Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 3, 2023 13:37:23 GMT -5
The Red Sox offense was relentless this weekend, but they certainly got a big assist
Red Sox hitters put together a total offensive performance in going 2-1 against the Orioles during opening weekend at Fenway Park.
By Jon Couture
April 3, 2023 | 10:39 AM
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In the scheme of seven months, the difference between a 2-1 opening weekend and a 1-2 one is minuscule, but it sure makes one Monday in April wake up a little smoother.
The Red Sox and Orioles are each trying to edge into the 2023 wild-card discussion. Neither seemed to belong this weekend. About the only thing between them was Ryan McKenna’s straight drop of the potential final out on Saturday, which opened the door for Adam Duvall to win Boston a game it had trailed for all but the first 10 pitches.
“We swung the bat well. We just gotta pitch a little better.”
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said that to reporters on Sunday afternoon. Alex Cora may as well have just held a joint presser.
“We’re gonna put the ball in play,” Cora, in a ‘Good Vibes Only’ T-shirt, noted instead. “We put the ball in play when it matters. . . . There are certain days it isn’t going to work, but we will grind and do what we’ve done over the weekend.”
Xander Bogaerts slugged 1.000 in his first four games with the Padres, and gave old friend Don Orsillo the chance to try out both “X marks the spot” and “Xander plays in Xan Diego” home run calls. Neither was missed, at least in the sense of the standings. (Only 11 more years to go!)
Put another way, Ben Cherington’s Pirates scored eight runs in dropping two of three over the weekend in Cincinnati, routinely one of the most run-happy ballparks in the majors. They arrive in Boston to face a team that put up nine three days in a row — something the Red Sox franchise hadn’t done period since 2019, and hadn’t done during a typically chilly Fenway April since 1924.
“For us, there’s not going to be one set guy that’s going to hold this whole team up and keep going. It’s going to be every single one of us,” Alex Verdugo told reporters. “Everybody’s going to contribute. Everyone’s going to come up big at their own times.”
Kiké Hernández slammed two homers, a third of his 2022 total. Verdugo tripled — to be fair, it could’ve been caught — on the year’s first swing and homered Saturday. Rafael Devers was 7 for 15 with two doubles, those hits going to all fields and almost all leaving the bat at beyond 100 miles per hour.
It was, of course, Duvall’s weekend. No one in the sport delivered more barrels — a stathead term based on exit velocity (hard) and launch angle — in the year’s first series, and he did it with the sort of “this guy might never hit a ground ball” ethos that, well, he might actually not hit a ground ball this year.
“The biggest thing was my plan. I felt like I kind of let the situation get the best of me the first night.” Duvall told reporters, referencing his striking out as the potential winning run on Thursday. “Just tried to stick to my plan and what I wanted to do and got a pitch I could handle.”
On Sunday, seven Red Sox batters made Baltimore starter Cole Irvin throw 32 first-inning pitches. (The last 10 were to Christian Arroyo, who fanned with the bases loaded.) When Irvin left three batters into the fourth, the bases again loaded, he’d needed 88 to get nine outs.
It was a total offensive performance — Arroyo and Connor Wong were the only starters without a hit Sunday, and all but one of the other seven had a hit before Irvin left. That’s not hugely surprising: Only two pitchers allowed more hits the last two seasons than Irvin.
Regardless, it was a payoff on one of Cora’s mantras from the spring. The manager who preached “doing damage” in 2018 wants balls in play to get things happening. His Red Sox struck out just 24 times against Baltimore. The olds among you will want it noted that’s half of Ted Williams’ season total in his MVP 1949, but in the land of the living, Boston’s rate was eighth-lowest on the opening weekend.
They hit five homers — the same number they managed the final 15 games of April 2022 — but five times put together a multi-run inning without a long ball. It’s a promising development.
Even if, again, Baltimore more than played the part of hospitable visitor, with five errors in the field and an all-you-can-mash meatball buffet. Last year, the Sox swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate (according to Sports Info Solutions) and saw 3.9 pitches per plate appearance — roughly league average.
This past weekend? They swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate and saw 3.76 per PA, fifth-lowest in the majors. Orioles pitching gave Red Sox hitters no reason to wait around, and they didn’t.
Opening weekends don’t make seasons, and all this focus on the offense is some major “take what you like and leave the rest” stuff. Chris Sale was “about as embarrassed [as] I’ve ever been on a baseball field” Saturday, a promising 13 swings and misses mixed with seven balls that were absolutely crushed. It was a total offensive performance — Arroyo and Connor Wong were the only starters without a hit Sunday, and all but one of the other seven had a hit before Irvin left. That’s not hugely surprising: Only two pitchers allowed more hits the last two seasons than Irvin.
Regardless, it was a payoff on one of Cora’s mantras from the spring. The manager who preached “doing damage” in 2018 wants balls in play to get things happening. His Red Sox struck out just 24 times against Baltimore. The olds among you will want it noted that’s half of Ted Williams’ season total in his MVP 1949, but in the land of the living, Boston’s rate was eighth-lowest on the opening weekend.
They hit five homers — the same number they managed the final 15 games of April 2022 — but five times put together a multi-run inning without a long ball. It’s a promising development.
Even if, again, Baltimore more than played the part of hospitable visitor, with five errors in the field and an all-you-can-mash meatball buffet. Last year, the Sox swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate (according to Sports Info Solutions) and saw 3.9 pitches per plate appearance — roughly league average.
This past weekend? They swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate and saw 3.76 per PA, fifth-lowest in the majors. Orioles pitching gave Red Sox hitters no reason to wait around, and they didn’t.
Opening weekends don’t make seasons, and all this focus on the offense is some major “take what you like and leave the rest” stuff. Chris Sale was “about as embarrassed [as] I’ve ever been on a baseball field” Saturday, a promising 13 swings and misses mixed with seven balls that were absolutely crushed.
Zack Kelly was hit hard out of the bullpen. So were Chris Martin and Josh Winckowski, though the results were better. Tanner Houck had the Frisbee slider working and was certainly better than Sale and Corey Kluber, but still surrendered a pair of homers.
And can we talk about the new LED light show after Duvall’s walkoff? A friend in attendance Saturday said he loved it live, but on TV, it was a step short of needing a warning label. I’ve thought it came off goofy the past decade when the Yankees were doing it, but theirs looks downright subdued.
An idle complaint, I suppose, as we all get to ease back into the rhythm. Next comes three home with the aforementioned Pirates, then an all day-game trip through Detroit. Nine games where the local nine should be able to get their legs under them before four in Tampa.
They’re off to a . . . start, and they clearly like the mix they’ve got.
So far, anyway, I don’t see any reason not to at least have a soft spot for it, too.
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Red Sox hitters put together a total offensive performance in going 2-1 against the Orioles during opening weekend at Fenway Park.
By Jon Couture
April 3, 2023 | 10:39 AM
COMMENTARY
In the scheme of seven months, the difference between a 2-1 opening weekend and a 1-2 one is minuscule, but it sure makes one Monday in April wake up a little smoother.
The Red Sox and Orioles are each trying to edge into the 2023 wild-card discussion. Neither seemed to belong this weekend. About the only thing between them was Ryan McKenna’s straight drop of the potential final out on Saturday, which opened the door for Adam Duvall to win Boston a game it had trailed for all but the first 10 pitches.
“We swung the bat well. We just gotta pitch a little better.”
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said that to reporters on Sunday afternoon. Alex Cora may as well have just held a joint presser.
“We’re gonna put the ball in play,” Cora, in a ‘Good Vibes Only’ T-shirt, noted instead. “We put the ball in play when it matters. . . . There are certain days it isn’t going to work, but we will grind and do what we’ve done over the weekend.”
Xander Bogaerts slugged 1.000 in his first four games with the Padres, and gave old friend Don Orsillo the chance to try out both “X marks the spot” and “Xander plays in Xan Diego” home run calls. Neither was missed, at least in the sense of the standings. (Only 11 more years to go!)
Put another way, Ben Cherington’s Pirates scored eight runs in dropping two of three over the weekend in Cincinnati, routinely one of the most run-happy ballparks in the majors. They arrive in Boston to face a team that put up nine three days in a row — something the Red Sox franchise hadn’t done period since 2019, and hadn’t done during a typically chilly Fenway April since 1924.
“For us, there’s not going to be one set guy that’s going to hold this whole team up and keep going. It’s going to be every single one of us,” Alex Verdugo told reporters. “Everybody’s going to contribute. Everyone’s going to come up big at their own times.”
Kiké Hernández slammed two homers, a third of his 2022 total. Verdugo tripled — to be fair, it could’ve been caught — on the year’s first swing and homered Saturday. Rafael Devers was 7 for 15 with two doubles, those hits going to all fields and almost all leaving the bat at beyond 100 miles per hour.
It was, of course, Duvall’s weekend. No one in the sport delivered more barrels — a stathead term based on exit velocity (hard) and launch angle — in the year’s first series, and he did it with the sort of “this guy might never hit a ground ball” ethos that, well, he might actually not hit a ground ball this year.
“The biggest thing was my plan. I felt like I kind of let the situation get the best of me the first night.” Duvall told reporters, referencing his striking out as the potential winning run on Thursday. “Just tried to stick to my plan and what I wanted to do and got a pitch I could handle.”
On Sunday, seven Red Sox batters made Baltimore starter Cole Irvin throw 32 first-inning pitches. (The last 10 were to Christian Arroyo, who fanned with the bases loaded.) When Irvin left three batters into the fourth, the bases again loaded, he’d needed 88 to get nine outs.
It was a total offensive performance — Arroyo and Connor Wong were the only starters without a hit Sunday, and all but one of the other seven had a hit before Irvin left. That’s not hugely surprising: Only two pitchers allowed more hits the last two seasons than Irvin.
Regardless, it was a payoff on one of Cora’s mantras from the spring. The manager who preached “doing damage” in 2018 wants balls in play to get things happening. His Red Sox struck out just 24 times against Baltimore. The olds among you will want it noted that’s half of Ted Williams’ season total in his MVP 1949, but in the land of the living, Boston’s rate was eighth-lowest on the opening weekend.
They hit five homers — the same number they managed the final 15 games of April 2022 — but five times put together a multi-run inning without a long ball. It’s a promising development.
Even if, again, Baltimore more than played the part of hospitable visitor, with five errors in the field and an all-you-can-mash meatball buffet. Last year, the Sox swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate (according to Sports Info Solutions) and saw 3.9 pitches per plate appearance — roughly league average.
This past weekend? They swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate and saw 3.76 per PA, fifth-lowest in the majors. Orioles pitching gave Red Sox hitters no reason to wait around, and they didn’t.
Opening weekends don’t make seasons, and all this focus on the offense is some major “take what you like and leave the rest” stuff. Chris Sale was “about as embarrassed [as] I’ve ever been on a baseball field” Saturday, a promising 13 swings and misses mixed with seven balls that were absolutely crushed. It was a total offensive performance — Arroyo and Connor Wong were the only starters without a hit Sunday, and all but one of the other seven had a hit before Irvin left. That’s not hugely surprising: Only two pitchers allowed more hits the last two seasons than Irvin.
Regardless, it was a payoff on one of Cora’s mantras from the spring. The manager who preached “doing damage” in 2018 wants balls in play to get things happening. His Red Sox struck out just 24 times against Baltimore. The olds among you will want it noted that’s half of Ted Williams’ season total in his MVP 1949, but in the land of the living, Boston’s rate was eighth-lowest on the opening weekend.
They hit five homers — the same number they managed the final 15 games of April 2022 — but five times put together a multi-run inning without a long ball. It’s a promising development.
Even if, again, Baltimore more than played the part of hospitable visitor, with five errors in the field and an all-you-can-mash meatball buffet. Last year, the Sox swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate (according to Sports Info Solutions) and saw 3.9 pitches per plate appearance — roughly league average.
This past weekend? They swung at the 11th-most pitches outside the zone by rate and saw 3.76 per PA, fifth-lowest in the majors. Orioles pitching gave Red Sox hitters no reason to wait around, and they didn’t.
Opening weekends don’t make seasons, and all this focus on the offense is some major “take what you like and leave the rest” stuff. Chris Sale was “about as embarrassed [as] I’ve ever been on a baseball field” Saturday, a promising 13 swings and misses mixed with seven balls that were absolutely crushed.
Zack Kelly was hit hard out of the bullpen. So were Chris Martin and Josh Winckowski, though the results were better. Tanner Houck had the Frisbee slider working and was certainly better than Sale and Corey Kluber, but still surrendered a pair of homers.
And can we talk about the new LED light show after Duvall’s walkoff? A friend in attendance Saturday said he loved it live, but on TV, it was a step short of needing a warning label. I’ve thought it came off goofy the past decade when the Yankees were doing it, but theirs looks downright subdued.
An idle complaint, I suppose, as we all get to ease back into the rhythm. Next comes three home with the aforementioned Pirates, then an all day-game trip through Detroit. Nine games where the local nine should be able to get their legs under them before four in Tampa.
They’re off to a . . . start, and they clearly like the mix they’ve got.
So far, anyway, I don’t see any reason not to at least have a soft spot for it, too.
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