“You like rainbows? It’s a rainbow today on the card.”
That’s how Alex Cora described the bullpen situation on Sunday morning.
“We got green, got yellow, orange, red,” the Red Sox manager continued, alluding to the levels of availability and unavailability on the lineup card. “We’ll be okay.”
Indeed, the Red Sox were “okay” on Sunday, but not good enough to overcome Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who took the series with a 7-4 victory.
Sunday was the Red Sox’s Game No. 13 of a 16-game stretch without a day off, and they’d gone through five relievers on Saturday. They’d also played without Kenley Jansen since August 23 and lost Brennan Bernardino to the COVID-related injured list on Sunday morning.
In other words, Cora needed his starter to get the job done.
Unfortunately, Tanner Houck scuffled a bit on Sunday afternoon. Making his first career start against the Dodgers and only his second start since suffering a facial fracture in a June game, he lasted just four innings.
When all was said and done, Houck was lucky to have a relatively clean final line. The 27-year-old right-hander exited charged with one earned run, five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. He’d thrown 80 pitches, only 50 for strikes, and induced seven swings & misses.
The Red Sox are being careful with Houck after his injury, and 80 pitches was around the limit imposed for this start. Next time out, Cora said the righty will be full go.
Chris Murphy, recalled earlier in the day to take Brennan Bernardino’s spot (COVID-related IL), took over. He didn’t issue a walk in his 4-inning outing, but the Dodgers didn’t need any free passes to put the hurt on him. Like a lamb to the slaughter, they pounced on the rookie left-hander for six earned runs on nine hits, including Mookie Betts’ first home run of the series and 35th of the season, tying his career-high.
Meanwhile, opener Caleb Ferguson (1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB) and rookie Gavin Stone (6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2K) shut out the home team until the bottom of the sixth. Only then, with a runner on, did Triston Casas put Boston on the board with his 21st home run of the year.
Not since Nomar Garciaparra’s Rookie of the Year season in 1997 has a Red Sox rookie under the age of 24 had a season with as many home runs. Casas has come a long way since the start of the season, when he finished the month of April hitting .133 with a .576 OPS and just 10 hits in 25 games.
It turned out, the only way the Red Sox could score at all on Sunday was via the long ball. In the bottom of the eighth, Justin Turner and Adam Duvall began the frame with back-to-back home runs into the Green Monster seats.
Much of this season hasn’t gone to plan, but there’s no denying the Red Sox are a much better home-run hitting team than last year. On August 27, 2022, they’d hit 119 home runs; as of Sunday, they’ve collected 157 on the season.
Unfortunately, the three round-trippers weren’t enough to overcome the visitors from Los Angeles. All told, the Boston bats collected seven hits and Turner drew the lineup’s only walk of the contest. The Red Sox were 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.
The Dodgers could’ve done even more damage. They amassed 14 hits and two walks, but went 4-for-9 RISP with nine men stranded.
As he did so many times in a Red Sox uniform, Betts made the difference for the Dodgers. He finished the day 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs, and a trio of RBI. His 35th home run of the season sailed high and deep to the back row of the Monster seats, and tied the career-high he set last season. With over a month left to play, he’s certain to set a new benchmark for himself before long.
Betts had been the Dodgers’ last hope on Saturday, so it was only fitting that Alex Verdugo was Boston’s on Sunday. With a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Verdugo struck out swinging on the third pitch.
Game over. Beaten by LA.
While several former Red Sox and Dodgers faced off from new sides this weekend, Kenley Jansen didn’t pitch once against the team with whom he spent the first 12 years of his career. After leaving his August 23 outing in Houston with a hamstring ailment, the veteran pitcher rested through Saturday, and didn’t pitch Sunday due to the Dodgers’ comfortable lead in the late innings.
“They’re just another team,” Jansen told the Herald on Sunday evening. “I love them, that’s where I came from, but we gotta treat every situation just like another team.”
Instead, the closer had ample time to observe his current team versus his former team all weekend, and came away from the series with a lot of thoughts.
“You know what’s impressive to me? It’s not just that he’s succeeding, it’s how he handled himself,” he said. “To have a pretty tough April and May — and credit to (Alex Cora), and the front office, to give him that room to become a better player and not give up on him — he went on a road to have a legit season right now. It’s unbelievable. That, to me, is the most impressive, to see his mental side.”
Jansen and Turner were teammates together on the Dodgers for many years before both signing with Boston as free agents last winter. But unlike Jansen, who already spent last season away from Los Angeles, Turner’s departure is fresh. They declined his club option for 2023, then spent over a month negotiating a deal before the Dodgers pivoted to signing J.D. Martinez.
““I’m happy to watch JT having a big series against them. I’m so happy that he had a big series,” the Red Sox closer said. “People think, you can think whatever you think about age, but sometimes, you gotta treat it as just a number.
“He could easily play into his 40s, and he’s one of the smartest ballplayers I ever played with probably, and the most clutch.”
In fact, Turner, 38, and Duvall, 34, are the first pair of Red Sox hitters aged 34 or older to each hit at least 16 home runs in a season since J.D. Drew and David Ortiz in 2010.
Hearing that, Jansen smiled. “It’s impressive. I mean, it’s great,” he said.
“But at the same time,” he said, growing serious, “we want to be up by three now or something in the Wild Card, instead of being back.”