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‘I just need to stop sweating’: Garrett Richards dunked his arm in ice to cool down between innings
"If I could stop sweating, everything would be fine."
On Monday, Red Sox starter Garrett Richards could be seen between innings dunking his arm in ice.
Richards appeared headed for another tough outing after giving up three homers and five runs in the first two innings. But after every run crossed the plate, Alex Cora could be seen on the broadcast steadfastly seated staring straight ahead.
Whatever happened to Richards in the first four innings was up to him.
“We needed at least four,” Cora said. “You’ve got to sometimes just struggle through whatever, and give up as many runs, it doesn’t matter. Where we are pitching-wise, we needed him to go deeper than two innings.”
Between innings, Richard was spotted cooling off. Richards’ recent struggles have been tied — often by Richards himself — to Major League Baseball’s crackdown on pitchers using sticky substances to grip the ball better. Dunking his arm served an important purpose.
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“I just need to stop sweating,” Richards said. “If I could stop sweating, everything would be fine. But I’m a guy that sweats a whole lot. Just trying to work around the new rules and things that we have right now, trying to figure out different ways for me to be successful. That’s what was asked of us to do, and so that’s what I’m trying to do.”
The strategy paid off. Richards found his range and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, setting the table for the Red Sox to rally once again for a win.
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“It didn’t look good the first few innings, but there’s something about this level, or any level, little league, college, minor leagues, big leagues, you’ve got to compete with what you have, it doesn’t matter,” Cora said. “And he was competing from the get-go. …
“I think the last three innings were a positive, and we’ll take that.”
Richards, however, remained visibly upset after the game. Asked about two separate pitches, he quickly noted that both were completely new to his repertoire.
“I’ve never had to make this kind of change in my whole career,” Richards said. “I’m just trying to make the best of it.”
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