Garrett Whitlock had an unusually rough outing on Tuesday as the Boston Red Sox fell to the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-4.
The reliever, who entered with a 1.17 ERA through 32 games, hadn’t allowed a run in more than a month, but got two across the plate with two walks and four hits in 1 2/3 innings. After the game, Whitlock said he received some advice from Xander Bogaerts during his second inning that could have changed the course of his outing had he realized it earlier.
“Bogey told me, ‘Hey, they’re ambushing fastballs, start mixing it up,’ and I was like ‘That makes a lot of sense,'” Whitlock said. “I’ve got to be better about learning quicker and picking that up earlier and not just trying to force my best pitch in there. I’ve got to read hitters better and I’ve got to learn quicker in an outing. If I’d have done that, it could’ve been different.”
According to data from Baseball Savant, more than half of the pitches Whitlock threw were sinkers, and the Rays capitalized. Of the six balls Tampa Bay put in play off of Whitlock, five came on sinkers.
He may have had some luck had he tried to work his changeup more — of the 10 changeups he threw, he had five of them count as called or swinging strikes and just one enter the field of play.
Good on Bogaerts for picking up on the trend. And in the meantime, manager Alex Cora doesn’t seem too concerned about what sincerely has been a rarity for Whitlock.
