Bats leave Houck high and dry vs. Nationals
tunities but failed to capitalize on them, going 1 for 9 with five strikeouts with runners in scoring position.
In their last 27 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, the sox have failed to score. They’ve been held to one or no runs 12 times this year, and four times in the last seven contests — a stretch in which the team has gone 1-6 to fall to 19-19.
“It’s part of the game. but to be a winning team, you do need to deliver in those situations,” said first baseman garrett cooper. “sometimes, guys are pressing a bit much with guys on base and that’s part of it. It’s just something you’ve got to take a deep breath and calm down and treat it like any other at-bat if nobody was on . . . . It’s just [part of ] the ups and downs [of a season]. The downs can feel a little bit worse.”
friday’s offensive outage proved particularly frustrating given that it wasted another strong outing by Tanner Houck. The righthander ultimately logged seven innings (his seventh outing this year of at least six innings, tied for the mLb lead) in which he allowed just three runs on six hits, walked one, and struck out four.
Though ultimately solid, an early stumble proved costly. Houck felt slightly off in his delivery at the start of the game, drifting down the mound with his lead leg instead of planting firmly to set his direction towards the plate. His pitches in the first half of his outing thus lacked finish, and the Nationals capitalized with a pair of rallies that began with two outs and the bases empty.
keibert Ruiz kicked off a two-run washington rally in the second by lining the eighth pitch of the at-bat for a twoout single to right. An eddie Rosario double down the right-field line put runners on second and third.
with sox second baseman Vaughn grissom stationed up the middle, both runners scored when Trey Lipscomb bounced a single through the wide-open right side of the infield to put washington ahead, 2-0.
The Nationals again staged a two-out rally in the third. A Luis garcía Jr. double off the wall preceded a Joey meneses 12hopper through the vacated right side of the infield, putting washington ahead, 3-0.
In the span of two innings, the Nationals collected as many hits (3) with two outs and runners in scoring position against Houck as he’d allowed in his first seven starts combined.
“chalk it up as finding a hole, seeingeye singles,” said Houck (3-4, 2.24 eRA). “Try not to beat yourself up too much about it, but it definitely stings.”
The sox briefly awakened from their offensive lethargy in the fourth against Nationals starter Patrick corbin, who entered with a 6.45 eRA. catcher connor wong dropped a one-out bunt single, then scored from first on a two-out double by cooper to make it 3-1.
one inning later, the sox hinted at an interest in completely eradicating their deficit when ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran opened the inning with consecutive infield singles. with the tying run on base, and the top of the lineup facing corbin (1-3, 5.91) for a third time, the sox had their chance.
They flubbed it. Rob Refsnyder flied to right, with Rafaela advancing to third. Tyler o’Neill — with a chance to produce a run by simply putting the ball in play — struck out looking on a backdoor cutter, and Rafael Devers’s fielder’s choice groundout ended both the threat and corbin’s five-inning outing.
The sox once again threatened against the washington bullpen in the sixth, loading the bases with two outs. but they proved unable to capitalize when Duran looked at a called third strike from lefthander Robert garcia.
“we get really good at-bats, we get guys on and then it goes [dotted pitch], [dotted pitch], and then we battle for four pitches and then he dots another fastball or slider,” said Duran. “They get paid to pitch for a living, too. we’re not always going to get that big hit. It’s just baseball man. It’s happening, and we’re going to get through it.”
while Houck settled in, not allowing a hit after the third inning and retiring the final nine batters he faced, the Nationals ended any uncertainty with a pair of two-out runs in the ninth off kenley Jansen — a rally aided in part by their aggressiveness on the bases, with two of washington’s four steals and an excellent dirt-ball read from third by Rosario on a wild pitch from Jansen.
Down 5-1, the sox squandered a leadoff double in the ninth by wilyer Abreu, as Rafaela, Duran, and o’Neill (3-for-23 with 11 strikeouts with RIsP this year) all struck out, a fitting conclusion to the night.
“obviously, at some point we’re going to get that big hit and get in a groove but it didn’t happen tonight,” said sox manager Alex cora. “we just have to keep digging and looking and see where we’re failing. Hopefully we can find it tomorrow.”