th time in his career and the second time this season, Betts homered in consecutive games. He leads the league in average, slugging, on-base percentage, runs, extra-base hits and total bases. “It’s awesome,” Benintendi said. “He’s always on the base paths, scoring runs. He’s pretty much doing everything to help the team win. He’s in a groove right now. It’s not like he’s hot-hot. I feel like he can get hotter than he is right now. It seems like he squares up something every at-bat, so he’s doing everything right.” The Sox have hit 64 homers this season. They’ve homered in 18 of their past 19 games. They’re 23-10 when they hit at least one homer. After giving up five runs in back-to-back starts, Rick Porcello was in dire need of a bounce-back outing. He went six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts. “He battled tonight,” said Cora. “He’ll tell you that.” He overcame command issues to get out of tight situations early. He wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, allowing just one run. The frame got off to a rocky start when Chance Sisco laced a 1-and-1 slider down the right-field line for a ground-rule double. Porcello struck out Trey Mancini for the first out, then gave up a single to Adam Jones and walked Manny Machado to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to left by Jonathan Schoop drove in Sisco to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. But Porcello struck out Chris Davis to get out of the inning with minimal damage, which was critical, Porcello said. “Especially against a team like that,” said Porcello. “We know they have a good lineup that can blow up on you quick, so that was kind of the key.” A solo homer from Rafael Devers evened things in the third. But the Sox’ three-run fifth inning gave Porcello some breathing room. Betts pushed his major league- leading home run total to 15 with his two-run shot. Even Porcello was awestruck. “It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch. I don’t even know what to say. It’s pretty incredible. He gets his pitch, he’s not missing. He doesn’t get his pitch, he’s not missing it. I’m just glad I don’t have to face him.” Benintendi’s homer was his fourth of the season. The only other pothole Porcello ran into came in the sixth with a runner on first when he left a 2-and-2 fastball over the plate to Pedro Alvarez, who mashed it into the Monster seats for a two-run homer that cut the Sox’ lead to 4-3. But for the eighth time in 10 starts this season, Porcello gave the Sox at least six innings, throwing 107 pitches, 67 for strikes. Joe Kelly’s scoreless seventh inning helped keep the Orioles at bay.