The Red Sox Took A 1-0 Lead Into The Ninth, And Lost On A 2-Run Throwing Error. Yup.
You don’t know pain until you stay up until 1:15 in the morning to watch your favorite baseball team on the west coast take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, and lose on a two-run throwing error.
This loss hurts a little bit extra for several reasons — you’ve gotta stay up later than usual with the same wakeup time, the Orioles lost their third straight game and you’ve made up zero ground during their skid, and this is now Boston’s sixth loss in their last seven games, representing their first four-game losing streak of the season.
But the biggest reason of all, is because you just wasted an excellent outing by David Price, and you haven’t gotten very many of those this season. Spare me the argument that the Angels are a last place team. The Angels are 11th in the MLB in runs scored, they’ve scored more runs than two first place teams and two potential playoff teams (Nationals, Giants, Pirates, Astros), and they lead the MLB in hitting (.293) and runs per game (5.54) since the All Star break. That was a good hitting team that Price shut down last night.
Does it make up for a season that’s been disappointing overall? No, it doesn’t. Not at all. But I saw way too many people last night trying to discredit Price for throwing 8 shutout innings because of where the Angels are in the standings. That means nothing. That was a team that just hung 21 runs on you a few weeks ago in your house. In Price’s last six starts, the Red Sox have lost five of those games, but they’ve scored more than two runs just once in five of those losses, while in three of those losses, they scored one run.
That was the case again last night. For the eighth time in Price’s last 11 starts, the Red Sox scored two runs or less. They’re 3-8 in those 11 games, and you can probably see why. The counter to that is that sometimes your “ace” has to win a 1-0 game. Last night, he did his part. Can’t blame Price this time, although some tried. That’s how I knew that this guy can’t win in the eyes of some of the fans in this market. He threw 8 shutout innings, and I saw people complaining about a bases loaded jam he got into earlier in the game. Sometimes a shutout isn’t good enough — you need a better shutout. At least, according to them.
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That brings us to that disaster of a ninth inning. Me personally, I’m not blaming John Farrell for this one. I know some were. Some thought maybe you should bring Price out for the ninth inning, but he was at 109 pitches. His season high for pitches is 114, which he’s done twice. You figure that gives Price one more batter, which was Mike Trout, who happens to be a career .158 hitter against Price. Okay, if you wanna tell me Price should’ve faced Trout in the ninth, then I can buy into that. But I’m not going to crush Farrell for wanting Brad Ziegler to start the ninth inning without any potential base runners, given that it was a one-run game, and he’s a pitch to contact guy.
The angry fans will cite Price’s contract, like it somehow gives you magical powers to be able to throw more pitches than normal human beings, but I’m more than fine with Ziegler starting the ninth. It didn’t work, but that’s not the manager’s fault. You have Koji Uehara, who might be done for the year, and Craig Kimbrel, who you’re getting back on this road trip, both on the shelf, so you’re down to your third string closer, who had been pitching great for you prior to his last two appearances. The manager can only use what he’s got. At some point, you have to look at the players and their performances, and Ziegler just straight up didn’t get the job done by allowing three singles to load the bases, which set up a two-run, game-losing throwing error.
Oh, Hanley. Hanley, Hanley, Hanley. Yeah, that was a huge fuck up by Hanley Ramirez in the ninth. I think it’s unfair to place the blame solely on Ramirez, though. It was a huge part of it. That play absolutely has to be made. He was thinking about turning two, which he admitted after the game, instead of focusing on just getting one out, and it cost them the game. But I look at the fact that Boston was only able to muster one run against Jered Weaver, who has an ERA over five, and Ziegler giving up three singles to create that situation in the first place. Lot of blame pie to go around.
So, this begs the question. In the future, will Farrell have to consider using Aaron Hill at third base, and Travis Shaw at first base in the ninth inning of close games? I think he’ll have to consider it, especially in postseason games, but I don’t think the Red Sox need to hit the panic button here with Hanley, defensively, just yet. For the most part, he’s been pretty good over there. It was a bonehead play. It happens. He knows he fucked up, and I’m sure he’ll learn from it. But you can’t point to very many of those kind of plays this season when it comes to Hanley.
Not a great way to kick off your 11-game road trip, but the Red Sox are being fed Tim Lincecum tonight, who has an ERA of 8.70, and would’ve been booted from most rotations in the MLB by now. The Red Sox should feast on the 2016 version of the former Cy Young award winner.
Final score: Angels 2, Red Sox 1