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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 3:50:08 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h No decision for Martin Perez.
Dennis Eckersley -- 'That is brutal. Isn't that brutal?'
Jerry Remy -- 'What a disaster this inning has been.'
When it comes to the 2020 #RedSox, that applies to far more than just this top of the 8th inning.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 3:51:42 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h This Blue Jays bullpen is reminding us why baseball needs a pitch clock. @steve_hewitt and @justinpmlong could have run their next Boston Marathon by now. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 3:53:49 GMT -5
Ben Nicholson-Smith @bnicholsonsmith · 4h #BlueJays & Yankees now tied in the standings with 20-16 records
Jays have lots of work to do, but their playoff odds are 84.5% per @fangraphs
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 3:56:29 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 5h
Meanwhile, Sox leads MLB in average length of game (3:20) and Phillips Valdez is closing in on a 35-pitch inning down by four runs.
Whoever suggested the 7:30 p.m. start times at Fenway is not getting employee of the year.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 3:59:34 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 8h Most homers ever by a Red Sox CF: 1) Reggie Smith, 149 2) Fred Lynn, 124 3) Tony Armas, 113 4) Jackie Bradley Jr., 95 5) Ellis Burks, 95
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:03:15 GMT -5
Pitching to Hernandez with first base open cost Sox in 6-2 loss
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: September 4, 2020 at 1:13 a.m. | UPDATED: September 4, 2020 at 1:14 a.m.
While making one of the most confusing decisions of his managerial tenure with the Red Sox on Thursday night, Ron Roenicke felt like he was making a mistake.
Why, then, did he choose to leave first base open and pitch to the Blue Jays’ best hitter, Teoscar Hernandez, who was riding a 15-game hitting streak in the 10th inning of the Sox’ 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays?
“Matchups, we’re looking at,” Roenicke said afterward.
Surely, Roenicke is looking at different information than we are. But what we’re looking at doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Hernandez is not a groundball hitter. He’s hit the ball on the ground just 33% of the time this year, and 37% in his career. The guy behind him, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is a groundball machine, with a 58% groundball rate this year and 52% in his career.
Hernandez has an OPS more than 200 points higher than Guerrero this year. They’re both right-handed, though Hernandez entered with a .927 OPS against righties this year, while Guerrero had a .821 OPS off them. Hernandez has been seeing the ball well at Fenway Park his entire career, with a .948 OPS at Fenway entering Thursday. Guerrero had a .582 OPS at Fenway.
But with runners on second and third and one out, the Red Sox chose not to put Hernandez on first base, which would’ve set up the double play ball with Guerrero at the dish.
Instead, Roenicke had right-hander Phillips Valdez pitch to Hernandez, who launched a three-run, go-ahead homer on a fat changeup that caught too much plate.
It was a bad pitch, and the manager can’t be blamed for that.
But there was significant confusion on the NESN broadcast, as well as for most of us watching at home, as to why the Sox pitched to Hernandez.
“If you load the bases and put pressure on the pitcher, if he misses the first pitch or two, there’s nowhere to go,” Roenicke said. “So it puts extra pressure on the pitcher.
“Still, down deep, I would’ve rather have walked him. (Valdez) gets a lot of groundballs. That’s what you’re hoping for, a groundball, so you can get a double play. But the decision didn’t work out.”
It’s a bit confusing, to be sure. Roenicke felt that it was the wrong decision to pitch to Hernandez, but did it anyways, even after a mound visit.
Was it with hindsight that Roenicke felt like it was a mistake?
“It’s not so much after the fact, it’s just during it,” he said. “Even with the matchups the way they were, the matchups always say you pitch to that guy. Well, not always, but they say to pitch to that guy, Hernandez. But in my mind, I feel a lot better if we have a chance to get a double play and get out of the inning. So sometimes it’s right to do the things you do, and sometimes down deep you wish you would’ve done it differently.”
If Roenicke knew it didn’t feel like the right decision, why’d he do it?
One has to wonder if the pressure to manage the game with the information he’s given from the front office has too much influence on an experienced baseball man who might be better off trusting his gut.
But Roenicke went with the matchup the team felt best about, despite the publicly available information to the contrary, and it backfired.
“There were a couple things tonight I wish I would’ve done differently,” Roenicke said. “Not after the fact, but before it. So it’s one of those things, sometimes these games are hard. You go back and think about it. I already talked to the coaches about different things that happened in the game. I wished I would’ve done some different things.”
And so the Red Sox lost a game in which their starter, Martin Perez, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
“We need to win these games,” Roenicke said. “When we have that good of a start, we need to win them. I know it depends what happens on the other side too and who they have pitching. That makes a big difference. But Martin threw the ball great. I left him out there for the seventh and was hoping we could get him through that but it’s tough. Tough to lose these. When you’re not winning many games and you have a chance to win, you want to win these games.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:04:31 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 6h Brasier comes in and goes Balk, Wild Pitch to tie it. Unbelievable. Vazquez needs to block that ball though. I know it skid on plate but it’s a slider, get down and block it
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:04:57 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 5h How do you pitch to him?
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:10:52 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 8h Perez has only thrown 21.5% of pitches over the heart of the plate this year, much of the reason why it's so hard to make quality contact off of him. Cutters on the black and changeups dotting the corner tonight.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:12:05 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 3h Statcast on that Gurriel home run
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 4, 2020 4:25:17 GMT -5
Blue Jays @ Red Sox Friday, 4th September 2020 4pm @ Fenway
Game 1
Roark 2-1/ 5.33
Has allowed 15 walks and 7 home runs in 27 innings.
Godley 0-3/7.71
Gave up 5 runs over 4 vs the Nats
Game 2
Mazza 0-1/ 7,88
Making his first appearance vs the Blue Jays
Stripling 3-1/ 5.61
Claims he will lessen the use of his fastball and would like to use his change up and slider more.
Blue Jays, Red Sox play two on marathon weekend FLM
The Toronto Blue Jays will try for their third consecutive victory as the host Boston Red Sox aim to snap a four-game losing streak Friday when the teams play a doubleheader starting Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Jays won the opener of the five-game series Thursday night 6-2 with a three-run home run by Teoscar Hernandez breaking the tie in the top of the 10th inning.
The season series between the teams is even at 3-3.
The last time the teams met in a five-game series was July 1-4, 2002, also at Fenway Park, when the Red Sox swept the Blue Jays.
Right-hander Tanner Roark (2-1, 5.33 ERA) will start the first game for the Blue Jays against Red Sox righty Zack Godley (0-3, 7.71).
Right-hander Ross Stripling (3-1, 5.61) will start the second game in his first start for the Blue Jays after being obtained Monday in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right-hander Chris Mazza (0-1, 7.88) will start the second game for Boston.
The Blue Jays have gone 14-7 in the first 21 games of a stretch where they will play 28 games in 27 days.
"It's not easy, I can tell you that," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "But we knew it was coming. The moment I saw 28 [games] in 27 [days] I knew it was going to be tough. So that's why I'm trying to give my players days off, communicate with them. But no excuses."
Stripling has faced Boston twice in his career, going 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings.
With the Dodgers, he has allowed 12 home runs in 33 2/3 innings and says he has been hurt by his fastball location.
"If I throw a mistake fastball, it's been a home run every time," Stripling said. "It's never just a double in the gap or pulled foul or a single through the six-hole, it's a homer every time I throw a mistake fastball. So it's really about buckling down on where I locate those fastballs."
Roark is 0-2 with a 9.22 ERA in three career games (two starts) against Boston. He allowed four runs in three innings at Boston on Aug. 7.
Godley was 1-0 with a 3.94 ERA in six outings with the Blue Jays last season. In four career games (two starts) against the Blue Jays he is 0-1, 3.09. He pitched four scoreless innings in a start against Toronto on Aug. 8.
Mazza has never faced the Blue Jays.
Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (right calf strain) is eligible to come off the injured list on Saturday, but he will not appear in the series. He will be given a few more days before making his first start since Aug. 20.
"He just threw a bullpen (session) and it went really well again, but he still feels it a little bit, so he's going to be pushed back again," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. "The reason we keep pushing him back is because we don't want him to go out there and pitch when he's not 100-percent ready, because if he feels this again, it could cost him, especially if it sets him back to where he was a couple weeks ago. It could cost him the rest of the season."
Eovaldi reportedly will throw another bullpen session, likely on Tuesday.
--Field Level Media
Blue Jays at Red Sox Friday, at 4:10 PM EST Clear According to Forecast.io, it's expected to be 82° F with a 1% chance of rain and 8 MPH wind blowing left to right in Boston at 4:10 PM EST. Hourly Forecasts: Weather.com Forecast.io
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 4, 2020 6:09:46 GMT -5
Rob Longley @longleysunsport · 4h How about this Teoscar Hernandez stat: Has 10 HR and 25 RBI in 25 career games at Fenway Park, ranking T-1st in HR as a visitor from 2016-20 (also Edwin Encarnación). #Bluejays
"When you get thrown out by that far, it's a bad decision." - Charlie Montoyo on Vlad Guerrero's latest base-running mayhem.
There isn't one person around the #Bluejays who are making excuses for the brain cramps but it's worth noting that the team hasn't had a day off since Aug. 13 - three weeks ago. They didn't arrive to Boston hotel until 4 a.m. They are grinding right now. That was a terrible base running mistake. They might be mentally fatigued. I'm not watching them enough to know exactly how many brain cramps they've had, but they're a young team and that's part of the learning process. Hopefully, someone is using these as coaching moments.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 4, 2020 6:14:20 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6h Dalbec just became the 7th position player ever with 4 straight multi-strikeout games to open his career. He actually improved his K rate in last night's game, which is down to 62.5% from 67%. Small sample, of course. Hopefully he gets it figured out.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 4, 2020 6:17:42 GMT -5
After Pérez flirts with no-no, Sox fall in 10th Despite the end result, we have to feel good about the way Perez pitched. He looked great until the 7th inning. Going forward, that gives us something to be optimistic about.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 4, 2020 6:19:33 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h This Blue Jays bullpen is reminding us why baseball needs a pitch clock. @steve_hewitt and @justinpmlong could have run their next Boston Marathon by now. #RedSox I am not in favor of the pitch clock, but good grief, the Jays pen was brutal in terms of how long it took them in between pitches.
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