Fox: The Boston Red Sox are blowing it
Another bullpen meltdown. Another terrible loss. Another opportunity missed.
This should have been a positive article.
More specifically, this should have been an article focused on the resiliency of the Boston Red Sox, who were on the cusp on sweeping the Texas Rangers after a disastrous weekend against the Houston Astros. We should be talking about an offense the scored 21 more runs in three games and now ranks in the top five in baseball in runs, average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.
We should be talking about how Tanner Houck delivered his second straight solid outing, how Wilyer Abreu continued his ROY campaign with another homer against the Rangers, how Danny Jansen once again came up with the big, tie-breaking hit and how Romy Gonzalez delivered a huge two-run double for the key insurance runs that should have iced the game. Most importantly, we should be talking about how the Red Sox were only one game behind the Kansas Royals in the Wild Card standings and were creating separation with the Seattle Mariners behind them.
Unfortunately, we’re not going to be talking about any of that, because the main story, really the only story, is the self-destruction of the Red Sox bullpen. Over the last three innings, the collection of Luis Garcia, Josh Winckowski and Zach Kelly combined to allow a whopping seven runs. It began with Garcia, who was supposed to be a welcome addition to the pitching staff when he was acquired at the trade deadline, couldn’t protect a 4-2, eighth-inning lead, marking his fifth straight appearance allowing runs.
Yet the bullpen would get another, somehow easier chance when the Red Sox struck back for three in the bottom of the eighth. This time, it would be Winckowski doing the “honors”, allowing a back-breaking, three-run homer to Wyatt Langford to knot the score at seven. Winckowski was thrust into the closer’s role last night because Kenley Jansen was unavailable, but it’s become really clear that Winckowski should be no one’s first, second or third choice to pitch high-leverage innings. He simply does not have the ability to whiff bats, ranking in the seventh percentile in whiff rate and the 12th percentile in strikeout rate. Those numbers have been even worse in the recent weeks, as he has struck out just 12 batters in his last 24.1 innings of work. In last night’s disaster, he got just one whiff on the fourteen pitches he served up.
After the Red Sox failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, they had no choice but to bring in Kelly to begin the top of the tenth. Despite having an ERA under three and excellent swing-and-miss numbers, Red Sox fans have learned not to trust Kelly due to his tendency to throw pitches directly down the middle, leading to an atrocious 1.7 HR/9. True to form, Kelly’s first pitch to Jonah Heim was this beauty that was blasted out of the park for a game-winning home run.
That home run proved to be the difference in another excruciating loss that has become all too common since the All-Star break. This was the fourth game the Red Sox have lost in the last month in which their opponent was down to their final two outs, and the third game in which they were down to their last out. This is self-destruction of the highest order, and unfortunately, it is something that we have been getting used to in the last few years.
Fortunately, the Red Sox are a much better team than they have been in years past, have a ton of help on the way, and are in pursuit of flawed teams for the last wild card. But with the Orioles, Astros and red-hot Diamondbacks on the schedule, the Red Sox simply cannot afford to give games away like this, or the reinforcements will be too little, too late.
Great article Mr. Fox, unless I overlooked it, you need to mention several base running errors which could have led to extra runs. When Duran hesitated running to second and when Devers was in lala land rounding second base only to be doubled off at first base. I have noticed this lately with poor base running decisions. Keep up the good work.