For Andrew Cashner, it was a less than stellar debut
“Didn’t really do a lot of things well.’’
Starting pitcher Andrew Cashner’s Red Sox debut Tuesday night didn’t go quite as well as he would have hoped.
“I didn’t think I was very sharp,’’ Cashner said after Boston’s 10-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. “Didn’t really do a lot of things well.’’
Cashner, who was acquired via a trade with the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, struggled to settle into a groove against a familiar divisional foe. Trouble emerged in the first inning, when Jays leadoff hitter Eric Sogard capped a 10-pitch at-bat with a line-drive single to center field.
Despite also giving up a triple, Cashner managed to escape the first unscathed. The blank scoreboard, however, didn’t last much longer, as the runs began to tally in the second. After striking out catcher Danny Jansen, Cashner walked first baseman Justin Smoak before shortstop Freddy Galvis singled to put two runners on.
Center fielder Teoscar Hernandez then launched a 84.4-m.p.h. changeup over the Green Monster to drive in three runs and give the Jays an early lead.
Cashner said he felt as though he kept the Red Sox in the game — and Boston’s bats helped, too, rallying to tie the score at four apiece in the fifth inning.
But come the start of the sixth, Cashner threw what he called the toughest pitch of the game: a 76.4-m.p.h. breaking ball that Smoak sent over bullpen to give Toronto a 5-4 lead and effectively ended his night.
“We didn’t keep the ball in the ballpark, and that’s very important,’’ manager Alex Cora said after the game.
Cashner’s five innings marked the first time a Sox starter in the fifth spot of the rotation has reached that point of a game since lefty Brian Johnson did so on June 22. The rest of Cashner’s stat line was rather underwhelming, though. He finished the game with five earned runs, matching his cumulative earned run total from his previous four starts with the Orioles. He also yielded eight hits, walked two, threw a wild pitch, and pegged Jansen with a changeup.
So, what exactly went wrong?
Cora identified his changeup as a weapon that didn’t seem as effective as it had been before. Forty of Cashner’s 92 pitches were changeups, but only two produced swinging strikes. Cashner acknowledged he lacked the typical command of his pitches and suggested he might have been a bit rusty as a result of an unusually long layoff.
Due to the MLB All-Star Break and the trade, Cashner last pitched July 6.
“I was out of my routine,’’ he said. “I look forward to getting back to my routine this week.’’
Despite the unfavorable decision, Cashner seemed appreciative of the warm welcome from the sellout crowd at Fenway Park.
“It’s great,’’ he said. “The fans have been great to me so far. It’s a great hitting team, so if you can keep the game close, you have a chance every night.’’
