Daisuke Matsuzaka, one of those whose campaign has seen peaks and valleys, has quietly altered that trend with remarkably consistent results of late. Unfortunately, they are not the results he or the Sox are looking for.
After a spotty outing in a 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night, Matsuzaka had allowed at least four runs in seven straight games, giving up exactly four in five of those starts. The final lines have been strikingly similar for the better part of six weeks but the dominance he showed for a short stretch earlier in the year is long gone.
Matsuzaka is 1-3 with a 6.91 ERA in the seven-start slump, which also included a missed start due to a back strain. The 30-year-old righty, who was 3-0 with a 2.48 mark in the five starts before his late-season swoon, was somewhat at a loss for words for why the slide won't end.
"I don't think it's any one or two specific reasons, but to be honest, I really don't know," Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino.
Those who watched Matsuzaka on Monday seemed to have the answer, and it could be found in one specific category. He handed out five free passes, two of which eventually scored, and has now walked 11 in his last 14 innings overall.
"I do know that walks have a way of coming back to score," manager Terry Francona said. "Not all the time, but even when they don't, you have to pitch out of the stretch. It makes it a lot more difficult an inning. They haven't been squaring up a ton of balls. Bases on balls makes it harder."
Indeed, the Orioles had just six hits in Matsuzaka's 6 1/3 innings, four of which were singles. But they were grouped with walks in every inning in which Baltimore scored.
"Seems like when he have a walk, we always have a hit that goes with it," catcher Jason Varitek said.
One theme during Matsuzaka's slide has been a strong first five or six innings, followed by one that turns the tide. He gave up three runs in the seventh in Texas six starts ago after allowing one in the first six and threw five scoreless frames before being lit up for four runs in the sixth at Baltimore on Sept. 2.
Monday's loss saw more of the same. The score was tied 2-2 entering the seventh and after getting the first out of the inning, Matsuzaka had retired eight out of the last nine hitters he had faced. Naturally, his troubles in the fateful frame began with a walk, the second he issued to the speedy Brian Roberts.
Nick Markakis followed with a double that chased Matsuzaka and Daniel Bard, called upon to get a strikeout with two men in scoring position, allowed Ty Wigginton to lift a sacrifice fly to center to plate the go-ahead run. An RBI single by Luke Scott followed, and Matsuzaka's streak of at least four runs allowed continued. He has not had a quality start since Aug. 5.
Such statistics likely mean little to Matsuzaka at this point as he is simply hoping to find a rhythm before the season ends. He has been on the disabled list twice, had the back injury which robbed him of another start and has failed to last a full seven innings in 13 of his last 15 outings.
And on Monday, after he continued a troubling slide into the offseason, Matsuzaka lamented an uneven effort that left his team short.
"I think the result, the fact that we lost the game, I think that says it all," he said.
