The Red Sox Quest To Find A Fifth Starter Who Doesn't Suck Continues After Hector Velazquez's Shitty Debut Last Night
I was actually cautiously optimistic about Hector Velazquez, too. His 1.55 ERA in five starts down in Pawtucket had a lot to do with that. And who knows? Maybe this was just a case of having some big league debut jitters. Three of the first six runs and two of the three homers he allowed came right in the first inning, so that would make a little sense, I guess. Not trying to excuse him for last night; more just trying to not write him off entirely for any future starts.
Either way, he sucked last night, just like most of the Red Sox fifth starters have this year. Velazquez gave the Red Sox five innings and allowed six earned runs on nine hits. He left a ton of pitches out over the plate, and there wasn’t a lot of soft contact, either. A’s hitters were squaring Velazquez up pretty good. At this point, I feel like it’s almost been a requirement to give up at least six earned runs if you pitch in that fifth spot in the rotation.
Steven Wright, Kyle Kendrick and now Velazquez have combined to make 8 starts in 2017 with a 9.64 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, and have allowed 13 home runs and 40 earned runs in 37.1 innings, averaging 4.2 innings per start. You really can’t be worse than that. I mean, you could. But you’d have to be REALLY shitty. Like, Henry Owens shitty. Now that I think of it, I’d actually like to see Owens get a shot on the Red Sox fifth starter casting couch just to see if he could find it within himself to make those numbers even worse. I bet he could do it.
For as lopsided as the outcome of this game ended up being, the Red Sox actually tied it up in the fourth inning on a solo shot by Mitch Moreland. He’s had a couple big hits the last two games, although I’m not sure a hit can be classified as a “big hit” in a game that you eventually lost by five runs, but it was a big hit at the time.
That was it for the Red Sox offense, though. They created a few opportunities for themselves throughout the course of the game, but they managed to go 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. It doesn’t feel like it at all, but the Red Sox are actually hitting .284 with runners in scoring position this year, which is tied for third best in the American League. That doesn’t make much sense at all, because they’re 8th in runs scored (179) out of the 15 teams.
All that talk about stringing together some wins and beating up on the last place A’s is off to a red hot start out on the west coast! Hey, at least it’s Chris Sale Day. Happy Chris Sale Day to you, my friends.
Final score: A’s 8, Red Sox 3