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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 21, 2023 19:02:06 GMT -5
Corey Kluber’s control issues persist, Red Sox lose series finale to Padres
Published: May. 21, 2023, 6:50 p.m.
By
Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
SAN DIEGO — Corey Kluber led the league with the fewest walks per nine innings (1.2) last year. He walked two or more batters in only three of his 31 starts.
This year has been a different story.
The 37-year-old righty lasted just 2 ⅓ innings in the Red Sox’s 7-0 loss to the Padres on Sunday at Petco Park. He walked three batters. All three walks came during a four-run first inning when he even forced in a run with a bases loaded free pass.
Kluber allowed five runs but only one earned run because he made an error on a ball hit back to him in the first inning. He gave up three hits, including a bases-clearing three-run double to Rougned Odor.
He threw 64 pitches (35 strikes) or just 55% strikes. He has walked multiple hitters in five of his nine starts this season and he dropped to 2-6 with a 6.26 ERA.
The Red Sox won the three-game series 2-1. They head to Anaheim for a three-game series against the Angels beginning Monday. Tanner Houck will start for Boston.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 21, 2023 19:04:56 GMT -5
Enmanuel Valdez leaves Red Sox’s loss for precautionary reasons (IT band)
Published: May. 21, 2023, 7:51 p.m.
By
Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
SAN DIEGO — Enmanuel Valdez left the Red Sox’s 7-0 loss to the Padres on Sunday in the seventh inning for precautionary reasons.
He lost his footing in the fifth inning when fielding Juan Soto’s ground ball to second base. He then made an errant throw to first base. He grabbed his right thigh area and the trainer checked on him.
“He kind of slipped and felt it on the IT band,” manager Alex Cora said. “But he’s OK. We took him out just to make sure. But he should be OK for tomorrow.”
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Valdez initially remained in the game. But he was replaced at second base by defensive substitution Pablo Reyes to begin the bottom of the seventh inning.
Valdez went 0-for-2. The 24-year-old rookie is batting .283 with a .338 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .838 OPS, three homers, four doubles, six runs, 10 RBIs, four walks, 16 strikeouts and three stolen bases in 21 games.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 21, 2023 19:09:11 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 2h LHH are 12 for 25, 3 HR against Bleier, what the fuck.
2022: .256/.287/.389 2021: .211/.215/.267 2020: .158/.180/.211
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 21, 2023 19:13:40 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3h Kluber walks in a run against a team that was 7 of its last 64 with RISP. 26 pitches and counting this inning.
39-pitch inning for Kluber.
All four runs were unearned (on his error). But he has put 30 runners on base in his last 16.1 IP.
San Diego scored four runs in the first inning off Corey Kluber and coasted.
Sox (26-21) start their West Coast swing 2-1. Off to Anaheim.
Kluber will stay in the rotation, Alex Cora said.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 21, 2023 19:14:35 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 3h Richard Bleier has faced lefties 28x this year and allowed 3 HRs. It matches the number of homers he’d allowed to lefties in the prior 5 seasons (389 PAs).
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 22, 2023 2:20:22 GMT -5
Kluber's control betrays him, shortens outing in SD May 21st, 2023 Ian Browne
SAN DIEGO – In signing Corey Kluber to a one-year, $10 million contract in the offseason, the Red Sox were confident they were gaining a starter who would consistently keep them in games. They were confident they were adding a starter who would pound the strike zone.
Nine starts in, Kluber isn’t doing either of those things with any frequency. The veteran can only hope that his outing Sunday afternoon in a 7-0 loss to the Padres at Petco Park, in which he lasted a season-low of 2 1/3 innings, will wind up as his nadir for 2023.
“Frustrating for me, frustrating for everybody,” Kluber said. “Just doing a poor job of finding the correct adjustment to make. I'm trying to do stuff to try to get it done when I’m out there and not quite being able to do it.”
Though the Red Sox are gaining another starter later this week when Garrett Whitlock is activated from the injured list for a likely turn on Saturday in Arizona, it won’t come at the expense of Kluber (2-6, 6.26 ERA), who will make his next start.
Manager Alex Cora said he will give the ball to Kluber for the finale of this nine-game road trip on Sunday. The Sox will use six different starters for the final six games of the West Coast swing.
The manager was asked if he was going with a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future.
“For the foreseeable week, put it that way,” Cora said.
It wasn’t that long ago that Kluber was more than holding his own. Last season with the Rays, he allowed two earned runs or fewer in 18 of his 31 starts.
That version of Kluber hasn’t arrived yet.
The frustrating thing for Kluber and the Red Sox on Sunday was that the Padres -- a team that had been struggling mightily for wins and runs of late -- scored four times in the first inning without having to do that much.
Kluber issued three walks and made a fielding error en route to throwing 40 pitches in the frame. One of his free passes came with the bases loaded.
“Command was off. That’s something that’s not him,” Cora said. “We've been battling with this early in the season. It’s something we’ve tried to correct, but today, the walks put him in a bad spot.”
Despite all this, Kluber was one pitch away from escaping the inning with just one run allowed. Then Rougned Odor, the seventh batter of the inning, turned a 1-2 count into a full count and provided the first hit and biggest hit of the day for San Diego, a damaging three-run double to right field.
“Just a slider that didn’t really get to the right location, and kind of stayed middle and he was able to keep it fair,” Kluber said.
The coaching staff has been working with Kluber between starts on two specific things – improving his command and regaining the bite on his sinker.
“I think that there's probably some getting in my own way, trying to make too many adjustments,” Kluber said. “And then you try a balancing act of finding the right one. I think it boils down to doing a better job of figuring out how to do it.
“I wish there was one thing because I feel it’d be easier to be able to make the correction. Like I said, not something I’m accustomed to doing, definitely frustrating but just got to keep working at it."
The coaching staff is just as frustrated not being able to unlock Kluber to this point of the season.
“If I knew, I’d put it in a bottle, drink it and throw strikes over there, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “We’re working hard with him because we know when he’s around the zone, he’s tough to hit. We’re just putting ourselves in a bad spot. ... After that [first inning] he kind of settled down, but the damage was done. We'll keep working.”
The 37-year-old Kluber will go back to the drawing board in hopes that next Sunday will be a lot better than this one.
“Just trying to work my way out of it,” Kluber said. “That’s the only choice. Giving up isn’t an option, obviously. I think the only way that I know how to try to get myself out of it is keep working through it -- keep trying to find that right adjustment and having a belief that it will come sooner than later.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 22, 2023 5:34:19 GMT -5
It’s time to take Corey Kluber out of the Red Sox rotation By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated May 21, 2023, 8:56 p.m.
SAN DIEGO — Is the fourth week of May too early to take your Opening Day starter out of the rotation?
Apparently so. Because Corey Kluber will make his next start for the Red Sox.
He should not. The righthander couldn’t get through three innings on Sunday, allowing five runs on three hits and three walks in a 7-0 loss against the San Diego Padres.
Facing a team that had lost nine of its previous 10 games, Kluber walked three of the first five batters he faced and committed an error to give the desperate Padres a run.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Kluber got ahead of Rougned Odor, 1 and 2. Odor worked the count full and hammered a hanging curveball to right field, driving in three runs.
“He almost got out of it,” manager Alex Cora said.
The Sox need to be better than almost.
They were one game out of a playoff spot when the game started. It’s much too early to think about the postseason but not to acknowledge the Sox as being one of the surprise teams in baseball.
Not even the most devoted acolytes of Chaim Bloom could have imagined the Sox having the third-highest scoring lineup in the game. Or how smoothly the relievers would fall into their roles behind closer Kenley Jansen.
They should honor that progress by taking Kluber out of the rotation and giving the team a better chance to continue winning.
Kluber is 2-6 with a 6.26 earned run average and 1.54 WHIP through nine starts. Opposing hitters have a .881 OPS against the righthander.
What Cora likes to call the “under the hood” stats aren’t good, either. Kluber’s two-seam fastball has dropped from 88.9 miles per hour last season to 88.1 this year and he’s allowing an alarmingly high number of hard-hit balls.
Kluber walked 21 over 164 innings last season. He has 18 in 41⅔ innings this season. That’s a flashing red light.
Everything points to a 37-year-old pitcher being on the downslope of a glittering career that includes two Cy Young Awards.
With rare exceptions, a late-career fade is inevitable and right now it looks as though Bloom made a mistake signing Kluber for one year and $10 million.
Whether it’s a move to the bullpen, a phantom stint on the injured list, or designating him for assignment, the Sox need somebody better than Kluber in the rotation.
But he remains scheduled to start next Sunday against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
“There’s probably some getting in my own way trying to make too many adjustments and striking a balance of finding the right one,” Kluber said.
Kluber acknowledged the walks are a problem but said there is no one reason for his uncharacteristic poor command.
“I wish there was one thing because I feel like it would be easier to make the correction,” he said. “It’s not something I’m accustomed to doing. It’s definitely frustrating.”
As Kluber struggled, former Red Sox righthander Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings for the Padres. He is 5-1 with a 3.58 ERA. Good as the Sox have been, imagine having Wacha in the rotation instead of Kluber?
Cora understands his role as the daily spokesman for the team and tries to maintain a positive vibe when he meets with reporters. But his tone Sunday wasn’t remotely cheery in discussing Kluber.
“We’re working hard with him because we know when he’s around the zone he’s tough to hit,” the manager said. “But we’re just putting ourselves in a bad spot.” What does the future hold for Kluber?
Tanner Houck, who faces the Angels on Monday night, would be available to start Sunday. But the Sox will stick with a six-man rotation.
Is that for the foreseeable future?
“For the foreseeable week,” Cora said, an indication that perhaps Kluber is running out of chances.
Arizona can relate to the problem of how to handle an All-Star pitcher who is holding the team back. General manager Mike Hazen released 33-year-old Madison Bumgarner in April after he posted a 10.26 ERA over four starts.
“I ask our players and staff to have urgency around how we’re going to play and attack, and so I have to do the same thing,” Hazen said at the time.
Hazen got it right as Arizona has since stayed close to the Dodgers in the National League West. Bloom may soon need to follow that same path. He owes it to his players and staff, too.
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