TH REVERSE CURRENT
Award in 2016. And while he’s still searching for his groove this season, he entered his Friday start ranked ninth in the majors in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.23) and 25th in strikeout-rate (9.0). He’s been statistically one of the unluckiest pitcher in the majors, with opponents hitting .370 on balls in play after batting just .269 on balls in play last year.
Eduardo Rodriguez, whom Cherington acquired from the Baltimore Orioles for Miller in 2014, was one of the younger pitchers Cherington was talking about that could “develop into that type of guy.”
Before Rodriguez slipped in the bullpen during warmups and pitched through a knee injury on Thursday night, he appeared to be a shoo-in for the All-Star team with a 2.77 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 551⁄ innings. 3 While his knees have caused him trouble in the past, it doesn’t appear to be an injury that would jeopardize his season, although it landed him on the 10-day DL.
Chris Sale has never pitched in a playoff game. But given the way he’s handled his first season at Fenway Park (4-1, 2.23 ERA, 58 strikeouts in 441⁄ innings at 3 home), expectations ought to be high if he steps on that mound in October.
“He’s one of the best pitchers I’ve ever had or ever seen,” Don
Cooper, his former pitching coach with the Chicago White Sox, said last week. “Take away stuff no matter what they do; they pour that stuff in there. And he does that. And he does that with three above-average pitches.
“A lot of people were asking me, ‘You think he’ll be all right in Boston?’ My answer was, ‘ As long as he’s got his fastball, breaking ball and changeup, he’s going to be fine anywhere.’ He’s good.”
Who would have thought after the way he pitched in Boston last year that Drew Pomeranz would turn into such a reliable back-end starter? Since he began incorporating his cutter two starts ago, Pomeranz has struck out 19 batters to just one walk in 13 innings, allowing only three runs.
The back end of the rotation was killing the Sox early in the year. That hasn’t been the case over the past two weeks.
And while David Price has been anything but dominant in his playoff starts, he has been effective out of the bullpen. If he plays a major role in getting the Red Sox to the playoffs, could he force John Farrell into giving him a playoff start? Or would Farrell try Price in the ’pen?
All the Sox need is two reliable arms to go with Craig Kimbrel, who is in the midst of a historic season.
Case is clearly closed
Entering last night, Kimbrel hadn’t allowed a hit against a righthanded batter this year, holding them 0-for-45 with 25 strikeouts. Of all pitchers to face at least 100 right-handed hitters in a single season, nobody has ever given up fewer than nine hits.
If his 15-game scoreless streak brings back memories of another Red Sox reliever before him, it should be Uehara, who went 27 games without allowing a run in 2013.
This is nothing new for Kimbrel. He owns the major league record for consecutive games without giving up a run, going 38 straight in 2011 with the Braves. He also had streaks of 28 games (2013) and 23 games (2012-2013) with Atlanta.
Imagine what he could do in a playoff setting.
In February, he was asked if he would like an increased workload in the postseason the way Miller and Chapman were used last October.
“I mean, it definitely was different,” he said. “Those guys definitely stepped up and said they wanted to be used in that way. They also had bullpens that could do it. They had depth, the kind of depth that looks like we went out and tried to get this year. When playoffs are there, you do whatever you need to do to win.” . . .
Tyler Thornburg might as well be considered a lost cause at this point, since he’s yet to get on a mound since suffering a shoulder impingement in spring training, but Carson Smith is almost ready for a rehab assignment and Joe
Kelly has allowed just four runs while striking out 17 in 231⁄ innings 3 this year.
More help on the way?
If Hanley Ramirez doesn’t show improvement by the end of June, the Red Sox might need to start giving Sam Travis an increase in playing time.
Pablo Sandoval should have even less time to prove that he can still play.
Regardless, the Red Sox should be looking for an infielder with
Dustin Pedroia out and the uncertainty involved with wrist injuries.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski may not be able to score an impact player without trading third base prospect Rafael Devers or lefty Jason Groome, but bet anything that Trader Dave will be looking to improve the roster in some way.
He said last week he wouldn’t hesitate to call up Devers from Double-A Portland if the 20-yearold gets hot.
“In Devers’ case, we’d have to wait and sit back,” Dombrowski said. “Ideally you’d have that stop at Triple A, but I’ve also been in a spot to promote a lot of guys from Double A and they did very well for us skipping that level... Talented players sometimes come very quickly, depending on how they’re playing at a particular time.”
The Red Sox are in a winnable division. All they need to is make the playoffs.
They ranked first, fourth and first in runs per game in their last three World Series-winning seasons, respectively. Even without a dominant offense in 2017, the Red Sox have a chance to get there.