All things Roman Anthony
The Roman Anthony excitement at Fenway Park wasn't a one-day affair.
One day after the chaos that came with baseball's top prospect's major league debut, Anthony put himself in the spotlight for a second straight game thanks to his first big league hit - a two-run double that keyed the Red Sox' 3-1 win over the Rays Tuesday night.
The images of Anthony and his family offered the kind of feel-good portrait Red Sox fans have been starving for. He made history, becoming the youngest player in Red Sox history to record three or more RBI at 21 years and 28 days old. He also made people happy.
There was something else within the win that should have offered the biggest dose of big-picture hope.
Pitching.
As important as introducing a presence like Anthony into the equation is for the Red Sox, the presence of reliable pitching will be the biggest difference-maker when it comes to offering this team any hope.
When the Red Sox starters go six or more innings, the team is three games over .500, with those pitchers ERA clocking in at 2.25. The problem is that since May 1 there are only six teams in baseball whose starting pitchers have thrown fewer innings than the Sox.
When such a dynamic doesn't present itself, everybody suffers. The bullpen. The team. The hopes and dreams of the fan base.
Tuesday night, there was very little suffering.
The version of Lucas Giolito rolled out in the win represented a potentially enormous part of the Sox' solution. The pitcher, whose eight starts have been a microcosm of his team's roller-coaster existence, allowed just one run over six innings.
It marked the fifth time this month a Red Sox starting pitcher has gone at least six innings, now residing just three shy of the team's total for the uncomfortable month of May. (The season's first month saw the rotation manage the feat 14 times.)
The Red Sox starters still sit with the seventh-worst ERA in baseball (4.51), with the bottom four Orioles, Athletics, Marlins and Rockies telling the tale of how that part of the equation correlates into actual wins. And since May 1, only the A's and Rockies have been worse.
While the all the positional and roster maneuvering will get the headlines, the Red Sox absolute best chance at finding their way back into contention will be on the backs of their starters. Giolito offered that reminder.
"I feel a sense of relief I'm on the right track now," the starter said. "We're just going to keep building off this one and keep getting the good reps in and keep building that good muscle memory of that good way of moving down the mountain."