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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 13:20:43 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 1h Sox will bring Houck and Crawford back tomorrow. Houck will piggyback Hill.
Martinez is indeed out of the lineup. Pinch hitting is on table.
Alex Cora on giving Xander Bogaerts a day off:
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 13:23:32 GMT -5
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne · 1h J.D. Martinez felt that adductor injury again pulling into second last night. Alex Cora hopes he can start at some point this weekend. The team is going to stay conservative.
Chris Sale threw a 7-pitch bullpen session off the mound earlier this week. It was significant for him to throw off the mound. Progression is obviously conservative.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 14:28:54 GMT -5
Whitlock gives up a few hits leaves 2 on base and is thru the first @ 20 pitches looks good as always, IMO, I don't think he is a SP. Not a knock on him, but the clowns running this team
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 14:32:06 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 1m Hard to understand why more pitchers don't work at a better pace.
Whitlock gets the ball back, stays on the mound a step off the rubber and gets right back on ready to go.
Puts pressure on the hitter, drives the action. It works for him.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 15:02:01 GMT -5
The most pitches this year Whitlock has pitched is 48 now at 50 at the bottom of 3. Will be up to the gas can gang
Red Sox gotta piss or get off the pot with Whitlock. Starter or pen?
And Arroyo's error in this inning sucks.....
I will state that Monoah is gonna be a pain the ass for a long while. Kid is good.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 16:35:37 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 30m Ben Simmons was a possibility to play this season and you could watch CNN+ the last time the Red Sox homered.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 16:53:15 GMT -5
Sox lose 1-0 lifeless at bats all day onto get our asses handed to us from the Orioles
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 28, 2022 16:57:49 GMT -5
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 1: Alek Manoah proves to be too much
And momentum did not carry over from Wednesday. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Apr 28, 2022, 5:54pm EDT
The Red Sox finally got some momentum going with the bats on Wednesday, scoring seven runs in a win against the Blue Jays. They came back the next day facing one of the best up-and-coming pitchers in the game in Alek Manoah, and put Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez on the bench. Now, I don’t have strong feelings about this either way because on the one hand it feels counter-productive in the here and now, but on the other Alex Cora has had success with these planned off-days and sticking to them no matter what. But in the here and now, it hurt, as did having to face Manoah. The Blue Jays starter was awesome, while Garrett Whitlock was effective but inefficient. Boston’s bullpen did everything they could as well, but with a punchless offense for the Sox a single unearned run for Toronto was enough for a Blue Jays win.
More robust game notes below.
One of the biggest stories around the Red Sox right now is what is going to happen with their rotation moving forward. Garrett Whitlock has been a key weapon out of the bullpen since the start of last season, but after shining in his first career start last weekend there’s an argument for him to stick there. We’d have a better idea on that argument after Thursday, with the righty making his second career start in Toronto against the Blue Jays. It was kind of a weird outing for Whitlock, and not one we’re used to seeing from him. He wasn’t bad, working out of trouble and getting hurt some by his defense, but he was inefficient and inconsistent, while also still being kept on a short leash pitch count wise. All of that led to a solid, but short start.
You could kind of tell he was off a bit in the very first inning, as he had entered the game having allowed just one hit to a righty all year, but both Bo Bichette and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (each of whom is a righty) smacked hard-hit singles. But he worked out of the jam, ending the inning on a nasty slider out of the zone to get Matt Chapman swining.
The second went similarly with another one-out single from a righty followed by a walk, and then his defense hurt him. On a should-be double play, the toss to Christian Arroyo, who got the start at shortstop with Xander Bogaerts getting a scheduled day off, and he couldn’t make a quick turn, allowing Bradley Zimmer to just get in safely at first and continue the inning with runners on the corners. But again, Whitlock worked out of it, getting George Springer to pop out and stand the baserunners.
There was only one more inning in this game for the Red Sox starter, entering the third with 39 pitches and needing 22 to get out of this inning. He wouldn’t leave unscathed, either, though it was charged to the defense. That’s because on a one-out grounder from Gurriel, Arroyo unsuccessfully tried to pick it with the backhand, letting the batter reach on an error. After another walk, Whitlock did get a second out with a strikeout, but then he couldn’t put away Alejandro Kirk with an 0-2 count. Instead, the Blue Jays catcher gave Toronto their first run with an RBI single. So it was just the one unearned run from Whitlock, and he didn’t give up any extra-base hits, but the Red Sox would’ve liked to see some more efficiency in this start.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense had their hands full against Alek Manoah, who seems poised to break out this year and put himself on the map as one of the better arms in the American League. He sure looked the part in this game, keeping the Red Sox offense off-balance all afternoon. Alex Verdugo reached as the second batter of the game with a single, but Manoah went into cruise control after that. He’d retire the next two batters to get out of the inning, and turn that into a streak of 12 straight batters retired. It was broken up with an Arroyo single in the fifth, but again that was all Boston got. Manoah would issue his first walk in the sixth, too, but again ensured no Red Sox runner would advance beyond first base.
The good news is the Red Sox bullpen was able to keep the score at 1-0 thanks to a combined three scoreless innings from Austin Davis, John Schreiber, and Ryan Brasier. That turned into a big deal when Manoah came back out for the seventh and Boston got both their first extra-base hit as well as their first leadoff man to reach base when Enrique Hernández put a fly ball on the right field line for a leadoff double. The runner would move up to third on a swinging bunt from Jackie Bradley Jr., but Arroyo couldn’t get the runner home on a line drive right at shortstop Bo Bichette. That left things up to Bobby Dalbec, whose lazy pop up in foul ground ended up the last out of the inning with the Red Sox wasting the leadoff double.
Matt Barnes did his job in the bottom half of that inning to keep it a 1-0 game, and the Red Sox offense had six more outs to play with, though now against the Toronto bullpen instead of Manoah. And to start off the eighth, they called on Bogaerts to pinch hit for Travis Shaw. He didn’t make the contact he wanted, tapping out to the pitcher to start a 1-2-3 inning.
After a scoreless bottom half of the eighth from Hansel Robles, there was one more chance for the offense with the middle of the order coming around. They did get the tying run on base with Devers ripping a single back up through the middle. That was all they’d get in the inning, though, as a frustrating day came to an end with a 1-0 loss.
The Red Sox now head south to Baltimore looking to turn things around against the Orioles. They’ll have Rich Hill on the mound, while the O’s have yet to announce their pitching plans for the weekend. First pitch for the series opener on Friday is set for 7:05 PM ET.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 29, 2022 2:23:50 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox manage just 4 hits with one of their weakest lineups this season, lose 1-0 to Blue Jays Updated: Apr. 28, 2022, 6:20 p.m. | Published: Apr. 28, 2022, 5:53 p.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
The Boston Red Sox put out one of their weakest lineups of the season Thursday with both Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez resting.
Travis Shaw, who is 0-for-19 this season, was the DH.
The Red Sox couldn’t do anything against talented Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah who tossed 7 scoreless innings.
Boston stroked just four hits and lost 1-0 to the Blue Jays to drop its four-game series at Rogers Centre, 3-1.
The Sox will play a three-game series at Baltimore against the Orioles starting Friday.
Boston had Kiké Hernández (.197 batting average) as the cleanup hitter, Jackie Bradley Jr. (.161) batting fifth, Christian Arroyo (.194) batting sixth and Bobby Dalbec (.154) batting seventh. Enter your email address here to receive the Fenway Rundown email newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday.
Bogaerts — who went 4-for-4 Wednesday and is batting .392 — wasn’t in the lineup because of a routine day off. He pinch hit to begin the eighth. He grounded out to the pitcher.
Martinez was unavailable. He recently has dealt with left adductor tightness.
Hernández doubled to begin the seventh. He reached third with one out. But Arroyo lined out to shortstop and Dalbec popped out to first to end the inning.
The Jays recorded only five hits but they pushed across an unearned run in the third inning against starter Garrett Whitlock.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reached on an error by shortstop Christian Arroyo. He scored on Alejandro Kirk’s two-out single.
Whitlock went 3 innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out four.
Red Sox relievers Austin Davis, John Schreiber, Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes and Hansel Robles combined for 5 scoreless innings.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 29, 2022 2:34:33 GMT -5
Red Sox offense has zero life in shutout loss to wrap up series in Toronto By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated April 28, 2022, 5:52 p.m.
TORONTO — If the Red Sox weren’t an exciting team but had a good record, you could live with that.
An entertaining team with a poor record wouldn’t be ideal, but at least you’d have a reason to watch.
The third option — a boring team with a poor record — is what has come out of the first 20 games of the season and it’s painful.
In an afternoon nap of a game Thursday, the Blue Jays beat the Sox, 1-0.
With Xander Bogaerts limited to a pinch-hitting appearance and J.D. Martinez considered too sore to play, the Sox were held to four hits — three of them singles — by Alek Manoah and two relievers.
They had five-bats with runners in scoring position and failed to get the ball out of the infield each time.
The 8-12 Sox have lost seven of nine and are 2-5 on a road trip that continues Friday night in Baltimore. A trip to Camden Yards has been a sure cure for an ailing offense in recent years and the Sox have a lot of catching up to do.
They have scored two or fewer runs nine times and are tied for the third-fewest home runs in baseball with 11, the last one coming on April 22.
This is the first time since April 11-16, 2001 that the Sox have gone six consecutive games without hitting a home run. As a team, the Sox are hitting .229 with a .619 OPS.
Pitchers are better than ever and people around the game believe the ball has been deadened when compared with previous years.
But a Red Sox team that can’t hit taters? It’s unthinkable.
“We will hit homers. I think that’s going to be part of it,” manager Alex Cora said. “I think we’re doing a better job of swinging at pitches in the zone and not chasing at much. With that, I think the home runs will come.”
Rafael Devers, who hit the last Red Sox home run, is surprised to see this team experience such a power outage.
“We know we’re good hitters. Top to bottom we’re good hitters,” he said via an interpreter. “We’re ready to bounce back . . . We have guys hitting the ball really hard.”
Manoah had a lot to do with the futility Thursday. The 24-year-righthander, now 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA, primarily used a fastball/slider combination to hold the Sox down. He wasn’t afraid to challenge a lineup that had only two hitters with more than one homer.
Garrett Whitlock went three innings to take the loss. He allowed four hits and walked two with two strikeouts, never quite commanding his slider.
“You learn from these kind of outings,” Whitlock said. “You just try and go forward. When you don’t have your best stuff, you try and still pitch.”
Toronto’s run was unearned. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reached on an error by shortstop Christian Arroyo with one out in the third inning. After Raimel Tapia walked, Whitlock struck out Matt Chapman.
But Alejandro Kirk had an RBI single on an 0-and-2 slider.
The Sox had a legitimate threat in the seventh inning when unlikely cleanup hitter Kiké Hernández led off with a double down the line in right field.
Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded to first base, moving Hernández to third. With the infield in, Arroyo lined to shortstop. Bobby Dalbec then fouled out to first base.
Bogaerts pinch hit for Travis Shaw [0 for 19 this season] in the eighth and grounded out. Devers singled off Toronto closer Jordan Romano with one out in the ninth inning. But Hernández lined to left and Bradley struck out.
Count Devers among those who believes the ball has something to do with it. Whether it’s every ballpark now storing balls in a humidor or the actual composition of the ball, something is not the same.
“I believe so, but I can’t tell you for sure,” Devers said. “You start wondering if there is something different with the ball. When we played at Tampa, too, the ball wasn’t going as far as it should or it did in the past.”
But that is true for every team, not just the Red Sox.
“We have to figure it out,” Bradley said.
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Post by Kimmi on Apr 29, 2022 15:28:18 GMT -5
That's putting it mildly. Way to rip my heart out and stomp it to pieces, Red Sox. I don't want to compare my paid to anyone else's, but I thought Story's loss was far worse. I could easily see Diekman blowing the game, but Story tossing it away? What were the chances? Oh yeah, independently, that one probably was far worse. What makes this loss seem so bad is the fact that it happened so soon after the previous tough loss. How much heartbreak can we endure?
And just when you think the offense might come alive, they are back to being duds.
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