Out of the 13 position players currently on the Red Sox roster, only Masataka Yoshida has a “k” in their name. However, if you look at the Red Sox lineup each day, you’ll see plenty of “k”s.
Tonight, the Red Sox had 12 strikeouts in a lackluster defeat against a dominant Cristopher Sanchez, who pitched a complete game and is emerging as a key player in the formidable top of the Phillies’ pitching staff. On one side, the Red Sox faced an outstanding starting pitcher and likely wouldn’t have beaten him regardless. But on the other side, some of the team’s worst qualities were clearly visible — and Sanchez certainly took advantage of that!
More specifically, the concerning patterns are:
- The Boston Red Sox have an excessive number of strikeouts
- The Boston Red Sox have difficulty scoring without relying on home runs in games with few points.
- The Boston Red Sox’s offensive performance away from home is poor, mainly due to the first two factors
So when they face a strong pitcher away from home, as they did tonight, their power-hitting approach ends in a sad and expected way. As a result, they don’t have a real chance to get back into the game, even when the relief pitchers put in a lot of effort to keep the door open, as they did in this instance.
Continuing from where they stopped last night, the Red Sox have accumulated 28 strikeouts in the past two games, which is part of a broader seasonal pattern where the team has struck out more than 26 percent of the time while playing away. The only team in baseball that has a higher strikeout rate than them is the Colorado Rockies, who are also struggling with one of the worst records in history since 1900.have an inherent significant disadvantage when it comes to playing games away from home. (For comparison, the division-leading Blue Jays strike out only 18.4% of the time on the road.)
Using this method, the Red Sox are left without a solution if the ball doesn’t leave the field as it did for them on Sunday. So far, in the five games since the All-Star break, they have left 56 runners on base and managed to score just two runs through any means other than a home run, which is also the same number of times they’ve had catcher’s interference. (Yeah, that occurred again tonight.)
Taking a step back from the road strikeout issue we’ve observed throughout the entire season, the Sox have now struck out over 100 more times on the road, even though they’ve still played one extra game at Fenway Park.
Unless they acquire another elite starting pitcher to join Garrett Crochet, allowing them to win a couple of games 1-0 or 2-1 in a brief series, they will be vulnerable if they reach October, as that month typically features some exceptional pitching on the road.
Here’s the visual footage of Sanchez dominating the Red Sox bats repeatedly:
Studs
The relief pitching is handled by Brennan Bernardino, Chris Murphy, and Greg Weissert:
They prevented the Phillies from scoring after Dick Fitts lasted just 3.1 innings. If the Sox had a more creative offense, they might have made the game competitive.
Duds
Roman Anthony : 0-4 with four strikeouts. A golden sombrero for our golden boy.
Romy Gonzalez: 0-3 with three strikeouts. He’s also 0-18 since the Rockies series, and has faced significant challenges at the plate as opposing pitchers have improved.
Carlos Narvaez:0-3 at the plate, along with another instance of catcher’s interference, although this one was somewhat unexpected.
Dick Fitts:Allowed four runs in only 3.1 innings of play. That won’t be sufficient when you’re up against the top of a strong team’s pitching staff on the road.
Play of the game:
For its originality, catcher’s interference for the second consecutive day is hard to surpass:
