Rich Hill thinks he is ready right now
BALTIMORE - Some interesting things happened for the Red Sox Thursday night.
With seven of his family members in attendance (off of whom jumped off a connection in Baltimore on the way to Houston) Chase Shugart made his major league debut.
"The first few days of Fenway were nothing short of a dream," the rookie pitcher said. "It still doesn’t’ feel real. And getting in the game tonight, that’s a dream comes true. And just can't help but think about the people that got me here, all the work I put in to get here, and it's a good feeling."
At just about 9 p.m. it was learned that 44-year-old pitcher Rich Hill was zeroing on signing a minor-league deal with the Red Sox.
Nick Pivetta saw his fastball velocity creep back up to over 95 mph (with an average fastball of 93.6 mph), helping result in a solid five-inning, three-run outing that was primarily dented by home runs from Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins.
Wilyer Abreu also hit the ninth homer to land on Eutaw St. in right field, initally giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead with his 412-foot blast.
And there was also word from Worcester that Triston Casas collected two of the WooSox's three hits, a notable development considering the first baseman's rehab assignment clock runs out Sunday.
All of it, however, was somewhat overshadowed by a growing reality: The Red Sox need to figure some things out in a hurry.
As Alex Cora pointed out before his team's 5-1 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards, there are now just 42 games left in the regular season. This can officially be considered the home stretch, which the Red Sox are beginning 2 1/2 games out of the final Wild Card spot.
There was certainly no panic - or even urgency - in the Red Sox' clubhouse after what would be the Sox' fifth loss at the hands of the Orioles in the teams' six meetings. But considering the gauntlet the Sox are about to endure, there is a recognition that time for tinkering is coming to an end.
The Red Sox need results.
The Sox' next nine games will be against three teams (Baltimore, Houston, Arizona) who are a combined 22 games over .500 since the All-Star break, and would all currently be eligible for the postseason if the season ended today.
The pitching staff needs to stop giving up home runs, with their post-All-Star break total now at a whopping 54 (by far the most in the majors).
And Rafael Devers could help mightily by returning to his normal form, having struck out 10 times in a 24 at-bat stretch that began at the outset of the Astros series. (He fanned three times Thursday night.) Since last Friday, Devers is 4-for-24 without a home run while continuing to battle a banged up body.
"I feel good," he said through translator Daveson Perez. "It just hasn’t been going my way, but I’ll make my adjustments and there’s still a lot of games left so I feel good."
The latest loss to the Orioles wasn't the be-all, end-all, particularly since there are three more games at Camden Yards to cure what ails them. And this still certainly feels differently than a year ago, when they possessed the exact same record (63-57) as this time around.
But whether it's the addition of Casas or Tyler O'Neill or Hill or maybe even Liam Hendriks and/or Justin Slaten, there is some fixing to do if the Red Sox are to avoid the likes of that 15-27 record that ended 2023.