Porcello: Same ol’ rut
Manager John Farrell referenced how Rick Porcello’s evening was “bookended,” last night because he gave up two runs in the first inning and two more in his sixth and final inning, with everything in between real sharp.
Using the book angle, one could also say that Porcello’s start was the same old story.
In giving up the two firstinning runs, Porcello (4-10) continued his habit of allowing runs early. And in a game in which the Red Sox could not score a single run while Porcello was pitching, his offense continued to play dead in his starts.
It’s not a winning combination, and it led to the Red Sox’ 4-1 loss to the Twins.
Porcello, who retired 11-of-13 batters in innings 2-5 , said he thought a victory was within reach — until the sixth.
“Well, you can recover from two runs. You can’t recover from four or five that you give up in the first,” Porcello said. “Two runs, I felt good, I felt confident that, stick with the game plan and it’s going to pan out, and it really did up until the sixth inning. Pitch count was up a little bit but again, just failed to close out that inning and turn in a quality start for us to give us a chance to come back.”
Porcello did pitch at least six innings for his 14th consecutive start, the longest active streak in the league. For the eighth time this season, the Sox could not score a single run during his duty. He put his loss in perspective. “Six innings, four runs — it’s not like they’re beating the cover off the ball, it’s just a couple of things here and there that I’ve got to clean up,” he said. “I mean, I’m not making excuses for myself. I definitely hold myself accountable for the loss tonight. But in the grand scheme of things I’ve got to keep building off of what I’m doing and what we’re doing. At the end of the day, our team’s in a good spot and I’m going to keep fighting to come back and help this ballclub win games every fifth day.”
Porcello made it clear that his struggles this season — his ERA crept up from 5.00 to 5.06 — are not a bigger story than the team’s success, a far more important reflection on the team itself.
“I’m thinking of what I can do to help our team win and that’s, first and foremost, having quick innings, keeping runs off the board, simple stuff that everybody knows about,” Porcello said. “I mean, there’s a lot that goes into it, but this isn’t about me. This is about our ballclub. I’m not going to harp on my struggles or what’s going on there. I’ve got a start in five days, I’m going to go out there and do the best I can to give us a chance to win and that’s it. And keep moving forward and stop thinking about (expletive) from the past.”
Said Farrell: “Unfortunately for Rick, this year is the other side of the coin from a year ago where I think tonight might have been the eighth time he was on the mound and zero runs were put on the board. I can’t say he’s been pitching differently or feeling like he’s got to be perfect with every pitch. I don’t see that. Tonight is another example. I don’t see that he’s pitching to our offense, so to speak. That’s just the way the game goes sometimes.”