Big piece of the puzzle
Cora says Sale found something in bullpen ahead of ALCS vs. Astros
Chris Sale will play a factor in the ALCS. But what that may look like remains to be seen.
Sale hasn’t pitched since Game 2 of the Division Series last Friday, when he was crushed for five runs — including a grand slam — and only lasted one inning. But Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed Wednesday that the lefty would have come in to close Monday’s series-clinching Game 4 if they had a lead in the ninth inning.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
Still, there are questions on Sale’s current form. His last two starts haven’t looked good. He recorded just seven outs in the season finale against the Nationals before his disastrous postseason outing. But Cora is even more optimistic now about him than maybe before.
“I had a conversation with somebody today and it was music to my ears because they said something about, he found it in the bullpen,” Cora said. “The last time I heard somebody found it in the bullpen was David Price in ’18 and he took off.
“Hopefully he found something in the bullpen but I think we recognized a few things that are going to get him to the point that he’s more balanced and he’s more direct to the plate, he’s over the rubber and if he does that, he’ll be fine. Maybe we’re making a big deal out of it, too. He’s just struggled three times against (the Astros). … But I do believe he feels good where he’s at. He’s going to pitch such meaningful innings in this series and hopefully the World Series and all this talk is going to be in the past.”
Cora has yet to name his starters for Games 1 and 2 against the Astros. Nathan Eovaldi, who hasn’t pitched since Sunday, seems to be the likely choice for Game 1 on Friday. Sale, who’s even more fresh, could go in Saturday’s Game 2, but Cora isn’t showing his cards yet.
“He’ll pitch,” Cora said of Sale. “He’ll be part of this and be an important part of this.”
Cora eyes World Series
The Red Sox are slight underdogs heading into this series against the Astros — who won five of their seven meetings this season, but that was back in June. As they head back to the same place where they clinched a spot in the 2018 World Series, Cora woke up Wednesday morning with a realization of the possibility his team faces now after beating the top team in the American League.
“I woke up today and I was like, ‘We’re four games away from the World Series,’” Cora said. “We win four games and we’re right there. I always said that we have to keep working hard for what we have. The team that we’re going to face, they’re really good. They are. At the same time, they know we’re really good, too. When people start talking about us like that, it’s like, OK, we have something special going on here. But, we’ve got to keep working. We’ve got to keep getting better. We made some mistakes in this series that cannot happen again and that’s the way we see it. …
“But … yeah, I feel that we have a chance to win the World Series. … We feel good about where we’re at. We feel good about the team and now, we talk about … in 2018, you win 11 … and now we’re like, eight games, we need to win eight more games and we’ve done that before.”
Deadline frustration?
When the trade deadline came and went, with the Red Sox adding Kyle Schwarber and relievers Hansel Robles and Austin Davis, there was a notion that the first-place club didn’t do enough compared to their top competitors.
Evidently, that was also a feeling inside the Red Sox clubhouse.
“I think we were a little frustrated that we didn’t make more moves,” Eovaldi said Wednesday while appearing on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “But picking up the guys we did, Schwarber was a huge pickup, we got Robles who’s been huge for us down the stretch, same with Davis. Schwarber, I think, has been the biggest one so far. The energy that he’s been able to bring into the clubhouse on a day-in, day-out basis … and once we got to the playoffs, we all clicked again.”
After the deadline, the Red Sox went 7-14 in their next 21 games as they fell out of first place, which put them on a track for the Wild Card for the rest of the season. But the deadline additions have certainly provided a boost. Schwarber has been a centerpiece of their lineup, while Robles had a stretch of 17 consecutive scoreless appearances.