Red Sox Notes: Drew Pomeranz’s Tough Start To Season Continues In Loss Vs. Rays

In 2017, Drew Pomeranz’s performance was one of the most pleasant surprises of the campaign.

But he hasn’t quite picked up where he left off in 2018, and that was apparent in the Boston Red Sox’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park on Friday night.

The southpaw was knocked around for four runs — all coming by way of a trio of home runs — over five innings while allowing six hits. He also walked two batters and struck out four.

It only was Pomeranz’s second start of the season, but the 29-year-old also had a tough outing a week ago in his debut against the Oakland Athletics. Naturally, he likely is knocking some of the rust off after beginning the season on the disabled list with a flexor strain in his pitching forearm.

And for Sox manager Alex Cora, Pomeranz’s inability to throw his breaking ball well is the biggest issue.

“40 breaking balls, 21 of them for balls, 19 strikes, only two swing-and-misses. That’s his pitch and it’s not there,” Cora said following the game, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “You saw what happened (against the A’s), they stayed back and went the other way, (and) you saw what they did today.”

In addition to the breaking ball simply not working, Pomeranz’s velocity noticeably is down. His fastball, which averaged 91.3 mph last season, averaged 88.7 mph on Friday. And while such a downtick led to some questions about Pomeranz’s health and if he needs more time on the DL to recuperate, Cora was adamant that the mechanics are the chief concern, and that those will be addressed.

“We got to get back and we’ll talk about it. But as of now I do feel the breaking ball is a non-factor,” Cora said. “Teams make adjustments, and honestly I do feel that there’s something else going on right now. So we’ll take a look at it and see if we can make an adjustment with him, that the breaking ball is working, and then we’ll know where we’re at with him. 40 of them or whatever it is and only two swings-and-misses, and his breaking ball is a good one, so I think that’s the adjustment we have to make right now.”

Pomeranz echoed the statement, telling reporters he feels totally fine, and that he too thinks a mechanical tweak is what’s needed to get back to form.

Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Rays:

— Xander Bogaerts returned to the lineup Friday night after missing 15 games due to a small crack in the talus bone of his ankle. He visibly was the Sox’s best performer in the loss.

The shortstop led Boston with three hits, including a double and an infield single. He also made a tremendous diving stop on defense, throwing the ball from his knees to get Wilson Ramos out at first base.

For Cora, it was an encouraging sight to see Bogaerts legging out the infield single.

“To see Xander, especially with the infield hit, you saw him moving, he’s good, ready to go,” Cora said.

The Sox skipper also noted that Bogaerts will be in the lineup for Saturday’s game.

— Hector Velazquez may be flying under the radar, but the pitcher has turned in some solid performances when the Red Sox have called upon him.

In Friday’s game he allowed the Sox to get back into it by quieting the Rays’ bats while their offense began to put runs on the board. The righty threw 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing four hits while walking one.

Velazquez made two starts earlier in the season while Boston worked to get Eduardo Rodriguez and Pomeranz back, but despite the latter’s struggles, Cora noted Velazquez isn’t in consideration for a starting rotation role.

— Boston’s pitching has been minimizing damage on a nightly basis, as they’ve allowed four runs or less in each of their last 14 games, which marks the longest active streak in Major League Baseball. It also is the club’s longest such streak since they did so for 14 games in April 1988.

It’s not just a recent trend, either. In 22 of their 25 games, the Sox have kept opponents at four runs or fewer.