Drew "Bend Don't Break" Pomeranz Finally Broke Against The Orioles
I’ve given Drew Pomeranz a lot of shit since he’s arrived in Boston, most all of it merited. His inability to go deep into starts in 2016 and 2017 drove me absolutely crazy. It still does, but I guess not as much because I tried my best to see the good in Pomeranz. That good, as I’ve done my best to illustrate after all of his starts this year, is that he almost always gives the Red Sox a chance to win the game, despite how awful he might’ve looked or how gross his pitching line looks outside of earned runs allowed.
He’s walked at least two batters in every single start that he’s made this year. His last time out, he walked a grand total of five batters. He’s had a start where he’s given up two bombs and a start where he’s given up three bombs. But in all but one start coming into Friday night, he’s held the opposing team to three earned runs or less. And that’s honestly all you could ever ask for from him. Drew “Bend Don’t Break” Pomeranz.
Well, for the first time this season, a team has broken him. Unfortunately, it had to be the worst team in the division by a wide margin, the Baltimore Orioles. Pomeranz ran into trouble in just about every inning that he was out there. He stranded two runners in scoring position and allowed one to score after a 24-pitch first inning, got ‘em in order in the second, left two more runners in scoring position in the third, and finally got tagged for four runs on a pair of two-run singles by Adam Jones and Manny Machado.
The four runs that Pomeranz allowed in that one inning tied the most runs that he had allowed in any start this year. There was some talk about his velocity in this one, but it was actually the third highest average fastball velocity he’s had in any start this year (89.79 MPH), although his fastball velocity overall is down this year compared to last year. Last season, Pomeranz averaged 91.78 MPH with the fastball and this year he’s averaged 89.53 MPH.
Mookie Betts was doing Mookie Betts things on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to bail out Pomeranz. Betts homered in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 1-1 game. I die a little inside every time that he hits a solo home run, because the bottom of the Red Sox order is so terrible so there’s never anybody on for him to drive in. Betts has 30 RBI and 14 home runs, so that means that he’s driven himself in to account for just about half of his RBI.
That being said, I don’t want to move him from the leadoff spot where he’s performed better than any other hitter in baseball this year. Red Sox eight and nine hitters have combined to hit .202 with a .546 OPS this year. I was shocked when I saw that they didn’t rank last in the league there. Either way, those numbers are still trash and those are the guys who are supposed to be “setting up” for Mookie.
Betts finished his night going 3-for-5 like a psycho, raising his batting average back up over .370 for the first time since April 20 when he was hitting .382. In addition to homering, he also doubled twice to raise his MLB-leading OPS to 1.204. The next best OPS in the majors isn’t even close (Manny Machado, 1.093). On top of leading the majors in batting average (.371) and OPS, Betts also leads in runs (47), hits (59), doubles (18), home runs (14), slugging percentage (.761), total bases (121), extra-base hits (33), and runs created (49.4). Other than that, it’s been a tough year for him.
On Saturday night, it’s Rick Porcello versus Dylan Bundy. Porcello has been on a little bit of a shit streak, allowing five earned runs in each of his last two starts to the Yankees and A’s. Prior to that, he had a 2.14 ERA through his first seven starts, but has yet to face Baltimore this year. Since the start of 2016, Porcello has faced the Orioles six times, has a pretty solid 3.86 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 39.2 innings, despite having just a 1-4 record to show for it.
Bundy is having a Jekyll and Hyde season thus far. If he’s not throwing seven inning shutouts, he’s giving up seven earned runs without recording an out. Those are actually his last two outings, but that has been the case for him all year. If he’s not dominating, he’s getting his teeth kicked in. There has been no in between for him in 2018. Back on April 15, Bundy went five and two thirds against the Red Sox, holding them to just one earned run with six strikeouts. He took the L, though.
Final score: Orioles 7, Red Sox 4