Red Sox Bang Out 15 Hits In Back-To-Back Games, Actually Win This Time Because Steven Wright Is An Ace
Imagine being a fan of a team that evenly distributes 30 hits over two games and goes 1-1. Just imagine that for a second.
Thank god for Red Sox ace Steven Wright, who you know it’s game over the second he takes the ball. In three starts this year for Boston, Wright has an ERA of 1.40. The next best ERA on the Red Sox staff is Rick Porcello (4.66), a good three full runs away from Wright. Then add on another run to find Clay Buchholz (5.74), couple more runs to get to David Price (7.06), and a thousand more runs to find Joe Kelly (9.35).
Kelly’s gonna be gone for a while. The recovery time for a shoulder impingement is 6-8 weeks, so you won’t be seeing him any time soon. Henry Owens makes his 2016 debut on Sunday in the series finale in Houston, so we’ll see how that goes, as he’ll likely get more than just a couple of starts. But Eduardo Rodriguez is coming back a lot sooner than Kelly is, so they’re going to have to free up a spot in that rotation, and so help me god if it’s Wright who loses their spot.
The kicker with Wright is that he’s out of contract options. If you want to option him back to Pawtucket, you’ve got to designate him for assignment, and he has to clear waivers before you can option him back down to Triple-A. Guess what? If he keeps pitching like this, he ain’t clearing waivers. Honestly, he could have a couple shit starts after this and he’s still probably not clearing waivers after what he’s been able to do through these first three starts. So, that’s something to keep an eye on. If Owens is able to come up and give you anything close to what Wright’s been giving you, that’s a tough call to make.
And it’s not just a flukey hot start for Wright, either. Going back to last season, over his last six starts, Wright has an ERA of 1.83 with 38 strikeouts in 39.1 innings. Now he’s got three quality starts in three tries in 2016, and has more than earned the right to stay in the rotation when one of Boston’s injured starters is ready to return.
Offensively, it was another big night for the Red Sox, who banged out 15 hits in their second consecutive game. Mookie Betts went 4-for-5 with a double and two triples. He came up in the top of the ninth with a chance to hit for the cycle, but that’s when he ripped his second triple of the game. His RBI double in the second inning almost knocked the wall down in left field, too.
For once, I don’t have any John Farrell decisions to bitch about tonight. Just thought I’d throw that out there. But on the negative, there is one thing to address, and that’s Xander Bogaerts getting hit by a pitch and exiting the game with an injury for the second time this week.
Here’s the update straight from Xander Bogaerts:
Update on the update:
Final score: Red Sox 6, Astros 2