Quality work by Porcello
Six innings enough to spark Sox
As Alex Cora assesses his pitching options — fourman rotations, putting starters in the bullpen — while he does whatever it takes to manage the Red Sox back into the playoff picture, one thing remains constant that has largely escaped his club this season.
It starts with his starters performing well, and then, he believes, the rest will take care of itself.
Cora is clearly willing to get creative and even aggressive with the way he utilizes his staff, but not unless he has to. More nights like last night are certainly preferable.
Rick Porcello went six strong innings, allowing just one run on four hits, and the offense produced more than enough for the Red Sox to roll to an easy 9-1 victory over the lowly Baltimore Orioles in a crisp two hour, 41-minutes to open a threegame series at Fenway Park.
It might have been against the Orioles (39-83), but Friday offered a blueprint for the Red Sox (65-59), who gained a game on the Tampa Bay Rays and are now 6½ games back of the second wild card spot.
“That would be great if we could do this for a month and a half,” Cora said. “If we do this for a month and a half, we’re playing in October. Played good defense. Good at-bats. Everybody contributed. …
“We know where we’re at, there’s not hiding from it, but that was a good game today.”
The Red Sox certainly could use more nights like this from Porcello, who entered the night with the second-worst ERA among qualified American League pitchers but seems to be gaining confidence. The righthander tossed his third quality start in his last five, and for the first time since June 23, didn’t allow a home run.
Some may have come against inferior opponents — the Royals and O’s included --- but there’s good feelings behind the results.
“It’s been four or five starts where I’ve felt like myself and I felt pretty good throwing the ball,” Porcello said. “The results aren’t always great and that’s the part you need to have. As far as what we’ve been working on and what I’m capable of doing, it’s been coming around nicely and it’s unfortunate it’s happened this late in the season but I feel good. Just keep moving forward.”
Porcello looked sharp behind a good mix of pitches. He sliced through the Orioles in the first inning on six pitches, and though he coughed up an early lead when he gave up an RBI double to Trey Mancini in the third, there were no major mistakes or bad innings, which he’s been prone to this season.
His biggest pitch may have come in the fifth. After the Red Sox regained the lead with a pair of stand-up RBI triples from Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland, Porcello put two runners on with Mancini coming back with two outs.
Pitching coach Dana LeVangie came out for a quick word, and though Porcello fell behind Mancini with a 3-1 count, he got out of it. Christian Vazquez called for a curveball and Porcello executed it, inducing Mancini into a weak fly out to end the inning.
“That was probably his best breaking ball of the season,” Cora said.
Porcello induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the sixth inning, and though he was just at 84 pitches, Cora elected to go to his bullpen with a string of lefties due up in the seventh. Josh Taylor and Travis Lakins combined for three shutout innings, and the Red Sox added to their lead with six more runs, including Chris Owings’ two-run double in the sixth and Mookie Betts’ 21st homer of the year in the eighth.
It’s certainly been a trying year for Porcello, who reached 2,000 career innings last night, but Cora appreciates the work the former Cy Young winner has put in to get it right. He’s starting to see the results, and if that continues, it could be a big development as the Red Sox attempt to dig out of their deep hole and make the playoffs.
“Two-thousand innings at this level, you don’t do that just being lucky,” Cora said. “You’ve got to work, and you’ve got to grind. There’s going to be good seasons and bad seasons, but like we’ve been saying, threequarters of the season, not great for us. We still have a lot of baseball left.
“Everybody knows we’re very talented. It’s just a matter of, go out there and do it. (Porcello) was good for us last year. He won a Cy Young before. So, he can put a streak of quality starts just like Chris (Sale) and the rest of the guys and help us pull this off.”