Despite some messy innings from Kutter Crawford and Justin Garza at the beginning and end of Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies, it’s not the Red Sox pitching staff who should be fidgeting on the hot seat amidst the team’s recent struggles.
Since May 17, the starting rotation owns the fifth-best ERA (3.60) in the Majors, with two earned runs or fewer in 18 of their last 25 games, and the bullpen owns the ninth-best ERA (3.65) since May 16.
This stretch of agonizingly close games is almost entire due to a subdued lineup (and poor defense). 11 of their last 17 games were decided by one or two runs. Five of their last eight games were decided by one, including each of their previous three, all of which were extra-inning contests.
Over their first 13 games of the month, the Red Sox left 103 men on base. They’re averaging 7.83 stranded runners per game, up from 6.88 in May, and 6.6 in April. Conversely, their average runs scored per game has plummeted each month: 5.6 in April (29 games), 4.69 in May (26), now 3.61 in June (13).
It’s not hard to connect the dots to their 5-7 record in June, or their recent submergences under .500. They’re 10-12 in 1-run games this year, 4-24 when scoring less than four runs.
“We’re not playing good baseball, that’s the bottom line. There’s a lot of close games,” Alex Cora said on Wednesday afternoon.
“Hard-hit percentage is actually better than early in the season, but we’re not scoring runs,” he continued. “We’re not hitting with men in scoring position, we’re not hitting with men on. Is that a mindset? We were talking about it. I think the at-bat should change depending on the situation… especially now.
“I think, offensively the mindset should be the same: just grind at-bats, keep getting on base. You do that, you give yourself, you know, a lot of chances to score runs. We haven’t been able to cash in lately.”
Nor is it difficult to assess that if the Red Sox were a bit better about leaving no man behind, their season as a whole would look quite different. Their 475 LOB is tied with the Oakland A’s for fourth-most in the American League, well above league average (453).
After homering twice on Tuesday night (and four times in his last five games), it was a bit surprising to see Rafael Devers getting Wednesday off.
With their recent struggles and losses, is it harder for his manager to give the slugger a break and lose his bat for the night?
“For me, (my job) it’s to take care of them 162 (games),” Alex Cora said of his players on Wednesday afternoon.
“I think I learned this in ’17 with Jose Altuve,” he explained. “Why wait til the 15-game hitting streak ends, while he’s getting on base at a .500 clip, and then he’s dead-tired for five or six days and then he’s in a slump, instead of like, let’s take care of the guy when he’s locked in?”
“One day, two days, it doesn’t mean anything,” he reassured. “They’re not gonna forget how to hit in two days or one day. I think it’s actually good for them.”
The Red Sox certainly need to break out of their hitting slump, but taking the long view, a healthy Devers feels like the right priority.
After saying that Triston Casas’ defense needed some work on Tuesday afternoon and using him as the designated hitter that night, Cora went into more detail about how the rookie first baseman needs to improve at his position, highlighting two notable players who’ve benefitted from similar training.
“First step pre-pitch, I think that’s the most important thing,” the manager noted. “Defensively, just like hitting, you gotta be on time and for your reaction.
“A lot of people have different pre-pitches, you know? Pedroia used to jump. Some of us will walk through it,” Cora explained. “Some moves that were going against, actually negative moves, to be honest. He’s like, he was stepping back instead of going forward, so we’ve been noticing this and Kiyoshi (strength and conditioning coach) has been working hard with him, adding some stuff.”
It turns out, Casas is following in the footsteps of Devers and Xander Bogaerts.
“Series of drills that have worked for Bogaerts and Raffy, to make them better defenders, and the numbers are right there,” Cora said.
Bogaerts was a Gold Glove nominee last year, and currently ranks in the 98th MLB percentile in Outs Above Average. After finishing 2021 with minus-14 OAA and minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved, Devers was minus-two OAA and minus-six DRS last season and is currently plus-one OAA and minus-one DRS.
“Infielders, we haven’t had like, a great defender throughout the years, right? Probably Ian (Kinsler) was the only one that had Gold Gloves,” Cora said.
Other than Bogaerts and fellow first baseman Mitch Moreland, who was a finalist in 2018, the skipper is correct.
But though the Red Sox are adjusting Casas’ training, they’re doing so in concert with his own routines, for which his manager had high praise.
“I respect his routines, I love the fact that he has one, offensively and defensive, and in the weight room, and his eating habits, all that stuff,” Cora lauded.
“But it’s still the big leagues, right? And the game is a little bit faster here,” he added. “Some of the things that he’s done defensively we have to adjust… The play that we have to make is the routine play. You do that, we’re fine.”
The Yankees come to Fenway on Friday for the first time this season. Thursday is a day off for the Red Sox, but it won’t impact the starting rotation, Cora said. Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and James Paxton will start in that order over the weekend.
After they host the Yankees over weekend, Trevor Story (elbow) will accompany the team on the road. He’s still nowhere near ready to play, though. Earlier this week, he gave August as a rough estimate for playing shortstop, but the Red Sox haven’t ruled out having him serve as the designated hitter before then.