|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:34:00 GMT -5
Julian McWilliams @byjulianmack · 7h Devers is now hitting .275 with an .861 OPS after looking completely lost for most of this shortened season. It shows you great hitters usually figure this thing out.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:35:27 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 8h Dalbec's latest homer -- 106.1 mph off the bat, 377 feet. A long, elevated line drive to the opposite field.
The raw power is phenomenal. #RedSox
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:36:41 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h That's just a dreadful miss by Dan Iassogna (5) at a critical time.
But generally, if you throw strikes, umpires get in the habit of calling strikes. Matt Barnes occasionally does himself no favors in that regard. #RedSox
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:39:23 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h Ron Roenicke -- 'It's pretty cool seeing Bobby come up here and do this. It's pretty amazing, actually.' #RedSox
Roenicke on Dalbec -- 'After he strikes out he's not down. There's still a lot of fight in him.' #RedSox
Roenicke said 'we're going to kind of take it easy on' Godley. Will be monitored by the medical staff.
'I defer to them a lot.' #RedSox
Roenicke on Devers -- 'He's what we saw for a long time last year.' #RedSox
Roenicke on Devers -- 'That's the difference. He's on time.'
Said he's not cheating on fastballs anymore. That allows him to also stay back on spin. #RedSox
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:43:07 GMT -5
Sarah Langs @slangsonsports · 7h Bobby Dalbec is the 1st player in the modern era (since 1900) with a 5-game home run streak within his 1st 10 career games
Prior to this, the earliest career game a player began a 5-game HR streak was 14 by Rhys Hoskins (2017)
Dalbec's streak began in game 6
(h/t @eliassports )
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:43:54 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 6h Strike 3? Red Sox will take it.
They punched out 17 in the game. Solid win. They've won 4 of 6.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:49:30 GMT -5
Tanner Houck on Boston Red Sox’s taxi squad in Tampa, 2017 first-round draft pick could make major league debut this weekend Updated Sep 10, 2020; Posted Sep 10, 2020
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
Boston Red Sox prospect Tanner Houck could make his major league debut this weekend against the Rays at Tropicana Field. He’s one of five players on Boston’s taxi squad in Tampa Bay.
Houck is a 2017 first-round draft pick out of Mizzou. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-hander recorded a 3.65 ERA in 15 starts last year for Double-A Portland. The Red Sox moved him from starting to relieving in early July with the idea he could help out Boston’s 2019 bullpen down the stretch. He pitched well in relief (2.05 ERA, 22 innings at Triple-A Pawtucket) but he never received the call to the big leagues.
He has worked as a starter in simulated games at the alternate training site in Pawtucket.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has said many times he does not want to rush any prospect to the majors. Houck, who turned 24 in June, has been working on his approach against left-handed hitters at the alternate site. He has added a splitter to his mix, a pitch the Red Sox think will help him vs. lefties.
“If things go kind of as planned, there is an opportunity (this weekend),” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “We plan these things out. ... We’ve had to readjust. A lot of audibles. But we wanted to make sure that if there was an opportunity that we could get guys here instead of scrambling. There’s just no way to get them here otherwise (than as part of the taxi squad that flies with the team). So those opportunities may come up and we’re hopeful that they will.”
Roenicke was asked if Houck is a candidate to start Saturday’s game in Tampa. The Red Sox announced Andrew Triggs will start Friday and Martin Perez will start Sunday. But they have yet to name their Saturday starter.
“I don’t want to say a day,” Roenicke said. “And we’re thinking of slipping Nate (Eovaldi) in there somewhere also. So the days, I know when we’re thinking about it, but I don’t want to make any commitments there.”
Eovaldi, who has not pitched since Aug. 20 because of a calf strain, threw a bullpen session Wednesday.
“The leg feels good,” Roenicke said. “There’s no issues with it. So we have a decision where to slip him back in. It could be this series. We’ll talk about it more after tonight’s game and figure out where that is.”
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:54:42 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox’s Mike Kickham strikes out 8 batters in first major-league start since 2013; lefty completes comeback bid after 7 years in minors, independent ball Updated 1:41 AM; Today 1:38 AM
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
The Red Sox got a solid performance from the unlikeliest of pitchers Thursday night against the Rays.
Lefty Mike Kickham, who before taking the mound had not made a major-league start since July 1, 2013, held Tampa Bay’s bats at bay, striking out eight and allowing just two runs on three hits in four innings. The 31-year-old lefty threw 49 of his 65 pitches for strikes, keeping Rays batters off balance in one of the best starts of the season by a Sox pitcher not named Nathan Eovaldi and Martin Perez.
Kickham, a former sixth-round pick who made 14 appearances for the Giants in 2013 and 2014, used a unique pitch mix to effectively shut down Tampa Bay’s offense in a 4-3 win. He threw just eight four-seam fastballs in the outing, according to Statcast, instead pounding the strike zone with sliders, curveballs and cutters.
Kickham induced 13 swings-and-misses on 56 breaking balls. The only damage the Rays were able to do against him came in the fourth inning, when Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Lowe hit home runs on back-to-back pitches.
“I saw a lot of really bad swings and that means his stuff was good today,” said manager Ron Roenicke. “He was throwing that little cutter. His curveball, I thought, was outstanding today. Then he pops that fastball when you’re not expecting it. To see that, I really pay attention to the other team and the swings they’re taking off of him.”
Since his last appearance in the majors in Sept. 2014, Kickham bounced around to five different organizations, logged nearly 400 minor-league innings and even spent time in independent ball in 2016. He signed with the Red Sox as a minor-league free agent over the winter, was a late addition to the club’s player pool during summer training camp and completed his long journey back to the big leagues when he was called up on Aug. 31.
Navigating the long road back, Kickham never lost his belief in his abilities.
“A lot of it has to do with my family and especially my parents,” he said. “Not wasting potential. I feel like I always had that, even when I found myself out of the game. I still believed in myself. I enjoy this game. I enjoy putting in the work. If you put the work in, you don’t give up hope and you never know where it’s going to get you.”
By pitching Thursday, Kickham became the 14th different Red Sox pitcher to start a game this season. He fared much better than most of the club’s other stopgap options, keeping the game close as Bobby Dalbec and Rafael Devers once again led the offense.
“I just wanted to give a solid four or five innings, whatever it may have been for us tonight,” Kickham said. “Keep us in the game, keep us right there. Did that tonight and the bullpen guys came in and did a real nice job as well. Offense provided enough for us to get the win there. It was just a great night overall as a team.”
Though the result didn’t matter much for a Red Sox team that is out of contention with three-quarters of the season in the rearview mirror, the victory was a meaningful one for Kickham. With two weeks left in the season and Boston’s pitching staff wide open heading into the winter, Kickham is hoping to continue his momentum and potentially put himself in position to be in the mix next spring.
“I always had a vision of getting back into pro ball and getting back to the big leagues,” Kickham said. “That’s something I was able to accomplish this year and it was very important to me. The next goal is to stick at this level and have success. Now that’s my focus and a strong finish to this month will set myself up good going into next year.”
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:56:57 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 8h JD is so out of sorts it's unbelievable.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:57:50 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 7h Devers is 31 for his last 85 (.365) with 6 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 8% BB, 22% K, and an OPS approaching 1.250.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 3:58:54 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 7h JD has destroyed fastballs in his career. It's been a bad 40 games, for sure, but the results are far worse than his expected numbers. No doubt from me wanting him hitting cleanup next year, he's going to slow down, but willing to bet on a very big pissed off bounce back.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 4:36:01 GMT -5
Red Sox @ Rays Friday September 11th 2022 630pm @ The Dump
Triggs 0-2/ 9.95
Held the Jays to one run in 3 IP as opener.
Snell 3-1/ 3.74
Through eight starts this season he has struck out 45 in just over 33 ip.[/i][/b][/font][/font]
Red Sox rookie Dalbec looks to victimize Rays pitching again FLM
Boston rookie Bobby Dalbec hasn't reached legendary status, but he's a bright spot and building block in a bad season for the Red Sox.
The 25-year-old infielder has been on a rampage at the plate since being called up after the organization traded Mitch Moreland to the San Diego Padres on Aug. 30.
It's the kind of performance that has had baseball statisticians poring over the record book.
Before Thursday night's series opener in St. Petersburg, Fla., against the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, Dalbec had homered in four straight games, including long balls in both ends of a doubleheader on Tuesday, to become the first Boston rookie to have a four-game homer streak in the opening nine games of his MLB career.
He joined Minnesota's Graig Nettles (1968) and Colorado's Trevor Story (2016) as the only players in the modern era to do it.
Dalbec was back at it again Thursday in Boston's 4-3 win over the Rays, blasting an opposite-field shot that gave him has six homers in 10 contests.
"It's pretty cool seeing Bobby come up here and do this," said manager Ron Roenicke. "It's pretty amazing, actually."
Dalbec, a former University of Arizona standout, also became part of a small group of seven record-setters who homered five times in their first nine MLB games, including former Boston slugger Sam Horn in 1987.
The Red Sox (16-29) and Rays (28-16) resume their four-game series Friday night.
Boston right-hander Andrew Triggs (0-2, 9.95) will serve as the opener Friday in his second time in the role. He is 0-1 with a 14.29 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the Rays.
Tampa Bay will counter with Blake Snell (3-1, 3.74), who was very ineffective in his last outing -- a 7-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Saturday -- and will be looking to rebound from his worst start of 2020.
The left-hander allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits in five innings. He struck out eight but walked three, and surrendered a homer to Miami's Corey Dickerson, a former teammate of Snell's with the Rays in 2016 and 2017.
The long ball has been a problem -- Snell has given up six in his last four starts, covering 20 2/3 innings. In that span, his ERA has risen from 2.08 to 3.74.
Snell beat the Red Sox for his first win this season with five shutout innings on Aug. 12 in Boston -- a 9-5 victory. He is 6-3 with a sparkling 2.83 ERA in 11 career starts against the Red Sox.
With some of the uncertainty around the Rays' starting rotation, manager Kevin Cash could see Snell -- the 2018 Cy Young Award winner -- play a much more prominent role with the postseason less than a month away.
Starters Charlie Morton and Ryan Yarbrough have recently come back from injuries, and their return to form -- Morton is a two-time All-Star, Yarbrough is 27-15 in his three-year career -- could be key.
The right-handed Morton is trying to build up his pitch count to peak form before the playoffs open. Yarbrough started Tuesday's loss in Washington and "didn't look himself," Cash said.
"I don't think he had his best command," Cash said of Yarbrough, who had not started since Aug. 28 because of a groin injury.
"He missed some spots, and they made him pay for it. They drove his pitch-count way up, but they didn't knock the cover off the ball," Cash said.
--Field Level Media
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 11, 2020 4:39:54 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Kimmi on Sept 11, 2020 5:49:27 GMT -5
Julian McWilliams @byjulianmack · 7h Devers is now hitting .275 with an .861 OPS after looking completely lost for most of this shortened season. It shows you great hitters usually figure this thing out. Yup. This is why it's so surprising that JD is still struggling so badly. I'm confident that JD will come back strong next year.
|
|
|
Post by Kimmi on Sept 11, 2020 5:53:54 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 6h Strike 3? Red Sox will take it.
They punched out 17 in the game. Solid win. They've won 4 of 6. Remy and Eck mentioned few times that they really didn't like Tampa Bay's lineup, and how it was kind of surprising that they were winning so many games with that lineup and all the pitching injuries they have.
It was nice to see Barnes nail down the 1 run save.
Good game for the good guys.
|
|