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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:20:05 GMT -5
Brewer back and promptly walks the lead off man
Brewer better have had a return ticket when he got called up.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:26:12 GMT -5
Brewer and walk can smell the gas can tipping
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:29:10 GMT -5
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:29:56 GMT -5
8-1 Astros May that be the last we ever see of Brewer
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:36:40 GMT -5
Valdez comes in gives up a hit and whoever is pulling the train horn sound is getting a work out today
9-1 Astros
10-111-1
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 17:39:29 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 1m
This is defeat by 1,000 cuts. The #RedSox are getting roasted to open this road trip.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 31, 2021 18:27:44 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 1m BOS 2 HOU 11 Final
#RedSox are 32-21.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on May 31, 2021 19:55:53 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 32m Rodriguez ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ERA FIP xFIP 3.52 3.37 2.82 April 6.83 3.63 3.72 May
BABIP .246 April .450 May Tough to say on only one month's worth of data. He's obviously off. But a 28/9 K/W, in 25 IPs, with only 3 HRs, this month, should be enough to win.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 2:54:38 GMT -5
E-Rod turns page on May, eyes rebound May 31st, 2021 Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
HOUSTON -- The only good thing that Eduardo Rodriguez can say about May is that it is over.
When the month started, the lefty was the unquestioned ace of the staff. Now, he is having the toughest time of anyone in the rotation.
With Rodriguez struggling again (4 2/3 innings, seven hits, six earned runs), the Red Sox were routed, 11-2, in the opener of a four-game series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park on Monday.
Rodriguez is tired of missing with his location.
“I make a lot of mistakes -- that’s why they got base hits and everything like that,” Rodriguez said. “Like I said on the last start, every time you make a mistake, that’s going to happen. That’s what happened today.”
The performance by Rodriguez raised more concerns about why he is having such a difficult time and how he will fix it.
For the Red Sox, May was bookended with E-Rod starts, as he pitched the first and last games of the month. In all, he made six starts, going 1-4 with a 7.28 ERA.
“It’s been a grind the last couple of starts,” said Rodriguez. “Have to go to the bullpen and work and get ready for the [next] one. It is what it is.”
After going 4-0 with a 3.52 ERA in April, Rodriguez’s season stats are currently not pretty (5-4, 5.64 ERA).
However, he has been down this road before. Take, for example, 2019, which is his best season (19-6, 3.81 ERA, 213 K’s) to date. In his first 10 starts that year, Rodriguez was 5-3 with a 5.43 ERA. In other words, pretty similar to what his stats are through 10 starts in ’21.
“It’s 30 starts, he’ll get 30 starts,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He’s healthy. You saw the stuff. He maintained his stuff throughout the outing. He just has to keep working, keep getting better. He did that in ‘19 when he was on top of the world, and he’s doing that right now.”
Of the 97 pitches Rodriguez threw, the Astros swung at 39 and whiffed at just six. Of the 37 starts in which Rodriguez made 90 pitches or more since the start of the 2019 season, this was just the third time he had so few whiffs.
Is Rodriguez still shaking off the rust due to not pitching last season? Or is he still building back arm strength?
It’s plausible it could be both.
However, Rodriguez was in no mood to make excuses.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with missing last year, man. It’s just about location right now,” said Rodriguez. “I have 10 starts already in the season. I’m not going to blame that [on missing] last year. That’s something that I’ve just got to go to the bullpen and work on.
“I can’t blame any more that, ‘Oh, I missed last year.’ No. That can’t happen anymore. It’s just part of the process of going out there every five days. You’ve got to figure out a way to go on to the next one and have a good result.”
The next one is going to be a big one -- Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.
Cora is of the belief that things aren’t as bad as they seem with Rodriguez right now. In the late innings of Monday’s loss, he tried to convey that to him.
“I told him that if he throws the ball the way he threw it today, with one more adjustment, we’re in a good place,” said Cora. “I honestly feel like stuff-wise, the cutter -- that’s the one we were looking for. We still don’t have the sinker where we want it, but the four-seamer was good. There were some swings and misses, so as far as stuff compared to the last four or five [starts], even early in the season, his fastball and his cutter were the best.”
What is the missing ingredient?
“I think the changeup,” Cora said. “If we get the changeup where it usually is, we should be fine.”
It is understandable that Rodriguez wasn’t quite ready to see those silver linings after giving up a six-spot.
“I mean, I don’t feel like that about the result today,” Rodriguez said. “At least my fastball is getting there. The results say I gave up six runs, and that’s what it is.”
Whatever the issues are, fixing them will be vital for the Red Sox if they want to stay near the top of the American League East standings. Monday’s defeat dropped the Sox two games back of the white-hot Rays, marking Boston’s biggest deficit since the fourth game of the season.
Here is the best news of all for Rodriguez. The next time he takes the ball, it will be June instead of May.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:15:44 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez struggles again as Red Sox fall to Astros By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated May 31, 2021, 7:33 p.m.
As the Red Sox arrive at June, the team remains amidst a developing mystery: The Case of the Missing Ace.
Eduardo Rodriguez offered enormous promise in reclaiming his standing atop the rotation in April, when he went 4-0 with a 3.52 ERA, 26 strikeouts, and just two walks in four starts. Then came the month-long dismay of May.
In his sixth and final start of the season’s second month, Rodriguez experienced a now-familiar form of bewilderment. Though he allowed little hard contact, he proved unable to put the Astros hitters away, a combination that left him hanging his head after yielding six runs over 4 2/3 innings in an 11-2 Red Sox loss in Houston.
With Monday’s loss, Rodriguez (5-4, 5.64 ERA) continued one of the worst stretches of his career. He absorbed a defeat for the career-high fourth straight outing. He finished May with a 7.28 ERA, the worst of any month of his career.
“It’s been tough for me this whole month,” said Rodriguez.
Though his mere return to the mound in 2021 after the lost 2020 campaign – the product of a COVID-19 infection and subsequent myocarditis infection – represented a monumental triumph, the cumulative weight of Rodriguez’s disappointing stretch was on display on Monday. When Rodriguez just missed the strike zone on a full-count cutter to Alex Bregman with two outs in the fifth, he dropped his head and shook it in frustration, knowing that the walk had almost surely ended his outing.
It had. But before manager Alex Cora removed Rodriguez from the game, he tried to encourage his dejected pitcher.
On the mound, Cora repeatedly jabbed a finger into Rodriguez’s chest and then patted him on the shoulder before summoning reliever Colten Brewer. The conversation continued in the dugout.
The gist?
“I told him that if he throws the ball the way he threw it today, with one more adjustment, we’re in a good place,” said Cora, who identified progress in the pitcher’s fastball and cutter as reasons for optimism if the lefthander can re-establish his elite changeup. “I do believe that if he throws the ball the way he threw it today, good things are going to start happening.”
There are times when players preach process over results, but this was not one of them. Rodriguez took little solace in Cora’s suggestion.
“At least my fastball is getting there,” said Rodriguez. “[But] the results say I gave up six runs and that’s what it is.”
On Monday, the Astros manufactured three separate two-run rallies against Rodriguez mostly by spraying sinkers and changeups across the field. Houston had a number of weakly hit balls in play either find turf or, improbably, the stands.
Most notably, with Rodriguez and the Sox already down 2-0 in the third, an off-balance Jose Altuve threw the bat at a changeup away. Though Altuve didn’t even finish his swing, his 92 mph flyball snuck onto the shelf above the left field scoreboard at Minute Maid Park for a two-run homer that put Houston ahead, 4-0.
The other two rallies against Rodriguez likewise featured modest contact. In the second, he allowed two runs on a hard-hit groundball single, two more singles on soft liners, and a sac fly. In the fifth, Altuve drilled a two-out single to right-center and advanced to second on Bregman’s walk; both scored on the watch of Brewer, who walked the bases full then permitted a two-run single.
But while Rodriguez frequently saw weak contact turn into hits in May, his inability to avoid contact altogether was partly responsible for the development. Rodriguez had just six swings and misses among his 97 pitches on Monday. That concluded a month in which he elicited whiffs on just 9.2 percent of his pitches – down from a 13.1 percent rate in April, and an 11.8 percent career rate prior to 2021.
Bad things can happen when an opposing team puts the ball in play – a theme that repeatedly came to light for the Red Sox on Monday in Houston.
“It’s not about hitting it hard all the time,” said Cora. “You make contact, good things happen, and today they did that. They’ve been doing that the whole season.”
In a decidedly old-school performance for the team with the lowest strikeout rate in MLB (17.9 percent), the Astros sprinkled Minute Maid with 13 hits off of Rodriguez and relievers Brewer (1 inning, 4 hits, 4 runs) and Phillips Valdez (1 1/3 innings, 2 hits, 1 run) en route to 11 runs – tied for the most allowed by the Sox this year.
The Red Sox, by contrast, offered a clinic in the connection between strikeouts and lackluster offensive performances, on an afternoon when Houston starter José Urquidy dominated.
Urquidy threw a half of a no-hitter before Christian Vázquez delivered the first Red Sox hit – a double – with two outs in the fifth. Though he was touched for a run on two doubles in the sixth, Urquidy sailed, allowing just the one run on three hits in six innings while striking out nine. Overall, the Sox struck out a dozen times and walked once while dropping two games behind the Rays in the A.L. East.
The chief Red Sox highlight was Renfroe, who doubled and scored in the sixth and later added a solo homer in the eighth inning, his seventh of the year and sixth of the month. For the outfielder, May represented a turning point. For Rodriguez, it presented a still-unsolved mystery that has but one possible next step.
“Turn the page,” said Rodriguez.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:18:17 GMT -5
Red Sox Notebook Hunter Renfroe mashed in May, giving the Sox some extra pop in the lineup By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated May 31, 2021, 8:38 p.m.
Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers carried the Red Sox lineup at times through May, and both J.D. Martinez and Alex Verdugo offered solid follow-ups to their outstanding Aprils. But in addition to that Big Four, the Sox enjoyed the emergence of another player who delivered steady thump throughout the month of May.
Outfielder Hunter Renfroe offered the lone note of encouragement for the Red Sox in their 11-2 loss to the Astros on Monday, going 2-for-3 with a double and a 419-foot homer. He scored both Red Sox runs.
The performance capped an impressive month of May in which Renfroe hit .319 with a .333 OBP and .604 slugging mark while smashing six homers. In his final four games of the month, he went 9-for-13 with two homers and five doubles.
“This guy, he’s a gamer. We know what he brings to the equation defensively. When he’s locked in, it’s fun to watch,” said manager Alex Cora. “He’s made some adjustments. He’s actually been more disciplined, although he’s not walking that much, but he’s controlling the at-bats… We’re very pleased with where he’s at offensively.”
For the season, Renfroe is hitting .258/.292/.464 with seven homers. Though most of his damage has come against lefties, he’s been enough of a threat against righties to make him an everyday contributor. He started 24 of 26 games for the Red Sox in May. Cordero finding his rhythm
Franchy Cordero, optioned last week to Triple-A Worcester, homered in back-to-back games over the weekend. He’s 5-for-12 with two homers, a walk, and four strikeouts in 13 plate appearances over three games since joining the WooSox.
Cordero, of course, has offered disappointing initial returns for the Red Sox from their three-way trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to Kansas City. Righthander Josh Winckowski (1.33 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 8 walks in 27 innings), however, has been excellent in Double-A Portland.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are expected to identify the other three players to be named from the deal (two from the Royals, one from the Mets) this week. Multiple major league sources said that the Sox have a June 4 deadline (the one-month mark of the minor league season) to select the players to be named in the deal. Taylor-made bullpen
The Red Sox bullpen entered Monday with a 1.93 ERA over its previous nine games. After the relief crew blew five save opportunities in the first half of the month, it safely secured every lead over the final two weeks of May.
“Everybody’s kind of getting in that groove and we’re just trying to keep the leads and keep our team close from behind and just do our job,” said Adam Ottavino. “I think everybody’s having a good time right now and we’re trying to keep that going.”
Ottavino has regained his footing as a setup man, recording seven straight scoreless appearances spanning 6 2/3 innings while holding hitters to a 2-for-22 (.091/.259/.091) line and striking out 11 of 27 hitters (40.7 percent) entering Monday.
In front of closer Matt Barnes and Ottavino, the Red Sox have felt increasingly comfortable employing lefty Josh Taylor in high-leverage situations. Taylor entered Monday with 11 scoreless appearances (8 innings) in May, holding hitters to a .148/.258/.185 line with a 25.8 percent strikeout rate.
“His stuff looked electric [on Saturday],” said manager Alex Cora. “He’s in a good place. He’s made some adjustments. Physically, I do believe that he’s taking care of his body a little bit better. He’s able to bounce back, he can go back-to-back with good stuff, and right now he’s on a roll.”
Amidst a blowout, catcher Christian Vázquez moved from catcher to third base for the eighth inning. It marked the ninth time in Vázquez’s career that he’d manned the hot corner.
Though Marwin Gonzalez had a flyout to deep center in the eighth, he went 0-for-3 and is now 2-for-29 with a .069/.129/.069 line in his last 11 games. His .587 OPS since the start of 2020 is fifth-lowest among the 182 big leaguers with at least 300 plate appearances in that time. Duran, Casas go for gold
Team USA faced Nicaragua in its opening game of the Baseball Americas Olympic qualifier. Red Sox prospect Jarren Duran batted second and played center, while Triston Casas was in the seventh spot of the lineup as the first baseman.
Team USA needs to win the eight-team tournament to secure an Olympic berth. If the team finishes the tournament in second or third place, it will have one more chance to qualify for the Olympics in Mexico from June 22-27.
Team USA will play the Dominican Republic on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:24:32 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 8h Alex Cora on Eduardo Rodriguez -- 'He just hasn't put it all together.' #RedSox
Cora -- 'It's not comfortable when you go out there and you get beat. You've got to take the positive and you've got to work on the negatives.' #RedSox
Cora on Houston's approach -- 'It's not about hitting it hard all the time. You make contact, good things happen.' #redSox
Cora on Jose Urquidy -- 'He was in control. A lot of strikeouts. A lot of swings and misses.'
'His tempo was great.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:26:18 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 8h Rodriguez -- 'It's just about location right now. I have 10 starts already. I'm not going to blame missing last year. It's just something I've got to go in the bullpen and work on.' #RedSox
Rodriguez -- 'My fastball is getting there. But the results say I gave up six runs -- that's what it is.' #RedSox
Rodriguez -- 'I made mistakes with all of my pitches.' #RedSox
Rodriguez -- 'It's been tough for me the last four starts. It's just a grind right now.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:27:46 GMT -5
RED SOX JOURNAL: Taylor carving out a place in the bullpen Bill Koch The Providence Journal
Josh Taylor seems to be solidifying a role in the Red Sox bullpen.
The left-hander rode 12 scoreless appearances into Monday’s matchup with the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Taylor entered in the seventh inning or earlier nine times and stranded seven of his nine inherited runners.
His usage is reminiscent of Heath Hembree on Boston’s last World Series champions. Matt Barnes, Adam Ottavino and Darwinzon Hernandez are preferred in the late innings for now. Taylor is part of the bridge from the starters to the eighth inning, and he’s allowed just five hits while striking out nine over his last nine innings.
“He’s made some adjustments,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Physically, I believe he’s taking care of his body a little bit better. He’s been able to bounce back — he can go back-to-back with good stuff.”
Taylor surrendered earned runs in five of his first nine appearances, but the 28-year-old appears to have found something as of late. He was limited to just eight appearances in 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19 prior to Summer Camp. Taylor is holding left-handed hitters to just a .522 OPS and has limited opposing hitters to a .665 OPS in high-leverage plate appearances.
“He’ll come in and finish the inning and we can go to somebody else,” Cora said. “But he’s becoming so important in each series. We’ve been able to identify certain pockets where he’s going to help us on a daily basis.” A milestone for Martinez
J.D. Martinez appeared in his 400th game with the Red Sox on Monday.
The designated hitter leads the American League with 201 extra-base hits since signing a five-year contract with the club in free agency prior to the 2018 season. Martinez finished third in the A.L. Most Valuable Player voting that year, trailing only former teammate Mookie Betts and Angels outfielder Mike Trout.
Martinez carried 301 RBI with Boston into Monday's opening matchup with the Astros, one of six players in franchise history to reach that number in 400 games or less. The rest of the list is a roll call of noteworthy Red Sox sluggers — Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Vern Stephens, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Stephens was fastest to the mark, needing just 312 games as a member of some powerful Boston offenses from 1948-52.
Martinez is part of a potent middle of the order for the Red Sox at the moment. He entered with a .986 OPS, just ahead of Rafael Devers (.961) and Xander Bogaerts (.952) among the top five in the A.L. The rest of baseball’s 29 franchises have just eight players with a .950 OPS, and no other team has as many as three players with an .850 OPS. No rest ahead
Monday marked the start of 17 games in as many days for Boston.
The scheduled June 7 off day will be replaced by the makeup of Sunday’s postponement with the Marlins. The Red Sox and Miami will square off in a 5:10 p.m. first pitch.
Boston now sets up for an eight-game homestand that includes three with the Astros and four with the Blue Jays. The Red Sox then visit Atlanta for two games before the next scheduled off day on June 17. The retractable roof at Minute Maid Park all but guarantees Boston will play its four-game series with Houston before visiting the Yankees for a three-game weekend series.
The Red Sox were originally scheduled to play 10 games in as many days prior to Sunday’s postponement. That was part of the reasoning behind the latest roster move, as Franchy Cordero was optioned to Triple-A Worcester and right-hander Colten Brewer was recalled. Boston is back to 14 pitchers and 12 position players. The Red Sox's Eduardo Rodriguez throws against the Astros during the first inning of Monday's game in Houston. Checking the probables
The Red Sox rotation remained on turn through Monday’s game with the Astros.
Eduardo Rodriguez’s scheduled start was pushed back a day. Garrett Richards, Nick Pivetta and Martin Perez will follow through Thursday and Nathan Eovaldi is set to begin the series in New York on Friday.
Unexpectedly, Rodriguez would likely be the pitcher skipped by Boston at the moment. The left-hander completed at least five innings in 36 straight starts until last time out against the Phillies. Rodriguez recorded just 12 outs in a 6-2 loss at Citizens Bank Park.
Rodriguez allowed at least four earned runs in all but one of his five starts prior to Monday. The Red Sox had lost three straight times with him on the mound after going 50-13 since the start of the 2018 season. Boston is 9-1 behind Pivetta this season and 11-1 since his August trade from the Phillies, the first time in club history the Red Sox have won 11 of a pitcher’s first 12 starts with the team.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @billkoch25
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Jun 1, 2021 3:32:49 GMT -5
What should we make of Eduardo Rodriguez?
By Rob Bradford 8 hours ago
Most of the reaction you will find from Eduardo Rodriguez's latest outing will carry a pessimistic tilt. Fair.
Rodriguez now has four straight losses, having given up six runs in 4 2/3 innings in the Red Sox' 11-2 drubbing at the hands of the hosts in Houston. It also marked a second straight game in which he didn't go at least five innings after a streak of 36 straight starts of five-or-more frames.
Not good.
This is a results business, and for Rodriguez results haven't been good.
But anybody who watched this game against the Astros closely could come away with enough hints of optimism to alter the conversation.
Let's start with how his runs were score.
The two second-inning runs came on a hard-hit single from Carlos Correa (106 mph exit velocity), a bloop single just out of the reach of right-fielder Hunter Renfroe (85 mph) off the bat of Kyle Tucker, another soft single by Aledmys Dias (75 mph), and finally a sacrifice fly from Taylor Jones.
The next two runs came in the third on Jose Altuve's 330-foot homer that would have been out of two other ballparks. That hit -- clocking in with an exit velocity of just 92 mph -- was a result of being fooled by Rodriguez's changeup, with Altuve simply lunging out in front and reaching just enough.
The rest were a result of Colten Brewer not stranding the two runners left behind by Rodriguez with two outs in the fifth.
Again, a results business.
But the reality was that Rodriguez's velocity continues to trend up, which might be the most important part of the equation considering how it works hand in hand with his health. That cutter which Alex Cora had identified as a "sloppy slider" in recent days, was once again an actual much-needed weapon, and his demeanor was less of confusion (like last start) and more of determination.
They were sentiments echoed by his manager.
“I told him that if he throws the ball the way he threw it today, with one more adjustment, we’re in a good place," said Cora, later identifying the alteration as coming up with a more consistent changeup. "I honestly feel like stuff-wise, the cutter, that’s the one we were looking for. We still don’t have the sinker where we want it, but the four-seamer was good, there were some swings and misses, so as far as stuff compared to the last four or five, even early in the season, his fastball and his cutter were the best. I told him ... I do believe that if he throws the ball the way he threw it today, good things are going to start happening.”
The consensus will be of panic, disappointment or perhaps resignation. The year off. The myocarditis. The dead arm. It has left the Red Sox with a different pitcher.
After closely watching the guy who threw Monday afternoon, the guess here is that in a month that conversation will have changed quite a bit.
Until then, fire away. As we sit here, Rodriguez is the weak link of this rotation, sitting with a 5.64 ERA. But word to the wise ... file this one away.
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