Grayson Rodriguez, Triston Casas offer rookie advice
BALTIMORE - It wasn't difficult to decipher the eyebrow-raising by the Red Sox after their 5-4 loss to the Orioles Monday night.
Chris Sale's stuff was good. Chris Sale was healthy. Chris Sale was making good pitches. Chris Sale was getting hit. And Chris Sale was simply not making his pitches miss the bats of the Orioles hitters.
Case in point ...
First came the analysis of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who had to watch Sale give up five runs after the Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead on homers by Triston Casas and Rafael Devers.
“I think command was off but at the same time, we want to take a look at the at-bats. Sliders down and in and they hit it. Fastballs up and away and they hit it. Changeups. At one point there, there were no swing and misses and tough pitches so you have to give credit to them, I guess," Cora noted. "There was one at-bat there by McCann that , it was like sliders down and in and he kept fouling off and then he got a fastball. It was down. The location wasn’t great and he hit a rocket the other way. So, i don’t know. We’ve got to take a look at it and see if we find something. I'm not saying … gotta give credit to them. But command was off today."
Then there was Sale's backstop, catcher Connor Wong.
"I thought it quite a weird outing," he said. "They put some swings on some tough pitches. Got some bloop hits and it kind of snowballed from there. We will just have to go back and watch the film and try and process that. ... I thought the stuff was good. Just some odd things happened."
Was he surprised at some of the swings the O's put on Sale, who managed just two whiffs in his entire 83-pitch outing?
"Yeah," Wong quickly responded. "A few off the top of my head. I have to go back and watch it and really look."
For the Red Sox, there is clearly a suspicion that Sale is giving away some of his pitches to Baltimore hitters. The results and the manner they have come about - which include the lefty's only bad spring training outing, and now two regular season starts - seem too coincidental to some on the Sox side of things.
Maybe.
But whatever the case, Sale and the Red Sox have to figure it out, especially against American League East foes such as the Orioles. As he made very clear after the five-inning outing in which the O's managed nine hits, time for talk is done.
Question: What does the lack of swings and misses tell you?
Sale: "It tells me I (expletive) sucked."
Question: How about that bread-and-butter slider?
Sale: "It was just bad. It was just bad. I wish I had more for you. I really do. It sucks to work this hard and get nothing in return, you know? I’m putting in the work. It’s just not showing up. Again, I could sit here and try to find something, but it's pretty black and white. You either get it done or you don't. Unfortunately, for the most part this year, I haven't got it done. So again, you just gotta keep working. But this ain’t the Try-Hard League. This isn’t the Do-Good League. People only care so much about trying hard, working hard. It’s got to be out there when the lights flick on. I’ve gotta step up. I gotta find a way. That's who I am. That's who I have to be."
Sale knew this start was an opportunity, one which that was born from his last start, which looked a whole lot like his old self. He believed a proper routine had been uncovered, along with the kind of stuff that was going to get people out on a regular basis. But then came the Orioles.
The Red Sox are fully committed to Sale as one of the pieces of this starting rotation puzzle. The health is good, as is the overall stuff. But as is the case with much of their starting rotation, the results simply have to be better.
The upside of Brayan Bello had to be put on hold because the Red Sox' bullpen could no longer survive a six-man rotation. The problem is that too much uncertainty still resides with the five left behind.
The Sox' starting staff is second-to-last in ERA (6.71), with the lowly A's serving as the only group worse. (The Oakland starters still don't have a win.)
Potential remains, both with Sale and the rest of the starters. But looking around at the teams the Red Sox will be forced to beat, starting pitching certainty seems to be much more of a constant everywhere else.
The Red Sox are now 28-56 against the American League East in the last two seasons. Their starters during that stretch are a combined 13-35 with a 5.71 ERA. If they want to change that, figuring out this Sale conundrum might be a good place to start.