McAdam: Rotation continues to plague Red Sox in early going

SEATTLE -- Remember when everyone was worried about the bullpen?

Remember when all the angst centered around the relievers, because the Red Sox hadn't adequately replaced closer Craig Kimbrel? Or sketched out how they were going to game-plan the ninth inning?

Suddenly, that's last week's news. The bullpen, with an occasional exception, has actually performed pretty well.

Not that it's mattered much.

Because the Red Sox have themselves a new issue, once that they didn't anticipate. At this point, the bullpen is largely irrelevant, given that the team's primary problem is much earlier in the game.

The starting rotation was supposed to be a strength of this team. They channeled all of their offseason payroll on Nathan Eovaldi and gave out a mega contract extension to Chris Sale. Add those two to Rick Porcello, David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez, and surely the Sox had one of the better rotations in either league.

Or so it seemed.

But three games in, the rotation has stepped outside, slipped on a banana peel and wrenched its back in the process. What should have constituted a highlight reel now more closely resembles a blooper tape.

"We didn't expect this,'' conceded Alex Cora in what may well be the understatement of the 2019 season.

The ugly numbers: 12.1 innings, 22 hits allowed, 19 runs permitted (all but one earned), seven walked issued. In each of the three games, the starters have allowed runs to score in either the first or second, and sometimes both. A starter has yet to take the mound in the sixth inning and only once has gotten through the fifth.

True, the Red Sox might have expected that it could take a while for the rotation to round into form, thanks to the organization's decision to bring the starters along gradually in spring training, in recognition of last fall's heavy workload.

They did the same thing last year, remember, and sprinted out of the blocks to a 17-2 start -- largely on the backs of their starters.

This season, not so much. The Sox would be 0-3 were it not for Mitch Moreland's ninth-inning heroics in the second game which took Eovaldi off the hook.

On Saturday, an all-too-familiar Eduardo Rodriguez surfaced. He needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning, which featured a four-pitch walk to lefty Jay Bruce.

"The first inning set the tempo for the game,'' sighed Cora. "I just feel the first inning was the one. He was ahead of hitters. I looked up at one point and of the first nine hitters, I think he threw (first-pitch) strikes to seven or eight of them. It was just a matter of finishing guys. He didn't.''

After Rodriguez appeared to have stabilized a bit in the second and third, it was more of the same in the fourth with a 26-pitch effort.

That left Rodriguez at 86 pitches through four, which led Cora to send him back out for the fifth. With the bullpen already logging nine innings over the first two nights, the manager needed another few outs from his starter.

He didn't get them. He got a three-run homer by Bruce. That would be the same Bruce who compiled an abysmal .660 OPS against lefties last year.

Then there was the matter of game plans. Rodriguez's best pitch is probably his changeup, and unsurprisingly, he threw 32 of them Saturday night. But only one of those was thrown to a lefty.

Why?

"I don't know,'' said pitching coach Dana LeVangie, who didn't seem pleased. "It was a big part of my plan against those guys tonight.''

That seemed to be at least a tacit critique of Blake Swihart's game-calling. But there was plenty of blame to go around.

Rodriguez didn't exhibit good command of his fastball, forcing him to go to his secondary pitches, for which the Mariners were waiting, with predictable results. And the execution was lacking, especially against lefties.

"That's my job -- lefty-lefty, you've got to get them out,'' said Rodriguez.

But the two lefties in the Seattle lineup -- Bruce and Dee Gordon -- combined to go 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and three RBI.

The Sox turn their lonely eyes to Rick Porcello, who pitches the series finale Sunday.

It has to get better.

Right?

"They're human,'' said Cora. "We know this isn't going to be the norm. They're going to be OK.''

Eventually. But the sooner, the better.