Sox master of none
Four double plays lead to shutout loss
The game was less than half over, but after four innings yesterday the Red Sox had let Seattle Mariners starter Christian Bergman off the hook enough times to know their season-high six-game winning streak was on the verge of ending.
The Sox grounded into four double plays, including Andrew Benintendi hitting into two, over those four frames and eventually were shut out, 5-0, on five hits by Bergman and three relievers at Fenway Park.
The Sox, who finished their homestand 5-1 and headed off for a road trip three games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East, lead the AL with 58 grounded-into double plays.
Manager John Farrell was frustrated by the results against Bergman (22), who had a 6.30 ERA before he threw seven innings of four-hit baseball. However, the high twin-killing total isn’t casting Farrell any sleep.
“It’s not a concern because what we do have, we’ve got the least number of strikeouts in baseball as a team (322),” Farrell said. “It’s a lineup that has a high number of guys that have good plate coverage and we are putting a good number of people on base. You look at the overall batting average (.270), you look at the on-base percentage (.344), it’s outstanding.
“But we’ve come up in some situations where whether it’s a sink down and in to a right-hander, or something offspeed to a left-hander, we’ve rolled into a high number (of double plays). Today that was clearly the case.”
If the double plays aren’t giving Farrell agita, the high hit totals against starter Rick Porcello (3-6) may cause the manager a little stress. Last season’s Cy Young Award winner allowed two runs on 11 hits in 61⁄ innings and has allowed 3 at least nine hits in his past four outings (1-2 with one no decision).
“I think it’s just a matter of that last, late movement that I normally have. On some pitches it’s there, some it’s not,” said Porcello, who received zero run support for the seventh time in his past nine starts. “So, just keep grinding, keep fighting away, and keep looking to make pitches.”
The Mariners scored the first run off Porcello on a wild pitch in the fourth inning, ending the Sox pitching staff’s shutout streak at 24 innings dating to Thursday.
In the seventh, Seattle had a runner on second and one out with Porcello up to 102 pitches thrown. Farrell had left-hander Robby Scott warmed up but opted to let Porcello pitch to lefthanded hitter Ben Gamel, who singled to set up first and third.
“(Porcello) had retired Gamel three consecutive times,” Farrell said. “Felt like that was a chance to give him that one hitter. If he gets Gamel out, likely we’re going to walk (Robinson) Cano for him to face (Nelson) Cruz. But it didn’t turn out that way.”
Scott entered and coaxed a flyout from Cano. But Cruz’s RBI infield single against Heath Hembree made it 2-0.
The Mariners scored three more times in the last two innings. The Sox nearly hit into a fifth double play in the ninth, but shortstop Jean Segura booted Xander Bogaerts’ tailor-made GIDP opportunity to continue a failed rally. With two men on, Benintendi popped out and Hanley Ramirez struck out to conclude the Sox’ fourth shutout loss of the season.
“We didn’t get much going,” said Dustin Pedroia, who was 2-for-4. “(Bergman) did a good job keeping the ball down and mixing it up. So it just wasn’t our day.”