Upon closer examination
Sox can claim moral victory
In the battle of the closers, the Red Sox can already claim a victory over the Houston Astros. A moral victory, that is. Craig Kimbrel has allowed at least one run in each of his last three postseason appearances dating back to last year, while Astros closer Roberto Osuna has thrown nine straight scoreless outings in the postseason for the ’Stros and Blue Jays.
But the Red Sox had no desire to pursue Osuna in July, when he was still serving his 75-game suspension for an arrest in Toronto in May that led MLB to determine Osuna violated the league’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
Osuna accepted the penalty and it remains to be seen if there will be any additional legal ramifications.
“We talked about the situation before (the trade) and the (Red Sox) organization made a decision that we were not going to pursue Osuna,” manager Alex Cora said yesterday. “The organization had their reasons, and I understand why. It’s not an easy situation. There was a lot of talk. And that week was a tough one for the Astros and (general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch).”
The Astros controversially looked past Osuna’s record.
It’s been a great baseball move for Houston, as he posted a 1.99 ERA in 23 appearances down the stretch, then finished two of the three wins over the Indians in the Division Series.
But it’s created a lot of questions about the Astros’ social responsibility and the message they’ve sent about the seriousness of domestic abuse.
“But I guess it has worked out (for the Astros),” Cora said. “They’re doing a lot in the community over there to help.”
On the other side, the Red Sox’ focus remains on Kimbrel, their All-Star closer who was very wild in the clinching Game 4 against the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, throwing just 13 strikes on 28 pitches while nearly blowing a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning.
Had Gary Sanchez hit that sky-high ball to left field with any less arc, it would’ve been a gameending grand slam. Or if Eduardo Nunez was unable to make his on-therun throw to end the game, the Yankees could still be alive.
The gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on Kimbrel, who admitted Sanchez’ sacrifice fly caused him a great deal of anxiety.
Cora said the Red Sox will continue to trust Kimbrel in high-leverage situations against the Astros.
“He pitched Game 1 and he got us four outs,” Cora said. “I know Aaron Judge hit the home run but he was good. Velocity was good. … Location with his breaking ball was off on the night, but he’s fine. He’s a guy that we trust and obviously we need.”
The Red Sox bullpen found a way to get it done in the Division Series, allowing seven runs in 17 innings; 32⁄3 innings were thrown by starters pitching out of relief.
That was how Dave Dombrowski envisioned it happening in July, when he passed on Osuna and Zach Britton and instead acquired Nathan Eovaldi from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Eovaldi never came out of relief in the ALDS, but will be in the bullpen to start the ALCS.
“We figured we would use some starters at times, you can do that with some off time (between games),” said Dombrowski, the president of baseball operations. “And also we had do even more adjustments because we felt that we would have Steven Wright, but he was a loss for us (due to a knee injury).”
The Astros have looked dominant in the late innings with the July additions of Ryan Pressly and Osuna.
Since making the trades, their bullpen ERA of 3.12 ranks first in the majors.
In that same time, the Red Sox bullpen ERA of 4.16 ranks 19th.
Dombrowski, who said his stomach “was churning” watching Kimbrel in the ninth inning on Tuesday, was asked if he had any regrets about not acquiring another reliever.
“You can always get one more guy all the time for your club,” he said. “Then once you get one more, then you need another one. It just keeps going. That’s the basic reality. We felt comfortable. But you could always get an extra guy. That’s the way it is.
“You look at it and sometimes people act like no other bullpens ever give up a run. And you look around and there are runs given up. Ours isn’t perfect by any means. It happens. We like our guys and we’re looking forward to moving forward with them.”