I Watch the Red Sox So You Don't Have To | April 11th - April 13th @ Tigers

April 11th: Red Sox - 1, Tigers - 3

It's always a tough loss to swallow when you only allow three runs and that's what happened in the opening game of the series. It's easy to point to the late flight out of New York on Sunday as a reason for the offensive struggles, but sooner or later some runs have to cross the board. There were some positives to take away from the game but overall it was a whole lot of meh.

Michael Wacha made his Red Sox debut, going 4.1 innings and allowing just one run. He did a good job working around some early trouble and settled in nicely. He doesn't have blow you away stuff by any stretch of the imagination, his fastball averages about 93 mph but his changeup was solid and kept hitters off balance. He threw the change 26 times and got seven whiffs, I'd personally like to see him go even more non-traditional, throwing fewer fastball and mixing in the curveball even more. Without a solid heater though, it's hard to see him going through the lineup more than twice in a game, which raises questions of the bullpen.

Speaking of which, the bullpen management in this game seemed off to me. Matt Strahm pitched for the second day in a row, as did Ryan Brasier. While neither threw a ton of pitches, I thought the decision to bring Braiser in was particularly strange. Maybe it's because a runner was on base and Hirokazu Sawamura can be erratic, but with the free swinging Javy Baez at the plate, it felt like the perfect spot for Sawamura to me. The pitch that Baez went yard on was well out of the zone, but Braiser threw a couple meatballs before that, not his finest outing.

Matt Barnes was one of the few positives here, making his first appearance of the season. He worked a clean sixth inning; the velocity was there and the breaking ball looked sharp, hopefully a sign of things to come. He'll need to be dependable if the Sox want to be successful this year, especially if Wacha, Houck, and Rich Hill are only going through the lineup twice a start. I trust Cora to navigate the bullpen, but it will only get more difficult once the roster shrinks and they can't carry 15 pitchers.

If you didn't know the score of the game and you read everything above, you'd think the pitching was terrible. In reality, they only gave up three runs. I'd love to talk about the lineup, but unfortunately they didn't show up at all on Monday. I assume the offense got a later flight and weren't in Detroit at first pitch. Seriously though, what the hell? 4 for 31 with no walks is unacceptable. Matt Manning threw almost nothing but fastballs his first time through the order and got away with it. Hopefully Trevor Story's return to the lineup sparks something. I'd be happy to get out of Detroit at .500 with a day off to reset, and return to Fenway.

Positives: Matt Barnes looked sharp. Wacha looked okay, which I guess is what he was brought in to be.

Negatives: Whoever schedules the travel forgot to book the offense a flight. You had one job, pal.

April 12th: Red Sox - 5, Tigers - 3

Tuesday was another game where you could have pointed to the travel as an excuse if you wanted to, but the Sox battled back and got a huge win here so no excuses needed. As I said after Monday's game, ending the weird day game road trip at .500 would be a win in my opinion.

Rich Hill took the hill (pun incredibly intended) on Tuesday afternoon, another game I definitely didn't watch due to my full time job. Hill is one of those pitchers that doesn't make any sense, given that he's 42 and doesn't throw the ball hard but he somehow gets outs. He didn't get a ton of whiffs, but he did steal strikes with his curveball and keep guys off-balance. He had a tough 3rd inning where some weak contact found holes and the Tigers got three runs across to take an early lead.

In my last recap, I wondered if I would hate Christian Arroyo in the outfield or Jackie Bradley Jr. at the plate more. Today, the answer was firmly Christian Arroyo, who took two terrible routes to fly balls and had both fall in for hits. The offense needed a boost and a lefty was on the mound for the Tigers, so I understand the decision to start Arroyo in left. He'll either need to figure out how to play the field, or a right-handed right fielder will become a pressing need. Every time the ball got hit to right, I held my breath, almost expecting Arroyo to not get to the ball. It's funny how often the ball finds the worst fielder on the field.

Kiké Hernandez finally got his first couple hits of the season and sparked a rally to tie the game in the 6th. It's good to see the offense score five runs, but the lack of pitches they're seeing is somewhat concerning. Tyler Alexander went through the lineup the first time with ease by pumping fastballs in the zone and the Red Sox did nothing to punish him. Matt Manning had a similar game plan yesterday; eventually the lineup will need to start working counts or start punishing early fastballs.

Regardless, the lineup came through late in this one and took the lead. Garrett Whitlock was set to follow Rich Hill today, and after Hirokazu Sawamura came in to finish a hill inning, Whitlock did exactly that. He allowed just one base runner and pitched an insanely efficient four innings. If there's one arm in the bullpen that I trust to get big outs, it's Whitlock. The Hill/Whitlock piggyback combo worked to perfection, securing the win and giving most of the bullpen a day to reset. With a day off on Thursday, just about everyone should be available tomorrow to follow Nathan Eovaldi against old friend Eduardo Rodriguez.

Positives: Rich Hill looked solid. Kiké grabbed a couple hits. Whitlock locked it down.

Negatives: The lineup still needs to see more pitches and work some walks, too many unproductive at-bats. Right field will continue to be a conundrum.

April 13th: Red Sox - 9, Tigers - 7

I don't know who's in charge of scheduling, but they need to knock it off with all the day games. What am I supposed to do at night if I'm not watching the Sox? Get a life? Unlikely.

Around the sixth inning of this one, I thought to myself, "I'm not going to have much to write about today". Unfortunately, I was wrong. What a near disaster that was. A win is a win is a win, but today wasn't a win that instills a ton of confidence going forward. We'll start from the beginning.

Nathan Eovaldi wasn't the best version of himself, but managed to get through five innings allowing just two runs. He threw over 100 pitches, a good sign that he's close to fully stretched out following a short spring training. He'll have to dial in the command so he can get through more than just five innings, but I'm not overly concerned about it.

The offense finally came through big, headlined by JBJ's three RBI day. Kiké Hernandez also looks like he found his timing with a home run and a double. Interesting side note: the first inning in this series was abysmal: 0/9, 5Ks, and just 33 pitches seen. The first inning offense was great against the Yankees so I'm not worried about this becoming a trend, but it is worth noting. At the very least, they need to start seeing some more pitches in the first and not letting starters settle in so quickly. The Tigers had a clear approach to pound the zone with high fastballs early, and the bats never adjusted. Again, it's a proven lineup so I'm sure this is just a blip, but it's worth talking about. Actually, I'm probably one of the few people who even noticed or cared, but I'm the one writing so I get to decide what's worth talking about. Anyways, the lineup finally had a good offensive day and scored nine runs, that's what you should take away from here.

The bullpen is the real story in this one. The Sox jumped out to a 9-2 lead and it should have been a wrap from there. Matt Barnes worked another clean inning, getting five whiffs on just 13 pitches. If he can return to even 90% of his first half last year, it would be huge. After Barnes is where the fun began, Austin Davis got battered around before Kutter Crawford cleaned up his mess. Crawford then came out for the 8th and got hit around himself. The stuff looked good for Kutter, but he'll need to locate better to be the lockdown reliever the team hopes he can be. A couple cheap hits on soft contact were unlucky, but that's just the way the chips fall sometimes. Cora then called on Jake Diekman to clean up the mess; he struck out two guys before hitting a batter and allowing a single. Hansel Robles finally picked up the pieces, got out of the jam and handled the ninth, but that was much more stressful than it needed to be. I don't think the bullpen is as good as it was the first five games of the season, but I don't think it's as bad as it was today either. The reality is it's probably somewhere in the middle. Is that enough to make a run out of the AL East with the rotation we have? That's a great question, and as an optimist I'll say yes, as a realist I won't say anything and just make a face kinda like this:

Outside of the mini-meltdown, the Red Sox win, get back to .500, get a day to reset and return to the best ballpark in America. Hopefully there's some actual crowd noise at home after what felt like watching independent league games in Detroit.

Positives: The offense got on the board for nine runs. Eovaldi threw 100 pitches. Trevor Story is back.

Negatives: Nothing to see here folks, no bullpen implosions or anything like that. The go-ahead run was never on first base after a 9-2 lead.

What's Next?

The Sox head back to Fenway for a four game set with the Twins followed by a three game set with the Blue Jays. 3-3 isn't the ideal start to the season, but I'll take it after a tough opening schedule. The next two series should be a decent test, especially for the pitching staff. Give me at least four wins on the home stand.