We could sit here for hours and make royalty puns about aces beating kings, and things like that, with regard to the Boston Red Sox defeating Felix Hernandez aka “King Felix.” But we won’t because…
1. It’s stupid.
2. Hernandez still is the best pitcher in Major League Baseball not named Clayton Kershaw
And
3. It’s stupid.
We should, however, take note of Rick Porcello’s performance directly opposite Hernandez in the Red Sox’s 4-2 win Saturday at Safeco Field. Porcello straight-up outpitched Hernandez, which was exactly what Boston needed amid its offensive woes and on the heels of Friday’s walk-off loss.
“We’re throwing the ball the way we should be, that’s the bottom line,” Porcello said of Boston’s rotation, which suddenly looks formidable after its early-season issues. “We’ve got a good team. Hopefully those struggles are behind us and we’ll continue to provide stability for our offense and get on a roll.”
The Red Sox aren’t on a roll, per se, but they have won five of their last seven on their current 10-game road trip, which wraps up Sunday in Seattle. The recent success has been in large because of Boston’s pitching — sounds crazy, right? — and Porcello continues to look like a staff leader.
No, Porcello isn’t an ace. Forget the ace talk.
There’s also a good chance he’ll never put together a performance like the one Clay Buchholz assembled Friday, in which the right-hander struck out 11 over eight innings of one-run ball in a no-decision.
But Porcello has been the most consistent pitcher in the Red Sox’s rotation, and he’s risen to the occasion in key spots, like Saturday’s start against a legitimate ace.
Hernandez entered the game with a perfect 6-0 record and a 1.85 ERA. The safe bet is he’ll again contend for the American League Cy Young award. Thus, the Red Sox needed a quality performance from Porcello, especially with Boston scoring just three runs over its previous two games.
Porcello allowed two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six — all six strikeouts came against the first 10 batters he faced — and walked two. The only real blemishes were a pair of home runs by Brad Miller, whom Porcello had never faced before in his major league career.
“Once they start swinging, they get pretty aggressive, and I left some pitches up in some two-strike counts,” Porcello said, assessing his performance. “But for the most part, we were getting outs on the first couple of pitches, and as the game went on, we didn’t really get into too many situations where we were looking to strike guys out.
“We were just trying to induce weak contact and continue to get outs and get us back in the dugout.”
The Red Sox’s offense certainly deserves credit for making Hernandez look human. Pablo Sandoval homered in the second inning, David Ortiz homered in the third inning and the Red Sox struck while the iron was hot in the sixth inning after Hernandez seemingly tweaked his ankle while landing awkwardly off the mound. But Porcello really set the tone from the bump.
For one night in May, Porcello was better than The King. No puns are needed to describe what that meant for the Red Sox.
Thumbnail photo via Jennifer Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
