It’s not Matt Barnes, but the Red Sox bullpen needs arms all the same
Another winnable series squandered leaves Boston in danger of hitting June at .500 ... or worse.
COMMENTARY
In the ninth inning of Wednesday’s Red Sox loss, NESN’s Dave O’Brien and Dennis Eckersley did a little back-of-the-scorecard math. Combining the seven runs the Cleveland Indians scored in their last two innings of Tuesday night’s comeback with the 14 runs they racked up in the first seven innings of Wednesday’s series rubber match made for a 21-run outburst. They didn’t reason this part of it out, but that would match the worst nine innings pitched by a Red Sox staff since the 2001 season.
“Twenty-one runs in 11 innings,” Eckersley quipped, crediting the Sox for holding the Indians on 14 while you were watching the Bruins. “Get them out of here!”
Ah yes, those mighty Indians. A team that, in the last seven games of a homestand before coming to Boston, went 1-6, scoring a grand total of 19 runs. A team whose offense was in such a state when it got to Boston that when it put two on with none out in the third inning of Monday’s series opener, eventually won 12-5 by the Sox, Jason Kipnis — the Indians’ cleanup hitter that night — sacrifice bunted the runners over.
An offensive juggernaut. Or, at least what became one when they were facing Marcus Walden, Matt Barnes (who cleaned up Walden’s mess in the eighth on Tuesday), Ryan Brasier, Travis Lakins, Ryan Weber, Josh Taylor, Colten Brewer, and Hector Velazquez.
Last week, the Red Sox won a Weber-Lakins-Brasier-Velazquez game in Toronto and I literally called it a “miracle.” Cleveland and Toronto are equally inept offensively. They skated through one. They took the big body check on the other.
And the thesis of that above-linked column, that these 10 games against Houston, Cleveland, and New York would go a long way to letting us know what this bullpen was made of, feels like it has an answer.
“We feel that we’ve done an outstanding job so far,” Alex Cora said after Tuesday’s loss, asked about his scheme to use Barnes against the middle of the opposing team’s lineup, whether they come up in the ninth or not. “So, nothing is going to change right now.”
Wednesday wouldn’t have changed that. Four in New York against the Yankees (36-19), who are decided not inept offensively and have won 13 of 16, might. I don’t think that’s really the issue here, though.
Barnes has been about all you could want. This team doesn’t need him exclusively in the ninth inning, nor does it specifically need Craig Kimbrel. Not so much as it needs the Matt Barnes/Joe Kelly/Good Ryan Brasier that Craig Kimbrel had all last season to back him up.
Brasier has been the primary issue, the reliever who’s gotten the most high-leverage usage other than Barnes. He was simply aces the final three months of last season, charged a single run in just six of his outings. He’s already hit that number this season, Tuesday’s faced three, three runs, the obvious worst.
“I’ve got to almost get back to the basics,” Brasier told reporters. “I’m not to throwing a lot of pitches and getting behind in counts. That’s a big part of my game, getting ahead of guys and trying to get weak contact. I had a little stretch where I was starting to get it back but I didn’t have it tonight.”
Command issues are obvious. He’s already matched his walk total of last season in 31 fewer batters faced, and on a more granular level, he simply can’t keep the ball out of the middle of the zone.
When Brasier throws his fastball or slider, and they stay out of the middle of the zone (i.e., fastballs up, sliders down), batters are 3 for 51 against him this year.
When they leak to the middle of the zone batters are 9 for 18 with 4 home runs and a double. pic.twitter.com/Fvb3NUlQBG
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) May 29, 2019
Walden had been on track to be the Brasier of 2019 and may still be, but he’s had two of his worst outings of the year in the last week, blowing the save in what became the 13-inning win in Toronto, then retiring just one of four Cleveland hitters on Tuesday to start that loss in motion. (And he was missing right in the zone.)
Brandon Workman’s been the best he’s ever been, with six hits allowed in 24 1/3 innings, but he’s also walking batters at the worst rate in the majors (6.7 per nine innings) of any pitcher to throw that many innings. (A .255 on-base against is still quite good, but the walks can’t be ignored.)
It simply hasn’t been enough. Whether that needs to prompt roster change depends on how quickly you think Brasier can rediscover the command of a year ago, but also where you see the reinforcements coming from. Nathan Eovaldi hasn’t pitched in six weeks, with the Sox going 5-5 in 10 games this season started by Velazquez, Weber, and Josh Smith — they’ve combined for just 33 innings in those 10 starts, hardly easing any strain on the bullpen.
I hate to keep beating the same drum here, but the deficit to the Yankees is 7.5 games going into these four at their South Bronx Little League complex. Boston at least has its best four starters lined up in opposition of that lineup, and they’re borderline desperate for them to carry the load.
After all, as good as the offense looked the last few days against the Indians, New York’s problems do not include its bullpen. They’re 30-0 in games they lead after the seventh inning.
And the Red Sox need at least a split against the Yankees, or they’re going to hit June as a .500 team.
