Pomeranz can’t deliver
Sox fall when A’s rock ’pen
OAKLAND, Calif. — Drew Pomeranz didn’t walk off the mound with an injury this time. He didn’t have to.
Making his first start since exiting with triceps tightness six days earlier, Pomeranz threw one typical of how he’s pitched this year — four innings, 97 pitches, two runs allowed, six strikeouts.
The Red Sox had to turn to the bullpen early and it ended disastrously in an 8-3 loss to the Oakland A’s.
Pomeranz was somewhat effective but horribly inefficient, a problem that the Sox could do without given their overworked bullpen. When John Farrell told Pomeranz he was done, the fidgety lefty was seen arguing faceto-face with his manager in the dugout, finally hitting the showers after Farrell finished pointing his finger in Pomeranz’ face.
Pomeranz exited in a tie game, but rookie Ben Taylor and frequently used minor league call-up Noe Ramirez were taken deep two times each, including one of the farthest home runs ever hit at the Coliseum.
“He didn’t want to come out of the game,” Farrell said of Pomeranz. “So that was a discussion we had. And it’s been settled.
“You have to find a way to get more efficient, bottom line. The game of pitching is trying to get a little deeper. He’s out there competing, trying to do that, and yet a lot of deep counts, a lot of high pitch counts. And when you’re looking at 25 pitches an inning, after an outing where there was some physical issues, felt like that was the end of the day today.”
As frustrated as Pomeranz appeared in the dugout, he admitted afterward that he didn’t have much of an argument.
“I like to stay in the game as long as I can,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not up to me. I threw a lot of pitches too, so it’s not like there’s much I can say.”
The Red Sox fell to 21-21, the first time they’ve had a .500 record since beginning the season 5-5, and will look to avoid a fourgame sweep today.
Pomeranz has done little to help matters. The Sox are 10-12 when he pitches since he was acquired from the San Diego Padres last year.
The thought this time was that a simple mechanical fix — Pomeranz was aiming for a shorter delivery similar to the one he used last year — would relieve some of the soreness and free up his arm for some easier velocity. That might have been the case, as he threw a pair of 93 mph pitches in the first inning, faster than his 91 mph average this season.
And while he was able to keep the A’s off-balance, he again had command issues, walking two and allowing five hits while working deep counts. He needed 51 pitches just to get through the second inning.
“I worked all week on switching my mechanics a bit, being a little shorter and I felt great out there,” he said. “Just a lot of foul balls.”
Perhaps the most frustrating part for the Red Sox is that they gave him an early 2-0 lead when Hanley Ramirez hit a solo homer and Chris Young doubled on a blooper, then scored on a groundout by Josh Rutledge in the second inning.
The A’s turned around and got both runs back in the bottom of the second, scoring their first on an infield chopper that went off the edge of Josh Phegley’s bat on a check-swing. The ball rolled closer to Pomeranz than catcher Christian Vazquez, but Pomeranz did not seem too excited to go after it and Vazquez called him off and made a wild throw that let Trevor Plouffe score all the way from second.