Drew, Sox fall to Phils
Pomeranz OK, but Arrieta better
Drew Pomeranz was serviceable over five innings, allowing two runs despite putting 10 men on base, but the Red Sox couldn’t solve former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta last night.
Arrieta tossed seven innings of one-run ball and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Red Sox, 3-1, to split the two-game series.
Pomeranz was getting hit hard by the Phillies, but a lot of the line drives found gloves and he avoided giving up any homers over his 95 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. He walked four and hit two batters.
“It’s no mystery something has been off this year from last year and the last couple years,” Pomeranz said. “Just trying to hone in on that one thing.”
Manager Alex Cora was asked if Pomeranz will stick in the rotation.
“Well now, change of plans (with Chris Sale’s injury),” Cora said. “(Brian Johnson) is starting (tomorrow), so we’ll see how it goes. We’ll see.”
Added Cora, “It doesn’t look great, but for Drew to go out there and give us a chance to win, we’ll take that.”
The Sox fell behind 2-0 until the sixth, when Blake Swihart hit a leadoff single and J.D. Martinez doubled off the wall to put runners on second and third with one out. Xander Bogaerts scored one with a groundout to third base and newcomer Ian Kinsler nearly tied the game with a line drive to right, but it was hit just hard enough for Nick Williams to haul it in and end the inning.
The Sox had two runners on with nobody out in the ninth, but Kinsler struck out, Mookie Betts, who had the game off one night after going 0-for-5 for the first time since May 15, popped out in a pinch-hitting appearance and Brock Holt struck out to end the game.
Swihart had a strong game behind the plate, blocking a couple balls in the dirt and throwing out an attempted base stealer. He’s 2-for-4 at catching runners this year.
Bogaerts took a pitch off the right wrist in the ninth but stayed in the game. Xrays were negative, but he was concerned. He was hit on the same spot last year, when a wrist injury affected his swing and he hit just .235 with a .671 OPS in the second half.
“As soon as I got hit, I was like, ‘I can’t believe it,’ ” Bogaerts said. “It happens. It’s part of the game. If I wouldn’t have fouled off those first two pitches I wouldn’t have gotten hit, but it’s part of the game. We’ll see how I feel over the next few days.”
Pedey insurance
The Red Sox know they can’t count on Dustin Pedroia this year, a belief emphasized by their trade to acquire Kinsler on Monday.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said as much yesterday.
“I can’t say we don’t expect him to return, but we’re not anticipating that he’s going to,” Dombrowski said. “He may come back. Last night there was a lot happening after the game. Of course, extra inning game ends real quickly, talking to players, guys at Triple A were still in the game because there was an extra innings game going on. But one of the things we did was (Cora) called Dustin just to let him know we were making the deal, just so he wouldn’t be caught by surprise.
“I don’t think he needs that pressure to have to come back anyway. And if he does, we’ll happily deal with it at the time.”
Kinsler will be the everyday second baseman until then.
It’s ironic given the background of the two players. Kinsler was recruited to Arizona State to play shortstop but ended up spending most of the season on the bench behind Pedroia. Kinsler transferred and was later drafted by the Rangers in the 17th round in 2003, one year before Pedroia went to the Red Sox in the second round.
“I mean, it’s full circle,” Kinsler said. “We get along, we talk when we see each other, when we played against each other and we know each other pretty well and it’s definitely full circle. I wish he gets healthy quickly and gets back in the clubhouse, for sure.”
Luxury taxes draft
The Red Sox will see their first-round draft pick fall 10 spots next year due to a penalty for going $40 million over the $197 million luxury tax threshold, Dombrowski confirmed. It had first been reported by NBC Sports Boston.
“I think it’s pretty easy to calculate that we are over it,” Dombrowski said.
He credited ownership for willing to spend that much on the team, but said he didn’t think the penalty was too severe.
“We have a chance to win, so we’re all in,” Dombrowski said. “And that’s what ownership has expressed that they’re willing to do with us . . . . It’s not something we want to do on a regular basis by any means, but it’s also one where I don’t know where we’ll be drafting, but it’ll be near the end of the first round. Ten spots from there is not like dropping 10 spots from the top of the first round.”