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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:16:28 GMT -5
Red Sox get ‘kick in the gut,’ unofficially dead entering September | Smith
Updated: Aug. 30, 2023, 9:20 p.m.|Published: Aug. 30, 2023, 9:16 p.m.
By
Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
BOSTON — The Red Sox were three and a half games back for the third and final AL Wild Card spot Saturday. Four days later, and four losses later, they are seven games behind Texas for the final Wild Card.
This team isn’t officially dead but they are unofficially deceased after the Astros buried them in the standings the past three days. Houston finished off a three-game sweep with a 7-4 victory over Boston on Wednesday at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox went 1-5 on the homestand, which began with them losing two of three games to Mookie Betts and the Dodgers. Betts, the superstar they inexcusably traded in February 2020, owned them. He went 7-for-15 with a homer, two doubles, four RBIs, one walk and five runs in the three games. Things then got even worse when Houston came to town. It began with a 13-5 pounding Monday when the Astros scored 10 unanswered runs.
“We knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us and losing all those games is kind of a kick in the gut, really,” starter Kutter Crawford said after Wednesday’s loss, reflecting on the homestand.
Boston has gone 3-7 in its past 10 games, all against the much-superior Dodgers and Astros. Simply put, the Red Sox couldn’t hang with two elite teams after often struggling this season against bad teams that they needed to beat. Don’t forget, they lost series to the Cardinals, Pirates, Rockies, Nationals, White Sox and Angels.
The Red Sox showed some promise in July, going 15-8. But after the front office added no impact players to improve the roster at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, manager Alex Cora’s team went 13-15 in August.
Boston has gone 25-31 the past two Augusts combined after not making any sort of impact move at the deadline either season. All chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom did this year was acquire second baseman Luis Urías and relief pitcher Mauricio Llovera. Urías might help in the future but he was playing for the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate when the trade happened after batting .145 in 20 games for the Brewers this year. The Red Sox made a trade for Llovera after he landed on waivers because the Giants designated him for assignment.
“We didn’t pitch,” Cora said, summing up this disappointing stretch. “That the bottom line, right? After New York, the starters have been grinding through it and we’re not getting deep enough and we’ve been paying the price the last 10 days.”
Crawford went just 2 ⅔ innings and gave up six runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out one. It marked the 15th time in 28 games in August that a Red Sox starter has gone fewer than 5 innings. It marked the 21st time in 28 games that a Red Sox starter has gone 5 innings or fewer. A starter hasn’t made it through 5 innings in the past five games.
The overworked bullpen had a 6.14 ERA in August.
“A combination of 16 days and not going deep into games,” Cora added. “They’re trying. They’re grinding. They’re doing their best. It just didn’t happen in this stretch. We’ve got the off day tomorrow and hopefully from Friday on, we can reset and go.”
The calendar turns to September on Friday when Boston opens a three-game series at Kansas City. There are just 28 games remaining and it has the feel of a meaningless month. All that likely can be accomplished is evaluating players to get a head start on 2024. The Red Sox should see if young players like Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela are capable of contributing early next season, although there’s a chance Boston will send Rafaela back to Triple-A Worcester in the coming days. Bloom also needs to figure out how to fix the defense, which is tied for 26th in the majors in defensive runs saved (-22).
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:22:31 GMT -5
Red Sox playoff hopes look dashed after Astros complete demoralizing sweep
By Mac Cerullo | mcerullo@bostonherald.com PUBLISHED: August 30, 2023 at 7:17 p.m. | UPDATED: August 30, 2023 at 8:05 p.m.
All season long the Red Sox have been just good enough to stay alive, but Wednesday afternoon the Houston Astros likely finished them off for good.
Boston’s already slim playoff hopes look all but dead after Houston completed a decisive three-game sweep at Fenway Park, beating the Red Sox 7-4 in the series finale.
The Red Sox finished the crucial six-game homestand 1-5, and pending the result of Wednesday night’s Rangers vs. Mets game they could go into Thursday’s off-day 7.5 games out of the playoffs with only 28 games left.
“We knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us and losing all of those games, it’s kind of a kick in the gut,” Red Sox starting pitcher Kutter Crawford said afterwards.
Wednesday’s game felt like it was over before it even got started. The Astros battered Crawford for six runs on seven hits and a walk and chased him from the game after only 2.2 innings. Houston scored three runs each in the second and third innings, loading the bases with one out in the third before Michael Brantley delivered the knockout blow with a two-run single to make it 6-0.
Once again, the Red Sox bullpen was forced to work overtime, and six Red Sox relievers combined to finish the last 6.1 innings.
“It’s super frustrating,” Crawford said. “As a staff we need to be able to pitch deeper into ballgames and obviously I wasn’t able to do that today so I’m really disappointed in myself and I feel like I let my team down.”
The Astros made it 7-0 after Alex Bregman hit an RBI double in the fourth, and for a while it looked like the Red Sox weren’t going to be able to get anything off Framber Valdez. The Astros starter faced the minimum 15 batters through the first five innings, allowing only a single to Justin Turner in the fourth that was immediately erased by an inning-ending double play.
Things finally flipped in the sixth when the Red Sox rallied for four runs. The first four batters of the inning all reached safely, including Connor Wong on a run-scoring throwing error by Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña and then rookie Ceddanne Rafaela on a wall-ball double for his first big league RBI.
Turner and Rafael Devers tacked on RBI groundouts to cap off the rally, and in the seventh the Red Sox had a chance to tie the game after getting two men on with two outs. But Rafaela struck out to end the rally and the Red Sox couldn’t cut the deficit any further.
As a result, they finish the month of August 13-15 and now look to be out of the running.
“We didn’t pitch, that’s the bottom line,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of their performance against Houston. “After New York, the starters have been grinding through it and we’re not getting deep enough and we’ve been paying the price the last 10 days.”
It didn’t have to be this way.
Over the past month the Red Sox steadily returned to full health, and the hope was that with Trevor Story, Chris Sale, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck back in the fold the club could realize its full potential. The Red Sox had no shortage of opportunities, but the club consistently failed to capitalize on the moments that could have vaulted it into the playoff picture.
First there was the three-game sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays at the beginning of the month. Entering the weekend trailing their rivals by two games for the last Wild Card spot, the Red Sox could have potentially leapfrogged the Blue Jays with a big showing at Fenway Park. Instead they got smacked around and were left looking up at a five-game deficit.
Then there came last week’s four-game set in Houston. Trailing the Astros by 3.5 games, the Red Sox could have made things interesting with a sweep, or at least a series win. Instead they got rocked in the first two games before salvaging a split to maintain the status quo for a little longer.
Even after losing this weekend’s series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Sox still had life, and with a strong showing these past few days against Houston they could have gone into September with a realistic chance. Now their playoff odds are close to zero, and their only chance of making the playoffs would require both a wild and improbable September surge plus near total collapses by at least two playoff rivals.
More likely, the Red Sox will go without playing meaningful games in September for the second straight year, starting with this weekend’s three-game series in Kansas City.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:25:44 GMT -5
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 8h Do you all understand now? Sox management did not build this team to compete this year. Playing loyal fans for suckers. Got it? Not about the major league team this year!
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:27:00 GMT -5
Matt McCarthy @mattmccarthy985
For all the talk about this being a successful year for the Red Sox, it turns out they won't play a single meaningful baseball game in the month of September.
The standards have been lowered around these parts. It's depressing.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:35:59 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 8h Cora said Abreu would rejoin the team in Kansas City which would seem to suggest Rafaela will go back to AAA.
He has only said "We'll talk about it," when asked about Rafaela remaining on the roster.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:41:57 GMT -5
This 10-game stretch against Astros and Dodgers was certainly telling. The Red Sox went 3-7, and now should focus on next year By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 30, 2023, 9:23 p.m.
The Red Sox fell into a hole early against the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon, showed some life in the middle innings, then were ultimately out of it at the end.
There are still 28 games to play, but that sounds like a final blueprint for this season.
A 7-4 loss at Fenway Park left the Sox 7½ games behind the Astros in the American League wild-card race.
The 10-game stretch against the Astros and Dodgers that everybody thought would be telling certainly was. The Sox were 3-7 and took a tumble in the standings.
That was their opportunity and it slipped by.
“We knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us. Losing all those games is kind of a kick in the gut,” said Kutter Crawford, who took the loss on Wednesday.
There was a glimmer of hope on Monday when the Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Astros outscored them, 26-9, the rest of the series.
So now what?
The final month of the season should be about next season and gathering evidence to make informed decisions.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 1 for 4 with an RBI double on Wednesday and played nine innings at shortstop. The 22-year-old rookie has looked comfortable in his brief time in the majors.
“Good, man. Good athlete,” manager Alex Cora said. “He took some tough pitches; he faced good pitching. You can see it.”
Let’s see more of him. Cora said after the game that outfielder Wilyer Abreu would rejoin the team in Kansas City on Friday after his paternity leave. He was noncommittal about Rafaela remaining with the team.
“We haven’t even talked about it,” Cora said.
Rosters expand from 26 to 28 on Friday. Only 14 can be pitchers. Rafaela would be a good choice to remain with the major league team to gain experience going into next season.
Jarren Duran, Rob Refsnyder, Alex Verdugo, and Masataka Yoshida are the outfielders under contract for next season.
Verdugo is a candidate to be traded given concerns about his effort and attitude this season. He was spotted having a lengthy conversation with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on the field after the game.
Yoshida has so far received 37 percent of his plate appearances as the designated hitter this season. That number could rise depending on the makeup of the roster.
That creates an opportunity for Rafaela. The more he plays at the highest level the rest of the season, the more the Sox can get a handle on his future.
The other possibility is infielder Enmanuel Valdez, who played 33 games with the Sox earlier in the season and was erratic defensively but did show some promise at the plate.
He started for Worcester on Wednesday night and left the game after three plate appearances. He could be on his way to Kansas City.
The extra pitcher will come in handy for the battered Sox. Kyle Barraclough, Justin Garza, Chris Murphy, Nick Robertson, Brandon Walter, and Zack Weiss are the healthy pitchers on the 40-man roster.
Murphy, Robertson, and Walter are prospects. The others are older veterans.
Obviously the prospects should get more opportunities in the coming weeks given where the Sox are now.
It doesn’t seem the Sox are interested in Bobby Dalbec, who is on the 40-man roster but hasn’t been in a major league game since June 25 despite a .966 OPS and 31 homers for Worcester.
There are no other healthy position players on the 40-man roster in Triple A.
David Hamilton has been on the major league roster since Monday. He could get more looks as a second baseman.
Crawford didn’t pitch well on Wednesday, allowing six runs in 2⅔ innings. But he has shown promise as a starter this season and that can be furthered in September.
His velocity has dipped in recent games and fighting through that for another few starts will serve him well in the future.
“It’s just a matter of the next step. That’s part of the progression of a pitcher,” Cora said. “Third time through a lineup, getting deep into games.
“Since Day 1 he’s been one of our best pitchers. As a reliever, as a starter, its seems like whenever he pitches it gives us a chance to win.”
The Sox won’t concede anything until they’re eliminated, of course. Nor should they. But after a 1-5 homestand, the only realistic goals left are to remain above .500 and prepare for next season.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 31, 2023 3:43:54 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Ceddanne Rafaela gets first start of hopefully long major-league stay, but at short By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated August 30, 2023, 8:40 p.m.
Top Red Sox prospect Ceddanne Rafaela collected his first major league start and his first big-league RBI Wednesday afternoon. With Trevor Story getting a rest day for the series finale against the Astros, Rafaela was the shortstop.
Rafaela’s primary position is center field, where he grades as an elite defender, but he’s also shown the ability to play short. He saw just one grounder Wednesday, from Chas McCormick, which he fielded cleanly and tossed to second for the inning-ending force out in the fourth.
“I think it’s not hard, but it’s not easy either to play center field and then come back,” Rafaela said after the 7-4 loss. “But the work I put in before the game helps me a lot, so I’m pretty much confident that I can play short.”
Earlier, manager Alex Cora said he hoped Rafaela could provide the team with a spark, so he put him in the leadoff spot. He finished 1 for 4 with two strikeouts, but provided the spark of the lone Sox rally. Rafaela ripped an RBI double off Framber Valdez that ran into the Green Monster, the big hit in a four-run sixth.
“He was good, man,” said Cora. “He took some tough pitches. He faced some good pitching. You can see it. We saw it in spring training. So, just keep working with him and getting him better.”
“It was very, very exciting,” said Rafaela on getting his first big-league start. “It was very exciting to be on that field and compete. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we’re going to keep grinding to try to win ball games.” Certainly not opposite day
The ball comes off Rafael Devers’s bat different when he stings pitches to the opposite field. The backspin and carry before the baseball hits the Green Monster or lands on Lansdowne Street is a sight to behold.
Devers is having a solid year at the plate, batting .267/.341/.505 with an .847 OPS, 29 homers and 89 RBI after going 0 for 4 on Wednesday. But the barreled ball the other way has eluded Devers for much of the second half of the season. Since the All-Star break, Devers has just one opposite-field barrel per Baseball Savant, coming last week in Houston.
“The mechanics have been kind of off the whole season,” said Cora. “God bless him, right? For those numbers and you don’t feel right. [But] they attack him differently. They keep throwing the fastball up and away and up and in.”
Cora surmised Devers can get in trouble sometimes because “he knows what’s coming and he wants to hit it harder instead of backtracking and hitting it off the wall.” Devers is known to take huge cuts at the plate, but sometimes the swings can be too aggressive and erratic.
This year also has been an adjustment with the likes of J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts gone. Teams have pitched around Devers more, making sure not to give him too much to hit. So, when he gets pitches in the zone, his eyes get bigger, and a bigger swing follows.
“You can see certain teams pitch around him and take their chance with the guy after him,” said Cora, “That’s why him hitting second again, I feel like, ‘OK if you’re going to do that, we got [Justin Turner] behind him. He’s been amazing with men on.’ So that’s part of the progression. [Devers] is learning that [he is] the guy.”
Duran’s surgery successful
Jarren Duran underwent a successful left big toe flexor tendon repair Wednesday, performed by foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C. Cora said Tuesday Duran is expected to be ready for spring training . . . Alex Verdugo had a five-hit game in Houston after all. In the sixth inning of the 17-1 win last Thursday, Verdugo reached first on what was ruled an Alex Bregman error, but the league changed the call to a base hit. It is his first career five-hit game . . . The Red Sox are off Thursday, ending a run of 16 games in as many days, before a series against the Royals in Kansas City. James Paxton, Tanner Houck, and Chris Sale are lined up for the Red Sox, with the Royals’ starters yet to be announced. The Red Sox took three of four at Fenway earlier this month from Kansas City (41-93), baseball’s second-worst team ahead of only Oakland, but have lost their series at Kauffman Stadium each of the last two seasons . . . Wilyer Abreu, placed on the paternity list Monday, is set to rejoin the club in Kansas City.
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