Pomeranz gets party started
Silences Houston to put AL East on ice
What a 24 hours it was for Drew Pomeranz.
Friday night, Pomeranz didn’t know if he’d have Saturday off or would have to make the most pressure-packed start of his career. He stuck around at Fenway Park, waiting to spray champagne that was never popped, and finally went home close to 11 p.m. after the Red Sox’ loss to Houston kept them a win away from clinching another AL East title.
But the lefty returned yesterday to dominate into the seventh, allowing just one run, three hits and two walks to the best offense in baseball and leading the Sox to a divisionclinching 6-3 win.
“Coming off my last outing, just fired up to get back out there and not have that as my last showing of the season,” said Pomeranz, who allowed five runs to the Blue Jays on Monday.
His velocity remains a concern after he averaged just 89.8 mph on his fastball yesterday and threw only one cutter — a pitch he relied on heavily this year — but the results can’t be argued.
Pomeranz ended the regular season 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA, joining Chris Sale (2017) and Rick Porcello (2016) as the only two Red Sox pitchers since Josh Beckett in 2011 to post an ERA that low while throwing enough innings to qualify for the ERA title.
“Coming into this season, I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “Obviously a much different task pitching in the AL East, but I knew what I needed to do, especially to improve. A big part of it was improving pitching at home, here at Fenway.”
Pomeranz is expected to start Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Astros on Friday, though nothing has been announced yet.
“I’m very happy for him,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who traded prospect Anderson Espinoza to get Pomeranz from San Diego last July. “He’s a tough guy. People don’t realize when they meet him. He’s a tough individual, what he’s battled through. I really got a feel that last year when he went through some of the medical stuff we did when he first came to us and he got checked out by the doctor as part of those visits and the doctor explained the situation. He wanted to go out there and he wanted to pitch. He felt he could battle through it.
“And to see him come this far, he’s got great abilities and the toughness he’s exhibited, won these big games for us. I’m really happy for him.”
Something to Sale-brate
Pomeranz did the dirty work yesterday so Sale didn’t have to today. Sale, who was supposed to pitch today’s game but can now rest, was appreciative.
“Man, it was as good as you could get,” Sale said. “You’re talking about probably the most important game of the season for us and he went out there against one of the best lineups in the league and just dominated. He was every bit of what we needed.”
Sale, 28, is in his eighth big league season but had never before qualified for the playoffs, never mind win a division.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “I’m enjoying this about as much as anybody. A lot of hard work went into this. It’s a long season. We had a lot of guys put everything they had on the field the entire season. To have this right here, it’s the best.”
Asked if he was ready for Game 1 on Thursday, Sale said, “It’s what I’m here for.”
The Astros are expected to start former Cy Young winners Justin Verlander in Game 1 and Dallas Keuchel in Game 2 . . . .
Andrew Benintendi went 1-for-4 with a steal of third during the threerun fifth, making him just the 11th rookie in MLB history and first since Mike Trout in 2012 to reach 20 homers and 20 stolen bases.
Three is first
John Farrell won his third AL East title, becoming the first Red Sox manager to win three.
“First and foremost, it’s about the players,” Farrell said. “You know what, I haven’t really given it a whole lot of thought where it stacks up with others and I don’t really pay a whole lot of attention to it.”
Dombrowski gave Farrell credit for the Red Sox’ second straight division title.
“I think he’s done a great job,” said Dombrowski, who chose to keep Farrell as manager going into 2016 despite not seeing him manage any games at the end of the 2015 season, when Farrell was battling cancer. “It’s a tough job. Managing is a tough job, period. I think it’s a tougher job here than maybe anywhere else. The scrutiny you receive. Being in the game as long as I’ve been in the game, I’m amazed somewhat the scrutiny aspect of it.
“And then when I look at the names behind his desk, the number of pictures and how few guys have stayed a long time. It just shows you it’s a tough job. He’s done a great job. He’s a tough guy. He’s a smart baseball man. He’s got a good staff around him, too.”
Darrell Johnson (1975), John McNamara (1986), Joe Morgan (1988 — he took over after McNamara was fired in July — and 1990), Kevin Kennedy (1995) and Terry Francona (2007) won the team’s other East titles . . . .
Principal owner John Henry was quick to credit Dombrowski for his work as the front office decisionmaker.
“I think we thought all along we were going to win the division,” Henry said. “We just had to go out and actually do it, which is hard to do. We’ve never won back-to-back divisions. I think Dave did a tremendous job to put us in position to win, and the players actually did it.”