More than five hours before Xander Bogaerts walked-off the Blue Jays with a ninth-inning grand slam, Alex Cora was forced to put on his honesty hat and offer the latest on Drew Pomeranz.
"The reports, he was OK," said the Red Sox manager when asked about Pomeranz's Friday night start for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
"Velocity is not up. It's been 89, 90, I think. Inconsistent with the breaking stuff. I read something yesterday about, 3-0 count somebody swung and hit a home run. Well, they swing at 3-0 counts here, too. I think with Drew, it's a lot of timing and mechanics, honestly. That's why he's going to go out there and pitch on Wednesday. And he knows it. He knows he has to get it right before he gets here. It's very important. It's very important. We saw what he did last year with this team, and we need the good Drew Pomeranz, you know? The guy that can repeat his delivery and he can be consistent with his breaking ball."
And of all the truth-telling, the one line uttered by Cora that rang truest: "... we need the good Drew Pomeranz ..."
It was a reality that some might have shrugged their shoulders at the proclamation prior to the Red Sox' 6-2 win. There was the news that Steven Wright's comeback from his PRP shot in New York hadn't been going swimmingly. "Not having great days," Cora noted. "He's been throwing and all that but he's still sore, we have to see what we're going to do next week. ... I'm not sure if he's going to stay here rehabbing with Jamie or if he's going to come with us on the road, but it's taking longer than expected. ... He'll have good days then takes a few steps back."
But the Red Sox still had Brian Johnson. They still had Hector Velazquez. And, of course, they had Saturday's starter, Eduardo Rodriguez.
Then came Rodriguez's sprained ankle. (For more on that, click here.)
"It looks bad, so we'll see. It looks bad, but he's moving it around, which is encouraging," Cora said. "We have to go through the tests and all that and see what happens."
So, now we turn back to Pomeranz.
In his three rehab starts with the PawSox since coming back from biceps tendinitis, Pomeranz has allowed nine earned runs in 9 1/3 innings, including three in his 3 2/3-inning stint Friday night. While Cora has been repeatedly saying the Red Sox are going to have to see results before a promotion is warranted, the pitcher suggested with a small adjustment those are right around the corner.
"I'm still struggling with my direction a little bit," he told WEEI.com prior to Saturday's game. "The first few I was just trying to get back out there, and now this last one I was locating better but I'm still not where I want to be. I made some good pitches. They hit one ball hard, the homer on a 3-0 count. I got some big strikeouts when I needed to. Now I'm just trying to refine. I think I'm back to the point now where I was before. I'm still missing that little thing right now, that one little thing."
After looking at video Saturday, Pomeranz truly believes he has identified what that "one little thing" might be, drawing on a start last year for a piece of evidence.
"I'm just kind of drifting toward the left side of the plate instead of going right at the plate. That's what I struggled with some last year. I remember that Milwaukee game (6 runs in 4 1/2 innings) I pitched last year and pitched like crap, that was one of the big thing I pointed to," he said. "Within a couple of starts, I figured how to get all that momentum toward the plate and now all of a sudden instead of releasing (the right way) and releasing (the wrong way). ... I can feel something is a little off."
Pomeranz will now spend his All-Star break trying to see if that fix is around the corner, with his next scheduled outing for the PawSox coming Wednesday. Considering where the Red Sox have found themselves, it seems like the outing might be one to pay attention to.
"I'm not concerned, but sometimes we talk about him making adjustments. Sometimes maybe that's what's going on," Cora said. "I haven't talked to him today, and I don't know how he felt about his delivery. I just read the report. But like I said, it's very important for him to find it. Important for us, obviously."
More Red Sox content
