BOS @ BAL Series Recap: Kutter’s Collapse
It might be time for some big picture thoughts about the 2024 Boston Red Sox. It’s hard not to feel that things are beginning to unravel. The team’s starting pitching has shown signs of regression for over a month now. For a team that has relied so heavily on dominant starting pitching, this is alarming.
DEFENSE:
Positives:
Wilyer Abreu is starting to become a known quantity in right field. He isn’t perfect. While he is capable of making some fantastic plays with his glove, he clearly doesn’t have the range of a center fielder. His monster arm makes him a viable defensive option in right field by itself, so anything Abreu can do with his glove is an added bonus.
Ceddanne Rafaela is one of the greatest defensive center fielders that I have ever seen play baseball. He is right next to Jackie Bradley Jr as one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen put on a Red Sox uniform.
Negatives:
This was a clean defensive series for the Red Sox, which, if anything, is an indictment on the pitching staff.
STARTING PITCHING:
Positives:
Brayan Bello did not have a great day in the middle game, but was certainly the Red Sox best starting pitcher in the series (an extremely low bar).
The final line for Bello reads: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 ER
Negatives:
Kutter Crawford was ripped to shreds by Baltimore’s potent lineup of dynamic hitters. Gunner Henderson’s second inning grand slam effectively ended the game….. in the second inning. That one hurt.
Crawford was able to get through 4 more innings after the grand slam, but it did little to help his final line: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 ER
Cooper Criswell is now pitching at the level that we all anticipated prior to the season. No offense to Criswell, but his early season success was clearly not sustainable. Criswell was lit up in this game, allowing SEVEN earned runs in just 4 innings of work.
Criswell’s full line in this disaster of a game: 4 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 ER
THE PEN:
Positives:
Brennan Bernardino is an absolute beauty. I will never forget this historic run for a pitcher with an otherwise unremarkable career. Bernardino has given this Red Sox bullpen so much over the last two years. He deserves all the credit in the world.
He got six important outs for the Red Sox in the middle game of the series, setting the stage for Wong, Gonzalez, and Refsnyder to seal the win in the 8th and 9th.
Justin Slaten and Greg Weissert each walked a batter, but ultimately escaped their single-inning appearances without allowing a run.
Negatives:
Brad Keller made his first appearance for the Red Sox in the 5th inning of game one, and …. let’s just say I have low expectations for his contributions going forward.
Keller pitched 4 innings, allowing 7 hits and 4 earned runs. This guy is a worse version of Chase Anderson, to be used exclusively for eating meaningless innings.
We all know exactly what Chase Anderson is as a pitcher. More garbage time innings for him, as he allowed one run in two innings of a game that was over long before he took the mound.
AT THE PLATE:
Positives:
Rob Refsnyder was a huge bright spot in an otherwise dismal series for Red Sox hitters. 5 hits and a home run in the series go a long way to show the impact that Refsnyder can have as a depth-bat.
David Hamilton stayed productive at the plate, with a hit in each of the three games.
Vaughn Grissom seems to be playing the right way, but things just aren’t going well for him at the moment.
Grissom’s BABIP is currently .175, making him one of the “unluckiest” hitters in baseball. Hopefully this starts to show itself with some of that luck paying off.
Rafael Devers had a solid series, especially in the Red Sox game two win. In that game, Devers recorded 4 hits and drove in 2 runs.
Romy Gonzalez contributed at the plate, driving in 4 runs in the series.
Connor Wong was not the issue with the Red Sox offense in the series. Not his best series, but not his worst either.
Any plate production from Ceddanne Rafaela is an added bonus. Rafaela recorded two hits in the series, and also took an extremely rare walk. Hopefully there are more walks to come in his future.
Wilyer Abreu went 2-7 with a home run in the series. He can do better, but that isn’t terrible.
Negatives:
This was a rough series for Jarren Duran, who only recorded one hit in the three game set.
Dominic Smith and Garrett Cooper are both awful. Triston Casas cannot return from injury soon enough.
As I wrap up this recap, I am realizing that the offense (while not blameless) was not the issue in this series. Allowing TWENTY runs in a three game series is never going to be a recipe for success in baseball, and it certainly wasn’t in this series. If the Red Sox starting pitching is going to stay on this downward trajectory, then the Sox are in a world of trouble. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the pitching begins to bounce back, but my expectations for the rest of the season are extremely limited.
