Pomeranz looks good
Lefty tosses seven strong as Sox roll on
CHICAGO — A little bit of stability is going a long way for the back-end of the Red Sox rotation.
And Drew Pomeranz is finally giving them what they traded for.
Pomeranz threw 108 pitches last night, the most he’s thrown in 23 starts since joining the club last July, and completed seven innings for just the second time in a Red Sox uniform to lead them to a 4-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“It was kind of a continuation of the last one, to be honest,” Pomeranz said. “I felt pretty good with four pitches out there.”
The Red Sox took two of three from a bland White Sox team and will bring some momentum into Baltimore, where the second-place Sox will have a chance at creating some separation between them and the third-place Orioles. Three games with the first-place New York Yankees loom after four at Camden Yards.
The timing couldn’t be better.
After Pomeranz’ gem last night, the Red Sox rotation now has a 3.03 ERA in their last 12 games, best in the American League and fourth in MLB since May 19. Their starters had a 24thranked 4.60 ERA up until that point.
Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez have been consistently dominant all year. The big difference is what the Sox are getting from the last couple starters.
“Particularly with Drew,” manager John Farrell said. “The last two starts are significant steps forward given to the ones previous. To his credit he’s done that. And yeah anytime you’re adding David Price, a healthy David Price, it’s going to be a boost.
“The biggest thing is as long as we can continue to even out the workload, and I know we had two short starts here, but when we start getting deeper into ballgames it just allows that bullpen to come in fresh.”
Pomeranz hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in four straight starts now. And his efficiency has shown marked improvement over his last two starts since it took him 97 pitches to throw four innings in Oakland. He left that game after arguing with Farrell in the dugout.
Farrell showed plenty of trust in the curveball-throwing lefty last night, though. Pomeranz didn’t need more than 21 pitches in any of his seven innings, allowing just one run on an RBI double in the second inning.
He finished six innings on 97 pitches when Farrell approached him.
“John came over, I was feeling good, my mechanics felt good, I had a good arm-slot going, and I felt strong,” Pomeranz said. “I wanted to go back out there and give him another one.”
On just 11 pitches, Pomeranz completed the seventh. “That felt great,” he said. He struck out eight and, for the first time all year, didn’t walk a single batter. He has a 2.12 ERA and 25 strikeouts to just three walks in 17 innings over his last three starts.
“He certainly has the ability,” Farrell said. “He’s showing that right now.”
For five innings the Red Sox were shut out by Mike Pelfrey, the longtime New York Mets pitcher and sinkerballer who is not known for having overpowering stuff. But once Pelfrey left the game to start the sixth, the Red Sox found some offense.
Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland hit a pair of one-out singles and the White Sox chose to intentionally walk Jackie Bradley Jr. to get to Josh Rutledge with the bases loaded against Anthony Swarzak. Rutledge grounded out but avoided the inning-ending double play, beating the throw by a half-step.
Pablo Sandoval, in his first game since missing more than a month with a knee injury, blooped an RBI single to left and then Christian Vazquez roped a two-run double to rightcenter to give the Red Sox all the runs they needed.
Sandoval went 3-for-4 from the designated hitter spot, just his second threehit game of the season.
Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in another scoreless outing for his 15th save and hasn’t allowed a run since April 20.