Can’t spin rotation’s woes
Cora, staff searching as Sale falters again
NEW YORK — The demise of the Red Sox rotation continues unabated.
After Chris Sale’s eight-run stinker in the 9-2 Game 1 loss in yesterday’s doubleheader, the ERA of the staff rose to 4.97, a figure far too high for anyone’s liking other than opposing lineups.
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“I mean we’ve been talking about it the whole time and they know it — these guys, like I’ve been saying all along, they understand that this team was built around the rotation and it hasn’t been effective — there’s no hiding,” manager Alex Cora said. “But we’ll keep working. We believe in them, that’s the thing. We believe in them and we think they can turn it around. When we pitched well two weeks ago or one week ago, six or seven starts in a row, you saw that happened. We’re capais ble of doing that.”
A precise answer regarding what can be done is unavailable.
“We’re searching,” Cora said. “It’s not like we’re just, OK, we’re hoping for the best. On a daily basis we’re looking for everything. Whatever something pops up and that’s the reason. And as of now we’re making adjustments and we’re good for a little bit, then this happens. It’s frustrating for everybody because the effort is there. The effort is there.”
Said Sale, whose 3⅔-inning stint was the shortest and worst of his career against the Yankees: “We’ve got to be the anchor. And we’re kind of the opposite right now. We’re giving up too many runs. We’re putting our offense in a hole. Just, like I said, we’ve got to find a way. We’ve got two months, basically, to figure this out and just grind through it. I think that’s where we’re at, basically looking at a clean slate, start from scratch here. We’ve got two months to make a push here, get our foot in the door and that’s all we need.”
Cora said the team will not, for now, be skipping starts for struggling starters.
“Those are the guys that we have and we believe in them and we’re going to keep rolling with them,” Cora said.
The manager said he expects David Price, who was put on paternity leave Friday, will be ready to start the series finale tonight.
Sale does not understand why, after so much early success against the Yankees earlier in his Red Sox career, he struggling this year (0-4, 9.90 ERA).
“I think if you look at how my games are going, it’s just pitches that are left out over the plate, it seems like guys now are hitting the mistakes,” said Sale who had only four losses total last season. “In previous years if you make a few mistakes you might get away with a couple. Honestly haven’t been good but haven’t been lucky at all either. Just seems like every mistake I make gets capitalized on on the other side.
“Just too many balls out over the plate.”
The eight runs Sale allowed are the most by a Red Sox starter against the Yankees since Clay Buchholz allowed 10 (nine earned) on April 12, 2015.
Deep observations
The Red Sox scored four total runs in the first two games of this series — all via home runs. They have homered in nine straight games. In six of their first seven games at Yankee Stadium this year, the Red Sox have scored three or fewer runs.
Andrew Benintendi and
Jackie Bradley Jr. each homered in Game 1. Benintendi has hit the Yankees well this season: .390 (16-for-41), with nine runs, three doubles, three homers and eight RBI. He has hit seven homers in this ballpark.
After Bradley’s home run leading off the fifth inning, the Red Sox went down in order through the end of the game — 15 straight batters. In the first two games of the series, the Red Sox were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
A pitch thrown by Josh Smith hit the right wrist of
Edwin Encarnacion in the eighth inning, and it was announced after the game the Yankees slugger has a fractured bone. Encarnacion will miss an unknown period of time, leaving his availability for the Yankees’ playoff run up in the air.
Pearce’s slow road
The MVP of last year’s World Series, Steve Pearce, remains unavailable and a non-factor for the Red Sox this season. He is battling a lower back strain and is slowly getting better. He has been out since the beginning of June.
“The running has been the challenge,” Cora said. “He’s still swinging, catching ground balls, but running has been a challenge for him.”
Cora sounded mildly optimistic about Pearce playing some more this season.
“We do feel that at one point, he’s going to be here,” Cora said. “But it’s taken longer than we expected.”
Reliever Steven Wright, out with a toe bruise since the middle of July, also is on the slow path to returning.
“It’s taken longer than we thought it would be and obviously the longer it takes, the worse it is as far as progression,” Cora said. “We’ll see where we goes at this point.”