Rain Washes Out Series Sweep

Road Recap

Record (3-2)       Season (71-32)  GB 0.0     Series Play (23-7-2)

• The boys were poised for a pair of series wins on the road, but a funky forecast in Baltimore that included a couple with some bizarre rain stoppages put this on the backburner for now. The Red Sox took 2 of 3 games in Motown and went up 5-0 in the rubber game at Camden Yards, but the rain put a damper on this cooling the hot Sawx bats dousing homers by JD Martinez, Mookie Betts, and Andrew Benintendi. Boston starters came out of the gate after the break sizzling. In all three games in Detroit along with the opener with the Orioles, the rotation tossed donuts. It was a historic run as no Boston starters recorded 5.0+ IP and allowed 0 ER in 4 straight games in 102 years. 

• Brian Johnson, who was one of those 4 pitchers, picked up right where he left off blanking the Twins at home last night before the bullpen finally caved in due to a lack of run support in a 2-1 loss. Johnson has now fired 10.2 scoreless innings and looks like he belongs in that rotation as the fifth guy. Drew Pomeranz's return to the rotation may be short-lived as he was roughed up for 4 runs in only 4,2 innings against the Orioles. With Nathan Eovaldi joining the fold in a trade for Jalen Beeks with the Rays, Boston attempted to address their weakness for the right-handed power bats of the Yankees, Indians, and Astros. When it gets right down to it, Pomeranz is a  two-pitch pitcher and that just isn't going to play especially being a low-velocity lefty. He has a dandy yacker, but inevitably, he rolls one up that gets hit a mile. He has registered 2 quality starts in nine outings due largely to the fact that those outings were the only ones he managed to last 6 innings.

• The Boston bullpen has sagged coming out of the break, and including last night's game against Minnesota, Boston relievers have now allowed 11 runs in 16 innings for a 6.18 ERA. Joe Kelly remains broken. He was cuffed about for 3 runs in Baltimore after getting only 2 outs. Kelly seems to outsmart himself with this repertoire of pitches he possesses. I'd like to see him stay fastball/changeup and toss that curveball in the trash for now. He has allowed 5 runs in his last 2.1 innings gifting the opposition during that time with 5 walks telling you all you need to know about his issues. Tyler Thornburg's struggles also leave you with the notion that Boston will require bullpen help for the stretch run. Brandon Workman's hiccup came at the wrong time as he was demoted upon the arrival of Eovaldi.

• In the Clutch: Not a whole lot of offense was on display on this last trip so let's take a closer look some the clutch stats. Mookie Betts leads the team with a .375 BA with 2 out and RISP. He has belted 3 homers and knocked in 14 runs. Xander Bogaerts has a .300 clip in this scenario and also has the most RBI with 21. JD Martinez is batting .349 and tied with Betts poking 3 dingers and second in ribbies with 18. Andrew Benintendi was the leader on the last road trip and is second in this clutch stat with a .361 average clubbing 7 doubles with two down. Newcomer Steve Pearce leads the Red Sox with a .333 batting average with two strikes in 12 games, but Mookie Betts has been absolutely incredible this season in this situation. He is second with a .310 average but he has crushed 10 homers and drove in 24 runs over the course of 83 games.                                                                                                                                  

Name	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA ▼	OBP	SLG	OPS
Andrew Benintendi	5	20	17	3	7	1	1	0	4	3	2	0	0	.412	.500	.588	1.088
Steve Pearce	3	12	11	2	4	1	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	.364	.417	.455	.871
Blake Swihart	2	8	6	1	2	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	.333	.500	.833	1.333
Rafael Devers	4	16	15	1	4	0	0	0	2	1	4	0	0	.267	.313	.267	.579
Mookie Betts	5	25	24	2	6	0	0	1	1	1	6	0	1	.250	.280	.375	.655
Tzu-Wei Lin	2	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	.250	.250	.250	.500
Jackie Bradley Jr.	4	16	14	3	3	0	0	1	4	2	4	0	0	.214	.313	.429	.741
J.D. Martinez	4	16	14	2	3	0	0	2	5	1	2	1	0	.214	.250	.643	.893
Xander Bogaerts	5	19	19	3	4	3	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	.211	.211	.368	.579
Mitch Moreland	4	16	15	1	3	0	0	1	1	1	3	0	0	.200	.250	.400	.650
Eduardo Nunez	4	15	15	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	.133	.133	.133	.267
Sandy Leon	3	12	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	0	0	.000	.273	.000	.273
Brock Holt	3	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.000	.167	.000	.167

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/26/2018.

Name	G	GS ▼	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	GB/FB	BAbip	SO9
Brian Johnson	1	1		1		5.0	5	2	0	0	5	0	0.00	44%	.313	9.0
Drew Pomeranz	1	1		1		4.2	6	4	4	2	4	2	7.71	38%	.286	7.7
Rick Porcello	1	1	1			6.0	6	0	0	1	6	0	0.00	41%	.375	9.0
David Price	1	1	1			6.1	4	0	0	1	5	0	0.00	28%	.222	7.1
Chris Sale	1	1	1			6.0	2	0	0	0	9	0	0.00	45%	.182	13.5
Matt Barnes	1	0				1.0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0.00	100%	.000	27.0
Ryan Brasier	2	0				2.0	1	0	0	0	4	0	0.00	33%	.333	18.0
Heath Hembree	1	0				0.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00	---%		27.0
Joe Kelly	2	0				1.2	2	3	3	4	0	0	16.20	63%	.250	0.0
Craig Kimbrel	2	0			2	2.0	3	1	1	0	1	0	4.50	43%	.429	4.5
Tyler Thornburg	3	0				2.1	2	3	3	1	3	1	11.57	33%	.200	11.6
Hector Velazquez	2	0				3.1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.00	33%	.111	2.7
Brandon Workman	2	0				2.0	5	3	3	0	1	2	13.50	30%	.429	4.5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/26/2018.

In his last 5 starts, Chris Sale is 5-0 with a 0.27 ERA, 57 K, and 4 BB.

It had been 50 years since a Red Sox pitcher last had an ERA that low over any 5-start span in a single season (Ray Culp, 0.20 in September 1968).

— Red Sox Notes (@SoxNotes) July 27, 2018

Drew Pomeranz averaged 88.2 mph with his four-seam fastball. He topped out at 89.9 mph. Not good. No progress with velocity, no progress with results. ERA went from 6.81 to 6.91. Can’t hold a lead for two batters against a team with a .277 winning percentage

— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) July 25, 2018

pic.twitter.com/Na7XigB4HI

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) July 24, 2018

Hitting the ball in Mookie's direction? Not advised. pic.twitter.com/zEKgeRMkPn

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) July 21, 2018

Did you know..

Dave Dombrowski's teams (Boston/Detroit) are (1-11, .083) in their last 12 post season games dating back to game 5 of the 2013 ALCS vs Red Sox

need to flip that around

Dombrowski is (37-37, .500) in his post season career

details
Last 12 post season games pic.twitter.com/p6z52RvAYT

— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) July 20, 2018