For some reason, I’m not anywhere near as angry as I should be after another loss in which the Red Sox lineup looked like it was reenacting something out of the Deadball Era. Tonight, some of the highlights lowlights included:
- Batting Mickey Gasper – A 30-year-old with a career .495 OPS – second in the lineup.
- The bats lasting a grand totals of just 16 pitches at the plate over the first three innings.
- The team once again failing to generate the hit they desperately needed late in the contest as the tying run was stranded in scoring position in each of the final three innings.
- Scoring two runs or fewer for the tenth time in the last 14 games at Fenway Park.
But do you know what surprised me the most about tonight? The Red Sox almost won. On paper, this game should have been a rocking chair victory for Philadelphia, and instead the game ended with a drama filled ninth inning where, less surprisingly, the Red Sox bats failed to deliver
once again. But just under the surface of another pitiful night at the plate were signs that this Red Sox team might be on the verge of turning a corner. They include:
- Brayan Bello pitching well again in the bulk role
- On a night with no Roman Anthony or Willson Contreras, Wilyer Abreu came up in a big spot in the seventh inning, worked an eight pitch at bat, and hit a ball that would have been a home run in 29 of the 30 ballparks. The result sucked, but that had all the makings of a game changing moment.
- The defense once again looked as solid as ever and kept the listless offense in the game.
- Marcelo Mayer smoked a ball 106mph with the tying run on third to end the seventh inning.
Perhaps it’s just that Happiness = Reality – Expectations, and my expectations were so low for this game that I was somewhat shielded from another letdown. However, I’m also getting this overwhelming sense that the Red Sox pitching and defense is legit. If they’re turning a Brayan Bello bulk game against one of the hotter teams in the sport into a 2-1 affair against a guy like Zack Wheeler when the lineup is missing key pieces, that’s actually not the worst result in the world when you isolate it out from the waterfall of garbage performances we’ve seen at Fenway this season.
Ultimately, this Red Sox season is going to come down to the pitching and defense being able to outlast the offense being this historically feckless. Maybe they won’t, and they certainly didn’t tonight, but part of the reason it’s this noticeable is because they’re wasting plenty of good outings, and if they’re going to start getting those from Brayan Bello in addition to Payton Tolle and Connelly Early, games like tonight are eventually going to start flipping in the other direction.
Three Studs
Brayan Bello: 6.1 innings of one run ball out of the bulk role. A huge step in the right direction.
Wilyer Abreu: Went just 1-4, but looked good defensively again, and came within a few feet of having one of the best at bats of the whole season.
Zack Kelly: Threw up a scoreless top of the ninth and gave the bats one last chance when they were starting to show signs of waking up.
Three Duds
Jarren Duran: 0-4 from the top of the lineup with two strikeouts. He’s hitting .189 on the season.
Jovani Moran: Started the game to face the lefties at the top of the Phillies lineup before Bello came in for the bulk role and gave up a solo blast to Kyle Schwarber.
Caleb Durbin: But more specifically, the decision not to have Caleb Durbin bunt when he came up in the eighth inning. We know Durbin’s in there for his glove, and when Carlos Narvaez led off the top of the eighth with a single, it was the perfect opportunity to move him over to second with the top of the lineup coming up. Instead, Durbin flew out to center field as part of his 0-3 night at the plate.
Bonus Dud
The NESN cameraman: Below we’re going to see the play of the game we’ve referenced a few times already, and the camera angle here is going to make it look like we’re watching the space shuttle take off instead of a warning track fly ball to end an eight pitch Wilyer Abreu at bat.
