Chris Sale And The Red Sox Get Blown Out On Opening Day
No defending World Series champion has ever given up 12+ runs on Opening Day. No team has ever won a World Series after giving up 12+ runs on Opening Day.
Two stats that literally mean nothing, but two stats that the haters and the naysayers will be rubbing all over their bodies like baby oil after that clunker. The 2004, 2007 and 2018 Red Sox all started off their seasons 0-1. Stats are fun. A lot of them meaningless in the grand scheme of things, so let’s talk about some things that do matter — Chris Sale got rocked. His velocity, which everyone obsesses over, was down. So, let’s talk about that fastball velocity for a second since that’ll be the talk of the town on Friday morning.
These velocity numbers are not what you’re used to seeing from Sale, but what won’t get talked about is that he struck out the side in the first inning with that diminished velocity. Rewind back to April 3 of last year, Sale’s average fastball velocity in that start against the Marlins was 92.99 MPH, a start in which the lefty went five innings, one run and six strikeouts. Sure, the Marlins suck, but Sale can pitch with a 91-94 MPH fastball. The issue on Thursday night wasn’t the velocity; it was the location.
Of the 76 pitches that Sale threw, only 45 of them were strikes. And of those 45 strikes, none of them were swings and misses via the fastball. In total, Sale got 12 swings and misses, six on the slider and six on the changeup. The fastball location was trash, and Sale would be the first person to tell you that. For those who immediately jump to, “Sale’s hurt!” — a reminder that he just signed a five-year extension, which required a physical to complete. He ain’t hurt, and he reiterated that nothing was wrong physically after his start.
The seven runs allowed by Sale matched his worst start in a Red Sox uniform, but that’s not something that you should get used to seeing. If it becomes a trend, we’ll talk. It’s one game…of a hundred and sixty-two. And with one game after a five-month wait, the overreactions will be aplenty. Save ‘em. It’s one game. One. Game. Uno. Shut the fuck up.
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As far as actual concerns go, the Red Sox bullpen was off and running! You know what they say — you don’t need a closer when you lose by eight runs. But for the relievers that we did get to see, Heath Hembree walked in a run and Tyler Thornburg got taken to the moon, one of five homers hit by the Mariners in this one. Can’t overreact to that a whole lot either, but let’s just say that when Alex Cora actually needs to get three outs — at any point in the game, never mind the ninth — I’m not sure whose name he’s calling. That’s not to say that nobody will emerge as that guy, as we didn’t see Ryan Brasier or Matt Barnes in this game, but I’m not exactly overenthusiastic about seeing that process through.
If there were any positives to take out of this one, you had to love the aggressive approach early on. We saw a lot of first-pitch swings that resulted in base hits, a double steal, and some aggressive base running by Eduardo Nunez to score a run. Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit except for Mitch Moreland. There ya go. Silver lining, if you’re into that sort of thing. Going 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position wasn’t anything to write home about, but what the fuck ya gonna do? Get ‘em tomorrow.
On a lighter note, it’s good to be back at it. We’ve got a lot in store for baseball season this year between going back to two podcasts a week for Section 10 and two podcasts a week for Starting 9 for the first time, plus the launch of the Starting 9 YouTube channel (SUBSCRIBE HERE) that’ll feature every single full length interview that we conduct all year long for both podcasts. Baseball’s back and I’m pretty damn excited about it.
Final score: Mariners 12, Red Sox 4