There’s just something appropriately bizarre about the fact that the most successful stretch of baseball in Red Sox history was bookended by series losses to two very bad teams. In a six-week stretch that hadn’t made a ton of logical sense, it’s only right that it began and ended under puzzling circumstances.
Most recently, that was a series loss at home to the A’s. The Vagrant Athletics are a very, very bad baseball team. They’ve actually been the mirror opposite of the Red Sox since the start of summer, going 7-29 since June 27. Unfortunately for the Red Sox — who went 32-5 from June 25 through this past Friday night — three of those seven A’s victories came against Boston.
The weekend dud was surprising, for sure, after Thursday night’s marathon victory over the White Sox seemed to have indicated that it had become impossible for the Red Sox to lose. Nevertheless, with a 7-3 loss on Saturday and a 4-3 loss on Sunday, the Red Sox’ run ended with a distinct thud.
They’re still, of course, firmly in the playoff picture, current owners of the second wild card. They’re 1.5 games behind the Yankees for the top wild-card spot with 5.5 games of clearance over the Rangers, with Detroit (1 GB), Minnesota (1.5 GB), Cleveland (1.5 GB) and Baltimore (2 GB) still hanging close in the race.
If the Red Sox want to stay there, here are a few takeaways from the weekend letdown against the A’s.
1. The Reinforcements Are Needed
As Connor Wong was toiling through an 0-for-4 performance on Saturday, Adley Rutschman was getting in his rehab work 41 miles to the west in Worcester. His arrival with the big league club is sorely needed.
While the 32-5 stretch saw contributions up and down the lineup, Connor Wong was largely just Connor Wong during it all, batting .212 with a .636 OPS in 26 games. Rutschman should be able to give the Red Sox a legitimate bat from behind the plate.
And though Roman Anthony’s arrival may still be far off, the Red Sox would benefit greatly from him replacing Jarren Duran in the lineup. Coming off a good week (.333 average, 1.104 OPS, 3 HRs in seven games from July 31 to Aug. 7), Duran was 0-for-7 over the weekend. He’s one more oh-fer away from seeing his average dip below .200 again.
A healthy Anthony — even if inserted in the bottom third of the order, just to replace Duran — could provide a meaningful upgrade for a stretch run.
2. Aroldis Chapman Might Need A Break
When the Hall of Fame closer entered into a tie ballgame in the ninth on Sunday, something clearly was not right.
With a fastball that seemed to hover in the mid-90s instead of 100-plus, Chapman relied heavily on his slider and sinker. And though he got two quick outs, he struggled to put away pinch hitter Alika Williams (a career .224 hitter), who eventually sent a two-out single to right field. Max Muncy then sent a first-pitch sinker over the heart of the plate out to the Monster in left, plating what proved to be the winning run.
It was the second straight ineffective outing for Chapman, who was in line for the loss on Thursday after giving up a two-run home run to Chase Meidroth in the 10th inning.
Two bad outings aren’t normally a cause for concern. But Chapman, despite his hulking frame …
… has shown signs of wear this season.
Opponents are squaring up his pitches far more often this year, with an 8.1 percent barrel rate (compared to 5.5 percent last year). Of course, comparisons to last year may be unfair, as it was arguably the best of Chapman’s lengthy career.
Still, with the 38-year-old equaling his workload of the past year and nearly doubling his WHIP from year to year (0.701 last year, 1.235 this year), and with Chapman not even getting a rest during the All-Star break, he feels like a candidate for a short IL stint to simply give that arm some quality rest to regain some strength for September and October.
Chapman still has plenty of velocity in a vacuum, but he’s someone who’s lived in the 98th percentile and above in fastball velocity for his entire career. He’s currently in the 91st percentile. (He was in the 98th percentile last year.) If nothing is specifically wrong, simple fatigue could explain the dip.
If the rest of the Red Sox’ bullpen were a mess, perhaps sitting Chapman would be an unwise idea. But with Garrett Whitlock, Justin Slaten, Tyron Guerrero, Erik Miller and Jovani Moran all pitching well in the pen, the Red Sox could survive for 15 days without their All-Star closer.
2.5 Boston Fans Can Still Boo?
This isn’t a real takeaway but it bears mentioning: Red Sox fans still vociferously boo a player?
It happened for Willson Contreras, who dogged it on a routine ground ball to third base to lead off the eighth inning on Saturday, with the Red Sox trailing 6-2.
On the one hand, it was a throwback to the days of yore, when Boston fans wouldn’t hesitate to jump on any player at any time for any reason. Considering most fans seem to attend games for “the Fenway experience” these days, it was surprising to hear such booing from the home crowd.
On the other hand, Contreras in that spot was not the best target for the boos. He got smoked with a fastball to the head last Friday night in Los Angeles, which sent Contreras into concussion protocol.
He managed to only miss a game, fighting to get back in the lineup on Sunday. He had to leave Tuesday night’s game early due to illness, and though Chad Tracy denied any connection to the concussion protocol, it’s something that neither Tracy nor the medical staff could have been able to say with a great degree of confidence. Such is the nature of head injuries.
Contreras has been the Red Sox’ best player this year. That shouldn’t give him immunity to lightly jog on ground balls, but it should earn him some benefit of the doubt in the eighth inning on a 90-degree day when he’s battling some level of health issue but still choosing to play through it.
3. The Magic Is Over
Considering the way that some generations recalled the “Morgan Magic” of 1988, it’s possible that Boston recalls the 15-game winning streak and unprecedented season turnaround in a similar fashion. It was, quite simply, special, and it defied explanation.
But, well, it’s over. Had Eli White been able to lift that line drive a little bit higher on Saturday and somehow delivered a game-tying, inside-the-park grand slam? Then surely, the magic would still be burning. And if Chapman hadn’t given away Sunday’s game, with Caleb Durbin instead hitting a pinch-hit, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth? More magic.
Yet neither of those things happened, which should serve as a reality check for the Red Sox. Unlike in Thursday’s wild win over the White Sox, when baserunning blunders and fielding miscues couldn’t sink the Red Sox, the weekend was a reminder that they’re going to have to earn their wins — even against bad teams.
And with several bad teams on the horizon — three of their next four opponents are all well under .500 — that will be an important lesson to carry into Toronto and Pittsburgh this week. In fact, in an odd way, bad teams have been the Red Sox’ only kryptonite, as they’ve only lost series to the A’s (47-71), Rockies (46-72), Nationals (59-61) and Blue Jays (56-63) since the middle of June.
Whatever type of energy and approach the Red Sox brought to Fenway at Friday night, when they got a Roger Clemens-esque start out of Payton Tolle while the offense absolutely battered opposing starter Jack Perkins out of hte building, they’ll need to recreate when they take the field at Rogers Centre on Monday night.
They had a great run, one that defied all expectations and explanations while saving their season. It should be remembered fondly. Now, it’s just time to play ball.
