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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 1:59:23 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 3h Cora on fundamentals/baserunning: ‘It’s an area where we’ve been bad…It’s probably a different game’ if Sox don’t commit those mistakes. ‘As a group, we’re not doing a good job with that. Those are things you can control…At this stage, it’s tough to watch…It keeps happening’
Jon Couture @joncouture · 3h Managers get too much credit and too much blame, but how do you not look at what's happening with this team -- and what was happening to some degree even when things were rolling -- and put a ton of blame on the staff?
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:00:02 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 3h In theory the Sox should have their peak team tomorrow for the first time. Schwarber plays first, which slides JDM back to DH, which allows Kiké to move back to CF, which opens up 2B for Arroyo. Best lineup and defense. Sale starting. Whitlock rested. Gotta have it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:02:47 GMT -5
Winnable game implodes on Hansel Robles, Red Sox in 10th By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated August 25, 2021, 11:18 p.m.
The Red Sox still lack fundamentals. The attention to detail still eludes a team that is quickly approaching the last game of the season. Just days removed from an “embarrassing” (in manager Alex Cora’s words) nine-run loss to the lowly Texas Rangers, the Red Sox got another taste Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins, just one spot higher in the American League standings.
It looked as if Kyle Schwarber put a bandage over a slew of mental lapses when he tied things in the ninth via a two-run shot to straightaway center off Alex Colomé. Instead, soon came a kick to the stomach.
Josh Donaldson crushed a two-run homer off Tuesday’s closer Hansel Robles leading off the 10th inning, and Minnesota ultimately ended a four-game losing streak with a five-run frame and a 9-6 win.
Yet this game was lost well before that 10th.
You can go back to that ninth inning, when it appeared the Red Sox had it wrapped up. Alex Verdugo was at the plate with runners on the corners, sporting a 2 for 4 evening at the time. With the infield in, a ball in play could have ended it. But Verdugo struck out on three pitches, the second a cutter in the dirt.
“Yeah, it came down to one of the things we’ve been preaching from the get-go: Put the ball in play with a man at third and less than two outs. We didn’t do that,” Cora said.
A Hunter Renfroe pop out ended the inning.
You can go back to the fourth, when Verdugo plastered a deep drive off the Green Monster but didn’t hustle out of the box, thinking he had a homer. When it wasn’t, Verdugo turned on the burners in an attempt to reach second anyway, but was caught between and thrown out back at first to end the inning.
You can go back to the third, when Christian Vázquez forgot there were two outs with his team trailing, 2-0. Vázquez was on second when Schwarber laced a single to right. He should have scored, but wasn’t running on contact.
Xander Bogaerts’ fly out ended the frame with Vázquez on third.
“It’s an area we’ve been bad,” Cora said. “We forgot the outs, we didn’t run out of the box. It’s probably a different game early on. Obviously they don’t want to do that, but like I’ve been saying, sometimes we’re not doing enough, pushing-wise, because it keeps happening.
“Yeah, it’s on them. It’s on us. As a group, we’re not doing a good job with that. Those things you can control — know the outs, run out of the box. It’s one of those that we need to, at this stage, it’s tough to watch.
“We talk about it, but it keeps happening.” Related: Speier: The Red Sox have a late-inning bullpen problem -- how do they fix it?
Following lights-out performances against the Blue Jays and Orioles, Nick Pivetta has slid to the opposite side of the spectrum. Pivetta gave up four runs for the second straight outing, this time lasting just four innings.
His fastball, while just 0.3 miles per hour off his yearly average of 94.8, wasn’t the overpowering pitch it can tend to be when he’s on. His curveball didn’t have the same depth, nor the downward shape that can freeze hitters. Despite throwing 63 percent strikes, it took him 87 pitches to get his 12 outs.
“I battled my mechanics. It made me really inconsistent with my fastball,” he said.
Pivetta labored his way through the Twins lineup, with each frame writing its own script.
He allowed the first two runners on in each of the first two innings. In the second, Nick Gordon negotiated a walk to start the inning, then Pivetta hit Ryan Jeffers after having him down 0-2 in the count. After a force, Andrelton Simmons singled home Minnesota’s first run.
Two flyouts averted further damage and stranded two in scoring position, but the Twins added in the third when Miguel Sano launched a 495-foot solo shot off a hanging breaking ball, the blast soaring out of Fenway to the right of the light tower in left-center.
It was the fifth-longest homer of the Statcast era (since 2015) and the longest homer in the majors this season.
Jorge Polanco laced a two-run homer in the fourth that ultimately put a stamp on Pivetta’s night. Yet the mishaps and squanders continued, even while the Red Sox bullpen — led by 2⅔ perfect innings by deadline acquisition Austin Davis — shut out Minnesota until extras.
The Sox put the leadoff man on in the fifth, and the first two in the sixth, but couldn’t manufacture a run either time. And when they did score, it felt like they should’ve had more. They got a single run in the seventh on a Travis Shaw double and Vázquez RBI single, but with two on and one out, Schwarber flied out and Bogaerts watched a third-strike fastball.
Facing Colomé in the ninth, Kiké Hernández led off with his 30th double, and Schwarber put the next pitch into the center-field bleachers for his first Red Sox home run. When Bogaerts singled and Devers walked, a walkoff win seemed imminent.
It wasn’t, and both Donaldson and Jake Cave — who cracked a two-out, three run homer off Robles, acquired from Minnesota on July 30 — then made clear there would be no more chances. Even when the Sox got two in their half of the 10th, the latter on Hernández’s 17th home run. Related: Speier: The Red Sox have a late-inning bullpen problem -- how do they fix it?
Boston not only missed a shot to gain ground on the idle Yankees in the wild-card race, it slipped a season-worst 7½ games behind the East-leading Rays and three behind New York with just 34 to play. That despite getting the potential tying run to the plate in the seventh, then the potential go-ahead run in the eighth and the potential winning run in the ninth.
At least Thursday brings Chris Sale.
“The beauty of this is we get to come out and we get the opportunity to win the series,” Schwarber said. “I think that’s the focus, that we’ve got to put this behind us.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:05:27 GMT -5
The Red Sox have a late-inning bullpen problem -- how do they fix it? By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated August 25, 2021, 8:39 p.m.
Where do the Red Sox go from here with their late innings?
Matt Barnes has arrived at a period of profound struggle. On Tuesday night against the Twins, with a three-run advantage in the ninth, he retired none of the three hitters he faced – homer, walk, walk – before manager Alex Cora pulled him and turned to Hansel Robles to close out an 11-9 win.
The All-Star closer has allowed 10 runs on 11 hits and five walks in just 4 ⅓ innings in his last eight appearances. He has a 20.77 ERA in that time, with opponents teeing off for a .458/.552/.958 line, with much of the damage coming against a four-seam fastball that was dominant through July but has now become a vulnerability.
Pitching coach Dave Bush identified a number of factors that have contributed to Barnes’s dismal stretch: Mechanics that made his fastball leak to his arm-side rather than staying on a true plane through (and above) the strike zone; fatigue that has impacted his stuff; and diminished confidence.
“It’s just a tough stretch for him,” said Bush. “He’ll keep fighting through it, digging through it, and come out strong on the other end. It just takes a little while to get there sometimes. … He’s just got to come in, put his work in, and he’ll get back to being the guy he can be.”
Yet no one is taking such an outlook for granted. Barnes didn’t shy from the depth of his slump - “I don’t know if you’re going to find someone that’s more frustrated than me right now,” he said after Tuesday’s appearance - or from the reality that the Red Sox may turn elsewhere for the final three outs until he moves beyond his struggles.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cora avoided any declarations about the role in which Barnes will work in the near future. The righthander was unavailable following back-to-back days of work (a blown save on Monday against the Rangers and his near-meltdown on Tuesday).
“I don’t want to say, ‘He’s not the closer,’ ‘He is the closer,’ ‘He’s a setup guy,’” said Cora. “We’ve got to get him right. That’s the most important thing. There’s different ways of doing that. Lower-leverage situations, kind of like a big lead late in the game. I think that’s the goal now. … We’ve got to dig in first, get him right, and then we’ll make decisions [about his role].”
That suggestion comes with enough caveats to make clear that the Red Sox are thinking of turning in different directions at the end of the game – a possibility that always feels destabilizing mid-season.
For most teams, the ninth inning represents the cornerstone of a bullpen’s structure. Changes to the closer role often feel like a first domino that is all but certain to topple several others.
Yet bullpen quality is typically defined not by the closer but instead by the ability to maintain success while changing lines at different intervals of the season. Of the last 10 World Series winners, none featured the same closer for the final game of the season that it employed at the start of the year. The last four champions flipped their bullpen structures in the postseason, while every World Series winner from 2011-16 made an in-season closer change.
How World Series winners navigated their closer crises Red Sox closer Matt Barnes is mired in a tough stretch. How rare is it to see a closer falter as the playoffs close in? Here's a look at how the past 11 World Series winners started the season at closer and how they ended it. Year Team Year-opening closer Remained closer all regular season? Final out of WS 2020 Dodgers Kenley Jansen Yes Julio Urías 2019 Nationals Sean Doolittle Yes Daniel Hudson 2018 Red Sox Craig Kimbrel Yes Chris Sale 2017 Astros Ken Giles Yes Charlie Morton 2016 Cubs Héctor Rondón No Mike Montgomery 2015 Royals Greg Holland No Wade Davis 2014 Giants Sergio Romo No Madison Bumgarner 2013 Red Sox Joel Hanrahan No Koji Uehara 2012 Giants Santiago Casilla No Sergio Romo 2011 Cardinals Ryan Franklin No Jason Motte 2010 Giants Brian Wilson Yes Brian Wilson SOURCE: Compiled from Baseball-Reference.com by Alex Speier
Whether the Sox opt to give Barnes a chance to reset in lower-leverage situations or not, it’s particularly unsurprising to see the team confronting such a possibility this year. Barnes isn’t alone among elite relievers who have struggled this August. Liam Hendriks and Aroldis Chapman are among those who have seen their stuff and results wane while returning to a full schedule after the compressed 60-game campaign of 2020.
“They’re the dog days of August for a reason,” said Bush. “It’s tough for everybody. It’s a big jump. We’re at more than twice the number of games we played last year.”
If the Sox do elect to take at least a temporary break from Barnes as the closer, they have options. Cora described the performance of Robles on Tuesday night – when he featured a 97-99 mph fastball while sprinkling in some changeups and sliders – as “eye-opening.”
Robles has closing experience in recent years with both the Angels and the Twins (who traded him to the Red Sox in July). His performance has been inconsistent – as Robles demonstrated on Wednesday, when he followed Tuesday’s game-saving performance by giving up five runs on a pair of 10th-inning homers in a 9-6 Red Sox loss to Minnesota. But at his best, he’s had bursts in which he’s been effective in the late innings.
“He’s got a good arm. He’s got a good fastball,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, for whom Robles saved 10 games before being dealt to the Sox for minor league reliever Alex Scherff. “Finding those off-speed pitches, he threw a couple good ones [Tuesday] night. That’s what really makes the difference for him to have success.”
Cora and Bush identified other late-innings possibilities: Adam Ottavino has closed before while Garrett Whitlock has shown the stuff to pitch in any situation. The Sox may take a flexible approach to the end of games for the time being while waiting for Barnes to reassert himself.
“I don’t know there needs to be a structure to it. We don’t have to name anybody to certain roles,” said Bush. “It’s, ‘All right, here’s the pocket of guys we want you to get out – maybe it’s the seventh inning and maybe it’s the eighth.’” Related: Defense has made Bobby Dalbec double trouble for Red Sox
Is that ideal? Probably not. The Sox liked having a structured bullpen, which is why they made Barnes the closer in the first place. But while that worked brilliantly from April through July, the team now has to adjust to the realities of the season.
“I’d love to have a nice clean structure when everyone knows when they’ll pitch, but the game situation doesn’t always allow that and performance doesn’t always allow that,” said Bush. “I’d love to script it out, but if it was scripted, it wouldn’t be exciting.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:08:10 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Defense has made Bobby Dalbec double trouble for Red Sox By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated August 25, 2021, 8:46 p.m.
It’s been a year of adjustments for Bobby Dalbec.
His lack of production at the plate leaps to mind first. He singled in his only at-bat after entering Wednesday night’s loss to the Twins as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and is hitting just .229 with a .282 on-base percentage. Dalbec has struck out 125 times in just 348 plate appearances, drawing just 18 walks — eight more than he had last season in 92 plate appearances.
Yet it’s not just at the plate where Dalbec has endured his share of woes. It’s at first base, too.
“It’s been a struggle,” manager Alex Cora said. “He’s been inconsistent. The one thing that I always knew, even from his days in college, was that he was a good defensive player at third base, and I thought the transition was going to be a lot better than we have seen. We’ve been working hard with him.”
Dalbec has had to play first, a new position, with Rafael Devers established at third. The belief heading into the season was that the sure-handed Dalbec would be able to make the transition smoothly, but the different angles at first have played a part in his lackluster performance.
Dalbec’s reactions at first aren’t quick, and he struggles to make plays going to his left. In the 5-2 loss to the Yankees last Wednesday, for example, an Anthony Rizzo grounder toward the first base line popped out of Dalbec’s glove, resulting in two runs.
It was called a hit, but was a play a first baseman should make.
Though he’s hitting .295 in August with three homers and a 1.006 OPS, Dalbec hasn’t filled Boston’s need for a first baseman. They are now attempting to plug Travis Shaw there while Kyle Schwarber still gets accustomed to first, but it’s made the defense weaker, at times.
Schwarber has had to hit in the designated hitter’s spot when he’s not playing left in order to keep him off his feet. That means J.D. Martinez goes to left field, Alex Verdugo shifts to center, and Kiké Hernández to second base. While Verdugo is proficient enough in center, Hernández is their best option, and his move to the infield relegates Christian Arroyo, a plus glove, to a bench role.
All because the team has a gaping hole at first. Thus, the coaching staff continues to work with Dalbec.
“It’s one of those where we hope it gets better,” Cora said.
Cora said he hopes to get Schwarber at first base in Thursday’s series finale with the Twins. He has worked out at the position since being acquired at the deadline, but didn’t quite feel comfortable enough to play it in a real game yet.
“Kyle, he’s eager,” Cora said. “So most likely that’s the goal right now.” Will Venable happy to be back
Following his positive COVID-19 test on Aug. 7 during the team’s most recent series with the Blue Jays, bench coach Will Venable was forced to quarantine in Canada for 10 days. “The first couple days you’re kind of bouncing off the walls and are ready to bust out,” Venable, back with the team, said. “But for the most part, the organization did a great job of making me comfortable. I was out at a Four Seasons suite. I was able to get food there. There was a trainer there to make sure I had everything that I needed.” Venable, who is vaccinated, said he only had mild symptoms. He said he saw it as a time to catch up on some advanced work, but also some shows, including a binge watch of Netflix thriller ‘Lupin.’ “Considering what this virus is doing to people, 10 days in Toronto is nothing compared to people losing their lives,” he said . . . Ryan Brasier will pitch again Thursday, after having tossed one scoreless frame for Portland on Tuesday.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:11:02 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 3h Cora -- 'We've just got to keep going. They know it. The coaching staff knows it. Obviously, for me, it's hard to see a team that I manage be sloppy fundamentally.' #RedSox
Cora on his pitchers finishing at-bats -- 'We've got to bury guys. We have to. We talk about swings and misses and pitching to the edges.' #RedSox
Alex Cora -- 'It came down to one of the things we've been preaching since the get-go. Put the ball in play with men at third and less than two outs.' #RedSox
Cora on base running -- 'It's an area where we've been bad. We forgot the outs. We didn't run out of the box. Probably a different game early on.'
'Those things you can control.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:12:02 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 3h Nick Pivetta -- 'I just battled my mechanics. It made me really inconsistent with my fastball. And then I got banged by a two-run homer at the end of it.' #RedSox
Pivetta -- 'I think overall there was a lot of competitiveness out of our club. We're hungry for more. We just have to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.' #RedSox
Pivetta -- 'It's how we respond tomorrow that's going to show where we're going to go on this road trip.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:12:55 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 5h JD Martinez as a DH this season:
.297/.366/.562 in 92 games.
As an OF:
.240/.289/.380 in 26 games (counting tonight).
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:16:44 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 3h Schwarber's pop-up to Polanco in shallow left ends it. Red Sox lose, 9-6. They'd flirted with but escaped self-imposed disaster in the last couple of games. Tonight represented the fulfillment of the Sartrean exercise: Huis clos!
Cora on fundamentals/baserunning: ‘It’s an area where we’ve been bad…It’s probably a different game’ if Sox don’t commit those mistakes. ‘As a group, we’re not doing a good job with that. Those are things you can control…At this stage, it’s tough to watch…It keeps happening’
Schwarber: ‘That was definitely a really cool moment. Fenway was rocking. I was, in the moment, very excited. Kind of took it in rounding the bases…The result wasn’t the result that we wanted, but I can tell you this team wants to put W’s up there for this city.’
Schwarber says he’s ‘excited’ to play first and ‘ready for the challenge.’
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:29:34 GMT -5
Kyle Schwarber hits clutch home run, but Red Sox cave to Twins in extras Fundamental mistakes crush Sox in 9-4 loss
By Steve Hewitt | stephen.hewitt@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: August 25, 2021 at 11:36 p.m. | UPDATED: August 26, 2021 at 12:37 a.m.
For a moment on Wednesday night, the Red Sox seemed to once again find life out of a hopeless position. But the themes that have continued to haunt them were ultimately too much to overcome.
Kyle Schwarber picked the perfect time to hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox, crushing a game-tying two-run home run to center in the bottom of the ninth. But the clutch hit provided just a brief glimmer of hope for the Red Sox, who were unable to survive a third high-wire act in a row this week.
After being saved by two of their trade deadline acquisitions — Austin Davis, who fired 2 2/3 no-hit innings in relief to keep them alive, and Schwarber — it was their other July addition that ruined it all. A night after rescuing the Red Sox to a win, Hansel Robles gave up two home runs in the 10th — a two-run blast by Josh Donaldson and a three-run shot by Jake Cave — to seal a brutal 9-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins, who sank them from ecstasy to deflation in mere minutes.
“It’s a crazy game,” Schwarber said. “This game, you can be at your highest high and then the next thing you know, it can put you right back down. But the beauty of this is we get to come out tomorrow. We get the opportunity to win the series.”
If they don’t, they can look back to Wednesday and a series of massive missed opportunities and continued avoidable mistakes that cost them yet again.
Schwarber soaked in the moment of his first Fenway homer as he rounded the bases, but it shouldn’t have stopped there. The excitement soon dissipated as another chance slipped away from the Red Sox, who had runners on first and third with one out after Xander Bogaerts singled and Rafael Devers walked. But in what’s been a constant this season in that situation, they once again couldn’t come through.
With the winning run 90 feet away, Alex Verdugo had a brutal at-bat, striking out against Alex Colome on three pitches. Then, Hunter Renfroe chased the first pitch he saw and popped out, sending the game to extra innings.
“It came down to one of the things we’ve been preaching from the get-go, right?” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Put the ball in play with a man at third and less than two outs. We didn’t do that. Dugie has been swinging the bat well. Just, that situation, he chased two out of three pitches. He didn’t make contact.”
Wednesday night came down to fundamentals, and the Red Sox were sorely lacking as their brutal mistakes continued to pile up. Two awful baserunning gaffes sapped any momentum they were creating early, and they ultimately paid the price for them.
The first one came in the second inning with two outs. Christian Vazquez was at second when Schwarber lofted a single perfectly to right that landed in between two Twins defenders to beat the shift. It should have been an RBI single, but Vazquez evidently forgot how many outs there were, didn’t run on contact and only advanced to third on the play. He immediately realized his mistake, and apologized to Schwarber from across the diamond.
It cost them. Bogaerts followed with an inning-ending fly out. Instead of tying the game, the Red Sox came up empty and soon went down 2-0 when Nick Pivetta gave up his first home run of the night, a 495-foot shot to Miguel Sano, the longest homer in MLB this season.
In the third, another blunder crushed them. Verdugo smoked a ball off the top of the Green Monster but, possibly thinking it was a home run off the bat, didn’t hustle out of the box on what should have been a double. Instead, he ended up rounding first too far and was thrown out as he tried to retreat to the bag. Inning over.
Any chance of a momentum-shifting rally was gone. The next inning, Pivetta gave up a two-run homer that made it 4-0.
“It’s an area (where) we’ve been bad,” Cora said of fundamentals. “We forgot the outs, we didn’t run out of the box. It’s probably a different game early on. Obviously they don’t want to do that, but like I’ve been saying, sometimes we’re not doing enough, pushing-wise, because it keeps happening. Yeah, it’s on them. It’s on us. As a group, we’re not doing a good job with that. Those things you can control – know the outs, run out of the box. It’s one of those that we need to, at this stage, it’s tough to watch.
“We talk about it, but it keeps happening. As a staff, we’ve got to keep pushing, keep pushing. We can’t give up.”
The fundamental mistakes have just about reached a tipping point, but with 34 games left in the season, it’s become part of the Red Sox’ fabric this season. Cora has continued to preach it all year, but it still hasn’t gotten through.
“For me, it’s very frustrating to see a team that I manage just be sloppy fundamentally,” Cora said. “It’s hard. It’s hard. That’s my biggest battle, because I do believe the talent is here. But from my end, it’s all we’ve been talking about the whole time in spring training. We’ve been talking about it the whole season. But it keeps happening. We’ll keep working on it. The hope is to get better. Hope is, that’s not the right word. It should be better. But the hope is that it gets better.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:30:46 GMT -5
Red Sox Notebook: Alex Cora noncommittal on keeping Matt Barnes as closer Schwarber expected to debut at 1B Thursday
By Steve Hewitt | stephen.hewitt@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: August 25, 2021 at 7:43 p.m. | UPDATED: August 25, 2021 at 7:58 p.m.
With 35 games left in the season and in the middle of a playoff race, there exists some uncertainty on who the Red Sox’ closer is moving forward.
After back-to-back brutal ninth-inning performances, Matt Barnes’ role is unclear, just six weeks removed from his first career All-Star appearance. Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t commit to Barnes being the closer when asked on Wednesday.
“We’ll see how the games go, right?” Cora said. “We’ll use him accordingly. I don’t want to say, ‘He’s not the closer,’ ‘He is the closer,’ ‘He’s a setup guy.’ We’ve got to get him right. That’s the most important thing. There’s different ways of doing that. Lower-leverage situations, kind of like a big lead late in the game. I think that’s the goal now. We’ve got to figure out some stuff today as far as his mechanics or whatever we find today and then we go from there.”
Barnes wasn’t available for Wednesday night’s game against the Twins, allowing the veteran and the coaching staff some time to investigate his problems. His miserable August hit a tipping point this week after he gave up a game-tying two-run double in the ninth on Monday, then faced three batters and didn’t record an out on Tuesday. His ERA this month has jumped to 16.88.
“We have to keep searching, we have to keep working,” Cora said. “His stuff as far as the way the fastball has been playing and the breaking ball, numbers-wise it’s pretty similar to early in the season, but obviously the results are not there. This happens to a lot of people. A lot of closers. If you look around the league, it happened to (Liam) Hendriks … it’s happening to Craig (Kimbrel), the guys in New York, but at the end of the day we really don’t care about that. I’m not using that as an excuse, but at the same time, it happens. But we gotta correct it, we have to work with him and we have to get him in a better place.”
Cora mentioned a few names who are capable of closing if they go a different direction, including Garrett Whitlock and Hansel Robles, who rescued Barnes with clutch performances on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. He even included Garrett Richards, who has moved from the rotation to the bullpen, as an “intriguing” possibility.
Barnes said after Tuesday’s game that he’s open to whatever decision Cora and pitching coach Dave Bush make if they choose to put him in a different role.
“We’ll attack today and then make decisions after that,” Cora said.
Schwarber ready for 1B debut
After a long game in left field on Tuesday night, Kyle Schwarber was back at designated hitter on Wednesday. But the Red Sox are hopeful that Schwarber will make his first start at first base, a position he’s been learning since being acquired at the trade deadline, on Thursday.
“I’ve got to talk to Brad (Pearson) about it,” Cora said. “Kyle, he’s eager, so most likely, that’s the goal right now. … We’ll talk about it, see where we are physically, and make a decision. I would love for him to play first base (Thursday).”
The Red Sox have been looking for more at first base all season as Bobby Dalbec works through his rookie growing pains both offensively and defensively. Traditionally a third baseman, Dalbec moved to first a few years ago but the switch hasn’t been as smooth as the Red Sox hoped.
“It’s been a struggle,” Cora said of Dalbec. “He’s been inconsistent. One thing that I always, even from his days in college, he was a good defensive player at third base. I thought the transition was going to be a lot better than we have seen. The numbers are there. We’ve been working hard with him. Sometimes the angle, obviously, is different. You go from one side to the other, but he’s had plenty of repetitions. He’s been in that position for a while. He keeps working on it, but honestly, it’s something we’ve got to keep working on, we’ve got to try to get him better, because it’s been up and down throughout the season.” …
Ryan Brasier pitched one shutout inning and struck out one in a rehab outing with the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday night. Cora said he’ll likely pitch again Thursday, but there’s no timetable as of now for his return to the Red Sox. …
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:36:06 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox continue bad fundamental play with baserunning blunders, lack of situational hitting: ‘Those things, you can control’ Updated: 12:42 a.m. | Published: 12:33 a.m.
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON -- The Red Sox played bad fundamental baseball again Wednesday night against the Twins, and it isn’t sitting well with manager Alex Cora.
Though Minnesota’s five-run 10th inning against reliever Hansel Robles was the difference in Boston’s 9-6 defeat, a series of blunders earlier in the game proved costly. Two baserunning mistakes and the failure to push the winning run across from third base with less than two outs in the ninth inning left a sour taste in Cora’s mouth.
“For me, it’s very frustrating to see a team that I manage be sloppy fundamentally,” Cora said. “It’s hard. That’s my biggest battle because I do believe the talent is here. From my end, it’s like, ‘This is what we’ve been talking about the whole time, in spring training.’ We’ve been talking about it the whole season and it keeps happening.”
In the third inning, Christian Vázquez -- on second base with two outs -- failed to score on a Kyle Schwarber single because he appeared to forget the outs and did not run on contact. An inning later, Alex Verdugo admired a line drive he hit high off the Green Monster then took too big of a turn around first base, only to be picked off for the final out of the inning.
“Those things, you can control,” Cora said. “Know the outs. Run out of the box.”
After Schwarber tied the game with a two-run homer in the ninth, the Red Sox had the winning run on third with two outs and Verdugo at the plate. But he struck out on three pitches and Hunter Renfroe popped out to end the inning, sending the game to extras before Robles allowed homers to Josh Donaldson and Jake Cave that put it out of reach. In total, the Sox were 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
“It came down to one of the things we’ve been preaching from the get-go -- putting the ball in play with men at third and less than two outs,” Cora added. “We didn’t do that. (Verdugo) has been swinging the bat well. In that situation, he chased two out of three pitches and he didn’t make contact.”
On Saturday, after the Sox committed five errors in a blowout loss to the Rangers, Cora blasted his team, calling the effort “embarrassing.” Four nights later, his tone was less harsh -- but the frustration was still evident.
“It’s an area where we’ve been bad,” he said. “We forgot the outs. We didn’t run out of the box. It’s probably a different game early on. Obviously, they don’t want to do that. Like I’ve been saying, it feels like sometimes we’re not doing enough coaching-wise because it just keeps happening. Yeah, it’s on them and it’s on us. As a group, we’re not doing a job with that.”
Asked if benching players or other harsher tactics could lead to better fundamentals, Cora noted that the public is not always aware of when he takes harsher measures like sitting someone or talking to him behind the scenes. Still, the onus remains on both the players and coaching staff to do the little things better during the final stretch of the season.
“At this stage, it’s tough to watch,” Cora said. “It’s not acceptable... but it keeps happening. As a staff, we’ve got to keep pushing. We can’t give up.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:36:53 GMT -5
Kyle Schwarber hitting .379 with 1.100 OPS since joining Boston Red Sox, likely to make first base debut Thursday: ‘I’m ready for the challenge’ Updated: 3:13 a.m. | Published: 3:13 a.m.
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON -- For at least a few minutes at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, Kyle Schwarber was the hero. Even though the Twins tagged Hansel Robles for five runs and ended up winning, 9-6, Schwarber won’t soon forget what preceded Boston’s brutal 10th inning.
With the Red Sox trailing, 4-2, entering the ninth, Kiké Hernández hit a leadoff double off Twins closer Alex Colomé. Then Schwarber, who already had two hits in the game, stepped to the plate and tied things up on the first pitch he saw, depositing a Colomé cutter into the center-field seats.
For Schwarber, who was acquired from the Nationals on July 29, rounding the bases in front of 28,923 fans at Fenway Park was special.
“That was definitely a really cool moment,” Schwarber said. “Fenway was rocking. I was, in the moment, very excited. Kind of took it in, just rounding the bases, just looking at the fans and everything like that. This is a great place to be.”
Quietly, Schwarber has gotten off to an excellent start as a member of the Red Sox. Since debuting on Aug. 13 after a long stint on the injured list with a hamstring strain, the slugger has hit .379 (11-for-29) with a homer, three doubles, eight walks and a 1.100 OPS. He has reached base in all nine games with the Sox and has a 22-game on-base streak dating back to his time with Washington.
Schwarber’s impact on the Red Sox is about to get even greater, as he is expected to make his first start at first base in Thursday’s series finale. So far, because the Red Sox are taking Schwarber along slowly as he recovers from his injury, he has started seven games at designated hitter and two in left field. Thursday will mark his debut at a position he has had to learn on the fly since being acquired less than a month ago.
“I’m excited and ready for the challenge,” Schwarber said. “I feel like the work we’ve been putting in has been pretty good.”
Schwarber’s dramatic homer almost certainly won’t be his last this season. He hopes the next one
“Obviously, the result wasn’t the result that we wanted,” he said. “I can tell you that this team, they want to go out there and keep putting W’s up there for these fans, this city and keep going.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:39:25 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 4h Pregame they said Barnes and Whitlock were unavailable. Ottavino pitched the last 2 and 3 of 4 so guessing he was out too? It was Robles or Richards left.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 26, 2021 2:40:18 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · Aug 13 The Red Sox need a dominant 17 days starting tonight, no other way to slice it.
3 vs. Baltimore 3 @ New York 3 vs. Texas 3 vs. Minnesota 3 @ Cleveland
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 4h 6 and 5 with 4 games left. Ugly.
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