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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 17, 2021 18:03:08 GMT -5
lets see game 2 Mike Kay and Yes feed or mlb tv and Costos welcome to muteville
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 17, 2021 22:46:01 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 2h #RedSox load the bases and cannot score.
2x13 with RISP today. 3 runs over 12 innings.
Eovaldi did his job.
Sox starters today: 9 IP, 4 ER and they're 3 outs away from being swept.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 17, 2021 22:46:28 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 2h #Yankees 2, #RedSox 0, final.
Yankees (67-52) sweep the DH from the Sox (69-53). Sox have lost 11 of 13 on the road.
Sox are 15-21 overall since July 6.
Nick Pivetta vs. Andrew Heaney at 7:05 tomorrow.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 17, 2021 22:47:11 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 2h For the first time since April 6, the Red Sox are not in first or second place in the division.
The Red Sox returned Tanner Houck to AAA.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 17, 2021 22:48:05 GMT -5
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 2h The Red Sox led the Yankees by ten games when they took the field in Oakland July 23. It is August 17 and the Sox have fallen into third place, percentage points behind the Yankees. A meteoric fall. Joe Morgan used to call this, ''dead-ass baseball.'
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 2:38:18 GMT -5
Red Sox optioned RHP Tanner Houck to Triple-A Worcester.
Houck has registered a strong 3.12 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 46/7 K/BB ratio in 34 2/3 innings (seven starts, two relief appearances) this season at the major league level, but the Red Sox continue to shuttle him back and forth. It's unclear when he'll get his next turn with Boston. Maybe as soon as this weekend against the Rangers?
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 2:40:45 GMT -5
'Pen woes linger in G1: 'Still have good stuff' Houck lifted after 4 innings as Red Sox bullpen squanders lead in twin-bill opener August 17th, 2021 Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
NEW YORK -- The Red Sox have their starting rotation back on track and the offense has been much better of late following a recent dip.
But what about the bullpen?
That continues to be a source of stress, and it looms as an issue that threatens to keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs if it doesn’t get fixed soon.
In a 5-3 loss to the Yankees in Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, manager Alex Cora again couldn’t find relief when he pulled his starter.
“We’ve got to attack guys and put them away. There’s too many deep counts,” said Cora. “We’ve been walking a lot of people. We’ve just got to be better in those situations.”
Starter Tanner Houck had thrown 58 pitches through four innings while giving up two runs. In a nine-inning game, Boston’s No. 6 prospect would have been a no-brainer to come back for the fifth.
But Cora, mindful of the seven-inning rule for doubleheaders, was aggressive. And the relievers he entrusted didn’t come through in a back-breaking fifth inning.
First, Cora went to Garrett Whitlock, his most consistent reliever this season. Whitlock struck out DJ LeMahieu before walking two straight batters and gave way to Josh Taylor, who has been nasty against lefties all season.
However, Taylor didn’t do his job against Joey Gallo, walking him to load the bases with one out.
The Yankees then got some good fortune, as Luke Voit blooped in a single over the head -- and just out of the reach -- of second baseman Kiké Hernández. Hunter Renfroe, making his third career start in center field, wasn’t close enough to make a play. The two-run single gave the Yankees the lead back after Boston had moved in front on a solo homer by Christian Vázquez in the top of the fifth.
“That was a tough fifth inning,” Cora said. “Tanner gave us four. Where we were bullpen-wise and matchup-wise, we felt Whit can go through the fifth, and then J.T. in the sixth against some of those lefties. But we ended up walking Gardner and Judge.
“It felt like J.T. was a good matchup against Gallo and Voit actually. We went to him, he walked Gallo and then the bloop single. At the end of the day, that’s what they do -- they control the strike zone, they don’t chase too many pitches. The walks today put us in a bad spot.”
In the last 12 games dating to Aug. 5, Boston’s bullpen has an 8.31 ERA, allowing 36 earned runs in 39 innings. Over that same stretch, the ‘pen has been hit to the tune of a .317 batting average and a .929 OPS while walking 26 and striking out 44.
How much of a regression is this?
In the 109 games that preceded Aug. 5, the bullpen had a 3.57 ERA while holding the opposition to a .238 batting average and a .708 OPS.
Other than Darwinzon Hernandez, who is on the injured list, every pitcher who contributed to that strong four-month stretch is still on the active roster.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been great, but we still have good stuff,” Cora said of the recent fade in the ‘pen. “We’ve got to make sure we get ahead of guys and put them away. That’s very important for us.”
With 41 games left in the season, mission No. 1 for the Red Sox will be to get the bullpen back in working order.
“We’re in August,” said Vázquez. “It’s a tough month for a bullpen, for everybody. It’s a lot of games in the bank for everybody and we need to keep grinding and keep grinding and keep playing baseball. This is a marathon. This is not a sprint. We need to keep going, keep pitching and get the team together and get back on track like a team.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 2:42:17 GMT -5
Sox drop G2 to rivals, cede WC: 'Frustrating' 2:52 AM ADT Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
NEW YORK -- On July 5, the Red Sox could barely see the Yankees in their rear-view mirror, leading their forever rivals by 10 1/2 games at that time.
After being swept by New York in Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader -- capped by a 2-0 loss in the nightcap -- Boston (69-53) now stares up at its rivals (68-52), if only by percentage points. New York and Oakland have the same record, each in possession of an American League Wild Card spot.
It has been a near unfathomable turn of events, with the Yankees going 26-11 over the past six weeks at the same time the reeling Red Sox have played at a 15-21 clip.
The teams are not only tangling with each other after this drastic swing in momentum, but they are both also trying to catch the Rays (73-47) for first place in the AL East.
It should be a fascinating final 40 games for the Red Sox, who will try to get back to the winning brand of baseball they played for the first few months of the season.
“We’re playing meaningful games, but we have to be better,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “That’s the bottom line. It’s frustrating that we are not playing the way we’re capable of, and it’s been going for a while in the sense that the offense is not where we want to be. But pitching-wise, we’re in a great place.”
Making the sweep more frustrating is that the Sox have continued to waste strong efforts by the starting rotation. Starters Tanner Houck (four innings) and Nathan Eovaldi (five) each allowed two runs, and that proved to be too many in the two seven-inning games.
While the 5-3 loss in Game 1 was marked by continued struggles in the bullpen, the Sox paid for their inability to cash in at the plate in Game 2 against fireballing prospect Luis Gil and the Yankees’ bullpen.
“Things just aren’t going our way at the moment,” said Sox All-Star slugger Rafael Devers. “We’re still being aggressive out there, still doing everything we have to do to get ready for these games and try to win them, but things aren't falling our way at the moment. At the beginning of the season, at the All-Star break, things were going our way. But now we have to try to find a different way to get those wins. We’ll continue to do that and try to get better.”
In particular, the Sox need to be better on the road. They’ve lost six of their past seven series away from Fenway, including the past four in succession.
Cashing in on scoring opportunities will be the quickest fix to their recent troubles.
In the Game 2 loss, the Sox went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.
After J.D. Martinez opened the second with a single and Kyle Schwarber walked, it was first and second with nobody out. Gil struck out the next three.
In the fifth, with runners at the corners and one out, Alex Verdugo hit a flyout to left that was too shallow for Jarren Duran to test Joey Gallo’s cannon arm. Still, Xander Bogaerts walked and that loaded the bases for the ever-dangerous Devers.
Lefty Wandy Peralta came on for Gil, and Devers -- tied for the MLB lead in RBIs with 89 -- grounded out on a 2-2 pitch.
“I was just looking for my pitch at the moment,” Devers said. “There was a ball [on the first pitch] that was pretty borderline, but that's just the game and how things go at times. I still go out there and try to be aggressive and try to come through. At that moment, I wasn't able to.”
That moment felt pivotal. And it turned out that it was.
“I'll take my chances with Raffy Devers with the bases loaded all the time. There's a good chance he's going to put a quality at-bat and hit the ball hard. It just happened that it didn't happen today,” said Cora.
There would be one more opportunity for the visitors when pinch-hitter Hunter Renfroe belted a single to left-center to put two on with two outs in the sixth. Bobby Dalbec stung a grounder that Peralta knocked down and then recovered in time to make a nice play to end the threat.
The missed opportunities in Game 2 felt even more painful when you consider that the Sox couldn’t score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh inning of Game 1.
All in all, it was a frustrating day for the Sox, who will try to salvage the finale of this three-game series on Wednesday night.
“It was a tough day overall,” said Cora. “I mean, obviously, to come here and lose both games, yeah, we were in it, but we didn't do much offensively today. We put some good at-bats, but most of them were empty at-bats, and that's why we lost the game.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:04:28 GMT -5
Red Sox at a loss, sinking in AL East after being swept by Yankees in frustrating doubleheader By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 17, 2021, 11:49 p.m.
NEW YORK — In the city of skyscrapers, the Red Sox suddenly find themselves looking up.
The Red Sox got swept by the Yankees in a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, dropping the evening affair by a 2-0 count after losing 5-3 in the first contest. With the two losses, the Sox dropped to 69-53 — a .566 winning percentage that is just behind that of the Yankees (68-52, .567) for both second in the American League East and the second wild card spot in the AL.
The Sox are 6-13 since July 29. Against teams with winning records, they’re 2-11 in that span.
“We’ve got to play better. That’s the bottom line,” manager Alex Cora said. “It’s frustrating that we are not playing the way we’re capable of, and it’s been going for a while.”
Both games were winnable. In the first contest, the Sox overcame an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead, the product of a two-out, two-run single by Xander Bogaerts in the top of the third inning and a solo homer by Christian Vázquez in the top of the fifth against Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery. It was the fifth homer of the year for the Sox catcher, and the first since June 27 — ending a drought that had reached 127 plate appearances.
With the lead, Cora removed Game 1 starter Tanner Houck after just four innings and 58 pitches in which the 25-year-old had allowed two runs on five hits (all singles) and no walks while striking out two. The manager sought nine outs from Garrett Whitlock, Josh Taylor, and Matt Barnes. That vision quickly fell apart.
Whitlock (4-2) walked two of the three batters he faced, prompting Cora to turn mid-inning to Taylor for a left-on-left matchup against Joey Gallo. He struggles against sliders but doesn’t chase them, as Taylor saw when he missed the zone with four of his six breaking balls to walk the bases loaded.
Luke Voit followed by flaring a two-run single to shallow center, just over the glove of diving second baseman Kiké Hernández, for a 4-3 Yankees lead. Giancarlo Stanton’s ringing single to center plated an insurance run.
The six-batter implosion by Whitlock (charged with the loss) and Taylor (blown save) added to a run of late-inning meltdowns by the Sox. In their last nine games against AL East varsity teams – the Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays – the bullpen is 0-4 with three blown saves and 34 runs allowed in 25⅓ innings (12.08 ERA). They’ve walked nearly as many batters (23) as they’ve struck out (28) in those contests.
“We’re in August. It’s a tough month for everybody — for a bullpen, for everybody,” Vázquez said. “This is a marathon. This is not a sprint. We need to keep going, keep pitching and get the team together and get back on track like a team.”
The Sox lineup threatened to do just that in the seventh and final inning against Yankees righthander Jonathan Loaisiga. Kyle Schwarber, Vázquez, and Alex Verdugo opened the inning with three straight singles to load the bases. But Travis Shaw — in his first appearance with the Sox since 2016 — lined out on a 101 mph sinker, and Hernández and Hunter Renfroe struck out to end the game.
That game-ending sputter proved a harbinger of the second contest. Nate Eovaldi (10-8) pitched well enough to win, allowing only two solo homers — an opposite-field shot by Voit in the second inning and a 441-foot rocket by Stanton in the fourth — over five innings while striking out six and walking one.
“I felt like I was able to keep us within the ballgame, within reach,” Eovaldi said.
But the Sox offense could never grasp the opportunity Eovaldi tried to provide. The team went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position against a trio of Yankees pitchers — rookie righthander Luis Gil (4⅔ innings), lefty Wandy Peralta (1⅓ scoreless frames), and closer Chad Green (scoreless seventh).
Rafael Devers continued his recent struggles in run-scoring opportunities. He went 0 for 3 and stranded five runners in the second game, including a bases-loaded groundout into a fielder’s choice with two outs in the fifth against Peralta that spoiled the team’s biggest threat of the night game.
“I’ll take my chances with Raffy Devers with the bases loaded all the time,” Cora said.
That outlook is understandable given that Devers leads the big leagues in RBI. But during a 15-20 Red Sox slide dating to July 6, Devers is hitting .175/.273/.425 with runners in scoring position.
“I still go out there and try to be aggressive and try to come through. At that moment I wasn’t able to,” Devers said. “But I’ll just turn the page and when my name is called and I have that opportunity next time I’ll be able to come through.”
Both Cora and Eovaldi identified a silver lining in the form of a remade rotation that has a 2.64 ERA in the team’s last 11 contests. Yet for the Red Sox, that promise is tempered by the reality of their sinking place in the standings and a team that has struggled to align its different components.
Success in one area has often been undone by shortcomings in another. On Tuesday, that played out with one game lost by a bullpen that blew a lead and another by an offense that could never claim one, a pair of contests that left the team with an increasingly familiar feeling of emptiness at the conclusion of a long day in the Bronx.
“Obviously there [are] no moral victories. You come here, try to win games, and it didn’t happen,” Cora said. “We’re not happy that we lost two games, but the deflating part of it, the frustrating part of it, if people feel that way in the clubhouse, they need to turn the page and be ready to play [Wednesday]. From my end, you stay the course.”
But which course? The one that guided the team to the best record in the division now seems remote, with the Red Sox flailing in their efforts to rediscover it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:06:51 GMT -5
This time, playing it safe with Tanner Houck quickly put Alex Cora, Red Sox in deep trouble By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 17, 2021, 6:49 p.m.
NEW YORK — Once the Red Sox took the lead, there was no chance Tanner Houck was taking the mound for the fifth inning against the Yankees in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Never mind that he had thrown only 58 pitches.
The top of the order was coming up a third time for New York and that’s a flashing red light for all managers, not just Alex Cora.
American League starters have averaged only 5.08 innings this season. Managers are told to avoid risk and play the percentages.
Cora is fond of saying you can’t follow a script in baseball. But that’s exactly what managers do. They almost always take the safe route.
Hate that all you want — I certainly do — but that is how the game is played and it’s why the Sox lost, 5-3.
In this case, the numbers backed up Cora’s decision. Houck had started six games before Tuesday and faced eight hitters for a third time. Five of them had hits, two for extra bases.
Cora let Houck see the Tampa Bay Rays a third time through last week. In a 1-1 game, he allowed a single, a two-run homer by Wander Franco and a double by Nelson Cruz, who later came around to score in a game the Sox lost, 8-1. Tanner Houck slings it in the first inning of the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader. Houck allowed five hits and two runs in four innings of work.
That Tuesday’s doubleheader opener was a seven-inning game and the Sox had the day off Monday only made it easier to go to the bullpen.
Never mind that DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge were 0 for 6 against Houck in the game and 0 for 16 in their careers, the game was set for the bullpen.
But this time the safe move was a disaster.
Garrett Whitlock looked like a nervous rookie for the first time this season. He struck out LeMahieu before walking Gardner and Judge on 11 combined pitches.
Both came around to score against Josh Taylor and the Yankees went on to the victory.
Whitlock had pitched 8⅓ scoreless innings against the Yankees this season, striking out 10 with one walk. His sudden loss of control was a surprise.
“Where we were bullpen-wise and matchup-wise, we felt like Whit could go through the fifth,” Cora said. “We felt that was a good lane for him: LeMahieu, Gardner, Judge.”
Instead Taylor walked Joey Gallo and the Sox got what they deserved when Luke Voit dumped a two-run single into center. You can’t walk three in a row in a one-run game on the road and expect to catch a break.
Given how poorly the bullpen has pitched over the last three weeks, another inning of Houck followed by Whitlock and Matt Barnes for the final two innings could have worked.
Once the Yankees took the lead, Aaron Boone showed uncommon trust in Jonathan Loaisiga. After the righthander retired the side in order in the sixth, he loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh.
Boone stayed with Loaisiga and was rewarded. Travis Shaw lined out to left field in his return to the Sox, then Kiké Hernández and Hunter Renfroe struck out.
Boone put his faith in Loaisiga’s 99-mile-per-hour sinker and it paid off.
Houck, who was returned to Triple A Worcester after the second game, offered no complaints about getting the hook with a lead. He said he was happy with the in-game adjustments he made that allowed him to recover after allowing two runs in the second inning.
In the environment he’s in, he did his job.
In time, perhaps Houck will merit the fifth inning if not — gasp! — the sixth or seventh.
For now, here’s to Eduardo Rodriguez. He was dicing up the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday and had thrown only 83 pitches. He was annoyed when Cora didn’t let him go back out for the seventh inning.
Their discussion in the dugout became a little heated and that was great. A starting pitcher should want to stay in the game and not care about what the script says.
It was good to know that some starters still care about going deep into the game.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:09:58 GMT -5
Right now, the Red Sox are simply a bad team By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 17, 2021, 11:48 p.m.
NEW YORK — The Red Sox aren’t in a slump. They haven’t stumbled. This isn’t a dip or whatever other euphemism you want to put on what has happened over the last three weeks.
They are simply a bad team right now, a team that has dropped into third place and out of a playoff spot after being swept by the Yankees in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
These Sox find ways to lose. For a while it was their rotation, then it was the bullpen. On Tuesday it was a lineup that managed only three runs over two games, none in the final nine innings.
The Sox managed only 12 hits — 11 of them singles — and were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
“It was a tough day overall,” manager Alex Cora said.
They should be used to it by now. The Sox were 63-40 after beating the Toronto Blue Jays in the second game of a doubleheader on July 28. They had the second-best record in the American League and a 1½-game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays in the division.
The Sox are 6-13 since with three of those victories coming against the tanking Baltimore Orioles. The Sox are 2-11 against the Rays, Yankees, and Blue Jays in that stretch, getting outscored by 30 runs.
They now trail the Rays by five games.
As the Sox plummet, the Yankees rise. They have overcome injuries and what seems like a rolling COVID outbreak to win 17 of their last 22 games. They picked up 8½ games on the Sox in 20 days with Gerrit Cole only starting twice.
Joey Gallo, who was acquired at the trade deadline, walked and scored a run to help spark a three-run fifth inning in Game 1 as the Yankees came back to win, 5-3.
In Game 2, the Sox kept supposed speed demon Jarren Duran anchored at third base in the fifth inning rather than test Gallo’s arm from left field. The Sox never scored in a game the Yankees won, 2-0.
Now the Yankees hope to activate their other big pickup, Anthony Rizzo, from the COVID injured list on Wednesday.
Kyle Schwarber has reached base seven times in 16 plate appearances for the Sox since he was acquired at the trade deadline. But that hasn’t been enough.
Even when the Sox do the right thing, it backfires.
They had a 3-2 lead in the first game when Cora decided Tanner Houck was finished after four innings because the top of the Yankees order coming up for a third time.
DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner, and Aaron Judge were 0 for 6 against Houck in the game and 0 for 16 in their careers. But Houck has been hit hard the third time through this season and the Sox had Garrett Whitlock ready.
It was the scenario Cora hoped for before the game.
In what was terrible timing, Whitlock looked like a nervous rookie for the first time this season. He struck out LeMahieu, then walked Gardner and Judge on 11 pitches.
Both came around to score against Josh Taylor and the Yankees went on to the victory. Houck was then sent back to Triple A Worcester after the second game.
Whitlock had pitched 8⅓ scoreless innings against the Yankees this season, striking out 10 with one walk. His sudden loss of control was a surprise.
But then so is everything else that has happened lately. The Sox haven’t had all facets of the game going well at the same time or weeks.
“It’s just trying to piece everything together at the right time,” said Nate Eovaldi, who allowed two runs in the second game and took the loss.
The Sox could be saved by their schedule. They finish their brief road trip here on Wednesday then return to Fenway Park for a six-game homestand against the Rangers and Twins.
Maybe that will get them going. They also end the season with nine of their 14 games against the Orioles and Nationals.
Of course they also could play better, too. But they’ve been a bad team for a while now.
“It’s a fun summer and we’re playing meaningful games,” said Cora, who must have got that cheery line from the marketing department. “But we have to be better … we’ve got to play better. That’s the bottom line.
“It’s frustrating we are not playing the way we’re capable of. It’s been going for a while in a sense the offense is not where we want to be.”
Said Rafael Devers: “We have to find a different way.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:12:17 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Red Sox returnee Travis Shaw says he is excited about getting ‘second life’ here By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 17, 2021, 7:47 p.m.
NEW YORK — It didn’t take long for the Red Sox to show how Travis Shaw might fit into the roster in his second run with the organization that drafted him a decade ago.
While Shaw was not in the lineup in Game 1 of Tuesday’s doubleheader — a contest started by Yankees lefthander Jordan Montgomery — he came off the bench with the bases loaded and no outs for the seventh and final inning with the Red Sox trailing, 5-3. Shaw refused to chase a pair of pitches just off the plate while negotiating a full-count against Jonathan Loaisiga before lining out to left field on a 101 m.p.h. sinker.
“A great at-bat,” said manager Alex Cora following the loss.
The Sox claimed Shaw off waivers from the Brewers on Sunday with precisely those kinds of situations in mind. The 31-year-old is a more experienced and disciplined hitter than Franchy Cordero, the reserve he replaced on the roster. The Sox feel more comfortable using Shaw than Cordero as a pinch-hitting option late in games, and the team also plans to give him some starts at first base.
“It makes us a more complete unit and it gives us as a staff the option to pinch hit for certain righties, just to be creative and put the opposition to think a little bit,” Cora said. “That’s the reason he’s with us.”
For Shaw, being claimed by the Sox gave him what he described as a “second life” in the 2021 campaign. The veteran, who played for the Sox from 2015-16 before an ill-fated trade that sent him to the Brewers as part of a four-player package for reliever Tyler Thornburg, hit .191/.279/.337 in 56 big league games for Milwaukee this year before landing on the injured list (shoulder).
He hit well during the recent rehab assignment in Triple-A Nashville, posting a .273/.415/.485 line with two homers in 11 games. But the Brewers had dealt for Eduardo Escobar at the trade deadline, so Shaw did not have a place on the roster, leading to his designation for assignment and the Sox’ claim of the veteran.
Shaw is certainly familiar with Boston, though he acknowledged he’s returning to a Red Sox roster that is very different from the one he was on almost five years ago. Matt Barnes, Xander Bogaerts, and Christian Vázquez are the only current teammates with whom he played before being dealt to Milwaukee.
“There’s not many guys left from when I was here in in 2016, which doesn’t seem like it’s been that long ago,” Shaw said.
Despite the turnover, however, Shaw appreciated the chance to come back and contribute to a team eyeing October.
“I’m super excited to be here and hopefully can contribute some good things down the stretch here,” Shaw said. “For me, it’s another opportunity to get to the postseason. It’s second life for me this year. The Brewers DFA’d me, and just thankful for the chance to play again and show that I’m healthy. Just going to try to contribute in any role that I can here down the stretch. Hopefully we make it into October and make a little bit of a run.” Houck keeps rolling
Righthander Tanner Houck offered four solid innings in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, allowing two runs on five hits (all singles) while striking out two. He didn’t walk a batter. He received a no-decision and concluded the afternoon with a 3.12 ERA.
While the Sox have optioned Houck to Triple-A Worcester five times this year, the team now plans to keep him in the rotation moving forward. Houck said he had no complaints about his year on the Worcester-to-Boston shuttle.
“I’ve said it since Day 1, I don’t want to take anything away from this team. I only want to give,” Houck said. “Every time I get my number called, I plan on stepping up and rising to the occasion, no matter what the circumstances are. I could get frustrated with it, but that’s not going to help anyone.” Taylor back, end for Andriese
The Red Sox reinstated lefthander Josh Taylor from the COVID-related injured list. He missed Sunday’s game while under the weather but tested negative for COVID-19 and was cleared to play before Game 1 Tuesday.
To clear a 40-man roster spot for Taylor, the Red Sox designated righthander Matt Andriese for assignment. Andriese, who signed a one-year, $2.1 million deal with the Sox over the winter, was a key bullpen contributor in April, forging a 1.42 ERA as a long reliever and setup man.
But in 17 games from May through mid-July, he had an 8.39 ERA with seven homers allowed in 24⅔ innings before landing on the injured list (hamstring). Arroyo starts rehab
Infielder Christian Arroyo, out since July 19 with a hamstring strain, joined Worcester on a rehab assignment. He served as the designated hitter in the second game of a doubleheader, after the WooSox and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders completed a game that had been suspended in a 0-0 tie after five innings last month. Arroyo went 0 for 2 and was hit by a pitch in three plate appearances as the designated hitter . . . Yairo Muñoz went 0 for 4 in the scheduled game in Worcester and had his 35-game hitting streak, the longest in Red Sox organizational history, snapped . . . Utility man Danny Santana (left groin strain) is nearing a rehab assignment with the WooSox. He may return to game action as soon as Thursday . . . Reliever Ryan Brasier will pitch on back-to-back days for the WooSox on Wednesday and Thursday . . . Even with the additional of Shaw, the Sox are still having Kyle Schwarber work at first base in an effort to see if he can handle the position. Schwarber, who served as the DH in both ends of Tuesday’s doubleheader, is expected to play some outfield this weekend . . . Yankees starter Corey Kluber made a rehab appearance for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against the WooSox, allowing three runs in three innings. Red Sox prospect Jeter Downs hit a two-run homer against the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:17:12 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6h The Red Sox are 2-11 in their last 13 games against teams that are .500 or better.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:19:25 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6h Cora: ‘It was a tough day overall. … We didn’t do much offensively today.’
Cora on Yankees: ‘They have a good team. I’ve said it throughout.’
Cora: ‘we feel like pitching-wise we are where we want to be…If we keep pitching the way we’ve been pitching, we’re going to be fine.’
Cora: ‘It’s not deflating…It’s two losses…. from my end, you stay the course. … Offensively, we’re a lot better than we showed today.’
Cora: ‘We’ve got to play better. That’s the bottom line. It’s frustrating that we’re not playing the way we’re capable of.’
Cora said he was entirely on board with holding Duran at 3B in the flyball to Gallo, calling Gallo one of the best OFs in baseball. He was just happy Kiké Hernández advanced to second on the play.
Eovaldi: ‘To get beat on two solo home runs is pretty frustrating.’
Eovaldi: ‘There’s still plenty of time for us to get back to where we want to be.’
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 18, 2021 3:22:25 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox now trail Yankees in standings after squandering 9 ½ game lead in 22 days: ‘Things just aren’t going our way’ Updated Aug 17, 2021; Posted Aug 17, 2021
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
NEW YORK -- On July 26 -- just 22 days ago -- the first-place Red Sox had a 9 ½ game on the third-place Yankees. By Tuesday night, it had disappeared entirely.
By sweeping the Red Sox in a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, the Yankees (17-5 since July 27) actually passed the Red Sox (7-14 since that date), even if only by a few percentage points. While New York (68-52) and Boston (69-53) are both five games behind the first-place Rays, the Yankees (.567) actually have a better winning percentage than the Sox (.566).
The role reversal happened stunningly quick. The Yankees, who have underperformed all season, have turned things around in a positive way. The Red Sox have come crashing back down to earth.
“Before the season, everybody thought (the Yankees) were going to be in this situation,” said Sox manager Alex Cora. “They’ve done an outstanding job to gain ground but we still have a lot of baseball to play.
“That’s a different team than early in the season,” Cora added. “They’re more agile, more versatile, more athletic. One thing they’ve done throughout the season is that they can pitch. They have done it throughout.”
On Tuesday, the bullpen imploded in the fifth inning to cause a Game 1 loss and the offense sputtered despite many scoring chances in Game 2. Both Red Sox starters, Tanner Houck and Nathan Eovaldi, pitched well, but Boston was unable to piece it all together in either seven-inning affair.
“It was a tough day overall,” Cora said. “Obviously, to come here and lose both games -- yeah, we were in it -- but we didn’t do much offensively.
“We feel like, pitching-wise, we are where we wanted to be,” he added. “Every five days, it’s a solid start and the bullpen is as complete as it has been the whole season. On the pitching side of it, we feel very comfortable. If we keep pitching the way we’re pitching, we’re going to be fine.”
After sweeping the lowly Orioles over the weekend, the Red Sox arrived in the Bronx feeling as good as they had in some time. The club had lost four straight series (to the Rays, twice, the Tigers and the Blue Jays) but bludgeoned the O’s over three days, outscoring Baltimore, 30-5.
Any momentum from that showing was lost by the end of the 14 innings Boston played Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
“Obviously, there’s no moral victories,” said Cora. “You come here to try to win games and it didn’t happen. We’re not happy that we lost two games but the deflating part of it or the frustrating part of it, if people feel that way in the clubhouse, they need to turn the page and be ready to play tomorrow. From my end, you stay the course.”
With 41 games remaining, the clock is ticking for the Red Sox. They still have plenty of opportunities, though, as four games against the Yankees and seven against the Rays remain.
“There’s some valuable games in there we can’t slip by and we did,” Eovaldi said. “That’s kind of what happens now. They’ve been playing really good baseball. We’ve got some meaningful games coming up, of course... there’s still plenty of time to get back to where we know we can be.
Rafael Devers, who was 0-for-3 in the nightcap, offered a frank assessment of where things stand for his team.
“Things just aren’t going our way at the moment,” he said.
Cora had a more positive outlook.
“We’ve got to play better,” Cora said. “That’s the bottom line. It’s frustrating that we are not playing the way we’re capable of. It has been going for a while in the sense that the offense is not where we want to be. But I think, pitching-wise, we’re in a great place.”
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