The Houston Astros Once Again Take Down Chris Sale And The Red Sox
In a showdown between two of the league’s best teams throwing two of their best pitchers at each other, I, for one, did not expect to see a combined ten runs scored. However, that run total might also be a little bit deceiving. This was a 4-3 game going into the bottom of the 8th inning, and how we got there wasn’t necessarily a result of Chris Sale or Gerrit Cole not “having it” last night, although Sale looking very much human against the Astros once again is kind of a problem. If his goal was to redeem himself after getting lit up by the Astros last October, he failed.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Astros scored a pair of runs when George Springer scored from second base on a friggin’ strikeout, something I’ve never seen before, and another run came in on a dinky little infield single that Rafael Devers couldn’t barehand. Now, that doesn’t mean that Sale is exempt from any blame here. He walked Springer and gave up a base hit to Alex Bregman to start the frame, and they both ended up scoring, but there’s nothing he could’ve done on the strikeout that led to a run or the weak ass infield single that you knew Devers wasn’t going to come up with.
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Half an inning later, the Red Sox got one back when Brock Holt doubled in a run against Cole, who came into Friday night’s start as the best pitcher in baseball by average game score. Holt has sneaky been quite productive this year when called upon. In 99 plate appearances, he’s hitting .310 with an .832 OPS and in 29 games is just one hit shy of his hit total from a year ago when he played in 64 games (164 plate appearances).
In this series so far, we’ve seen catchers use multiple signs even with no runners on base, as teams are now taking extra steps to protect themselves from sign-stealing. There was also some speculation that the Indians were able to steal signs when Sale was pitching last year, his two worst outings of a Cy Young runner-up season.
When Sale gave up a bomb to Springer in the bottom of the third, there was no sign-stealing. That was simply just a missed location. A big time missed location. Sandy Leon was set up for a fastball down and in, but Sale served one up high and out over the plate. Of course, Springer did not miss it.
Yuli Gurriel, who had the infield single to knock in a run in the first, followed up Springer’s homer by lining a base hit into center to drive in the fourth run for the Astros, and that’s when it started to feel like it just wasn’t the Red Sox night. Again. Although, they would put up a little bit of a fight before getting their doors blown off at the end.
Mitch Moreland and JD Martinez went back-to-back in the fourth to make it a 4-3 game, and there was still plenty of game left to make something happen, but the Red Sox had three singles from the fifth inning on, and that was it. Since Hanley Ramirez got designated for assignment, Moreland is hitting .267 with a .933 OPS, two doubles, two triples, two homers, and 6 RBI in 30 plate appearances. Martinez’s 19th home run of the year put him back atop the major league home run leaderboard by himself. Since exactly one month ago today on May 2, Martinez is hitting .299 with a 1.127 OPS, 14 homers, 7 doubles, and 26 RBI in 28 games.
Joe Kelly got roughed up for the first time since Opening Day on Friday night. The right-hander gave up four earned runs in a third of an inning back on March 29 and then went his next 24 appearances with a 0.35 ERA and 0.62 WHIP with 27 strikeouts in 25.2 innings entering last night’s game. Both Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis tagged him for homers, Gattis’ shot being a two-run bomb. Not that the Red Sox would’ve won anyway had Kelly avoided the stinker of an outing, but the three-run inning put the exclamation point on Houston’s second consecutive victory over Boston in this four-game series.
And it doesn’t get any easier for the Red Sox. Tonight, they get Justin Verlander, who has the lowest ERA in the majors (1.11), the lowest WHIP (0.71), and is tenth in K/9 (10.84). The last time that Verlander gave up more than one earned run in a start was over a month ago and it was when he gave up two earned runs LOL! He’s had two starts all year where he’s given up more than one earned run, the two earned run start on April 25, and he REALLY struggled back on April 3 when he gave up three earned runs. The guy is impossible.
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For the Red Sox, it’s Verlander’s former teammate with the Detroit Tigers, David Price, who has pitched really well since missing his start against the Yankees last month. Over his last four outings, Price has a 2.49 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 25.1 innings. The Red Sox are also unbeaten at 4-0 in Price’s last four starts, and opponents are hitting .191 with a .585 OPS against him over that span.
Final score: Astros 7, Red Sox 3