Red Sox @ Tigers Game Thread/ 3rd- 5th August 2021

Red Sox Notebook
At first or in the outfield, Kyle Schwarber could bring life to an out of sorts Red Sox offense
By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2021, 16 minutes ago

On the surface, the acquisition of Kyle Schwarber seemed like a round peg in a square hole. With the Red Sox getting woeful production at first base, they acquired an outfielder with no experience at the position.

Yet if Schwarber doesn’t take to first base when he returns from the injured list, that skeptical view overlooks his potential upgrade to both an outfield and offense that have been sputtering.

Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox are averaging 4.1 runs per game (21st in MLB) with a .242 average (18th), .306 OBP (23rd), and .432 slugging mark (14th). The team has seen a significant rise in strikeouts, particularly with runners in scoring position.



Since the break, 27.5 percent of the team’s plate appearances with runners on second and/or third have ended in a punchout – a massive jump from the 22.0 percent strikeout rate in such situations in the first half. The strikeout surge helps explain the cluster of squandered rallies, such as back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded in Saturday’s 9-5 loss to the Rays. Over the team’s four-game losing streak, Sox hitters are 4 for 32 (.125) with four walks and 12 strikeouts with runners in scoring position.


“When we control the strike zone, we’re good. When we don’t, we get into trouble,” manager Alex Cora said after Sunday night’s loss to the Rays. “Offensively, it’s been weird the last few days. A lot of traffic but not being able to cash in. That’s something that’s been going on for a while, right?

“We need to do a better job of controlling the strike zone in certain situations.”

Even if Schwarber is limited to the outfield and DH, there may be considerable value in realigning the outfield. The Sox’ primary outfielders have been particularly dismal of late, hitting .205 (28th) with a .268 OBP (27th) and .380 slugging percentage (22nd) since the break.


Alex Verdugo has posted below-average numbers since late April (.256 average, .710 OPS since April 28). Hunter Renfroe has seen his production drop off since the start of July (.207/.276/.402). Jarren Duran is hitting .150 with a .486 OPS and 39.5 percent strikeout rate in his first half-month in the big leagues.

Wherever he ends up playing, so long as he can perform at anything close to his pre-injury levels, Schwarber – who is hitting .253 this year with a .340 OBP, .570 slugging mark (eighth in MLB), and 25 homers (eighth) – should help.

“We were good erring on the side of having too many good players, even if a lot of them might end up playing the same position,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said on Friday.
Casas keeps crushing

Red Sox minor leaguer Triston Casas, ranked the No. 22 prospect in the game by Baseball America, continued his strong run in the Olympics. Though Team USA fell in 10 innings to Japan, 7-6, Casas delivered an impressive performance.

The first baseman – currently on hiatus from the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs – went 2 for 3 with his second homer in as many games (a three-run shot that put Team USA ahead at the time, 6-3), a double, and a walk. Both the homer and double were to the opposite field, highlighting the ability by Casas to generate all-fields power that serves as a hallmark of his promise.


In three Olympic games, he’s 4 for 13 with two homers, a double, a walk, and three strikeouts. The 21-year-old has driven in six runs, most on Team USA.
Power outage for Vázquez

From 2014-18, Christian Vázquez hit 10 homers in 999 plate appearances, developing a reputation as a contact hitter who sprayed the ball. In 2019-20, he defied that reputation, slugging 30 homers in 710 plate appearances over the two seasons while hitting .278/.327/.472.

This season, Vázquez is hitting .255/.305/.343 with just four homers in 348 plate appearances. He hasn’t homered since June 27. Cora believes that Vázquez has been trying to force power this year – he has a career-high fly ball rate and career-low ground ball rate – in a way that has limited his production.

“In ‘19, if you look at his career, people have career years. And I think as far as the power numbers, it was a career year,” said Cora. “When you start chasing power, sometimes there’s a lot of empty fly balls. When Christian is going well, he’s hitting line drives over the place and sometimes he’ll hit the ball out of the ballpark. He’s not having a bad season. … He has put some good at-bats, but sometimes we have to decide who we want to be. And I do believe Christian Vázquez is a good big league hitter that can hit for average, can drive in runs, and can hit for occasional power.”

Major League Baseball de-juiced the ball this year, something that Cora believes has suppressed Vázquez’s power numbers and made him more valuable when hitting line drives than fly balls.

“It’s a different game now, and you see it. We see it,” said Cora. “Hopefully he can stay short to the ball, go the other way, and become the hitter that we like. And he likes it, too.”
Gonzalez on the mend

Utility man Marwin Gonzalez, out since July 11 with a hamstring injury, was scheduled to work out with the team in Detroit on Monday and is likely to be active on Tuesday for the start of the Tigers series. Gonzalez was 2 for 6 with a homer, a walk, and a strikeout in two rehab games with Triple-A Worcester over the weekend … Kiké Hernández, who left Sunday night’s game in the ninth inning with a bruised side, is expected to be fine for the Tigers series.

Red Sox’ resilience is needed now more than ever after recent skid
The first half overachievers have lost five of their last six games and the top spot in the AL East.


By Chad Finn
August 2, 2021 | 4:07 PM

When J.D. Martinez, harmlessly and with little suspense, popped a well-placed Matt Wisler slider to right field with the tying run on third base for the final out of yet another loss to the Rays Sunday, it felt like the first time this season that the Red Sox have failed to conjure a win when they’ve desperately needed one.

Not that there have been many moments of worry so far this season. The Told-Ya-They’d-Stink brigade took their victory lap after the Sox looked miserable in opening the season with three straight losses to the Orioles. The Sox won their next nine, including a sweep of the Rays.

As May turned to June, they lost three straight to Houston, then promptly won the fourth game of that series and swept the Yankees three straight in New York. This team has made a habit out of serving heaping helpings of crow to its skeptics.


They’ve always responded. It’s one of the reasons this roster, with so many new and unfamiliar players, became so likable so quickly. It also helped, I suppose, that they have spent 85 days in first place and were 23 games over .500 less than a week ago. Winning is the foolproof way of discovering new fan favorites.

They’ve built up plenty of goodwill during the season’s first four months, or three-plus months anyway. In late July, the Sox stumbled into their first real and prolonged rut of the season. They’ve lost five of six, including three straight to the Rays while ceding first place in the American League East. They’re 8-8 since the All-Star break, and – this stunned me – only four games up on the Yankees and Blue Jays in the loss column. The Rays, Jays, and Yankees all gained three games on the Red Sox in the last three days.

One can appreciate all of the unexpected achievements, fun moments, and victories so far while also wondering, with genuine concern, what they are going to be moving forward over the season’s final third – 55 games remain, beginning with Tuesday’s game in Detroit.

Xander Bogaerts, a long-established voice of reason rather than alarm, said after Saturday’s loss that “we need a win tomorrow.” Alex Cora smiled away the notion that Sunday was a must-win, keeping the big picture in mind in times of frustration as the best managers do, but his tactics – notably pulling starter Nick Pivetta for Josh Taylor with two outs and the Sox trailing, 3-1, in the fifth inning – suggested he agreed with his candid shortstop.


Cora knew, even if he didn’t want to put so much importance on a single game. The Sox needed the win. For once, they couldn’t fulfill their own request, with Martinez’s pop out punctuating a series in which the Sox, as noted by NESN’s Adam Pellerin, went 3 for 18 with runners in scoring position, left 26 runners on base, and saw their starting pitchers give up 14 runs in 14 innings while being swept for the first time since that season-opening Orioles series.

So, what now? Well, presuming rehabbing Chris Sale doesn’t fall in love with Worcester the way Manny Ramirez once did with Pawtucket, there is significant help on the way to the area in which the Red Sox most need it: starting pitching. The only starter with an earned-run average below 4.50 right now is Nathan Eovaldi (3.71), and he’s already thrown his most innings since 2016. Eduardo Rodriguez (5.60 ERA) is basically in the rotation on reputation and a prayer right now. Garrett Richards (5.15 ERA) probably spends his afternoons staring longingly at pictures of Spider Tack on Google Image Search. Martin Perez and Nick Pivetta have adjusted ERAs of 101 – a tick above replacement level.

Even if Sale isn’t (*Steve Holt from “Arrested Development” voice*) CHRIS SALE! when he returns, he’ll be better than probably everyone but Eovaldi and Tanner Houck, who has a 1.62 ERA in 39 major league innings and should have a significant role the rest of the way.

Rather than adding a starting pitcher at the trading deadline, Red Sox president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom instead added a pair of non-descript relievers, righty Hansel Robles and lefty Austin Davis. Bloom has been so savvy in finding helpful players from a variety of sources that it’s wise, as I wrote before the trade deadline, to take the Ted Lasso “Be curious, not judgmental” approach to his acquisitions. Players like Hunter Renfroe and Christian Arroyo have revealed in their performance why Bloom liked them. But I’ll admit it gets cloudy when you try to see Robles and Davis as being anything more than depth pieces.

When he returns from a hamstring injury, Kyle Schwarber will help an offense that needs a boost. His top career statistical comps are Joey Gallo, whom the Yankees have been celebrated for acquiring, and Renfroe, and he’s averaged 42 homers per 162 games over the last three years. I suspect he’s going to take to first base well enough, and it’s necessary with Bobby Dalbec’s borderline unplayable 14/113 BB/K ratio.

But I still don’t know how Bloom let Anthony Rizzo get to the Yankees. He would have been an ideal fit on this team as a slick-fielding, lefty-hitting first baseman with power and a high on-base percentage. Bloom is building up the Red Sox’ farm system in a quest to be a Rays/Dodgers hybrid, and I understand why he didn’t deviate from that plan in what he found to be a sellers’ market. But the Yankees gave up nothing more than a couple of decent lottery tickets — 19-year-old rookie league outfielder Kevin Alcantara and pitcher Alexander Vizcaino (a 24-year-old in Single A with a 4.95 career minor league ERA) for Rizzo, their Nos. 9 and 12 prospects per MLB.com. And the Cubs are paying Rizzo’s remaining salary. Let’s just say I’d love to know what Bloom’s last, best offer was to Jed Hoyer.


I do not buy the common assumption that players on contending teams feel let down when their general manager doesn’t make significant additions at the deadline. This Red Sox group believes in each other, and besides, Schwarber will be a major addition when he’s ready. To put it another way: He’s a much better hitter than 2018 Steve Pearce, and we know how that deadline move played out. But after a season filled with unexpected highs, the Red Sox have hit a low point. Resilience has been an attribute of this team so far. Now, it must be more than ever.

With the season slipping, the Red Sox need their current guys — not coming reinforcements — to turn things around
By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2021, 7:56 p.m.

DETROIT — The Red Sox have 55 games remaining and Chris Sale will start maybe nine or 10 of them once he comes off the injured list.

The Sox have been extraordinarily cautious with their surgically repaired 32-year-old ace and that’s not going to suddenly change.

Kyle Schwarber has been on the injured list for a month with a strained hamstring. He is moving closer to starting a minor league rehabilitation assignment but probably won’t be ready for a major league game for at least another 7-10 days.

Meanwhile Schwarber will be learning to play first base at the same time while also acclimating to a new team and a new league.

The prospect they hoped would give the team a spark, outfielder Jarren Duran, is 6 of 40 (.150) with 17 strikeouts.

Sale is one of best pitchers of his generation and will give the team a lift once he returns. Schwarber made the National League All-Star team and hit 12 home runs in 13 games before he was injured.

Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom wasn’t exaggerating when he said Schwarber was one of the most impactful hitters obtained at the trade deadline.

As the Yankees clear a spot in Monument Park for Anthony Rizzo, the Sox can look forward to what Schwarber will give them once he returns.

But the Sox can’t look over their shoulders waiting for a rescue. Their season has started to unravel and it’s the players who have been here from the start who must put it back together.

Their fans won’t help, either. The Sox still have seven games remaining on their road trip, starting Tuesday night against the Tigers. Then they have four games in Toronto against the surging Blue Jays.

“It’s a tough stretch for everybody,” manager Alex Cora said Sunday after the Sox ran their losing streak to four games with a 3-2 setback at Tampa Bay.


The Sox are a pedestrian 13-12 since July 1, allowing the Rays to overtake them with a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field that also let the Yankees and Blue Jays back in the American League East race.

Outside of Kiké Hernández and Rafael Devers, the lineup has been stagnant.

J.D. Martinez is hitting .203 with four RBIs in his last 18 games. Xander Bogaerts has a .607 OPS since the All-Star Game.

Hunter Renfroe, who looked like a steal for much of the season, has seen his numbers drop. Alex Verdugo and Christian Vazquez remain in what are now months-long funks.

The Sox have been patient with rookie first baseman Bobby Dalbec, but he has a .536 OPS since June 1.

It’s a pitching issue, too. The rotation is 7-10 with a 4.78 ERA since July 1. The Rays (3.52), Blue Jays (3.72) and Yankees (3.74) improved as the Sox dipped.

Cora was blunt when asked to assess the division race.

“They’re playing good. Early in the season we were playing good and they sucked,” he said. “It’s part of baseball. It’s 162 games and you’ve got to stay the course.

“Now we’re in a position, we’re in second place in the division. We didn’t like what happened [over the] weekend, but it’s part of it … We’re still here. Obviously, we don’t like losing and we want to be more consistent. But it’s just part of the season.”


The Sox lost three games at Fenway Park against the rebuilding Orioles to open the season then won nine in a row. Cora said he liked his team after that first series, and he still likes them now.

“We know we’re going to score runs,” he said. “We need to adjust a few things. It’s about swing decisions.”

The Sox have 33 come-from-behind victories this season, the most in the majors. When Martinez came to the plate in the ninth inning on Sunday with runners on the corners and two outs, it felt like a spot that in May or June surely would have resulted in at least a game-tying single.

Instead, he chased a slider down and away and popped up to end the game.

“I’m trying to figure it out,” Martinez said after the game.

He’s not alone there and it has to happen for the Sox soon. Sale and Schwarber are on the way, but the season is slipping away now.

Red Sox
at
Tigers
Tuesday, at 7:10 PM EST
Partly Cloudy
According to Forecast.io, it's expected to be 77° F with a 1% chance of rain and 4 MPH wind blowing in in Detroit at 7:10 PM EST.
Hourly Forecasts: Weather.com Forecast.io

Red Sox at Tigers Series Preview

The Red Sox take on the Tigers this week in Detroit for a three-game set.
By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Aug 3, 2021, 10:30am EDT

SB Nation Blog

Bless You Boys
The opponent in one sentence

The Tigers, while out of the race, are a better team than most people think and have actually been over .500 in each of the last three months.
Record

51-57
Head-to-head record

Red Sox 2, Tigers 1
Trend

Up, but only a little. The Tigers were the hottest team in baseball coming out of the break, winning their first seven games. they followed that up with four straight losses, however, and more recently have righted the ship again, winning four of their last six. Both of those losses did come against the Orioles this past weekend.
Pitching Matchups

8/3: Garrett Richards vs. Wily Peralta, 7:10 PM ET (MLB Network for out-of-market)

One of the hopes for many Red Sox fans last week as we approached the trade deadline was that the team acquired another starter so Richards would be knocked out of the rotation. Chris Sale’s return still may do just that, but for now he continues to start. It’s been a slog for him over the last couple of months, to put it nicely, with an ERA of 7.43 over his last eight starts, only racking up 22 strikeouts in 36 1⁄3 innings. He’s just been entirely too hittable since the crackdown on sticky stuff, and while Tanner Houck has his own issues to work out with respect to a third pitch, it’s pretty difficult to make a case for Richards over Houck right now, never mind Sale. If the former is still starting when the latter comes back, that’s a major knock against this coaching staff.

Peralta had spent much of the early parts of his career as a middling back-end starter in the Brewers organization before converting into the bullpen with the Royals. After one solid season, he took a step back in 2019, eventually being designated for assignment and not signing with anyone in 2020. The veteran righty started this season in Triple-A with the Tigers, eventually making his way back into a major-league starting role in June, where he’s pitched pretty well. Peralta has a 3.64 ERA, though his peripherals suggest that is more than two runs too low. He won’t miss many bats, and is reliant on weak contact. Given how badly the Red Sox are going with runners on base right now, this is the type of matchup that could feasibly end in very frustrating fashion. Peralta will feature a pair of low-to-mid-90s fastballs, a slider, and a splitter.

8/4: Eduardo Rodriguez vs. Casey Mize, 7:10 PM ET

It’s probably prisoner-of-the-moment syndrome taking over, but this start coming up for Rodriguez feels as big as it’s gotten for any Red Sox pitcher this year. The team not grabbing any rotation depth feels like a vote of confidence in the southpaw, who totally blew up his last time out after starting off the second half so well. The Red Sox probably need him to be their number two, but at the very least he has to look like someone they can trust in the postseason. For a lot of this year, he’s had some tough luck outings that have hurt his numbers, but in his last start against Toronto he was just straight-up beat, pushing his season ERA up to 5.60. He needs to attack the zone and miss bats, and in the process hopefully find his mojo again.

Mize is one of the tenants of this Tigers rebuild, having been selected with the number one overall pick back in 2018. He didn’t really spend much time at all in the minors, making it up to the bigs for his debut last summer. He’s spent his entire season so far in 2021 up here as well, pitching to a nice 3.41 ERA, though like Peralta the peripherals suggest he should be doing worse. The righty looked like he had some nasty stuff coming out of college, but he’s really posted a middling strikeout rate this year, instead relying on command and control. The Tigers are watching his pitch count closely this year, so the Red Sox should be looking to work counts and make good on balls in play to potentially get into this bullpen early. They struggled against Mize earlier this year, scoring just one run over six innings despite walking more than they struck out. The righty will feature a slider, a mid-90s four-seam, a low-to-mid-90s two-seam, a splitter, and a curveball.

8/5: Martín Pérez vs. Tarik Skubal, 1:10 PM ET (MLB Network for out-of-market)

Pérez is, in a way, lucky Richards is here, as he’s been struggling a bit of late too but not to the extreme of his rotation mate. The southpaw is coming off a really bad start his last time out in Tampa when he allowed six runs, and he allowed three in each of his previous three starts before that. Three runs doesn’t sound terrible until you realize he went four or fewer innings in two of those starts. The long ball has been the big issue for Pérez of late, as he’s allowed seven over this four-start stretch. If he can keep the ball in the yard, he can at least be competitive. But that’s not as easy a task as it may sound. He did keep Detroit in the yard back in May, allowing three runs (two earned) over 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out six and walking two.

Skubal is another big part of this Tigers rebuild, not coming into the organization as highly touted but graduating as a top 25 prospect in some circles. It’s not hard to see where those rankings come from, though he’s still a bit raw around the edges. Skubal will miss a ton of bats, coming in with a much higher strikeout rate than we see from the other guys slated to start for Detroit this week. On the other hand, his control can be shaky and he has been hit hard, and over the fence, a lot. Skubal has allowed 25 homers in his 21 starts this season, including six over his last two. If he keeps the ball in the yard, he typically has success, so the Red Sox need to be hunting mistakes and not letting him get ahead in counts where he can really show off the stuff. The rookie will feature a pair of mid-90s fastballs to go with a slider and a changeup, as well as some occasional other secondaries.

Old Friends

None.
Notable Position Players

Miguel Cabrera has, for the most part this year, looked more like an aging slugger than one of the very best hitters of his generation. That said, he’s been much better recently and really since the weather has warmed up. He’s three homers away from 500 for his career and 58 hits away from number 3000 in his career.

Jonathan Schoop was a popular potential target for many Red Sox fans, but ultimately stayed in Detroit. He’s going to swing at nearly everything, but he’ll put a decent number of balls in play, and this year he’s done so with a lot of solid contact.

Akil Baddoo has been a major Rule 5 Draft success story, combining patience, athleticism and power to be the most valuable Tigers position player so far this year by fWAR.

Robbie Grossman has been a quietly solid free agent addition. He won’t hit for a high average, but he’ll draw walks and show some pop.

Eric Hasse came out of nowhere for a huge June and July, masking some strikeout issues with big-time power to the tune of an Isolated Power (SLG - AVG) over .300.

Jeimer Candelario once looked like a promising young hitter in this lineup, and while he’s having a good season this year it’s been more about getting on base (with some BABIP help as well) than about his power.

Willi Castro has just not really been able to get much of anything going at the bottom of this Detroit lineup this year.

Zack Short hasn’t played a ton and is being hurt by his high strikeout rate, but also draws some walk and has a little bit of pop into which he can tap.

Derek Hill only has 66 plate appearances, but he’s done a good job of balancing walks and strikeouts to mask a lack of power in the small sample.


Bullpen Snapshot

José Cisnero is part of an underrated three-headed monster at the back of this Detroit bullpen. The righty will get his share of strikeouts, allowing him to work around control issues that can pop up now and again.

Gregory Soto is basically the same kind of pitcher as Cisnero, just throwing from the other side and with slightly worse control issues.

Michael Fulmer was once a highly touted starter, but injuries have forced him to the bullpen, where he has thrived aside from some home run issues here and there.
Injuries

Matthew Boyd was another potential trade candidate on this Tigers roster, but some arm issues crept up in June and he’s unlikely to get back into a game for at least another few weeks.

Spencer Turnbull got off to a big start in the Tigers rotation this year, but also went down with an arm injury in June and just recently had to undergo Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out for most of next season as well.

Niko Goodrum had been out with a calf injury, but has started his rehab and could be back as soon as this series.

Isaac Paredes is also potentially going to be ready to be back for this series after missing time with a hip injury.

Julio Teheran has been working his way back from an arm injury, but is likely at least still a few weeks away.

José Ureña hit the IL with a groin injury last month and is unlikely to see any action until the end of this month.

Jake Rogers hit the injured list a couple weeks ago with an arm injury, and his expected return date has since been pushed back to September.

Daz Cameron hurt his toe in early July, but is close to working his way back.
Weather Forecast

Weather shouldn’t be any factor in the first couple of games in this series, but could result in a delay for Thursday. Neither team is traveling too far, so they should be able to tolerate some delay if necessary.

Game 108: Red Sox at Tigers lineups and pregame notes
By Andrew Mahoney Globe Staff,Updated August 3, 2021, 2 hours ago

The Red Sox will resume their 10-game road trip when they open a three-game series at Detroit.

The Sox had a much needed day off on Monday, benefitting not only from the rest, but also from losses by the Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays. They enter Tuesday one game behind Tampa for first place in the American League East.

The Tigers also had Monday off after playing 17 games in 16 days.
Lineups

RED SOX (63-44):


1. Jarren Duran (L) CF
2. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
3. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
4. J.D. Martinez (R) DH
5. Alex Verdugo (L) LF
6. Hunter Renfroe (R) RF
7. Marwin Gonzalez (S) 2B
8. Christian Vazquez (R) C
9. Franchy Cordero (L) 1B


Pitching: RHP Garrett Richards (6-6, 5.15 ERA)

TIGERS (51-57):


1. Akil Baddoo (L) LF
2. Jonathan Schoop (R) 1B
3. Robbie Grossman (S) RF
4. Miguel Cabrera (R) DH
5. Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B
6. Eric Haase (R) C
7. Harold Castro (L) SS
8. Willi Castro (S) 2B
9. Derek Hill (R) CF


Pitching: RHP Wily Peralta (3-2, 3.64 ERA)

Time: 7:10 p.m.

TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7



Red Sox vs. Peralta: Xander Bogaerts 1-3, Rafael Devers 0-1, Kiké Hernández 0-0, J.D. Martinez 0-1.

Tigers vs. Richards: Miguel Cabrera 3-11, Robbie Grossman 6-17, Jonathan Schoop 1-2.

Stat of the day: Over their four-game losing streak, Sox hitters are 4 for 32 (.125) with 4 walks and 12 strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

Notes: This is the last series between the two teams this season. The Sox won two of three at Fenway in May … Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox are averaging 4.1 runs per game (21st in MLB) with a .242 average (18th), .306 OBP (23rd), and .432 slugging mark (14th) … The Tigers are 11-6 since the All-Star break … Richards has eight career appearances against Detroit, going 2-2 with a 3.46 ERA … Peralta made four career appearances against the Red Sox with no decisions and a 4.76 ERA.

Song of the Day: Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down


www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc