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Red Sox HR Streak At 15 Year Low

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As Eduardo Núñez unapologetically explained after CC Sabathia memorably griped about Red Sox

bunting in the August 31 game, the 2017 Red Sox aren’t build for the long ball. “We don’t have any power,” Núñez said. “We have to work. We have to bunt. We have to hustle. It’s our game.”

After years of enjoying a mighty, oftentimes record-setting offense, Red Sox Nation has had to embrace a 2017 team with strong pitching but a spotty, on-again/off-again offense. The ability is there, but it isn’t always on display.

Red Sox Longest HR Streaks, Last 25 Seasons

This weekend the Red Sox will take on the 70-71 Rays for three games at Fenway. No pushovers, the Tampa Bay team starts the weekend 3½ games out of contention for a wild card berth. Like the Red Sox, the Rays are 6-4 for their last 10 and 10-10 for their last 20 games.

More significantly, the Rays are slugging .473 over the past two weeks, sixth best in the American League. The Sox, by comparison, are at just .337, the AL’s lowest slugging percentage in that time.

Tampa’s 17-Game Home Run Streak

Tampa Bay’s strong SLG is in part thanks to its recent home run production. The Rays enter this weekend’s series riding a 17-game HR streak. It’s the longest such active streak in baseball and ties them with the Dodgers for second longest in baseball this season after 19 games by the Astros (May 23-June 11).

The Rays’ current 17-game HR streak is tied for the longest single-season streak in club history (also April-May 2013). The only longest such streak was 21 games split between the end of the 2015 and beginning of 2016 seasons.

The Red Sox, who’ve managed a HR streak of no more than seven straight games this season (May 4-11), are running out of games to approach anything close to what they did last season. In 2016, Boston mounted separate 10-, 11-, 12-, 15-, and 22-game streaks with a HR.

Last season’s 22-game streak of games with a home run was a Boston club record.

This year’s seven straight games with a home run is the smallest such streak for a Red Sox team since 2002 (also 7). In the past 25 seasons, the only smaller such streak with five straight games in 1994.

The Sox have gone with a home run in four straight games this season (April 8-11 and September 2-5). The only other American League team with a longer such streak during 2017 is the Indians (five games, June 25-29).

Red Sox pitching has allowed an opponent home run in 100 of the club’s 140 games, tied for 10th most in the major leagues this season.


Orioles Sweep Red Sox

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After two shellackings by the Orioles on Friday (16-3) and Saturday (7-0)—not to mention a 13-6 beatdown by the Indians on Thursday, it really seemed as though the Red Sox would pull out a win on Sunday.

Instead, the Sox fell 2-1 for the first Orioles three-game sweep of the Red Sox since 2015 and the first one at Fenway since September 8-10, 2014.

Baltimore gave the Sox plenty of opportunities, allowing eight hits and eight walks on Sunday.

Boston starter Doug Fister did his part, too, stumbling for two first-inning runs, but otherwise keeping the birds in the park and off the scoreboard for 7.0 IP. In this case, “stumble” isn’t a turn of phrase. Fister said postgame the balk call against him, his first since 2011, came as a result of catching his cleat in the first. Boston relievers Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel each worked a scoreless inning.

But even against Baltimore’s mediocre pitching the Sox couldn’t muster more than one lonely run in the sixth inning. In both the fifth and sixth innings the Sox loaded the bases—and left them loaded. The Red Sox now have 13 inning-ending, bases-loaded strikeouts this season, their most such strikeouts in a single season since 2014 (18).

In all, Boston left 13 men on base, going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Sunday.

Eight Hits, Eight Walks…and a Loss

Sunday’s was just the 19th game in all the major leagues where a team mustered eight or more hits plus eight or more walks and still came away with a loss. It was the first such game for the Red Sox since June 22, 2016.

The last time the Orioles allowed as many hits and walks to the Red Sox and still won the game was April 30, 2010. It has been over 10 years since Baltimore managed that at Fenway Park (May 11, 2007).

Yankees Creep Closer

Meanwhile, in New York, the Yankees capitalized on five Mariners’ errors, all coming in one inning. Seattle’s five errors were the most in an inning in club history. The last major league team to make five errors in one inning was the 1977 Chicago Cubs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

New York now trails Boston by 2½ games in the American League East.

On Monday the Red Sox will open a three-game set in Toronto against the Blue Jays, who are 3-7 for their last 10 games. Conversely, the Yankees will host three games against the hot Cleveland Indians, who are 7-3 for their last 10. The Red Sox will play in the Bronx starting next Friday night.


Pomeranz Is Legitimate No. 2 Of Red Sox Rotation

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Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised anymore by Drew Pomeranz.

Increasingly, Pomeranz has shown signs that he is the legitimate No. 2 starter for the Red Sox rotation. Any remaining doubts were likely erased—or at least reduced—on Wednesday when Pomeranz went toe-to-toe with Indians ace Corey Kluber and came out on top.

Doug Fister‘s complete game one-hitter against the Indians on Tuesday was unexpected, but it’s time to believe that Pomeranz can, in fact, face off against the league’s toughest opponents.

Pomeranz is now 13-4 with a 3.18 ERA for the season and has won a career-high six consecutive road decisions.

Asked about the prospect of competing against an opposing ace, Pomeranz said he tries not to focus on that. “I don’t really like to look at the other pitcher,” Pomeranz said after the game. “If I do my job, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side.”

Big Win Against A Tough Team

Kluber has been outstanding this season and he was good again on Wednesday, limiting the Sox to two runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts over 7.2 IP. But Kluber would take the loss as Pomeranz, though somewhat less efficient, kept pace by allowing just 2 hits and no runs with nine strikeouts. Pomeranz did walk four, however, which helped to drive his pitch count to 103 by the time he left the game after 5.1 IP.

Mitch Moreland‘s home run gave the Sox the lead in the fifth inning, but it was Mookie Betts‘ two-out base hit in the eighth, scoring Brock Holt, that sent Kluber to the showers with Boston leading 2-0.

In the bottom of the eighth, Edwin Encarnación belted a solo shot, his club-best 29th of the season, off Sox reliever Addison Reed, sending us back to a one-run game.

With Kimbrel prepping to protect the slim lead, Boston put together a big top of the ninth with back-to-back singles by Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts and a big double for Brock Holt. Aided by a passed ball and a wild pitch, the Sox were now up 4-1 when Eduardo Núñez stepped to the plate and blasted a two-run home run.

Already warm, Kimbrel did enter the game collecting his 100th strikeout of the season. Kimbel is now struck out 101 of the 195 batters he’s faced this season (51.8%).

Boston batters struck out 14 times on Wednesday, with half those coming from Hanley Ramírez (4 SO) and Christian Vázquez (3 SO). For Ramírez it was Career Game No. 1,581 and his first ever with four strikeouts in nine innings. The 14 strikeouts was one shy of the club’s season-high (15) also coming against the Tribe.

Wednesday’s win gives the Red Sox a 4 games-to-2 lead over the Indians this season, assuring them of a season series win. The Sox took the 2016 set 4-games-to-2 in 2016; the Indians beat the Sox 4-2 in 2015.

Farrell Moves Up The List

Red Sox Manager John Farrell recorded his 412th win with the club on Wednesday for sole possession of seventh place on the club’s All-Time Managers Win List. With two more he’ll tie Jimy Williams at No. 6 on that list.

It’s a long way to No. 1 for Farrell. That record is held by Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, who recorded 1,071 wins from 1935-1947.

Red Sox Acquire Rajai Davis

Just prior to the game came word that the Red Sox had acquired veteran player Rajai Davis from the Athletics in return for 18-year-old minor leaguer Rafael Rincones.

Speedy Davis, has stolen at least 18 bases in each of the last 11 seasons and has five seasons with 40 or more steals. His 26 stolen base in 2017 automatically make him the SB champ for the Red Sox.

Davis broke into the big leagues with the Pirates in 2006 then played for the Giants (2007-08), Athletics (2008-10), Blue Jays (2011-13), Tigers (2014-15), Indians (2016) before returning to Oakland this season on a one year deal as a free agent.

As part of the Indians postseason drive last year, Davis was 5-for-22 (.227), all during the World Series, including that big, game-tying home run off the Cubs’ Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning of Game 7.

Though Davis’ .233 AVG/.294 OBP/.353 SLG slash line for 2017 seems mediocre, his power turned up in the second half, going .303/.361/.487 in 30 games since the All-Star break.

Following tonight’s announcement, Sox baseball president Dave Dombrowski praised Davis’ clubhouse presence and his postseason experience.. “He’s a tremendous individual,” Dombrowski said. “He’s the type of person everyone thinks the world of when they meet him, he’ll fit in with the ball club well.”

Dombrowski stressed that talks to acquire Davis were in the works for a week and did not reflect any greater concerns about Jackie Bradley, who injured his thumb sliding into home on Tuesday. Bradley was back in Boston today for further medical examination which found no tears or fractures, but he’ll need a splint for about a week and was officially placed on the 10-day disabled list.

Davis grew up in Connecticut and graduated from New London High School in CT in 1999 where he played baseball, basketball and football. He attended the University of Connecticut at Avery Point. Davis and his wife, Marissa, have a daughter, Jada Marie, and son, Jordan Michael.


Devers Magic, But Sox Lose

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After such an exciting weekend series in New York, Monday’s 7-3 Red Sox loss to the Indians was especially disappointing, particularly given the Yankees’ come-from-behind 4-2 win over the Mets.

Monday’s game was a do-over for a rain out in the series between these two clubs earlier in the month. Boston already won the series with wins on July 31 and August 1.

After two good performances in his most recent starts, the Sox were at an almost immediate disadvantage when starter Doug Fister allowed three quick runs by the Indians in the second inning.

Boston rallied to tie the game by the end of the fourth, but Cleveland immediately scored twice in each of the next two frames, both coming on two-run blasts by Edwin Encarnacion. Encarnacion’s 20 multi-HR games in the last 5 years (2013-17) are tied with the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton for the most in the Major Leagues in that time.

Fister only made it through 4.1 IP with five runs allowed on seven hits. He struck out five but uncharacteristically walked four. With Monday’s loss, Fister now stands at 2-6 with a 5.56 ERA.

Indians starter Trevor Bauer, on the other hand, went 6.2 IP allowing three Boston runs on seven hits with 11 strikeouts, his second performance with 10+ strikeouts this season.

Sox Score Exclusively on Home Runs

In a season where home runs have been tough to come by, all three Red Sox runs on Monday came on solo shots, including two in back-to-back plate appearances by Rafael Devers and another by Andrew Benintendi. The home run for Benintendi extended his hitting streak to a career-best eight games. Benintendi has driven in at least one run in each of his last four games.

Devers, at age 20 years, 295 days, became the youngest player with two home runs in a game since Bryce Harper on April 20, 2013 at age 20 years, 186 days. No Red Sox player as young as Devers has belted two HRs in a game since Tony Conigliaro in 1965 at age 20 years, 253 days. The only other Red Sox hitters since 1913 with a multi-HR game before turning 21 are Ted Williams (1) and Conigliaro (4).

It was the first Fenway game in which a player on each team recorded multiple HR since May 18, 2008, when David Ortiz and the Brewers Ryan Braun each homered twice.

Devers is only the second Boston hitter in the last 100 seasons with six or more home runs in his first 16 career games, joining Sam Horn, who had seven in that time.

The Red Sox now have multiple home runs in their last six games at Fenway Park, the longest multi-HR streak there since six games in July, 2004.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier. Interleague play resumes Tuesday with two games against the Cardinals before an off-day and the return of the Yankees for another weekend series, this time in Boston. Then the Sox head to Cleveland for four more against the Tribe.


Walk-Off Is A Perfect Ending to Exciting Night For Red Sox

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Last night’s Red Sox walk-off win was a brilliant one. It’s fair to say, the most exciting Boston game of the 2017 season, and all the more so as it came against a very tough, very motivated opponent.

Where in the standings might the 2017 Red Sox be without Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel? So on a night when neither had their best stuff, the offense came through for an important win to put Boston back atop the American League East.

All the usual suspects have the game recaps. What RSNStats offers you is some statistical and historical context around the contest.

  • Chris Sale gave up five Indians runs over the first two innings on Monday. That snapped a 21.2-inning scoreless streak. It was just the second of 22 starts this season in which Sale allowed a first-inning run.
  • And yet, even with this uncharacteristically bad outing, Sale manages to draw comparisons to the great ones. Elias Sports Bureau says the only other Red Sox starter coming off three or more straight scoreless starts to give up at least five runs before the start of the third inning is Cy Young, on July 6, 1903, against the St. Louis Browns. Of course, Young went on to pitch the complete-game, earning an 8–6 win in that one.
  • Satisfyingly, the Red Sox have plated 6+ runs in back-to-back games. The offense is back, or is it? We’ve certainly seen this before, the frustrating, on-again/off-again offensive performances. Monday’s was the first where the Sox scored four or more runs in multiple innings of a game since last September 2nd at Oakland.
  • Especially given the news of Dustin Pedroia‘s trip to the DL, how good does the signing of Eduardo Núñez look right now? Playing at second base on Monday, Núñez went 3-for-5 for his fifth three-hit performance in his last nine games. His two-out double tied the game in the second inning and he’s now 31-for-72 (.431) with runners in scoring position this season.
  • A resurgent Mookie Betts drove in his club-best 67th RBI on Monday. He’s now 36-for-87 (.414) with runners in scoring position in 2017. Betts leads the AL since the start of last year at 86-for-228 (.377) with RISP.
  • It was great to see Mitch Moreland showing offensive signs of life again on Monday, too. His second inning, three-run home run sparked an offensive rally that erased the early five-run deficit. Moreland, who also doubled in the sixth inning, is now 4-for-11 (.364) over his last three games after going 4-for-46 (.087) with no extra-base hits in the 15 games before that.
  • Moreland’s ninth inning strikeout should have ended the game but, fortunately, the ball squirted away from Indian catcher Yan Gomes and Moreland reached, allowing the hero, Christian Vázquez, to come to the plate.
  • It’s not unreasonable to expect the league to figure out Rafael Devers at some point and cool him down. Until then, though, he’s on a torrid pace going 2-for-4 with a walk on Monday. Devers reached base safely in seven straight plate appearances (a streak that ended with a foul out in the fifth inning). Devers has now reached safely in all seven career games. In the last 50 years, only six other Red Sox have started their careers with a seven-game on-base streak: Sam Horn, Mo Vaughn, Shea Hillenbrand, Kevin Youkilis, and Daniel Nava.
  • Boston is now 39-for-105 (.371) with runners in scoring position for their last 13 games.

Pitching Implosion

It wasn’t just Sale who had a tough night. Indians starter Carlos Carrasco lasted just 1.2 IP after coughing back up his team’s five-run lead in the second inning.

A succession of pitchers, including old-friend Andrew Miller, struggled to hold the game in check. In all, 12 pitchers would appear in Monday’s game (seven for the Tribe and five for the Sox).

Newly acquired Red Sox set up man Addison Reed made no new friends, allowing a solo shot by Carlos Santana to make it a one-run game in the eighth. Kimbrel promptly allowed a game-tying home run by Francisco Lindor in the top of the ninth inning and then the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cleveland closer Cody Allen followed suit with a meltdown of his own that allowed the Sox to win the game. Kimbrel would walk away with both a blown save and the win.

Vázquez’ remarkable night

Fans know that Christian Vázquez would not normally have started behind the plate for Sale. He was there, however, because mainstay battery-mate Sandy León tweaked his knee in his game-winning slide to home on Saturday.

Vázquez has been on a tear lately, entering Monday’s action 8-for-16 (.500) with three extra-base hits during a four-game hitting streak. Still, Red Sox Nation couldn’t help but wonder if Sale’s early innings missteps could be attributed in some way to Vázquez. Sale, of course, batted that way in post-game comments. “Didn’t matter who was back there tonight, honestly. I had a bad night.”

With the bat,Vázquez seemed unfazed by the rough start, chipping in for three of the club’s 15 hits. It’s his fourth straight multi-hit game. But it was the last hit that mattered most, a towering, majestic 408-foot, two-out home run to center field that gave the Red Sox a 12-10 victory.

Vázquez had just one other HR this season and had never had a walk-off round-tripper.

It was just the second two-out, walk-off home run by a No. 9 hitter in baseball this season (also Miami’s JT Riddle) and the first for the Red Sox since Del Wilber, who connected against Don Larsen on May 20, 1953.

Vázquez and León have now both hit walk-off home runs this season. According to ESPN, the only other season in which two different Red Sox catchers hit game-ending homers was 1995 (Mike Macfarlane and Bill Haselman).

At home this season Váz` is now 36-for-94 (.383), the best home AVG in the AL (minimum 50 at-bats).

Props to Austin Jackson

RSNStats is about the Red Sox, of course, but it would be criminal to overlook what Indians outfielder Austin Jackson did last night.

Jackson’s leaping catch over the Boston bullpen wall robbed Hanley Ramírez of a fifth-inning home run. It was one of finest outfield plays your correspondent has ever witnessed. Just outstanding.