Early on it was trying like an old-school pitcher’s duel, with Boston starter Tanner Houck and Seattle’s George Kirby posting scoreless innings with such effectivity it felt like the sport may take lower than an hour and a half to complete.
Then Houck hit a wall, and as soon as the Mariners had daylight they stomped their foot on the gasoline and left the Red Sox within the mud.
The second time via the order as soon as once more proved Houck’s undoing because the righty obtained battered after dominating the Mariners via the sport’s opening innings. That, plus one other bullpen meltdown, helped result in a 10-1 loss, which prolonged Boston’s shedding streak to 4 straight.
As has usually been the case all through his profession, Houck was terrific out of the gate. Houck confronted one batter over the minimal via the fourth and retired the primary 11 batters he confronted, mowing down the Mariners the primary time via the order earlier than Julio Rodriguez lastly obtained Seattle its first baserunner with a two-out double.
Things turned shortly within the fifth, nonetheless, when the Mariners greeted Houck with three straight hits to begin the inning, together with a towering two-run dwelling run by catcher Cal Raleigh into the suitable area bleachers.
Seattle added one other run within the sixth when Ty France led off the inning with a double, reached third on a Verdugo throwing error again to the infield after which scored on an RBI fielder’s selection by Eugenio Suárez moments later. The change hitting Raleigh didn’t deal with the Red Sox bullpen any kinder both, demolishing a two-run shot off Brennan Bernardino that cleared the Green Monster and successfully put the sport out of attain.
Houck’s struggles dealing with opposing lineups a number of occasions aren’t new and stay his most vexing weak point as a beginning pitcher. Entering Monday opposing batters have been hitting .130 their first time up in opposition to him, however .364 the second time up and .300 the third time.
His effectiveness has usually tailed off considerably deeper into outings too. Between pitches 1-50 opposing batters have hit .173 in opposition to Houck, however as soon as he’s as much as 51 pitches and above? The quantity balloons to .353.
How does he clarify that disparity?
“If I had an answer I think we wouldn’t be talking about it,” Houck stated. “I feel like later innings are getting better with more experience and continuing to work with it, so it’s one of those things where just continue to go out there, continue to work between starts and push myself to be better.”
“I think the stuff is still the same,” Red Sox supervisor Alex Cora stated. “We talk about throwing your best pitches as much as possible, especially late in the outing, just one of those we have to keep working and helping him get better.”
Kirby, in the meantime, was lights out all over. Though he allowed back-to-back singles to Alex Verdugo and Justin Turner within the backside of the primary, he promptly obtained Devers to floor into an inning-ending double play and kind of cruised from there.
Boston’s solely run got here within the sixth when Devers drove in Jarren Duran with a two-out double. The Red Sox additionally had a golden alternative to get again within the recreation within the seventh after they loaded the bases in opposition to Seattle reliever Gabe Speier, however Verdugo weakly lined out to quick to finish the risk.
In the top, Kirby completed with one run allowed over 6.2 innings, whereas Houck gave up 4 over five-plus. Seattle additionally torched the Red Sox bullpen, with Raleigh taking Bernardino deep within the sixth and the Mariners collectively hanging 4 runs on lefty Richard Bleier, together with a two-run shot by Suárez.
According to Mariners statistician Alex Mayer, Raleigh is the primary catcher to homer from each side of the plate within the 112-season historical past of Fenway Park, a feat made extra exceptional by the truth that Jason Varitek referred to as Fenway dwelling for 15 seasons.
Newly acquired shortstop Pablo Reyes pitched the ninth, changing into the primary place participant to take the mound for Boston this 12 months. He fed the Mariners a eating regimen of cartoonish eephus pitches, the slowest of which was clocked at solely 34.4 mph, however managed to scrape by with just one run allowed regardless of permitting two hits and two walks .
Though Kirby has emerged as one of many American League’s best beginning pitchers, the Red Sox offense hasn’t appeared good for a few days now. Dating again to Friday the Red Sox have solely scored 5 runs of their final 28 innings, and between that and Kenley Jansen’s blown saves over the weekend the membership has now misplaced six of its final seven video games.
Nick Pivetta (2-3, 6.23 ERA) will look to get the Red Sox again on observe Tuesday when he takes the mound in opposition to Seattle’s Luis Castillo (2-1, 2.70). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
Schreiber headed to IL
Just because the Red Sox bullpen was lastly getting wholesome, the membership suffered one other obvious damage setback as John Schreiber left the sport with the coach within the seventh inning because of proper lat tightness.
Cora stated afterwards that Schreiber will want a stint on the injured checklist, and Schreiber stated he’s been coping with the difficulty over the previous week and have it additional evaluated within the morning.
“It’s been tight a little bit this past week,” Schreiber stated. “I was throwing some bullpens and it was coming out good, felt like something I could get through and all that kind of stuff, and tonight it was coming out really good I thought, just that last pitch maybe a little too much extension and it tightened up.”
In addition, lefty Brennan Bernardino was additionally seen getting hugs and farewells from teammates and staffers within the clubhouse following the sport, and in response to a number of reviews he’s being despatched all the way down to Triple-A. Between him and Schreiber the Red Sox might want to add two pitchers to the energetic roster, although righty Kutter Crawford (hamstring) is predicted to return Friday in San Diego assuming his final rehab outing in Worcester on Tuesday goes easily.
Source: www.bostonherald.com
