Boston Red Sox
Sonny Gray made it through six innings, but was up and down in his start Friday.
During their scorching hot July, the Red Sox hailed one of the best statistical rotations in MLB. An impressive feat, especially considering they’ve been out their ace for nearly the entire season.
But that high didn’t last forever, and of late Boston has seen a fairly significant drop-off in the quality of its pitching.
Current season-long totals give the Red Sox the fourth-best ERA in baseball behind the Yankees, Brewers, and Braves. But in the last 30 days, they’re ranked 14th. And over the last 15, 21st.
Sonny Gray was called on early to be an anchor when Crochet went down, as he and Ranger Suarez were the only two remaining veterans in the group. His start on Friday was rocky, though.
Gray got into a bind early against the Royals, allowing a leadoff double and an earned run in the first inning. He let up two more in the third inning, but managed to rebound and finish six innings with five strikeouts. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Boston only mustered two runs and fell at home.
Chad Tracy did still back Gray’s start despite putting the team in a hole early.
“Ultimately he pitched six innings; on paper it’s a quality start,” Tracy told reporters. “They were very aggressive on him early in counts those first two or three innings. Lot of swings early in the count, jumping him quick, he settled in after that.
“He was competitive enough to give us a chance to win.”
Tracy called it settling in. But from Gray’s own vantage point, it was too little, too late. He was asked by reporters how we would grade the start.
“As a loss. I mean, we lost,” Gray said. “They were ultra, ultra aggressive, and made the adjustment too late. I felt really good … I felt like I executed pretty much every pitch pretty that I threw.
“Those pitches were where I wanted to throw them, they just came out very aggressive. So that was the first three innings, and then after that I made the adjustment. But unfortunately, it’s too late.”
It isn’t just Gray slowing down for the Red Sox. Just about every starter has had some regression in their game. Not having Crochet available put a lot more pressure on the group, and also forced them to rely on younger arms pitching a lot of meaningful innings.
Jake Bennett was red hot for his first starts, but is showing the inconsistencies of a young pitcher. Suarez hasn’t remained completely healthy this year. And Patrick Sandoval is just a stopgap at the bottom of the rotation.
Payton Tolle is arguably the best pitcher in the entire group, but he’s still very green as well. This year will be his first as a full-time starter.
At the All-Star break, things were trending so well for Boston that its rotation looked capable of winning a playoff series against virtually anybody. But do they have enough left in the tank to hold true to that sentiment?
Even accounting for recent outings, Tolle, Gray, and Suarez can all give the Red Sox a serious shot at winning a playoff series. But if they want to make a run and a series goes longer than three games, there’s a pretty sizable dip.
Ideally, the stretch of baseball the rotation had in July would be starting right now. But they’re still capable of taking control in the playoffs, assuming they can make it there in one piece.
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