BOSTON — If you’ve been incarcerated, stuck on a deserted island or trapped under a rock for the last 59 days, you’ve missed some stuff.
Tom Brady has been suspended four games, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio actually fought, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson crushed it at the box office, the world welcomed a new Caitlyn Jenner and, oh yeah, that Boston Red Sox team you remember has turned completely upside-down.
No, the Red Sox haven’t overhauled their roster. But the squad taking the field nowadays looks far different than the one that opened the season and the one that most expected to see throughout 2015, because in an interesting turn of events, the Red Sox’s pitching has been quite good whereas their offense has been quite brutal.
That’s the simplest way to explain the situation. And now seems like an appropriate time to address the plot twist because the Red Sox received two excellent starting pitching performances in Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins yet exited Fenway Park with only one win because their offense again failed to live up to its end of the bargain in the nightcap.
Eduardo Rodriguez tossed seven innings of one-run ball Wednesday afternoon as the Red Sox cruised to a 6-3 win. Rick Porcello followed with an eight-inning, two-run effort in the second game of the twin bill, but Boston mustered up just two hits en route to a 2-0 loss. The Red Sox’s final 19 hitters were retired in succession in Game 2.
Red Sox starting pitchers — you know, that group everyone wanted to tar and feather at the beginning of the season? — own a 3.29 ERA and a .224 batting average against over their last 21 games dating back to May 13. (Carl Willis’ first day as the new pitching coach was May 10.) Some tweaks have been made — Rodriguez/Steven Wright have entered the equation and Justin Masterson has been placed on the disabled list — but, by and large, the success has been based on improved execution. Clay Buchholz and Wade Miley, in particular, have turned their seasons around.
On the flip side, Boston’s offense — you know, that thunderous collection of boppers that blasted five home runs off Cole Hamels on Opening Day and look poised to run roughshod through the American League? — has scored two runs or fewer 22 times this season in 54 games (40.7 percent). For comparison’s sake, the 2004 Red Sox scored two runs or fewer 24 times throughout their entire regular season.
Not to sound like a broken record, but one theoretically could have a glass half-full outlook or a glass half-empty outlook. On the one hand, the Red Sox will be in excellent shape if their offense ever comes around and the starting pitching remains consistent. On the other, Boston’s bats might never wake up and/or the recent string of solid mound work ultimately might represent nothing more than a missed opportunity once each facet of the Red Sox’s game regresses or progresses to its true state. Either way, the current narrative would have been difficult to envision back in early April.
Most teams go through ups and downs. And those peaks and valleys often involve one area lagging behind another, creating a situation in which a club must figure out a way to mask its deficiencies until everything evens out. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, their most glaring shortcoming (offense) is struggling far too much for consistency to be an option.
Check back in 59 days. This story keeps evolving.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
