Josh Winckowski regaining form on the mound from earlier this season
Red Sox bulk reliever Josh Winckowski scuffled on the mound as the club headed into the All-Star break. The right-hander looked out of gas as he was hammered for seven runs in his final 8 1/3 innings.
“Wasn’t quite where I wanted to be heading into it,” Winckowski said following the Red Sox 6-1 win over the Mets Sunday night. “I kind of scuffled a little bit. So it was nice to get a mental reset and kind of get back and hit the reset. I’ve been happy with how I’ve been throwing since.”
Winckowski has been Alex Cora’s most used reliever out of the bullpen this season. He has tossed 55 1/3 innings (35 games).
Since the return from the All-Star break, the righty has looked more like his dominant self. Winckowski has now throws 4 2/3 scoreless frames and has only surrendered one run and has struck out 10 in his last five games.
On Sunday night, he came into the game in a crucial moment replacing Chris Murphy in the sixth inning with runners on the corners. Winckowski struck out both batters he faced in Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos to keep the Sox lead at 5-1.
“I think moments like that are always big,” Winckowski said. “Usually ... there’s a couple moments where the momentum can shift. So we took the momentum early. And obviously they started to build some momentum there. So to come in and shut it down is obviously a big moment. First and third, to be able to leave them there, that’s big, although Murph did a great job before that. Just ran into a little bit of trouble. So props to him. But yeah, a big moment.”
Winckowski didn’t looked intimidating facing Alonso with runners on base. After failing behind in the count, he finished off the slugger with a 90.4 mph cutter.
The Ohio native quickly overmatched Vientos, striking him out on three pitches, including a 97.7 mph heater to end the inning.
A visibly excited Winckowski screamed and pumped his fists as he walked off the mound. He was back showing emotion again after getting big outs in high-leverage spots.
“The stuff was amazing,” Cora said. “We needed that. He was the only righty available in the middle of the game. We were trying to stay away from Nick (Pivetta) tonight so he can pitch on Tuesday. Just made some good pitches, man. He was throwing 97, 98.”
In an effort to reduce his workload, Cora has used Winckowski for one inning the last handful of appearances but the club prefers the hurler to go multiple-innings.
“I think it’s always good to get a break,” Winckowski said.
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