Sox again Drew poorly
HOUSTON — It could’ve been a highly entertaining baseball game between two World Series contenders playing pristine baseball, but Drew Pomeranz never gave the
Red Sox a chance.
Facing the defending champs in front of a crowd (and front office) that Alex Cora knows too well, the Red Sox took a 4-2 loss to the Astros last night in a game that they didn’t do much wrong.
The young and mysterious Rafael Devers made two fantastic plays at third base, a barehanded throw to first on the run, and another in which he nailed the leadrunner with a perfect strike to home.
The Red Sox even scrapped two runs together against Lance McCullers, who owns the best ERA in Minute Maid Park history (2.30). Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled again; he’s quietly getting hot. And Sandy Leon, who hadn’t thrown out a base stealer all year, gunned down two at second base.
This should’ve been a down-to-the-wire game in which Cora and A.J. Hinch had to out-maneuver one another in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, maybe even extras, to bring back the playoff feel that these two teams had the last time they played.
But, alas, there was Pomeranz, pitching another one of his maddening (albeit brief ) starts.
His first mistake was a 91mph fastball up to shortstop Carlos Correa, who hit it on a line over the left-field fence for a two-run homer in the first inning.
Xander Bogaerts drove in two runs with a double in the third inning, but the tie game did not last long. An infield single and groundrule double led to traffic in the fourth inning, then another infield single and bunt drove in two more runs off Pomeranz.
If he can hang his hat on anything it’s the fifth inning, his only clean inning of work, and he left the game after five, the most he’s thrown since May 8.
Behind him, Steven Wright was once again in control of his knuckleball. He gave the Astros just a sniff of success in this one but they never scored against him, and he lowered his ERA to 2.25 after three scoreless innings.
Pomeranz’ ERA is now
6.81.
The Red Sox rotation needs help. After posting a second-best 3.26 ERA and fourth-best 1.14 WHIP through April, Sox starters entered last night ranked 17th with a 4.33 ERA and 14th with a 1.29 WHIP in the month of May.
Cora has been preaching that his belief in Pomeranz stems in part due to his 2017 season, when he began the year with a 5.29 ERA through seven starts, then posted a 2.84 ERA over his final 25 starts.
It makes sense to compare that to his rough stretch to begin 2018, but when looking closely it’s revealed that his start this season has been much, much worse.
Entering yesterday, hitters were batting .311 with a .940 OPS off him while he’s averaging just 41⁄3 innings per start. Last year he averaged nearly five innings through seven starts while holding hitters to a .249 average and .684 OPS.
So was Pomeranz really that bad to start the 2017 season, or was he just unlucky and not getting big outs when he needed them?
The velocity issues are also new. Even in his bad starts a year ago, he averaged 91-92 mph on his fastball. This year, he’s down to 8990 mph. His average velocity of 89.6 mph makes him one of just six major league starters with an average fastball velocity under 90 mph.
His curve is also down 2 mph, and his signature pitch is getting hammered to the tune of a .411 batting average.
Wright has come on in his relief in each of his last three starts.
It’s just counterintuitive: Why start the pitcher who has consistently performed poorly, then wait until he puts the team in a losing position and relieve him with a pitcher who has been far better?
It’s about time the Red Sox figure out what they need to do with Pomeranz and how Wright can best be utilized, because games like last night’s have become too predictable.