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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:28:07 GMT -5
Red Sox notebook: Chris Sale nearing rehab assignment, Josh Winckowski to make MLB debut Sale has been out with stress fracture in rib
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: May 27, 2022 at 7:47 p.m. | UPDATED: May 27, 2022 at 7:53 p.m.
The light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible for Chris Sale.
The injured lefty is expected to get on the mound three times next week before the Red Sox re-evaluate him, but the next step could be a rehab assignment to kickstart his return to the big leagues for the first time since last October.
“I’m not 100% sure, but probably,” manager Alex Cora said of Sale’s pending rehab assignment.
Sale fractured a rib in February while the MLB owners were still locking out the players. Sale was working out at Florida Gulf Coast University when he suffered the injury, but the Sox weren’t aware of the extent of it until the lockout was lifted in March.
He was placed on the 60-day injured list to start the season and won’t be eligible to return until at least June 8, though that timeline is unlikely given he would probably need several rehab starts in the minors.
He threw about 25 pitches in a bullpen session this week and is feeling good, Cora said.
“Good fastball, good slider, good changeup,” the manager said. “Now, the plan is for him to get on the mound three times next week… I haven’t talked to him today. Just got the reports and everybody feels like it went well.” Highly anticipated debut
The Sox rotation has been a strength all year, and they’ll add one more to the crew on Saturday.
Josh Winckowski, a 23-year-old prospect sent by the Royals in the Andrew Benintendi trade last year, will make his big league debut and start the second game of a scheduled doubleheader against the Orioles at 6:10 p.m. ET.
“We’ve been talking about him,” Cora said. “We thought about it in the Texas series but we felt we were going to be OK the way we did it and I think we did … I think, forget the baseball part of it, for him, to map it out and have his family here and everybody here, it’s a lot easier than just, fly to Texas and pitch and then everybody misses the whole thing.”
A 15th-round draft pick by the Blue Jays in 2016, Winckowski has been sensational since joining the Sox’ system last year. He had a 3.94 ERA and 1.23 WHIP between Double-A and Triple-A in ‘21, and will enter his start on Saturday having posted a 3.13 ERA and 0.85 WHIP for Triple-A Worcester this year.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander throws a fastball in the mid-to-high 90s and adds a changeup, slider and split-finger.
“He’s been really good for us,” Cora said. “He’s a guy that we really like. He competes with himself, with everybody. He wants to be great. It should be fun.”
Nathan Eovaldi will start the first game of the doubleheader, which kicks off at 12:10 p.m. ET. Barnes getting frustrated
Matt Barnes looked lost on the mound Thursday night, when he threw 27 pitches, just nine for strikes while walking four batters and recording just one out against the White Sox.
It was the kind of outing that makes it easy to question why Barnes is on a big league roster, but the Red Sox aren’t giving up on their All-Star closer.
“I think yesterday he got frustrated with himself,” Cora said. “I talked to him a little bit today and his mechanics were way off. There was a lot of effort yesterday and he became a thrower, not a pitcher. You could see it, he was trying to snap his breaking ball and spin it as hard as possible and he tried to throw his fastball as hard as possible and he was all over the place. It was a ball from the get-go.”
Cora said he thought Barnes had good stuff because he was touching 96 mph on the radar gun, but catcher Kevin Plawecki told him otherwise.
The Sox believe it’s a mechanical issue for Barnes, who was named to the American League All-Star team for the first time in his career last year and then signed a two-year contract extension worth at least $18.75 million. He faded down the stretch and hasn’t looked right since, though Cora insisted that Barnes is healthy.
“It’s been a struggle and he’ll admit it,” Cora said. “We’ve got a lot of people working with him and we’re not going to stop. I’ve been saying all along, he’s very important for us.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:30:32 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox bullpen is a major issue; maybe Josh Winckowski, who will start Saturday, could be part of the solution Updated: May. 28, 2022, 2:32 a.m. | Published: May. 28, 2022, 12:54 a.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
BOSTON — The Red Sox led 6-0 after three innings and 8-2 entering the seventh inning against the last-place Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
But their unreliable bullpen, which has converted only 8-of-20 save opportunities, couldn’t lock it down.
Relievers Jake Diekman, John Schreiber, Matt Strahm and Hirokazu Sawamura combined to allow 10 runs on 15 hits and three walks in 3 innings. Boston lost 12-8 here at Fenway Park.
“It was very tough to watch but we’ve got to turn the page,” manager Alex Cora said.
This should feel like an embarrassing loss for Boston.
“We were very short bullpen-wise,” Cora said. “8-2 (lead) with some guys we trust. They hit the ball out of the ballpark twice. And then they put good at-bats. They were very relentless.”
Boston entered Friday with MLB’s most meltdowns (34), a win probability statistic created by Fangraphs. “If a player increased his team’s win probability by 6% (0.06 WPA), then they get a Shutdown. If a player made his team 6% more likely to lose (-0.06), they get a Meltdown,” according to the site.
“Every loss is tough but ones like tonight, it stings, especially the weekend we have ahead,” Xander Bogaerts said. “We have five games in four days.”
Boston has a doubleheader Saturday. Josh Winckowski will make his major league debut when he starts Game 2. Winckowski has mostly worked a starter in the minors (79 starts, five relief appearances) but he potentially is someone who could help Boston’s bullpen this season. He pitched out of the pen in the Arizona Fall League and his four-seam fastball, two-seamer and slider likely would play up in that role. His fastball was in the upper-90s in the AFL.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom needs to figure out something, whether it’s adding externally through a trade or internally with someone like Winckowski.
Hard-throwing relievers AJ Politi and Frank German, who both are at Triple-A Worcester, also are internal options.
Connor Seabold is on Worcester’s IL with a pectoral strain right now. He’s another starter like Winckowski who potentially could help out of the bullpen when healthy.
Boston entered the seventh ahead 8-2. But Diekman surrendered a three-run homer to No. 9 hitter Jorge Mateo as Boston’s lead shrunk to 8-5. Schreiber gave up a two-run homer to Austin Hays in the eighth inning that made it 8-7.
“Very tough,” Diekman said. “Whit (starting pitcher Garrett Whitlock) pitched his butt off. Up a bunch of runs. Final three innings. We’ve got to win.”
Strahm replaced Schreiber with two outs in the eighth. He allowed a ground-rule double to Rougned Odor, then an infield single to Ramón Urías. Rafael Devers barehanded Urías’ soft roller and made an errant throw to first base that tied the game 8-8.
“Raffy trying to get out of the inning right there,” Cora said. “Barehanded play. Do or die play and he threw it away. Can’t question the effort. He’s trying to get out of the inning right there.”
Strahm returned for the ninth and allowed three straight singles, including the go-ahead hit to Anthony Santander.
Hirokazu Sawamura — who along with Matt Barnes is at the bottom of the list of relievers Cora can trust —replaced Strahm. He walked the first batter he faced and threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded as the Orioles went ahead 10-8.
The Orioles added two more runs on Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI sac fly and Odor’s RBI single.
Schreiber and Strahm have been two of Boston’s top relievers, but they failed to get the job done Friday. Strahm was charged with a blown save.
“It was one game,” Diekman said. “It happened from the seventh, eighth and ninth. Probably took an hour. So in the past three weeks, we’ve had a really bad one hour.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:31:43 GMT -5
Christopher Smith @smittyonmlb · 4h Red Sox are 1-3 against the Orioles this year
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:33:24 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 5h They were up 8-2 with Diekman, Schreiber and Strahm in the game. It’s on them
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:35:21 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 6h Red Sox continuing to lead the majors in reliever meltdown appearances with 35. Rest of the league averages 23.
What a disgusting loss. Jump out to a 6-0 lead, have an 8-2 lead entering the 7th, then cough up 3 in the 7th, 3 in the 8th, and 4 in the 9th to lose to Baltimore at home. Just terrible
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 3:44:49 GMT -5
Orioles @ Red Sox Saturday, May 28th Double Header @ Fenway Park
Game 1@ 12pm
Lyles 3-4/4.10
Eovaldi 1-2/4.10
Game 2 @ 6pm
Reyes 0-0/0.000
Winckowski (Debut)
Orioles enter DH vs. Red Sox off stirring comeback FLM
The Baltimore Orioles suddenly have something to build on, as unexpected as it might be.
The Orioles go into a day-night doubleheader against the host Boston Red Sox on Saturday coming off a riveting late-game comeback Friday night.
The 12-8 victory came by overcoming a six-run deficit after six innings.
The Orioles, winners of just five of their past 14 games, wouldn't seem like a team beaming with confidence. Yet some of that might be brewing after they scored the final 10 runs on Friday, earning a win after trailing 8-2 entering the seventh inning.
"We could be down 30-0 and we're still staying positive, still staying in it, trying to compete and come back every time," Baltimore outfielder Anthony Santander said.
The Orioles have won in their last at-bat three times in a seven-game stretch.
The Friday result was more puzzling for the Red Sox. It was the first time they scored more than five runs and lost this season.
The Orioles needed a little of everything to overcome the Red Sox, who scored 16 runs twice this week against the Chicago White Sox and appeared on that pace again with a 6-0 lead after two innings Friday night.
A three-run home run from Jorge Mateo started Baltimore's comeback. He entered the night 2-for-29 in his previous eight games.
"He has come up in some big spots and wants to come through so badly," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "The work has been awesome. His preparation is great. The process is good."
The Red Sox will turn to a veteran and a newcomer for the pitching assignments Saturday. After the bullpen's performance Friday, they will be counting on quite a bit from the starters.
Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 4.10 ERA) is slated to start the opener for the Red Sox. He has more wins against the Orioles than any other team, racking up a 7-2 record and 3.43 ERA in 16 career starts. He has 81 strikeouts and 27 walks in 84 innings vs. Baltimore.
Eovaldi threw seven shutout innings at Baltimore in a no-decision on April 30.
Right-hander Josh Winckowski, 23, will make his major league debut in the nightcap.
"I figured this was somewhat of a possibility, but for it to finally happen obviously was pretty surreal," Winckowski said.
Boston manager Alex Cora sounded confident about how Winckowski, who is 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Worchester this year, will approach the opportunity. Cora likes the way the pitcher competes.
"He wants to be great," the manager said.
Right-hander Jordan Lyles (3-4, 4.10 ERA) will head to the mound for Baltimore in one of the Saturday games, though the team hadn't announced which one.
Lyles has made five career starts against Boston, going 2-1 with a 5.06 ERA. He gave up one run in six innings while beating the Red Sox on May 1.
Hyde declined to name the other Orioles starter, though he said it could come from among those on the team's taxi squad. That could mean a role for Denyi Reyes or Cody Sedlock, both right-handers.
The Orioles have won three of four games against Boston this season.
The Red Sox slipped to 10-11 in home games on the year.
--Field Level Media
Orioles at Red Sox Saturday, at 12:10 PM EST Cloudy According to Forecast.io, it's expected to be 67° F with a 9% chance of rain and 10 MPH wind blowing out in Boston at 12:10 PM EST. Hourly Forecasts: Weather.com Forecast.io
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 9:28:00 GMT -5
Games 46 & 47: Orioles at Red Sox lineups and pregame notesBy Staff and wire reportsUpdated May 28, 2022, 9 minutes ago The Red Sox looked good early Friday night, but a subpar outing from the bullpen turned a 6-0 lead into a 12-8 loss to the Orioles. They’ll look to get back on track Saturday with their first doubleheader of the season, a pair of games that will see Josh Winckowski make his big league debut. Here is a preview. Game 1
ORIOLES (19-27) Lineup: Mullins CF, Mancini 1B, Santander LF, Hays RF, Mountcastle DH, Odor 2B, Urias 3B, Chirinos C, Owings SS.
Pitching: RHP Jordan Lyles (3-4, 4.10 ERA)
RED SOX (21-24) Lineup: Hernández CF, Devers 3B, Martinez DH, Bogaerts SS, Verdugo LF, Arroyo 2B, Cordero 1B, Plawecki C, Bradley RF.
Pitching: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 4.10 ERA)Time: 12:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Orioles vs. Eovaldi: Robinson Chirinos 0-2, Austin Hays 7-19, Trey Mancini 2-14, Ryan McKenna 0-2, Ryan Mountcastle 5-12, Cedric Mullins 7-23, Rougned Odor 2-17, Chris Owings 0-4, Anthony Santander 3-15, Ramón Urías 0-5 Red Sox vs. Lyles: Christian Arroyo 1-3, Xander Bogaerts 2-8, Jackie Bradley Jr. 0-3, Franchy Cordero 0-3, Bobby Dalbec 1-5, Rafael Devers 1-8, Kiké Hernández 2-5, J.D. Martinez 4-8, Trevor Story 3-18, Alex Verdugo 0-6, Christian Vázquez 4-8 Game 2
ORIOLESLineup: TBA Pitching: RED SOXLineup: Pitching: RHP Josh Winckowski (MLB debut) Time: 6:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Stat of the day: Friday’s game was the first time the Red Sox scored more than five runs and lost this season. Notes: Eovaldi (1-2, 4.10 ERA) is slated to start the opener for the Red Sox -- he has more wins against the Orioles than any other team, racking up a 7-2 record and 3.43 ERA in 16 career starts. He has 81 strikeouts and 27 walks in 84 innings vs. Baltimore. ... Right-hander Josh Winckowski, 23, will make his major league debut in the nightcap. Boston manager Alex Cora sounded confident about how Winckowski, who is 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Worcester this year, will approach the opportunity. Cora likes the way the pitcher competes. “He wants to be great,” the manager said. ... Lyles has made five career starts against Boston, going 2-1 with a 5.06 ERA. He gave up one run in six innings while beating the Red Sox on May 1. ... The Orioles have won in their last at-bat three times in a seven-game stretch. Song of the Day: Fleetwood Mac- Big Lovewww.youtube.com/watch?v=4hPv6EuV7dM
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 9:29:41 GMT -5
Garbage out Garbage coming back
Christopher Smith @smittyonmlb · 20m Robles to IL with back spasms Sawarmura optioned to Worcester Valdez and Brasier recalled to Red Sox
Winckowski added as the 27th man for the doubleheader
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 9:38:09 GMT -5
Brasier is back mood
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:04:13 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 24m Chirinos clobbers an Eovaldi slider for a game-tying, two-run homer. It's 3-3 in the fifth. 16 homers allowed this year by Eovaldi - most in MLB and one more than he allowed all of last year.
Eovaldi's given up 4 homers on his slider this year, all to righties. It hasn't been an effective pitch for him. Hitters are slugging over .700 against it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:05:28 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 22m Eovaldi in May: 23.2 IP, 20 R, 17 ER, 9 HR, 6.46 ERA
Whitlock: 22 IP, 14 ER, 5.73 ERA
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:07:24 GMT -5
Why did Boston Red Sox option Hirokazu Sawamura, put Hansel Robles on IL? Alex Cora explains Published: May. 28, 2022, 1:58 p.m. P By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON -- The Red Sox reshuffled their bullpen mix a bit Saturday morning, optioning Hirokazu Sawamura to Triple-A Worcester and placing Hansel Robles (back spasms) on the 15-day injured list while recalling righties Ryan Brasier and Phillips Valdez from the WooSox. After the bullpen allowed 10 runs in a brutal loss to Baltimore on Friday, some sort of shakeup was needed.
Robles, though, is injured and has been dealing with back issues since the middle of the week in Chicago. He hasn’t pitched since Sunday, when he gave up a game-tying homer to Eugenio Suárez before Franchy Cordero won the game with a walk-off grand slam. On the year, the righty owns a 2.65 ERA.
Cora said Robles was unavailable Friday night, when the Sox turned to Jake Diekman, John Schreiber Matt Strahm and Hirokazu Sawamura in relief of Garrett Whitlock. Boston was short on right-handed options in the series opener against Baltimore.
“With Hansel, it has been going on for the last few days,” he said. “I was surprised nobody asked me yesterday about it. Where we’re at, we have to make a move. Hopefully, he can come back as soon as possible. With him, him going to the training room, that’s a real red flag. This guy posts, he prepares and everything. It started the other day in Chicago and he wasn’t available the last few days. With the doubleheader and everything that’s going on this week, I think it’s smart for the individual and, of course, for us.” Enter your email address here to receive the Fenway Rundown email newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday.
Sawamura, who allowed a run and two hits in a single inning Friday night, has fallen down Cora’s list of trustworthy options. In 15 innings, he owns a 3.60 ERA and 1.333 WHIP. He would have been unavailable Saturday after pitching three times in the last four days, so the Red Sox took advantage of the fact he could be freely optioned to the minors.
“We still need to get better throwing strikes and throwing the fastball for strikes,” Cora said. “But getting two fresh arms here to help us win ballgames is very important.”
Sawamura has been frequently used with runners on base this season and has done an admirable job, stranding 13 of 17 runners on the year. Still, he has not been a late-inning option and was dispensable with the Red Sox in need of fresh arms.
“The way we’ve been using him is with traffic,” Cora said. “If you look at his numbers -- and I know it’s a small sample size with statistics -- he has been really good with traffic. We find a spot for him doing that and he was able to do the job. It just happens that now, with where we’re at, we have to move forward. There’s a few things he still has to work (on) as far as command. Yesterday, we got very split-heavy. He wasn’t able to throw his fastball for strikes.
“Nothing has changed. We still like the player,” Cora added. “But where we’re at, we have to make moves. We’ve got Ryan here, we’ve got Phillips here. Hopefully, they can help us win games in the upcoming days.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:13:50 GMT -5
Dalbec just muscled up and as a PH went oppo into the bullpen that is his first PH tater 4-3 Red Sox Top 6
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:20:25 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6m Dalbec homers into the Red Sox bullpen in right-center on a 95 mph fastball from Akin. Decision to pinch-hit against a lefty pays off for Cora and the Red Sox. It's Dalbec's first career PH homer.
Dalbec had gone 115 PAs since his only other homer of the season on 4/10 against the Yankees.
Dalbec's homer off Akin's 95.1 mph fastball was the third of his career against a pitch of 95+ mph.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2022 13:27:00 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6m Austin Davis and Matt Strahm are loosening for the Red Sox in a 4-3 game in the 7th.
13-pitch 7th inning for Eovaldi, who is through 7 in 93 pitches.
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