Unless something changes soon, the crumbling pen threatens to sabotage the season.
Tonight’s game should have been about Tanner Houck. It should have been about how the big righty battled through six innings of one run baseball without his best stuff to post his most productive line in a month. It should have been about him picking up a staff that’s been beaten and battered of late and getting the homestand off on the right foot.
Instead, it was about none of that as all his efforts were washed away in the rainy final three innings.
The bullpen stunk, again! The Sox lost because of bad pitching, again! And they had to use at least five different guys just to get the full 27 outs, again!
This is unsustainable. In the 19 games since the All-Star break, the Red Sox have now allowed 135 total runs, which comes to 7.11 runs per game. Somehow, they’ve actually been able to play close to .500 baseball during this stretch with an 8-11 record, but that will be getting much, much worse if they can’t clean things up soon. Tonight was the first in a stretch of 27 games in 27 days for this group, and I can’t image how awful this staff might look by the time we get to the other side.
Anyway, back to tonight: With a reasonably competent pen, coming off an off day, tonight should have been a win. Houck handed them a 3-1 to protect, and Kenley Jansen was ready to go and get at least three outs.
But this bullpen doesn’t build bridges to its closer. Instead, it lights games on fire! Tonight’s biggest arsonists were Lucas Sims and Zack Kelly, who together faced the first eight hitters after Houck departed, and allowed seven of them to reach base. Just brutal!
By the way, in case you want to know where not to throw Jose Altuve a pitch during a big spot in a game, that would be right here.
Overall, this game also had some rather unfortunate similarities to Game 4 of the 2021 ALCS – Also against Houston, and also in Fenway Park.
- The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead.
- They should have gotten more runs to pad the lead, but didn’t.
- The game turned on a big Altuve homer in the late innings.
- The flood gates opened after that.
The Sox did try and counter punch in the bottom of the seventh when Alex Cora used four different pinch hitters and eventually worked it to a spot where Rafael Devers came to the plate with the bases loaded, but Tayler Scott blew him away on three pitches.
Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox still haven’t won a game Houck’s started. (This is after they were 9-1 in his last ten starts before the All-Star break.) It’s also why this one stings so much. They probably have to win the majority of Houck’s remaining starts to get into the playoffs, and they just let an extremely winnable game where he battled admirably slip though their fingers.
Duds
Lucas Sims, for derailing the train, and posting a -.360 WPA.
Zack Kelly, for allowing the rest of Sims’ runners to score in that crucial seventh inning. He posted a -.202 WPA.
The offense with runner in scoring position. The Sox were 1-12 in those spots tonight.
Studs
Houck! As mentioned, he didn’t have his best stuff, he battled, he put the team in position to win. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Nick Sogard. 2-3 with a walk and help spark opportunities from the bottom of the lineup.
The St. Lous Cardinals. Why are they here? Because they beat the Royals 8-5 and kept the Red Sox just 1.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. Go red birdies go!