Red Sox: More flags raised after latest loss to Twins

The Boston Red Sox have found a new way to disappoint fans with their most recent loss to Twins

After going down early to the Twins, 2 – 0, the Sox managed one lone run courtesy of Andrew Benintendi smacking a solo shot to deep center field in the 3rd inning. That was their only support for Eduardo Rodriguez. The Sox didn’t manage to find anything again until the 9th inning when Chris Young knocked in two with the help of Jackie Bradley Jr. grounding out to second moving the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. It was a great 9th for the Sox, but it was too little too late after John Farrell once again left his starter in too long.

The bottom of the 7th inning started with E-Rod still in. He’d already pitched 6 good innings and thrown 100 pitches. That’s usually that point in the game where a manager says, “thank you for doing your job, we’ll let the pen finish this one out.” For some odd reason, Farrell wants to continue using his starters into the 7th inning and spare the bullpen. Does he still not trust the finishers aside from Craig Kimbrel? This is starting to become a bit ridiculous.

On Rodriguez’s 106th pitch, Eddie Rosario smacked a shot to right center legging out a triple, leading Farrell to finally come out of the dugout to get his man. After Joe Kelly entered the game, he got Brian Dozier to strike out and then gave up an RBI single to Joe Mauer increasing the lead 3 – 1. Had Kelly entered the game one batter sooner, it’s possible that Rosario could have been retired keeping the game at 2 – 1. We’ll never know. Farrell has got to start thinking long term.

Yes, E-Rod did well, two runs on six hits in six innings while also walking one and striking out six. I’m going down saying that he never should have started the following inning, why is Farrell so insistent on pushing his starters? He’s got to change his mentality because that run could easily have been avoided. The offense found its way in the 9th inning with back to back singles by Mitch Moreland and Josh Rutledge. JBJ moved them over with a sacrifice before Young did his damage typing up the game 3 – 3.

The bottom of the 9th was where after Robbie Scott had gotten the first out, Matt Barnes came in to get the next batter out before giving up a walk off solo home run to Joe Mauer. The pitch was high and away in the zone giving Mauer his first career walk off homer. Barnes missed the location pretty badly which gave ended the game. Maybe it was because the better catcher wasn’t calling the shots behind the dish?

What continues to scare fans right now is the fact that the Sox are more often than not doing damage in only a single inning if you can call it that. It usually happens late in the game which is nerve wracking for pitchers. Getting one run on six hits is unacceptable and Farrell has vowed to make changes starting with the line up. Getting singles is only part of the deal and we need to get more than just a couple of hits and leaving men on base. Men on base have killed the Red Sox this season. That and errors both.

The Sox will look to even up the series against the Twins as Rick Porcello (1 – 4) faces off against Nick Tepesch (0 – 0). Tepesch hasn’t started a game in 2017 and last won a game in 2014. Porcello will look to build on his three-game streak of quality starts. Porcello is due and the Sox bats owe him that much.

Rutledge has been filling in for Marco Hernandez who got injured on Wednesday attempting to field a grounder. Pablo Sandoval is still injured as well leaving the Sox with limited options at 3rd base. The Sox will look to get a win from keeping the team drop to .500 on the season and break their two game losing streak.

 

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