All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 15-8 loss to the Diamondbacks, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Porcello unable to reverse starter's slide: The string of poor performances by Red Sox starters continued with a brutal outing from Rick Porcello, who couldn't get through the fifth inning and was rocked for seven runs on 10 hits. This marked the seventh time in the first nine games a Red Sox starter failed to get into the sixth inning and it also continued the sorry pattern of being beaten up by the long ball. Porcello was pounded for two: the first by Ketel Marte with the bases empty in the fourth and the other, a leadoff shot from Adam Jones in the fifth. In nine games, Red Sox starting pitchers have surrendered a staggering 16 homers. But it was more than the homers that dogged Porcello. For the second straight time, he didn't have much command, issuing three walks, including two in the span of three hitters in the third. For the season, Red Sox starters have allowed 42 runs in 40.1 innings, evidence that they're not keeping the team in the game, or giving them much of a chance. Porcello's frustration boiled over after the fourth as he tossed a cooler of ice all over the dugout, but at some point, the Sox need results.
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Another shoddy defensive game hurt: Granted, there wasn't anything as egregious as Thursday afternoon in Oakland when Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. kept quiet while a ball dropped between them. But that doesn't mean the Sox cleaned up their game in the field. In the fourth inning alone, Brock Holt couldn't glove a low liner at second off the bat of pitcher Zack Godley, as the inning continued. Next, came a blooper (hit by the pitcher, mind you) that fell in between a charging J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts and a back-pedaling Holt, allowing a run to score. Finally, with a runner on third, Mitch Moreland juggled a routine grounder to first, giving time for Godley to score from third base. Three plays in an inning -- with no errors charged -- all contributed to a big inning for the Diamondbacks and symbolized the kind of sloppy play the Sox have had in the field for much of the first week and a half.
Don't be deceived by the final score: Thanks to some garbage time offense in the final two innings, it would be easy to look at the final score and think this game wasn't as bad as it seemed. But it was. For the first seven innings, the Red Sox managed just one run -- that came in the third. Otherwise, in five of the first seven innings, they went down in order and without much of a fight. They went from the third inning until the eighth without recording a hit. And the only time from the fourth through the seventh when they didn't go down in order, they did so with the help of a faltering Godley, who walked three to fill the bases. Naturally, the Sox didn't take advantage when presented with the opportunity as Rafael Devers was retired on a weak comebacker and the team left the bases loaded for the third time in the last two games.
TURNING POINT
In a game this lopsided, it's tough to focus on any one moment. But for argument's sake, let's say it happened in the fourth. Porcello had given up a homer to Ketel Marte with one out with No. 8 hitter Alex Avila up and the pitcher's spot next. But Porcello walked Avila and inning wore on with two more runs scoring.
TWO UP
Mookie Betts: Betts hasn't been locked in at the plate, but he showed signs Friday night that that might be starting to happen. He had an infield single to short, a walk, a two-run homer to dead center and an opposite-field double.
Blake Swihart: Fresh off a three-hit game with a homer Wednesday night in Oakland, Swihart had a single in the third and a two-run, opposite-field double in the eighth, giving him five hits in his last two starts.
TWO DOWN
Brian Johnson: When Rick Porcello couldn't get through the fifth, the Sox turned to Johnson, who had been in line for a possible spot start Sunday. Johnson got the last out of the inning, but was shelled for seven runs on six hits in the sixth as the game turned into a rout.
J.D. Martinez: Martinez got exposed in the outfield. He was played way too deep with the pitcher at the plate, allowing a ball to drop in front of him in the third, then failing to cut off a ball in the gap later in the game.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"Very frustrating. I'm not doing my job right now and I don't take that lightly.'' — Porcello
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Red Sox dropped the opener of a series for the third straight time this season.
- The Sox have now lost seven games, something they didn't do until April 28 last year.
- Martinez extended his hitting streak to nine games with a ninth-inning single.
- Eduardo Nunez became the first Red Sox position player to get into a game as a pitcher this season, allowing one run in the eighth.