David Ortiz Mashes Two Home Runs, As Steven Wright Goes The Distance
Still waiting for Steven Wright to show you that this is a fluke? You’re gonna be waiting for a while.
Jordan Zimmermann (1.10), Jake Arrieta (1.13), and Jose Quintana (1.38) — those are the only pitchers in all of baseball who have a better ERA than Steven Wright. It should also be noted that Wright entered the ninth inning on Sunday night with a 1.34 ERA before allowing the solo home run to Brett Gardner with two outs. Now, I’m not saying that Wright is going to be this one and a half ERA guy wire-to-wire. But if you look at his last 28 games in the big leagues, 16 of which have been starts, Wright has a 3.07 ERA in 135 innings. He’s a good pitcher, and you should start believing in him, if you haven’t already.
Opponents are hitting just .172 off Wright this season with a .517 OPS. He’s yet to allow more than two earned runs in a start this year, and has allowed just seven earned runs total through his first six starts. David Price has allowed eight earned runs in just one start alone in 2016. All I’m saying is, if you’re a catcher in the American League, and you have a shot at making the All Star team, you better start learning how to catch a knuckleball.
I feel like I’m going to be saying this on a pretty regular basis, but how the hell is David Ortiz going to retire after this season? Two more home runs on Sunday night for the Large Father, and now his 27 RBIs trail only Robinson Cano (33) for the most in the American League. His two-homer night gives him nine on the season, and also moved him into a second place tie behind Cano (12) in the American League. By the way, Ortiz didn’t hit his ninth home run of 2015 until June 18. He finished the year with 37 home runs.
Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts both went deep in the victory on Sunday. Since April 21, Pedroia is hitting .333 with a .981 OPS, 5 home runs, 5 doubles, and 13 RBIs in 17 games. And since April 20, Bogaerts is hitting .391 with a .992 OPS, just the one homer, 7 doubles and 7 RBIs. Sure, the Red Sox haven’t been getting much production from Mookie Betts lately (.212 BA, .540 OPS in last 8 games), but Pedroia and Bogaerts have been picking up the slack at the top of the Red Sox batting order.
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Final score: Red Sox 5, Yankees 1