BOSTON — Leave the shovels at home. There will be no holes to dig out of on Rick Porcello’s watch.
Porcello helped the Red Sox snap a four-game losing streak Tuesday by blanking the Tampa Bay Rays for seven innings in a 2-0 win at Fenway Park. It was the second straight start in which Porcello played the role of stopper, giving the Sox reason to believe a leader is emerging within their inconsistent rotation.
“We’ve got to step up as a staff and provide some stability for our offense,” Porcello said after the game. “It was a nice win and hopefully we’re heading in the right direction.”
The Red Sox desperately need one of their starters to assert himself. Boston entered Tuesday with a major league-worst 5.73 rotation ERA, and the club’s offense has been struggling, particularly with runners in scoring position. Porcello accepted the challenge against the Rays, striking out six and not walking a batter as the Red Sox squeaked out a victory behind two solo homers from Mookie Betts.
“It was huge for Porcello to give us the opportunity,” Betts said. “He really, really gave us chances and chances and chances, and then (Alexi) Ogando came in after him and he put up a zero. And then Koji (Uehara), of course, does what he does. So it was huge for them to keep them at zero.”
Let’s refrain from slapping an “ace” label on Porcello. Recent history has shown that’s a fruitless exercise when it comes to sorting through Boston’s up-and-down rotation. But there’s no doubt Porcello has stepped up in back-to-back starts despite immense outside pressure centered on both his new $82.5 million contract extension and the Red Sox’s ongoing pitching woes.
Porcello was nails in his last outing, tossing seven innings of one-run ball and allowing just two hits against the Toronto Blue Jays. It came on the heels of an 11-8 loss and a stretch in which Boston had lost four of six, including an 18-7 shellacking at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Tuesday’s start was just as ballsy. The pitching hasn’t been that bad the last trip through the rotation, but with the Red Sox not scoring many runs, they needed someone to go out and take charge. And despite scattering eight hits, Porcello looked like he was pitching to win rather than to not lose.
“I think any starting pitcher wants to go out and put up a strong performance. It happens that his starts have come following some outings where we needed him to go deep,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “But I don’t think Rick places any added emphasis on it. He’s a driven, highly motivated person in his own right, regardless of the games in which we’re coming off of. But hopefully he gives us a little bit of a jump start and something to build off of as we go into (Wednesday).”
The Red Sox entered Tuesday in a bad place. They couldn’t afford to fall behind, as they’ve done so often this season, for fear of the wind being sucked out of their sails en route to another loss.
Porcello seemingly recognized that sense of urgency and provided the type of effort that could have a trickle-down effect on a rotation and a team grasping for positives amid a disappointing stretch.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
