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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 18, 2023 4:23:24 GMT -5
Injuries & Moves: Verdugo (groin) expected to start Friday 12:36 AM ADT
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LATEST NEWS
May 17: RF Alex Verdugo should be able to start next game after exiting with left groin tightness Verdugo, who has been one of the most consistent performers for the Red Sox this season, had to exit Wednesday's game against the Mariners at the start of the third inning due to left groin tightness. The Red Sox termed his removal from the game as precautionary. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Verdugo should be fine to start the team's next game on Friday night in San Diego.
May 17: RHP Garrett Whitlock set to go again for Worcester on Sunday Whitlock excelled in the opening of his Minor League rehab assignment for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday night, allowing one run over four innings while walking none and striking out four in just 49 pitches. Whitlock, who is coming back from right elbow neuritis, is set to make a second start for the WooSox on Sunday. There's a chance he is activated in the days following that start.
"Everything felt consistent, so just doing what the trainers and coaching staff tell me to do and moving forward with that," said Whitlock. "Everything felt great. I felt healthy. So that's the biggest thing."
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 18, 2023 4:25:27 GMT -5
Red Sox cap homestand with blowout win as Pablo Reyes, Brayan Bello shine
Updated: May. 18, 2023, 12:28 a.m.|Published: May. 17, 2023, 10:10 p.m.
By
Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON — The Red Sox have a long flight through the night awaiting them late Wednesday, then almost two weeks away from home. First, though, they ended their homestand in emphatic fashion.
Boston pounded the Mariners for nine runs in the first two innings and ran away with a 12-3 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series at Fenway Park. After being swept by the lowly Cardinals over the weekend, the Sox bounced back to finish their home swing at 2-4 and are back to four games over .500 at 24-20.
For the second straight night, the Sox’ bats gave their starter an early cushion. Facing lefty Marco Gonzales, three straight batters (Justin Turner, Rob Refsnyder and Rafael Devers) hit one-out singles to make it 1-0. Newcomer Pablo Reyes, who has been a spark plug at the bottom of Boston’s lineup, made it 3-0 with a two-run double off the Green Monster.
The Sox then really got things going in the second. After Alex Verdugo doubled to lead off the inning, Turner’s second homer in as many nights made it 5-0. Kiké Hernández (RBI single), Reyes (another two-run double) and Jarren Duran (RBI single) piled on to make it 9-0 in the second. Gonzales recorded just five outs while surrendering eight earned runs and eight hits.
Bello, who turned 24 on Wednesday, was largely effective for the second straight outing, working around five walks in the cold weather to complete five innings while striking out seven. Seattle tagged him for a run in the fourth when José Caballero drove in Cal Raleigh with an RBI single. Boston’s offense put up a three-spot in the fifth, with Devers (RBI double), Yoshida (RBI groundout) and Hernández (sacrifice fly) driving in runs. The Mariners got two back against Joely Rodríguez in the sixth but never got within nine runs.
In total, the Red Sox had 16 hits, matching a season-high. The nine-run victory was tied for Boston’s biggest win of the year, matching a 14-5 win over the Tigers on April 8. Enter your email address here to receive the Fenway Rundown email newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday.
Offense takes charge
The Red Sox had a season-high-tying 10 players reach base safely, including all nine starters. Turner (3-for-4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI), Reyes (2-for-5, R, 2 2B, 4 RBI), Devers (2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, RBI) led the way.
Reyes set a new career-high in RBI and tied a career-high in extra-base hits. He’s now hitting .421 since joining the team Saturday.
Rodríguez makes Sox debut
Lefty reliever Rodríguez, who missed the first six weeks of the season due to an oblique strain suffered during spring training, had an uneven first outing of the season. He allowed a hit and walked two batters in the sixth inning while allowing two Mariners runs (one earned).
Long road trip up next
The Red Sox will spend most of the next two weeks away from home as they embark upon a nine-game west coast trip that includes stops in San Diego, Anaheim and Phoenix. Boston won’t play at home again until May 30.
Boston is off Thursday. Here’s the schedule (and the pitching probables) for this weekend’s series against Xander Bogaerts and the Padres.
Friday, 9:40 p.m. ET -- LHP James Paxton (0-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. LHP Blake Snell (1-5, 4.61 ERA)
Saturday, 10:10 p.m. ET -- LHP Chris Sale (3-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Joe Musgrove (1-1, 6.63 ERA)
Sunday, 4:10 p.m. ET -- RHP Corey Kluber (2-5, 6.41 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Wacha (4-1, 4.06 ERA)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 18, 2023 4:44:58 GMT -5
Nick Pivetta moving to multi-inning bullpen role, squeezed out of Red Sox rotation By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated May 17, 2023, 10:32 p.m.
Nick Pivetta is the odd man out in the Red Sox rotation.
While the Red Sox employed a six-man rotation over the six-game homestand that concluded on Wednesday, the team will use a more traditional five-man group for the coming road trip against the Padres, Angels, and Diamondbacks. With that deployment, the team elected to shift Pivetta into a multi-inning bullpen role while leaving James Paxton (0-0, 3.60 ERA), Chris Sale (3-2, 5.40), Corey Kluber (2-5, 6.41), Tanner Houck (3-3, 5.48), and Brayan Bello (3-1, 4.45 after Wednesday’s 12-3 victory) as starters.
The move was announced after the game, which Pivetta spent all of sitting in the bullpen. He is 3-3 with a 6.30 ERA over 40 innings in eight starts. His ERA is tied for 105th out of 118 starters who have thrown at least 30 innings.
“I just got moved to the bullpen, so that’s where I belong and that’s where I’m hanging out,” said Pivetta. “I’m going to focus on helping the team achieve our goals. I’m gonna go out there and do my job and throw up zeros and help this team win.
“The better I do out of the bullpen, the more I can help the team win and move us towards our overall goal of winning the World Series,” he added. “I think that’s what’s most important.”
Pivetta has been a source of rotation stability for the Sox as a result of his durability. His 71 starts since the start of the 2021 season are easily the most by a Sox pitcher during that time. The team also believes his pitch mix can be that of a starter. But his effectiveness has plummeted this year. His last six starts, he allowed 27 runs in 30 innings for an 8.10 ERA, with opponents hitting .303/.386/.574.
The move to the bullpen is not the first for Pivetta. Halfway through the 2019 season, the Phillies bumped him into a relief role after he forged a 5.74 ERA through 13 starts. In 17 relief appearanes that year, Pivetta had a 4.38 ERA with a 27 percent strikeout rate and 12 percent walk rate.
He opened the 2020 campaign back in the Phillies bullpen, but struggled, was optioned to the alternate site, and eventually was traded to the Red Sox in the COVID-compressed season. The Sox committed to giving Pivetta a chance to re-establish himself as a starter, and he performed at the level of a solid back-of-the-rotation option, going 19-20 with a 4.54 ERA in 2021-22.
Pivetta also added in a few spectacular moments out of the bullpen in 2021, striking out Juan Soto for the final out of Game 162 to punch the team’s ticket to the playoffs and later logging four scoreless extra innings to set up a walkoff victory for the Sox in Game 3 of the Division Series against Tampa Bay.
Those assignments were responses to extraordinary season-on-the-line circumstances. This time, it comes as a response to early season performance that left the Sox convinced that he was no longer one of their best five options.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 18, 2023 4:47:43 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Count Marco Gonzales among those hopeful about and pulling for James Paxton By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated May 17, 2023, 8:13 p.m.
What if Red Sox lefthander James Paxton is going back to the future? Former Mariners teammate Marco Gonzales has some thoughts.
Gonzales and Paxton were teammates with Seattle from 2017-18 and again briefly in 2021. Gonzales, hit hard in a 12-3 Red Sox win at Fenway on Wednesday, has seen Paxton at his best — Paxton was 23-11 with a 3.40 ERA and a 30 percent strikeout rate in 2017-18 — while also seeing him navigate a years-long struggle after he blew out his elbow in his only start of 2021.
The two remain close. Both live in the Seattle area and work out during the offseason. And so, Paxton’s return to a big league mound last Friday was reason for Gonzales to celebrate.
“Watching him go through the injuries, you feel horrible for the guy because nobody works harder and wants it more than James does,” said Gonzales. “To see him back now, I’m super proud as a friend.”
Gonzales was dazzled by what he saw, the lefthander averaging 96 miles per hour with a vintage four-seamer while striking out nine. That glimpse offered Paxton’s former teammate a reminder of what he’d seen in the past, and what he believes remains possible.
“When that guy’s on, when he’s in the zone, when he’s healthy, he’s a top three to five lefty in the game,” said Gonzales. “He can be one of the best pitchers in the game.”
Last offseason, some around the sport thought this year Paxton — who signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Sox for the 2022 season that included a $4 million player option for 2023 — would return to Seattle. Paxton chose to stay in Boston.
“I wanted to stay with the team that kind of knew me very well. These guys in [the Red Sox clubhouse], the training staff had been through last year with me, and really knew where I was coming from, what I’ve been working through,” said Paxton. “I thought they’d be the best group to help me get back on the mound again, kind of solidify myself back in the big leagues. And then another part of me also felt like I owed it to Boston to pitch for Boston. I thought I was gonna pitch last year here. I was close. I just really felt like it was the right thing to do [to stay].”
If Paxton — scheduled to start Friday in San Diego — is able to build upon last week’s start against the Cardinals, the Red Sox will be further delighted that he did.
“Watching his highlights, he looked fluid, he looked easy,” said Gonzales. “It shouldn’t surprise people what kind of pitcher he is. People should know that the Red Sox have something special when he’s healthy. I hope he helps them a lot this year.”
Gonzales’s night at Fenway was a short one, and not a success. Fifteen Red Sox hitters tagged him for eight hits and two walks, with Gonzales charged for eight runs in just 1⅔ innings. Won’t be fooled again
Last Saturday, Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras baited Kenley Jansen into three violations of “quick pitch” regulations related to the pitch clock by looking at the pitcher and holding his bat in a ready position, but keeping one foot out of the batter’s box. Jansen, responding to the visual cue of Contreras’ eyes and bat, started his delivery and got flagged for quick-pitching three times — one meriting a warning, two resulting in automatic balls en route to a key walk in a Cardinals rally in which Jansen blew the save.
Contreras said after the game that he’d intentionally tried to trick Jansen into violations, but seems unlikely to engage in such chicanery moving forward. According to multiple major league sources, MLB issued a memo of clarification to teams on Wednesday advising them umpires will flag batters for circumvention of pitch timer rules if they get into a ready position, but keep one or both feet out of the box with more than eight seconds on the pitch clock.
If umpires identify intentional efforts to deceive pitchers, batters will receive a warning for a pitch timer violation, followed by automatic strikes for further ones. In other words, Contreras would have been warned, then hit with two strikes for his behavior on Saturday, rather than Jansen being penalized for taking his bait. Bumps and bruises
Alex Verdugo left Wednesday’s game after two innings. The Red Sox described his departure as a precaution due to left groin tightness . . . Long reliever Kutter Crawford (hamstring) worked in all five of his pitches, topping out at 96 m.p.h., in a three-inning, one-run, four-strikeout rehab outing with Triple A Worcester on Tuesday and said he’s confident he’ll be ready to come off the injured list this weekend in San Diego. “I felt good about my pitches and execution, but most importantly, my hamstring felt good,” said Crawford (1-1, 3.51 ERA, 24 strikeouts and 3 walks in 25⅓ innings) . . . Righthander Garrett Whitlock (ulnar neuritis) likewise was pleased with how he threw over a four-inning start for the WooSox on Tuesday. He said the discomfort that led to his injured list stint — a tightness or numbness — subsided after about four or five days, and that there were no lingering effects of the condition in his 49-pitch outing. He remains on track to make at least one more rehab start on Sunday . . . Righthander John Schreiber described the diagnosis of a teres major muscle strain near his right shoulder as encouraging, particularly after discussing the condition with teammate Corey Kluber, who suffered a Grade 2 strain of the same muscle in 2020. “He said that of all the injuries in his career that he had … it was one of the better ones to come back from,” said Schreiber. “So a little bit more optimistic now about that after talking to him.” Schreiber didn’t have a timetable for when he’d be able to start throwing. He’ll stay in Boston rather than making the road trip.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 18, 2023 13:14:13 GMT -5
Red Sox make 2 roster moves: Kutter Crawford back, lefty reliever sent down
Published: May. 18, 2023, 12:09 p.m.
By
Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON — Before leaving for San Diego late Wednesday night, the Red Sox made a couple roster moves related to their pitching staff.
As expected, right-hander Kutter Crawford will be activated from the 15-day injured list from Friday’s game. To make room for Crawford on the 26-man roster, lefty Ryan Sherriff was optioned to Triple-A Worcester, according to a source.
Crawford has been out since May 3 with a left hamstring strain and made a rehab appearance Tuesday in Worcester, allowing one run and three hits while striking out four batters in three innings. He will return to a multi-inning bullpen role along with Josh Winckowski and Nick Pivetta (who was demoted to the bullpen late Wednesday night).
Crawford owns a 1-1 record and 3.51 ERA in 25 ⅔ innings, including a 1.08 ERA (2 earned runs in 16⅔ innings) out of the bullpen.
Sherriff was selected to the roster Tuesday and tossed scoreless innings in each of the last two games against the Mariners. The lefty has a career 3.50 ERA in 46 major league appearanecs with St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Boston.
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