One of the best starting pitching performances of the season for the Red Sox came undone in the span of two pitches Friday night, costing them a 3-1 setback to the Houston Astros.
Rick Porcello, who had blanked the high-powered Astros lineup over the first seven innings, allowed a leadoff double to Jake Marisnick and, once pitch later, a two-run homer to George Springer into the Red Sox bullpen. Houston then added an insurance run against Ryan Brasier.
The only Red Sox run of the night came in the sixth when Christian Vazquez poked a run-scoring single down the right field line, scoring Xander Bogaerts.
They threatened in the ninth with runners at first and second against closer Roberto Osuna, but Mookie Betts lined out to left for the game's final out.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Houston Astros
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Rick Porcello (3-3, 5.15) vs. Gerrit Cole (4-4, 3.88)
TV/RADIO: NESN/MLBN; WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
9:44 Astros run on Martinez -- sending Michael Brantley from third on a fly ball to medium right -- and it pays off with an insurance run.
9:27 And just like that, in the span of two pitches, Porcello loses the lead. A first-pitch changeup to George Springer ends up in the home bullpen, scoring Marisnick ahead of him. Porcello had retired 17-of-19 before this inning.
9:25 Porcello allows a leadoff double to Marisnick to start the eighth. He was unhappy that he got a slider up in the zone.
9:09 Vazquez punches a fastball into right field, scoring Bogaerts with the game's first run. Second hit of the night for Vazquez, who has multi-hit games in six of his last nine games.
9:02 Kemp, who made a fine run-saving play earlier, let that ball play him and fielded it on the wrong hop, allowing Bogaerts to reach with his third hit of the night.
8:48 Red Sox are already 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position tonight.
8:46 As Martinez swings and misses at strike three, Betts takes off for second. That's just his third stolen base of the season, a function of hitting second -- and ahead of Martinez in the lineup.
8:23 Interesting t note that, before the game, Astros manager A.J. Hinch was speaking about Chavis and noted that the rookie was "killing second pitches. So we'll have to see how he handles the fastball.'' So far, not well. In his most recent at-bat, Chavis saw four pitches from Cole -- all four seamers, all 98 mph or better -- and struck out.
8:22 Houston second baseman Tony Kemp -- who wasn't in the starting lineup, but replaced Aledmys Diaz in the bottom of the second -- makes a diving stop of a sharp grounder off the bat of Vazquez, taking away a run.
8:15 Bogaerts continues to swing a hot bat. He singled to lead off the second and just doubled to open the fourth -- he's reached base 12 times in his last 17 plate appearances.
8:13 Porcello has settled into a nice groove, needing just 17 pitches in the last two innings. He's retired eight in a row, and of the three hits off him, only two were legitimate - the other was a chopper to Chavis at second that he bobbled on the transfer.
7:53 That's twice in the last few nights that Michael Chavis has ranged behind the second base bag and made a strong throw, off-balance with his momentum taking him the other way, and gotten the runner at first.
7:34 Robinson Chirinos takes a called third strike, not surprising since, in nine at-bats in his career against Porcello, he's now 0-9 with five strikeouts.
7:22 Josh Reddick, who's got more experience in RF here than most visiting outfielders, nearly made that catch up against the wall, just beyond the RF foul pole. Instead, ball drops in for a double for J.D. Martinez.
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Benintendi LF
Betts CF
Martinez RF
Moreland 1B
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Chavis 2B
Vazquez C
Nunez DH
ASTROS
Springer DH
Bregman 3B
Brantley LF
Correa SS
Reddick RF
Gurriel 1B
Diaz 2B
Chirinos C
Marisnick CF
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox are 6-1 in their last seven, 12-3 in their last 15 and 17-7 in their last 24...They're 4-0-1 in their last five series...The Sox are also 7-1 in their last eight games at home games and have averaged 8.1 runs in those games, with a 3.21 staff ERA...In each of the last 15 games in which they've scored five or more runs, the Red Sox are undefeated. To start the season, the Sox were 4-5 in those nine games...Boston has hit 28 homers in the last 14 games and 40 of the last 85 runs scored have come via homers.....J.D. Martinez has homered four times in the last three games and five times in the last seven...Since Martinez joined the Red Sox, including last October's postseason, the Sox are 42-9 (.824) when he hits at least one homer...They're also 41-5 (891) when he has two or more RBI....Rafael Devers has cut his strikeout rate from 24.7 last season to 14.4 this year while increasing his walk rate from 7.8 percent to 10.6 percent...Rafael Devers has knocked in 17 runs in his last 18 games....Including the ALCS, the Red Sox and Astros met 12 times last year with the Red Sox winning seven and the Astros taking five...The Astros won the regular season series 4-3, outscoring the Red Sox 34-31...In the month of May, Red Sox pitchers have struck out 152 hitters and walked only 22 for a 6.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio...Red Sox starters have allowed three earned runs or fewer in 25 of the last 30 games and four earned runs or fewer in 29 of the 30...In his last 14 games, Christian Vazquez is hitting .419 with a 1.025 OPS...Vazquez also has the highest percentage of catchers throwing out baserunners at 42.9 percent (6-of-14), including six of the last eight....Michael Chavis is 7-for-15 in his last three games...He has 21 RBI in his first 22 games in the big leagues...He's one of just 11 players since 1920 to hit at least seven homers and drive in at least 21 in his first 22 games...The only other Red Sox player to do that was George Scott (1966)….Andrew Benintendi is just 5-for-27 on the current homestand....Mookie Betts has scored 10 runs in his last seven games....Xander Bogaerts has a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 10 of his last 15 plate appearances...Eduardo Nunez is batting .377 lifetime against the Astros with four homers and 10 RBI....The Sox have won each of Rick Porcello's last five starts, during which he's 3-0 with a 3./06 ERA...He's fanned 30 and walked just six in his last five starts....George Springer is 5-for-12 (.417) with a homer lifetime against Porcello while Robinson Chirinos is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts.....Vazquez is 2-for-3 lifetime against Gerrit Cole while Martinez is 3-for-10 and Betts is 5-for-8.
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- The Red Sox placed C Sandy Leon on paternity leave Friday and promoted C Oscar Hernandez from Pawtucket. To make room for Hernandez on the 40-man roster, the Sox designated Chandler Shepherd for assignment.
- Nathan Eovaldi, who threw in the outfield from a distance of about 100 feet on Friday afternoon, will throw a bullpen Tuesday in Toronto. It will be his first such session since undergoing surgery last month to remove bone chips in his right elbow. "My arm feels great,'' said Eovaldi. "We haven't had any issues and we've been able to take steps to head in the right direction.''
- LHP David Price is expected to return to the rotation Monday in Toronto.
- Despite presence of a righty starter (Cole) for the Astros, Jackie Bradley Jr. was out of the lineup. "(Cole is) tough against lefties,'' said Alex Cora. "Very tough. He's working on a few things, too. He'll play (Saturday) and Sunday, too.
- Dustin Pedroia is re-starting his rehab assignment in the minors, this time with Pawtucket. The goal is for Pedroia to play the next three days, though the rain and wet field condtions Friday night at McCoy Stadium could impact that schedule.
- Brock Holt is set to DH for Pawtucket. Holt is "doing better,'' with his throwing program.
- Noting that the Bruins have advanced to the Stanley Cup final, Cora said: "I work in probably the greatest sports city in the States right now. This is fun. I'm not a hockey fan, but work here and I got caught up watching hockey (Thursday). It's been fun. I think Bruce (Cassidy) has done an outstanding job staying in the moment. They didn't get ahead of themselves. They're in a special situation right now. Hopefully, it happens. Having three trophies in the same city at the same time -- wow, that's cool. Amazing run. You see the vibe of the city -- they love their teams here. Hopefully it happens and we can have them here and celebrate at Fenway.