Support system fails
Bats unable to connect for Porcello
Probably best to go back in the archives, or maybe dig into your recent memories. Those have to be the easiest ways to understand what happened at Fenway Park last night.
Check a box score from late April. Look at the first game in May. Think back on the one-run loss in Baltimore in early June, or relive five days after that in New York.
Just look back on any Red Sox game when Rick Porcello wasn’t all that good, and the team’s offense was even worse. Don’t worry, there are plenty of examples.
It was the same old story last night. Porcello put the team in a hole, the offense couldn’t dig out of it and the Minnesota Twins held on to beat the Red Sox, 4-1. The loss, coupled with the New York Yankees’ win, dropped the Sox back into a tie for the AL East lead.
Porcello has allowed at least four runs in eight of his past 10 starts. In eight of his past 14 outings, the offensive support has been two runs or less.
It’s a pattern that left Porcello as the first pitcher in baseball to reach 10 losses this season. It was only a year ago that Porcello (4-10) led the league with 22 wins and lost only four times.
“Unfortunately for Rick, this year is the other side of the coin from a year ago,” manager John Farrell said. “I think tonight might have been the eighth time he was on the mound and zero runs were put on the board. I can’t say he’s been pitching differently or feeling like he’s got to be perfect with every pitch. I don’t see that. Tonight is another example. I don’t see that he’s pitching to our offense, so to speak. That’s just the way the game goes sometimes.”
Allowing four runs on six hits actually made the start one of Porcello’s better ones this year. It would have been a winnable effort had the Red Sox given him a decent amount of run support.
The Sox had at least one runner on base in every inning, but even the one time they cashed in, it felt like a disappointment.
A single and back-to-back oneout walks loaded the bases for the middle of the order in the seventh, but Xander Bogaerts (the team’s batting average leader) grounded to shortstop before Mitch Moreland (the team’s leader in slugging percentage) struck out swinging. Bogaerts brought in the run, but the opportunity for a big inning was wasted.
The Sox finished 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
“I thought there were times we might have expanded the strike zone a little bit, trying to make something happen,” Farrell said. “Whether it was a breaking ball off the plate (or) down below the zone, we did chase a little bit more tonight than we have in other ballgames.”
It was all part of a trend that has dogged Porcello all season. While he’s been in the games, he’s received no runs of support in eight of his 17 outings this season
And while the Red Sox offense hasn’t helped him, Porcello hasn’t done much to help himself. Last night was only the fifth time this season he allowed fewer than seven hits, and the four runs caused his ERA to climb slightly from 5.00 to 5.06.
Three months into the season, the reigning Cy Young winner has an ERA higher than all but six qualified AL starters.
“You know, six innings, four runs — it’s not like they’re beating the cover off the ball,” Porcello said. “It’s just a couple of things here and there that I’ve got to clean up. I mean, I’m not making excuses for myself. I definitely hold myself accountable for the loss tonight. But in the grand scheme of things I’ve got to keep building off of what I’m doing and what we’re doing. At the end of the day, our team’s in a good spot and I’m going to keep fighting to come back and help this ballclub win games every fifth day.”
Three two-out hits in the first inning put the Twins in front immediately, and a familiar problem cropped up in the sixth.
Max Kepler hit a two-run homer into the Red Sox bullpen. The home run was the 17th allowed by Porcello in 17 starts.
In six seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Porcello only once allowed more than 18 home runs in a season, and that was his rookie year. In his first two years with the Red Sox, he allowed 25 and 23, and this season is on pace for roughly 32.