McAdam: Red Sox' narrow win a reminder that bullpen help is needed

The trade deadline is now a week away, and the Red Sox find themselves in a conundrum.

It's obvious now -- as it was months ago -- that the team needs bullpen reinforcements. That point was hammered home Tuesday night in the ninth inning as first Brandon Workman and then Marcus Walden walked a tightrope, allowing two runs and filling the bases before Walden got the final out in a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Matt Barnes tossed a perfect seventh inning in relief of Chris Sale. Workman then retired the Rays in order in the eighth. But that left Workman to handle the ninth, too, and he soon was gassed, needing 32 pitches to get two outs while leaving the bases loaded.

The Sox currently have two relievers they trust in high-leverage spots -- Barnes and Workman. But they can't be asked to get nine outs as they did Tuesday.

And here's how we get back to that conundrum.



Before the Red Sox' front office and ownership commits to adding salary (and, not incidentally, surrendering more prospects), the Sox have to prove themselves worthy. They're in the midst of a tough stretch in which they face only the Rays and the Yankees before the deadline and they need to make up ground in the playoff chase.

To do that, they're going to, by definition, have to win close games. And win close games, they're going to need strong work from the bullpen night after night. Only, it's already been proven that they don't have enough quality relievers and need reinforcements, but to get to that point, they'll need to win games in spite of their thin bullpen.

Talk about a Catch-22.

If Monday's 9-4 win resulted in a hushed reminder of the need for bullpen help, Tuesday's nail-biter fairly screamed the news.

On Monday, the Sox led (seemingly) comfortably 8-0 after eight. But Nathan Eovaldi gave up three in the eighth and Josh Taylor allowed one more in the ninth, making things marginally interesting. This, by the way, happened on a night in which the Rays thought so little of their comeback chances that they turned to second baseman Mike Brosseau to pitch the eighth inning.

For all their virtues, the Rays are not a threatening offensive juggernaut. They rank 10th in the league in average runs per game and are where they are because of their pitching. Their lineup should scare no one.

And yet, twice in the last two days, they've pushed the Sox to the edge. Trailing by eight with six outs to go, they nearly brought the potential tying run to the on-deck circle in the series opener. Then, on Tuesday, they trailed by three with three outs to go and had the tying run on third and the go-ahead run in scoring position before coming up short.

In his postgame comments, Alex Cora noted that in Wednesday's series finale, he'll have Eovaldi available, and can count on Barnes for another out.

But that ignores the fact that Eovaldi hardly looked sharp in his bullpen coming-out party Monday, allowing three hits and five runs while getting just two swings-and-misses on 24 pitches. And it ignores the fact that the numbers clearly demonstrate that Barnes is less effective when used on consecutive days, much less three days in a row, which will be the case if he's called upon Wednesday.

Give the Red Sox credit for winning the first two here. They weren't pretty victories by any stretch, but both games could have gotten away from them in the end, and somehow, they held on.

That says something about the team's toughness.

But are they prepared to go through the next four days, operating on fumes, and dealing with twin challenges: continue to win games, and do so despite an obvious, impossible-to-ignore weakness at the back end of games?

Cora, who seldom publicly criticizes his players, highlighted the inability of Michael Chavis to turn a double play on Joey Wendle with a runner on and no out in the ninth. Cora's point was that if the double play was recorded, Workman wouldn't have to throw as many pitches and would have gotten out of the inning sooner.

"We've got to play better defense,'' said Cora.

That much is true. But it's worth noting that Chavis has been out with back spasms the last three days and isn't exactly the most experienced second baseman in the game.

The real issue can't be ignored. It's the bullpen, the same bullpen the Sox hope will perform beyond its capabilities the rest of the week so that the Sox can be in position to go out and trade for bullpen help.

Got it?

If it sounds illogical, well, welcome to the 2019 Red Sox season.