What started to be a productive night for the Red Sox was quickly dampened once again by its bullpen. Relief pitching has been the Achilles heel For the Red Sox this season, and last night’s 13 to five loss to the Astros was no different.
Bullpen Roars Ugly Head Again in Red Sox Loss
While starter Chris Sale did not have a bad game overall, it was also far from his best performance. Sale went four and 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits, three runs, and walking two while striking out six. What was a 4-3 Red Sox advantage in the 5th inning was quickly erased.
Enter Kyle Barraclough
Kyle Barraclough started fine, retiring the one batter he faced in the fourth inning and maintaining the Red Sox lead through the fifth. In the sixth, things fell apart. He allowed 11 hits while giving up ten runs. Barraclough also walked five batters while only striking out one. The Red Sox had an opportunity to address their bullpen concerns before the August first trade deadline. They chose not to. Since that deadline, the Sox have continued to use the audition approach to their bullpen woes. That approach consists of giving those from Triple-A Worcester and anyone put on waivers (including Barraclough) an appearance to see what they can do. Suffice it to say that Barraclough failed his audition. While Barraclough’s statistics are horrendous, there may be an even more alarming non-occurrence.
What was Alex Cora Thinking
Seeing your pitcher get shellacked is one thing. Not doing anything about it is another. The Sox are still in the playoff picture. Somebody should have told Alex Cora, as he left Barraclough and let him get destroyed. To add salt to the wound, Jose Altuve hit for the cycle, the first of his career in the Astros victory. The Sox are five and a half games back of the Astros in the AL wildcard race. They have now dropped two games in a row, with two games remaining against the Astros. Those upcoming games can be declared “must-win” for the Sox. If they do not win at least one, golf season may come sooner than expected for players.
Takeaway
Last night’s loss to the Astros reiterated some unsettling aspects of the Red Sox season thus far. First, the bullpen, which should have been addressed during the trade deadline, failed the team again. Second, manager Alex Cora allowed a relief pitcher to get rocked for at least the second time this season. It is one thing to want a pitcher to maintain confidence and will enable them to finish a game. It is a whole other thing to allow a pitcher to get shelled and do nothing about it as a team ahead of you in the playoff picture tees off on said pitcher, which could hurt team confidence and morale overall. Alex Cora’s days in Boston are ending, and he has just removed himself from his priority: getting the team to the postseason.
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