Travis Shaw Archives – Page 2 of 2

Offensive explosion

August 14, 2015 Leave a Comment

On a surreal day for fans as news came in that Manager John Farrell has cancer, the Red Sox poured on an impressive display of power Friday night at Fenway.

Boston beat Seattle 15-1, belting out 21 hits in the game. It was the Red Sox’ most runs scored since beating the Rockies 15-5 on September 25, 2013 and their most hits in a game since racking up 23 against the Orioles in Baltimore on August 2, 2009. The Red Sox have not had that many hits at Fenway since collecting 23 against the Twins on July 9, 2008.

The 21 Red Sox hits is tied for the 3rd most by any team this season in a 9-inning game. Only the Giants (22) and Nationals (23) have had more hits in a game in 2015.

Oddly enough, Boston now leads all of baseball with the most games of 18 or more hits this season (5).

Nine Red Sox players had multiple hits including all the starters except Xander Bogaerts. Alejandro De Aza, who entered the game after Rusney Castillo fouled a ball off his foot, also collected two hits. It was the first time nine Red Sox have had multiple hits in a game since May 28, 2005 facing the Yankees. No other MLB club this season has had nine players collect multiple hits in a game.

Rookie Travis Shaw collected his 2nd career multi-home run game becoming on the 2nd Red Sox player in the last 100 years with multi-HR games within their first 18 MLB games. The other was George Scott in 1966. Castillo’s first inning home run was the fifth of his career, his third this year, and his first ever to give his club the lead.

Shaw, Pablo Sandoval, and Brock Holt each tallied three RBI Friday. The 3rd RBI for Sandoval marked the 500th of his career.

David Ortiz, who has scored at least one run in six straight games, doubled in the first inning. He is now one extra-base hit from tying Cal Ripkin, Jr. for the 22nd-most in MLB history.

Mookie Betts collected his club-best 7th triple of the season in the 5th inning. Brock Holt also tripled in the 3rd inning. It was the seventh time this season the Red Sox have had 2+ triples in a game, the club’s most such games since also having seven in 1978.

Not to be lost in all the offensive fireworks was Joe Kelly, who allowed four hits and one earned run in 6.0 innings of work, retiring 16 of his final 19 batters faced. Kelly became the first pitcher to allow one run or less in each of his first three starts against the Mariners as a member of the Red Sox.

The Red Sox also flashed some defensive brilliance with excellent plays by Betts in the 3rd inning, and Holt and Jackie Bradley in the 8th inning. Holt’s acrobatic leaping catch in the 8th ended Nelson Cruz‘ impressive 21-game hitting streak. Cruz’ was the longest hitting streak by an American League player this season.

Rookie Travis Shaw has a day

August 2, 2015 Leave a Comment

Red Sox Travis Shaw
Photo: Cindy M. Loo

The Red Sox took 2 of 3 games from the Rays in the just completed Fenway series with Boston’s sometimes spotty offense firing up to outscore Tampa Bay 21-16 in the 3-game set.

There were certainly some Red Sox offensive highlights over the weekend series, but none so bright as the day 25-year old rookie Travis Shaw had on Saturday.

Shaw, appearing in just his 10th MLB game ever, went 4-for-4 with 5 runs scored. His day included a single, a double, a walk, and 2 home runs. His 11 total bases were the most ever by a Red Sox player in one of his first ten games since at least 1914. His 5 runs scored were the most by any Red Sox since Dustin Pedroia‘s 5 on August 12, 2008 against the Rangers.

No rookie had ever scored more than 3 runs against the Rays in Tampa Bay franchise history.

Shaw became the first Red Sox player with at least 2 home runs and 5 runs in a game since Walt Dropo on June 8, 1950, a 29-4 Red Sox win over the St. Louis Browns. Dropo was also the last Red Sox rookie to score 5 runs.

The home runs, coming in the 3rd and 8th innings, were the first of Shaw’s major league career. The last MLB player to collect his 1st home run in a multi-HR game was the Jose Abreu of the White Sox on April 8, 2014. No Boston player has done it since Ryan Lavarnway on September 27, 2011.

A triple for the cycle, instead a home run

What Shaw didn’t do is hit for the cycle. He needed the triple but instead clubbed his 2nd home run of the day. “It’s obviously in your head,” Shaw said after the game, “That’s the only thing left, but I’ll definitely take the home run,” he told WEEI’s radio broadcasters.

Red Sox utilityman Brock Holt hit for the cycle earlier this season, the first Boston player to do so since John Valentin on June 6, 1996. The Sox have had 2 players hit for the cycle in the same season only once before when Bobby Doerr and Bob Johnson pulled it off May 17 and July 6, 1944, respectively.

In 2012 the Diamondbacks Aaron Hill hit for the cycle twice in the same season, on June 18 and 29. Hill was the 2nd MLB player to accomplish the rare feat twice in the same season. The other was Babe Herman on May 18 and July 24, 1931 for the Brooklyn Robins, which would later become the Brooklyn and then Los Angeles Dodgers.

The last club with two different players hitting for the cycle the same season was the 2009 Twins, with Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel collecting the achievements on May 22 and April 17, respectively. The Twins’ Lyman Bostock and Larry Hisle also hit for the cycle in the 1976 season.

The then-Philadelphia Athletics had 3 players hit for the cycle in 1933: Jimmie Foxx, Pinky Higgins, and Mickey Cochrane. Three years later, Hall of Famer Foxx would go on to play 7 seasons for the Red Sox.

Sox offense goes missing, again

June 27, 2015 Leave a Comment

After scoring 4 or more runs over their past 8 games, the Red Sox managed to push just one across in today’s loss to the Rays. The sole Boston run came off the bat of Alejandro De Aza with a home run in the 8th inning. De Aza now has 2 HRs in his last 3 games after a homeless stretch of 70 at-bats.

Saturday’s was Boston’s 16th game this season where they’ve scored one run or less. The Red Sox are 2-14 in such games overall. Exactly half of the Red Sox/Rays games this season (4 of 8) have ended with 1 or less Boston runs with the Sox 1-3 in such games.

Wade Miley, who has pummeled the Rays in previous outings going 3-0 with an 0.47 ERA in 3 career starts against Tampa Bay, got through 6.1 IP with just 2 runs allowed on Jake Elmore‘s home run in the 5th. Miley tied his season high for the third time with 8 strikeouts. Matt Barnes, recalled in exchange for Travis Shaw from Triple-A Pawtucket prior to Saturday’s game, had a disappointing outing, allowing 2 home runs in just 1.2 IP.

Six of 7 Rays hits went for extra bases today, including 3 home runs in the game for a 6th time this season. The Astros have the most games with 3+ home runs this season (19). The Red Sox have had 5. Tampa Bay, never the less, entered today’s game averaging just 3.68 runs scored per game, the 3rd lowest mark in the AL. The Red Sox average runs scored has crept up to 4.11, just shy of the MLB average of 4.14.

Despite their 3 HRs, the Rays grip on first place in the AL East is built upon their pitching strength. After the game, Red Sox DH David Ortiz said, “you have to play to win, definitely, but you have to remember that the reason they are in first place is because of their pitching. Those guys have done a good job of stopping offense and we have to figure out how to do what we did yesterday.”

The Rays, wearing “hypothetical” 1979 uniforms on “Turn Back the Clock Day,” won their 10th straight game when facing lefty starters, tying a club record set in 2004. They are now an MLB-best 30-6 when they score first.

The Red Sox have now lost 9 of their last 11 games against AL East rivals.

Still tracking with 2014

May 8, 2015 1 Comment

Over on Twitter at @RSNStats I often find any comparison of the team’s performance to that of 2004, 2007, and 2013 meets with favorable, albeit virtual nods. And why not? Those magical years in which the Red Sox won the World Championship have often been paradigms of great play.

So it’s all the more gut wrenching after the retooling of the past off-season to draw yet another comparison to the lost year of 2014.

A few days ago I told you that this year’s Red Sox were at 12-13 as we headed into May, just as they were in 2014. Now, after a humiliating shut out in Toronto, the Sox stand at 13-16, again just as they were after 29 games into 2014.

Here’s a fast look at the how the club has performed over the past two seasons after 29 games. First, a look at some common offensive stats.

Comparing Red Sox 2014 to 2015.
Favorable comparisons shaded in green.

Though it hasn’t shown itself lately, early offensive production boosted the Red Sox numbers nicely in 2015, with a big boost in home runs almost entirely attributable to Hanley Ramírez. While strikeouts are markedly down, a +10 differential in total run production year-over-year seems like a small gain given the off-season improvements to the lineup.

Now, a look at some common pitching statistics. Here the deficiencies are glaring in earned runs, home runs, and walks allowed.

Comparing Red Sox 2014 to 2015.
Unfavorable comparisons shown in red.

It’s easy to keep telling ourselves that it’s early in the season. But as the calendar unfolds, how much can this team afford to be just like last year?

Tonight’s mess

Red Sox starter Wade Miley went 6.0 innings, striking out a season-high 8 Blue Jays, but not without giving up 4 earned runs on 8 hits, including 2 home runs. Josh Donaldson‘s home run, coming in the bottom of the first inning put the Red Sox behind right from the start of the game.

It was the 23rd first inning run allowed by Red Sox pitching this season, the 3rd-most in baseball behind the Indians (25) and Dodgers (24). In games where opponents score first, the Sox are now 5-14.

This will get better. This will get better when we come back to full strength. Better days are ahead.

— Manager John Farrell

Boston pitchers’ first inning ERA this season is 6.75 comapred to 4.17 last season and 3.22 in 2013. In fact, in 2013 the Red Sox allowed just 67 total first inning runs. Only the Angels (63) and Reds (61) allowed fewer in all of baseball.

For the 14th time in his career, Miley allowed multiple home runs in a single game. On Friday it was a second inning solo shot by Chris Colabello after which the score stayed 2-0 until the bottom of the 6th when Edwin Encarnacion scored on a Danny Valencia single and Russel Martin scored on a sacrifice by Kevin Pillar. The Blue Jays tacked on 3 more in the 8th inning to break the game open.

Still, up until that point, the game was eminently winnable. 4 Blue Jays runs are not an insurmountable mountain to climb. And yet the Red Sox offense was all but silent, save for two singles by Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts. That was it. Two meaningless singles.

You expect the Blue Jays to score. Entering Friday’s action they had scored 155 times, the most in the major leagues this season. The league average is 119 runs, while the Red Sox had (and after tonight’s shut out, still have) 128.

Boston had opportunities to climb into the game, most notably in the 4th inning when, down 2-0, Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava walked back-to-back and Allen Craig was hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded and no one out, Blake Swihart struck out and Xander Bogaerts grounded into an inning-ending double play.

For the past 7 games, the Red Sox are batting .077 with just 3 extra-base hits, 8 runs scored and a staggering 51 men left on base. No team is leaving more men on base than the Red Sox so this season. Entering tonight’s action Boston averaged 7.82 men left on base per game and averaged 3.79 men left in scoring position. Tonight, Boston was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Red Sox shut out for first time in 2015

While the dismissal of pitching coach Juan Nieves dominated the Red Sox news cycle yesterday, it’s the offensive power outage that seems difficult to comprehend given the inherent power of this lineup. That said, an offensive slump at another time of the season would be viewed as an unfortunate inevitability without the soul crushing impact it has had throughout Red Sox Nation.

Friday’s was the first shut out of the Red Sox this season and the first by the Blue Jays since an 8-0 loss last July 24 (also in Toronto). In that game the Blue Jays limited the Red Sox to just one hit. In the history of the rivalry, which now stands in Boston’s favor at 308-255, Friday’s game was just the 8th time (and 4th time this century) the Jays have held the Sox to two or fewer hits.

As for the Red Sox, their pitching has now allowed 7+ runs by an opponent for a 9th time this season, tying them with the Indians for the 2nd-most such games in baseball behind the Rockies (10).

Odds ‘n ends

Travis Shaw, 25, made his MLB debut with the Red Sox on Friday going 0-for-2 with a walk…At 2 hours, 41 minutes the game was Boston’s 2nd shortest of 9 innings or more. The only shorter such game was 2 hours, 26 minutes on May 5 against the Rays…Last Red Sox shut out was September 16 against the Pirates. Boston was shut out 15 times in 2014…Blue Jays Jose Bautista hit his 14th career triple Friday, his first since 2011…Mookie Betts’ string of extra-base hits came to an end with a single tonight. Each of his last 6 hits had gone for extra bases (3 doubles, 3 home runs). Betts has, however, now hit safely in each of his last 7 games against Toronto.

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