Red Sox Settle For A Split With The Phillies, And Hopefully The Game Is All That They Lost On Tuesday
When I looked at the pitching matchup — Jake Arrieta versus Drew Pomeranz — I thought to myself, “Welp. Better hope for an off-night from Arrieta.” The Red Sox didn’t get one, but the reason you hope for an off-night from Arrieta is because Pomeranz hadn’t held an opposing team to less than four earned runs in a start since mid-May. By the grace of God, the left-hander actually held the Phillies to two earned runs over five innings, although he did walk four and hit two batters. I’ll acknowledge that he gave the Red Sox a chance to win, but he didn’t exactly look great out there. A step in the right direction, sure.
Pomeranz is not the reason why the Red Sox lost this game. Boston had every opportunity to scratch out some runs against Arrieta, but to the right-hander’s credit, he snuffed out just about every threat that the Red Sox posed. The Red Sox put up a big fat goose egg with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-13, while stranding seven men on base. It was a disappointing night for the offense (again), but you’ve gotta tip your cap to Arrieta and the Phillies bullpen for getting some big outs when they needed to.
Boston’s greatest opportunity came in the bottom of the ninth inning, but at what cost? JD Martinez started the inning with a walk, and then with an 0-2 count, Xander Bogaerts took a 99 MPH fastball off the right hand. It was the same exact spot that he got hit last year. The X-rays were negative after the game, but so were the X-rays when he suffered the same injury almost exactly a year ago.
When Bogaerts got hit on the hand last July, he was hitting .308 with an .818 OPS through the first 80 games of the season. After the injury, Bogaerts finished the year hitting .232 with a .661 OPS in 68 games. He would miss games, but was never placed on the disabled list.
Not to cause panic or anything, but Bogaerts was basically in tears after the game talking about the injury. He was asked if it reminded him of the injury from last year, and he said that this pitch was even harder than the one that fucked up his season in 2017. Not good. Not good at all.
I’m hoping that this is the sort of thing that jarred memories from last year that scared him, and rightfully so, but hopefully that’s all it ends up being. However, we’re dealing with a deja vu situation. With Chris Sale hitting the disabled list before the game on Tuesday, the last thing that the Red Sox need is to lose another key contributor to this team right before a four-game series with the Yankees. You hate to think the worst, but that did not look good at all and his reaction after the game basically reaffirmed how bad it looked.
The inning continued with Ian Kinsler striking out, bringing Mookie Betts to the plate as a pinch hitter with two outs and a chance to walk it off again for the second time in less than a week. Betts popped out to third base via the infield fly rule, and Brock Holt struck out looking to end it. That was that. But like I said, if all the Red Sox lost on Tuesday night was a baseball game, then that’ll be the best case scenario.
With the off-day on Wednesday, the Red Sox open up a big four-game series with the New York Yankees. Chris Sale was slated to start game one, but is on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation, yet he vows to make his next start after that in Toronto. In his place will be Brian Johnson, who has pitched very well in his limited time as a starter this year. Since rejoining the rotation on June 28, Johnson has a 1.88 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 24 innings over five starts.
Opposing Johnson will be CC Sabathia, who has both won and lost a game against the Red Sox this year. The veteran lefty keeps chugging along, not going very deep into games, but still giving the Yankees a chance to win, and they win more often than they don’t when CC is on the hill. The Yankees are 7-3 in Sabathia’s last 10 starts, while the lefty holds a 3.51 ERA over that 10-start span, which is consistent with his 3.53 ERA for the whole year.
Final score: Phillies 3, Red Sox 1