All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 3-1 loss to the Astros, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Two pitches cost Porcello: Red Sox starter Rick Porcello turned in one of his best starts of the season over the first seven innings, shutting out the highest-scoring team in the league while allowing just four hits -- two of them in the infield. But very quickly, things came undone in the eighth. He left a slider up to leadoff hitter Jake Marisnick and watched in frustration as Marisnick slammed the ball off The Wall on one hop. Then things got worse as George Springer, one of the hottest hitters in the game, jumped on a changeup up in the zone and drove it into the Red Sox bullpen, giving the Astros their first lead of the evening -- one they would add to with an insurance run off reliever Ryan Brasier. Porcello had retired the last seven hitters before the eighth and 17-of-19, but picked a bad time to throw his worst two pitches of the evening. Those resulted in the only two extra-base hits off him for the entire evening.
Chavis tamed: Before the game, Houston manager A.J. Hinch was asked about Chavis, the rookie who has had a great first three weeks with the Sox. Hinch noted that Chavis was doing a lot of damage with secondary pitches and said the Astros would have to test him with fastballs. Did they ever. In his first two at-bats, Chavis saw nothing but four-seamers up in the zone from Gerrit Cole and fanned twice. It was more of the same in the sixth, as he struck out against reliever Hector Rondon. He finally made contact in the eighth, managing a tapper back to the mound. "That's what they do, that's how they pitch,'' said Cora. "Today was a good test for him. He got a taste of that. Tomorrow, he'll come back and make some adjustments.''
Sox forfeited chances: The Red Sox were blanked by Cole over the first five innings, but it wasn't as though they didn't have their chances. In each of the first two innings, the Sox had runners in scoring position -- including runners at second and third in the second. In the fourth, a leadoff double was squandered and the fifth saw them get two on and fail to cash in. For the game, the Sox were a woeful 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Earlier in the week, Cora noted that the Sox hadn't done a good job with situational hitting, and Friday night was a perfect case in point. Boston stranded 10 runners over nine innings, right down to the ninth when Mookie Betts, representing the potential winning run at the plate, flew out, stranding two runners on base.
TURNING POINT
The Red Sox had a chance to do some damage against starter Gerrit Cole with two on and one out in the fifth. But Cole fanned both J.D. Martinez and Mitch Moreland to cut off the threat and strand two runners.
TWO UP
Heath Hembree: After a slow start to the season, Hembree has pitched very well of late and in the ninth, he struck out the side.
Christian Vazquez: The catcher is red hot at the plate. He had his sixth multi-hit game in the last nine with two doubles and a single.
ONE DOWN
Ryan Brasier: Brasier has struggled with his command of late and Friday night proved no exception. He walked the second and third batters he faced, and thanks to a wild pitch, passed ball and a sacrifice fly, allowed an insurance run.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I made a bad decision. Put him in a bad spot. We paid the price.'' Alex Cora on his decision to send Rick Porcello out for the eighth inning.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Red Sox stole multiple bases for the fifth time this season.
- J.D. Martinez has eight extra-base hits in his last 12 games.
- Red Sox pitchers have a 2.88 ERA in the last 20 games.
- Xander Bogaerts has scored 18 runs in his last 21 games.