Defense has been downright offensive
This year was supposed to be different. With a healthy Trevor Story and a renewed focus on defense, the Red Sox thought they were ready to put last year’s struggles behind them.
And yet here they were Friday, fielding a borderline minor league lineup and getting booed out of their own ballpark after one of the most embarrassing displays in a recent history full of them.
Friday’s 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels marked a new low point for a club that hasn’t been able to get out of its own way. The Red Sox committed three errors and consistently looked overmatched on even the most routine plays, while on offense the lineup could hardly muster any resistance, especially with Rafael Devers sitting for the second straight day with a sore shoulder.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said afterwards that the miscues being mostly mental errors was particularly frustrating.
“We worked so hard to get it right, and we’re still going to work hard to get it right,” Cora of the errors. “But at the end of the day we have to do it at 7:05.”
The entire evening, and really this past week as a whole, really underscored how badly this club needs Story, and pulling him out of the lineup has had a similar effect as pulling a Jenga piece from the base of a poorly constructed tower.
At this point it’s obvious the Red Sox do not have a proven, big-league caliber shortstop on their roster, and so far Triple-A call-up David Hamilton hasn’t been up to the task. The rookie has committed some sort of miscue in each of his first four starts, and Friday he botched what should have been a double play ball in the top of the first that eventually helped lead to three runs, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
To be sure, Hamilton wasn’t the only one who had a bad day.
Pablo Reyes, who starting at second base, also misplayed a ball that might have led to another double play opportunity later that inning. Triston Casas dropped a pop foul near the Red Sox dugout in the second, and Ceddanne Rafaela threw away a routine ball back to the infield, allowing another run to score in the third.
The boo birds came out in force after that, with the fans registering their disgust over what had become an avalanche of ineptitude.
“We don’t like losing, especially in front of our home fans. It’s no fun, obviously you want to put up more of a fight than we are right now,” outfielder Tyler O’Neill said afterwards. “Obviously a tough couple of losses in a row isn’t making us feel too good, so a little fire under our butts coming up pretty soon.”
None of this was helpful to Tanner Houck, though the right-hander didn’t help his own cause either. Houck had a wild pitch, a hit by pitch, and allowed 12 hits while only striking out two. He allowed seven runs (four earned) over 5.2 innings, and he was knocked out with two outs in the sixth after allowing a two-run home run to Taylor Ward.
Angels starter Reid Detmers, meanwhile, shut the Red Sox down for the second straight outing. This time he held Boston scoreless over 6.1 innings, allowing three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts to improve to 3-0.
Even if Houck had pitched well it probably wouldn’t have mattered, and even if the Red Sox could have managed more than three hits, it likely would have made little difference. No club could overcome the level of defensive incompetence the Red Sox have displayed, and it seems to get worse with each passing day.
The Red Sox have committed 16 errors and allowed 19 unearned runs on the season, both the most in baseball. Boston actually started off as one of the better fielding teams in the league, but since Story went down last Friday, the club has committed 11 errors and allowed 15 unearned runs over their last seven games
For the record, the league average for unearned runs over the entire season entering Friday was only six in 15 games.
This can’t continue. The Red Sox have already squandered their promising start by losing four straight games, and if they can’t find some kind of solution it won’t be long before they find themselves looking back up at the rest of the AL East from the basement once more.
Bad as the past week has been, Cora noted they can still turn things around with a better performance on Saturday.
“The good thing about the big leagues is there’s a game tomorrow, you play 162 of them,” Cora said. “Sometimes they’re going to be ugly, sometimes they’re going to great, but you have to show up tomorrow and try to win the game.”
First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. The Red Sox starter is still officially to be determined, though right-hander Cooper Criswell is the most likely candidate to take on the Angels’ Griffin Canning (0-1, 8.38 ERA).
Devers likely to sit again
Cora said following the game that Devers will most likely miss his third straight game on Saturday due to shoulder soreness.
“We’ll probably stay away from him tomorrow,” Cora said.
Devers has been battling shoulder soreness since the end of spring training and already missed two games earlier in the season as a result. The Red Sox still hope he can avoid a stint on the injured list but will assess further depending on how Devers feels in the coming days.
Story’s surgery successful
Following the game the
Red Sox announced Story has undergone successful shoulder surgery, specifically an arthroscopic repair of the posterior labrum with an open reduction and internal fixation of the fracture of the glenoid rim. The procedure was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles.
Story will miss the remainder of the season but is expected to be ready to return by next year.