OAKLAND -- To push aside Chris Sale's unique pitching presentation Tuesday night would be a mistake.
When you have a pitcher that has done it one way for so long and then shows up and takes a different path it should be noted. That's why Sale's six-inning outing against the A's represented something to put under the microscope.
Sale threw just 25 four-seam fastballs, averaging 89.1 mph, the lowest velocity for any of his 289 career starts. The 87-pitch outing also included 30 changeups and 28 sliders. And for just the second time in the lefty's career he finished a start with one or fewer strikeouts, coming away with a lone punchout this time around.
So ... Why?
"Just kind of seemed like I had to kind of revert over to my offspeed pitches more," said Sale, who only gave up one run (a Matt Chapman, first-inning homer). "Just seemed like they were kind of waiting for the fastball. We were kind of heavy on changeup/sliders tonight and that was kind of what we had to do. That was kind of the gameplan going through."
"You guys want him to pitch the whole year or do you want him to go out and throw 100 (mph) right now and not be there for his team? He's building," explained Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie. "He had a long year last year. He's building up to be the guy he wants to be. He started last year similar, but we're getting to that point, but just not right now."
Considering the final tally, both explanations were palatable.
The fact of the matter is that Sale proved he can pitch in such a manner with that kind of velocity and still be good. His secondary stuff is that next-level. Barring an undisclosed ailment, the velocity should go up, as it did toward the end of his outing when he maxed out at 92 mph in the sixth inning. And the fact that his new catcher Christian Vazquez was able to bob and weave Sale through such an outing while calling each and every pitch should also be a plus.
When it comes to Sale's existence, health should be the only concern. If the downward trend in velocity was a sign that left shoulder was going to give way this is a different conversation. But nobody is offering any signs of that.
"Zero. Zero concern," LeVangie said when asked if he was uneasy about Sale's current existence. "Not at all. He dialed it up when he wanted to. It's there. But he knows how important he is to his team. He can pitch, regardless of the velocity."
"The name of the game isn't velocity. It's giving your team a chance to win," the starter said after his team dropped to 1-5 with the 1-0 loss to Oakland. "No matter what you're featuring that day, you've got to get as deep into the game as you can and leave your team a chance to win when you're out of there. At the end of the day, like I said, just take this one off the chin and keep going. Got to keep grinding. We're not giving up, we're not worried, we're not anything. We know who we are and we know what we can do and tomorrow can be the start of a 10-game winning streak. We know what we've got and we're confident in what we've got going forward."
OK, so now we've got that out of the way, let's look at what should really be bothering the Red Sox: They can't win.
The hole is getting bigger, and when that happens at this time of year the problems are magnified. This was on display while Oakland starter Mike Fiers was mowing the Red Sox down, with bats being slammed and eyes rolling aplenty. This isn't a new group, but this is new to this group, and it is showing. The Sox were shutout seven times in 2018 but never in back-to-back games like this. They also went the entire season last year without losing four in a row, which is the stretch Alex Cora's team currently finds itself on.
They are four games in back of first-place Tampa Bay. That is insane, no matter where the calendar sits.
The Red Sox starters have yet to win a game while living with an MLB-worst 9.00 ERA. The lineup construction remains uneven with the leadoff spot hitting just .167. The second base position has a combined two hits in 26 at-bats. And only one starter (J.D. Martinez) is managing a batting average of better than .294.
Jackie Bradley Jr.'s new swing hasn't really clicked, so far resulting in just four hits in 23 at-bats to go along with seven strikeouts. Andrew Benintendi is even worse, collecting just his third hit on the season on a check-swing infield single, with the left fielder's batting average sitting at .150.
And now comes the next three starters -- Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez and Rick Porcello -- who will now be the ones counted on to get the American League East standings tilted in an expected manner. They are pitchers who, like Sale, were left using the past few days attempting to uncover what went wrong in their respective stinkers.
The conversation regarding Sale's velocity isn't going anywhere, at least for a while. But when the pitcher delivers perhaps the biggest dose of optimism of the season without a few miles-per-hour, it should be something the Red Sox can live with for the time being.
The other stuff? That still needs some fixing.
"I'm curious how I'm going to sleep tonight or to be here tomorrow. It's part of baseball," Cora said. "It's 1-5. It's only the first two series of the season. Yeah, of course, we want to play better, we want to win ballgames. But honestly, with the effort today and the game we played, I'm OK. We'll come back tomorrow and try to save the series. Try to win the next one and move on."
