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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:30:13 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h Cora confirms Sale will start for Triple-A Worcester on Saturday in Scranton.
On if that could be Sale's final rehab start -- 'I don't want to say 100%, but the way things are trending -- most likely, yes.' #RedSox
Cora said Darwinzon Hernandez (oblique) will have an MRI 'today or tomorrow.'
'It went from something where we felt like he would be back soon to where he's in pain.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:30:59 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h Cora said Schwarber worked out in Detroit on Monday. It was a simulated game. He faced Houck.
Schwarber has yet to run on the field or sprint. #RedSox
Cora said medical director Brad Pearson is in Detroit to check on Schwarber.
Pearson is expected to be in Scranton for Sale's start on Saturday. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:33:06 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h Cora said Brasier is with Worcester and will throw another bullpen shortly. Without a setback he'll move from there to live BP.
Still no firm timetable for his return, but Cora said he's 'pleasantly surprised.' with Brasier's progress. #RedSox
Cora said J.D. Martinez still talks frequently about the time he spent in Detroit with Miguel Cabrera.
'One is very natural. The other one is -- I don't want to say mechanical, but he has to check every box.' #RedSox
Cora said the #RedSox have yet to cross the 85% vaccination threshold.
'We haven't made a lot of progress in that aspect.'
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:34:59 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h Replying to @billkoch25 Matt Barnes is being placed on the COVID IL. #RedSox
Cora said Barnes has not tested positive for COVID. But he is feeling some symptoms, and they're isolating him for now.
Rest of the #RedSox travel party has tested negative to this point.
Cora said 'there was one more' #RedSox player who was feeling some symptoms, but to this point he's tested negative.
Cora said they are awaiting a test result on Barnes. #RedSox
Cora on COVID -- 'I saw what happened yesterday in New York. That's not great. Like I've been saying all along, we control what we can control.'
'We just came from Florida. We know the numbers.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:35:50 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 2h Cora said Darwinzon Hernandez (oblique) will have an MRI 'today or tomorrow.'
'It went from something where we felt like he would be back soon to where he's in pain.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:39:24 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3m Kyle Schwarber has No. 18.
Most recently worn by such notables as Mitch Moreland (2017-20), Shane Victorino (2013-15), Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007-12) and Johnny Damon (2002-05).
So a hitterish number, yes?
(H/t to @cooch34 for reminding me to check on KS's numnber.)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:39:58 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3m Gonzalez activated and Barnes on the Covid IL.
The Covid IL is open-ended. Could be just a day if the league clears him.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 3, 2021 17:46:17 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 6m Sox INF coach Carlos Febles said the initial impression of Schwarber at 1B is a positive one,.
"Better than we expected," he said. "He has a good feel for it."
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 2:51:48 GMT -5
Richards frustrated as Sox lose fifth straight 1:19 AM ADT Dawn Klemish
Dawn Klemish @sportsgal25
DETROIT -- In a storyline that’s become uncomfortably familiar of late, the Red Sox were competitive, but missed the big hit, stop, defensive play -- pick one or more -- to push them over the top during a 4-2 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.
This defeat marked Boston’s fifth straight, adding one onto what was already its longest slump of the season.
“Our goal is to come tomorrow and win,” manager Alex Cora said. “We don't want this slide to continue. We didn't like it when we lost two in a row, or three in a row, or four, or five.”
The Red Sox sent starter Garrett Richards to the hill in hopes he’d snap both the team’s slump and his own, but Richards was saddled with the loss after he allowed three runs on five hits over four innings. As Boston moved to 3-7 in its past 10 games, Richards fell to 2-5 since May 25.
The Red Sox sent starter Garrett Richards to the hill in hopes he’d snap both the team’s slump and his own, but Richards was saddled with the loss after he allowed three runs on five hits over four innings. As Boston moved to 3-7 in its past 10 games, Richards fell to 2-5 since May 25.
The evening began well enough, with the Red Sox building an early 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI single from J.D. Martinez in the first inning and a leadoff homer from Hunter Renfroe in the second.
Martinez’s knock was an especially welcome sight after the three-time Silver Slugger entered the series with just two hits in his past 25 at-bats.
“Teams go through these stretches, no matter how good they are or how bad they are,” Renfroe said of the Red Sox, who are one game behind Tampa Bay in the AL East. “This is a tough game; it's a hard game, and when teams go through this, you've got to figure out what you're made of. I think we'll come out of this stronger, and understand our team a little better moving forward.”
As Martinez made strides forward, Richards remained mired in the same multi-run, low-innings funk that began for him on June 11. While Martinez’s position in the lineup is fairly secure -- seeing as the Red Sox spent five years and $110 million to woo him in February 2018 -- Richards entered Tuesday with what appears to be a limited amount of time left to fight for his rotation spot as Chris Sale nears his return.
Richards’ performance in Detroit offered bits of both crispness and suspense, with the righty cruising through his first three innings outside of a solo home run from Miguel Cabrera, the 498th of his career. As has often been the case over the past two months, trouble began brewing for Richards around the fourth inning, when the 33-year-old opened the frame with a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases.
Boston’s bullpen stirred just then, and Richards must have sensed the short leash, for he worked to ring up Eric Haase on a third-strike slider, allowed a game-tying sacrifice fly to Harold Castro and coaxed Willi Castro into a groundout to limit the damage.
Richards’ magic was gone by the time he took the mound in the fifth inning. He faced just two batters, walking the first and allowing the second a double that scored the eventual game-winning run, before getting the hook.
It was, much to his disappointment, more of the same from Richards, who on June 11 began a rough run of eight consecutive starts, pitched to a 7.43 ERA during that time and allowed 11 home runs in 36 1/3 innings.
“It's frustrating,” Richards said. “This has been the worst year of my career, so I'm just trying to find a way to give us a chance to win every night and take steps forward.”
There’s much anticipation around the return of Sale, who had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and is slated to make what should be his final rehab start on Saturday. While there’s no doubt Boston’s rotation has struggled as a whole to produce quality innings of late, Richards would likely be the odd man out if decisions were made today.
“The way I feel and the way I'm throwing the ball doesn't necessarily match the results I'm getting right now,” Richards said, “which is frustrating, but it's part of the game, so, on to the next one.”
There will be at least one “next one” for Richards, who Cora confirmed was still scheduled to start again on Sunday. But changes could still be on the horizon. In order for the Red Sox to reclaim the division lead, there will have to be.
“We're talking about it, and if we have to make adjustments, we will,” Cora said. “We still believe in these guys. We do believe that they can go five, six innings for us just like they did early in the season and put us in a good spot to win.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:02:37 GMT -5
Jason Mastrodonato @jmastrodonato · 5h Garrett Richards: “I’m a starting pitcher. I have an ability to throw 100 pitches and keep my stuff the whole time. Not many people can do it.”
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 4h Is this guy kidding? What a joke
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:03:44 GMT -5
Jason Mastrodonato @jmastrodonato · 6h Of the 61 pitchers with at least 100 innings this year, Garrett Richards ranks...
56th in ERA (5.21) 58th in BB rate (3.98/9IP) 51st in HR rate (1.44/9IP) 60th in WHIP (1.65) 58th in WAR (0.3)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:04:34 GMT -5
Jason Mastrodonato @jmastrodonato · 5h The Red Sox haven't looked this lifeless since the opening series vs. the O's.
Bogaerts doesn't seem right. Verdugo hasn't been right. Hernandez is hurting now. There's no first baseman. Just two quality starts in their last 23 games.[/font]
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:09:46 GMT -5
‘We don’t want this slide to continue,’ says Red Sox manager Alex Cora after his team’s season-high fifth straight loss By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 3, 2021, 10:35 p.m.
Perhaps, the Red Sox hoped, an offday would restore them. Or perhaps the conclusion of a stretch of more than two weeks facing no one but American League East foes would help the team escape its worst rut of the year.
Those hopes vanished quickly on Tuesday night in Detroit, where the Red Sox continued to look like a team without immediate answers. The Sox fell to the Tigers, 4-2, in a listless performance that extended their longest losing streak of the season to five games.
“We don’t want this slide to continue,” sighed manager Alex Cora after the defeat. “We didn’t like it when we lost two in a row or three in a row or four in a row or five.”
Yet despite the distaste for defeat, the team has proven unable to counter the increasingly familiar patterns that have characterized its recent setbacks.
Garrett Richards provided the Sox with just four-plus innings, getting charged with three earned runs in the process. While he featured a pitch mix that showed promise through three innings — a mid-90s fastball, sharp slider, and curveball and change that he could flip for strikes — the result proved painfully familiar.
Presented with an early 2-0 lead thanks to a J.D. Martinez RBI single in the first and Hunter Renfroe’s solo homer in the second, Richards quickly gave it back. He allowed a solo homer to Miguel Cabrera — the 498th of the two-time MVP’s career — in the second, then gave up another run in the fourth on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
With the game tied, 2-2, in the fifth, Richards walked nine-hole hitter Derek Hill and then served a four-seamer down the middle to Akil Baddoo. The Tigers rookie ripped a double to center, given Detroit a 3-2 advantage and ending Richards’s night.
Thus ended another discouraging night for Richards. The righthander — whose ERA was saved from further harm when reliever Hirokazu Sawamura worked around a walk to end the inning with a strikeout and ground ball double play by Cabrera — logged four-plus innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five.
In his last nine starts, Richards — while adapting to the league’s enhanced enforcement of its foreign substance rules — has been unable to grasp any form of sustainable success. He has a 7.36 ERA while yielding 12 homers in 40⅓ innings over that time. Related: Abraham: After another rocky start for Garrett Richards, its time for the Red Sox to turn to Tanner Houck
“It’s frustrating. This has been the worst year of my career,” said Richards (6-7, 5.21 ERA). “The way I feel and the way I’m throwing the ball doesn’t necessarily match the results I’m getting right now, which is frustrating. But that’s part of the game.”
Of perhaps even greater concern to the Sox is that Richards is far from alone in his recent struggles. Over the last eight games, Sox starters have an 8.47 ERA while averaging just over four innings an outing. Just once in the last eight games has a Sox starter cleared the modest bar of five innings.
“We need our starters to go deeper. They know that,” said Cora. “Five [innings] will be great for us. Today, [Richards] didn’t do it.” Garrett Richards couldn't make it out of the fifth inning Tuesday night against the Tigers.
Of course, Richards alone wasn’t responsible for the defeat. The Red Sox’ offense — sputtering since the All-Star break — remained mired in a stretch of futility, managing just two runs, and none after the second inning.
While they scored a pair of runs off of starter Wily Peralta and threatened to add more with a pair of two-out walks in the fifth inning (the first of which ended Peralta’s night), the Sox — the major league leaders in comeback victories with 33 — could muster nothing against the Tigers’ bullpen.
Five Detroit relievers combined to log 4⅓ shutout innings. The Sox managed just three hits (all singles) and one walk while striking out six times against the Tigers ‘pen, and managed to hit just one ball in the air out of the infield after Peralta’s exit.
When Detroit managed an insurance run against reliever Yacksel Rios in the seventh to take a 4-2 lead, the deficit for the Red Sox seemed almost insurmountable. The Sox are now averaging just 4.0 runs per game since the All-Star break, one of the worst performances in the big leagues in that time.
“I think it’s kind of down to our hitters to really buckle down, me included obviously, to get the job done,” said Renfroe. “We’re kind of pressing a little bit. Obviously, the Rays series we were pressing a little bit, trying to get that last win or win two out of three. I think we just kind of played a little stiff. That’s the biggest thing, is to go up there relaxed, know what we’re made of.”
The Sox did receive a measure of good news, with the Rays falling to the Mariners, 4-2, allowing the Sox to remain within one game of the AL East leaders. Nonetheless, until the Red Sox snap their losing skid, any concern about their competitors seems misplaced.
“Offensively, we believe we can score more. This is more about the offense right now than the pitching,” said Cora. “Four runs against us, we believe we should win those ballgames.”
For most of the season’s first four months, the Sox made an impressive habit of winning such contests. But as the season enters its final third, the Sox are suddenly finding it difficult to restore the consistent successes that came so routinely prior to the last week.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:11:47 GMT -5
Red Sox notebook Red Sox place closer Matt Barnes on COVID-19 injured list, but his test comes back negative By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 3, 2021, 5:18 p.m.
The Red Sox placed Matt Barnes on the COVID-19-related injured list on Tuesday because of symptoms consistent with the condition, but a PCR test on the All-Star closer came back negative. The team is hopeful that Barnes will be able to rejoin the club on Wednesday.
“That’s the goal. Everything went well [Tuesday],” said manager Alex Cora.
Barnes, who is vaccinated, stayed at the team hotel in Detroit on Tuesday while awaiting his test results after experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 on Monday and Tuesday. While Cora said that one other player had experienced potential COVID-19 symptoms, the Red Sox underwent COVID-19 testing as a team on Tuesday with no positive tests.
Barnes is not the first Red Sox player this year to miss a brief period because of flu-like symptoms that did not yield a positive COVID-19 test. Cora himself was held back from the park prior to one game this year, and slugger J.D. Martinez landed on the COVID-19 injured list for one day in April because of a cold.
Barnes was briefly placed on the COVID-19 injury list in late March after he tested positive, but subsequent test results allowed him to be reinstated after just two days. Barnes, 31, went on to an All-Star first half. He’s 5-2 with a 2.30 ERA, 23 saves, and a career-high 41.5 percent strikeout rate and career-low 6.9 percent walk rate.
The Red Sox will have Barnes reexamined and likely re-tested in the morning. Barring the onset of further symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test, he could be cleared to rejoin the team for the middle game of its three-game series against the Tigers.
Still, with infection rates on the rise because of the Delta variant, Cora acknowledged the concern that has crept back into both major league baseball — the Sox manager noted that Yankees ace Gerrit Cole landed on the COVID-19 injured list on Monday after testing positive — and society at large.
“We know the numbers. It’s a reality outside the Red Sox and the Yankees and the Rays, it’s the reality of the world. We’re not superheroes. We’re susceptible to this. We know that,” said Cora. “It’s hard to see. It’s just our reality.”
The Red Sox remain one of seven teams that has yet to clear the 85 percent vaccination threshold for Tier 1 employees that would result in loosened COVID-19 protocols.
“We haven’t made a lot of progress in that aspect,” said Cora. “As a group we’ve been very good about being disciplined [following COVID-19 protocols] ... Hopefully we can keep doing those things and it doesn’t stop what we’re trying to accomplish.” Schwarber impresses
As newly acquired slugger Kyle Schwarber continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury, he’s started taking ground balls at first base. Cora reported positive first impressions of the 28-year-old, who has spent his career at catcher and in the outfield.
“He looks good. One thing he does well as an infielder is he reacts to the bounce and tries to go get it. He moves well,” said Cora. “Obviously there’s a lot of stuff that goes into a game that he needs to learn and get in tune with it, but so far it’s been positive.”
Schwarber took part in a simulated game on Monday, hitting against righthander Tanner Houck, who is with the Red Sox as a member of the traveling taxi squad from Triple A Worcester. Schwarber is hitting, running — though neither on the bases nor sprinting at full speed — and taking grounders. There is no timetable for him to start a minor league rehab assignment, but Cora guessed that Schwarber, who was hitting .253/.340/.570 with 25 homers when he landed on the injured list in early July, would not require a long build-up in the minors.
See Sale soon?
Lefthander Chris Sale is with the Triple A WooSox for their six-game series in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this week against the Yankees’ affiliate. He’ll start on six days of rest on Saturday, and barring a setback, is likely to join the big league team after that outing, putting him in line to start almost exactly two years after his last big league outing, which took place on Aug. 13, 2019. “I don’t want to say 100 percent [that he’ll be back after Saturday’s rehab start], but the way things are trending, most likely,” said Cora … Lefthander Darwinzon Hernandez, who landed on the injured list on Saturday because of what was considered a mild oblique strain, has experienced worsening discomfort and will require an MRI. “He went from something that we felt like he was going to be back soon [to] now, he’s in pain, he’s a little more sore, so we’ve got to do other testing to see where we’re at with him,” said Cora. In 34 innings, Hernandez has a 3.44 ERA with a 29.9 percent strikeout rate and 16.9 percent walk rate. Opponents are hitting just .200 against him … With Barnes on the COVID-19-related injured list, the Red Sox had an open roster spot to activate utilityman Marwin Gonzalez — sidelined since a July 11 hamstring injury — from the injured list. Gonzalez started at second base on Tuesday, going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts … Kiké Hernández, who injured his side diving for a ball on Sunday night in Tampa Bay, was out of the lineup. Jarren Duran thus got his first big league start in the leadoff spot. Hernández is expected back in the lineup on Wednesday … Righthander Ryan Brasier, who is working back from a concussion, could throw a live batting practice session in the coming days. Cora described himself as pleasantly surprised by the reliever’s progress.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 4, 2021 3:15:55 GMT -5
After another rocky start for Garrett Richards, it’s time for the Red Sox to turn to Tanner Houck By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 3, 2021, 11:59 p.m.
DETROIT — Tanner Houck pitched a simulated game at Comerica Park on Monday when the Red Sox had an off-day workout.
That’s enough wasted pitches against teammates. Houck should get a spot in the rotation at the expense of Garrett Richards.
The Sox can’t wait for Chris Sale to come off the injured list to make changes. Otherwise it’s fair to question how committed they are to chasing a championship.
Richards couldn’t get an out in the fifth inning on Tuesday in a 4-2 loss against the rebuilding Detroit Tigers. Related: ‘We don’t want this slide to continue,’ says Red Sox manager Alex Cora after his team’s season-high fifth straight loss
The Sox gave the righthander a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Seven of the next 16 Detroit batters reached base.
That’s five losses in a row for the Sox, their longest skid since they dropped five straight from Aug. 31 to Sept 4 last season.
The Sox weren’t playing for anything at that point. They are now.
Richards has a 7.36 earned run average in his last nine starts with opponents hitting .342. Once Major League Baseball cracked down sticky substances, Richards’s ERA has climbed 39 percent and he has averaged 4 1/3 innings. [/font][/b] “It’s frustrating,” Richards said. “This has been the worst year of my career. Just trying to find a way to give us a chance to win every night.”
Going to the bullpen wouldn’t be anything new for Richards. The Padres demoted him last season and he was primarily a reliever for the Angels in the first three seasons of his career.
Richards averaged 94.8 miles-per-hour with his four-seam fastball on Tuesday, so there’s a chance he could be useful in relief.
Does Richards feel he’s fighting for his spot in the rotation?
“Not at all,” he said. “That’s you guys, not me.”
Nor does Richards feel a new role would necessarily benefit him.
“I’m a starting pitcher. I have an ability to throw 100 pitches and keep my stuff the whole time,” he said. “So I feel like that in itself is enough to keep me in the rotation. Not many people can do it.”
Richards has thrown 100 pitches once in 21 starts this season. Prior to that it was June 8, 2018.
Unfortunately for the Sox, change may have to wait. They have a doubleheader in Toronto on Saturday with Houck starting one of those games.
With Sale starting for Triple A Worcester on Saturday, they will need Richards to start on Sunday. A bullpen game the day after a doubleheader would be tough to make work.
But for the first time, manager Alex Cora seems like he’s had enough.
“For us to keep going and keep grinding, we need our starters to go deeper. They know that,” he said when asked to assess Richards.
“There’s conversations on what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re talking about it.”
Richards (6-7) almost salvaged his start on Tuesday. After Miguel Cabrera homered leading off the second inning — No. 498 in his career — Richards took a 2-1 lead into the fourth.
Two hits and a single loaded the bases with no outs. Richards struck out Eric Haase, gave up a sacrifice fly to Harold Castro, then retired Willi Castro on a groundout.
But Richards walked No. 9 hitter Derek Hill on five pitches to open the fifth inning. Akil Baddoo followed with an RBI double, and Cora popped out of the dugout to make a change.
“That put us in a bad spot there,” Cora said.
Nothing sinks a team quicker than an unreliable rotation. Sox starters are 2-7 with a 6.33 ERA in 14 games since July 18.
Houck has made only four big-league starts this season and completed five innings once, back on April 3.
But he has been building up his durability since coming back from a muscle strain and is capable of giving the Sox 90 pitches.
At this point, Houck is a better option, and it sends a message to the rest of the team that the status quo isn’t acceptable.
The Sox are only a game out of first place, but the Yankees and Blue Jays are chasing them down.
Richards wasn’t alone in having a bad night. The Sox struck out 10 times and managed one extra-base hit on Tuesday. Chaim Bloom traded for Kyle Schwarber to boost the lineup.
But he didn’t acquire a starter. That change must come from within and Richards has run out of chances.
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