Last week, Martin Perez faced the Houston Astros provided the longest outing of any Red Sox starter this year. On Tuesday night, just five days later, he faced the same team and delivered the shortest..
Perez was knocked around for six runs in just two innings as the Red Sox saw their five-game winning streak come to an inglorious end in a 7-1 loss to Houston.
The Astros sent 11 men to the plate in the second against the lefty, who did not return for the third inning. Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel both had three hits while Correa and two others all had two RBI.
The only Sox came in the fourth as Rafael Devers was hit by a pitch and moved around the bases on an infield single and two groundouts.
WHO: Red Sox (37-23) vs. Houston Astros (33-26)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: HOU 3-1
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Martin Perez (4-2, 3.09) vs. LHP Framber Valdez (1-0, 1.64)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
ASTROS
Altuve 2B
Correa SS
Bregman 3B
Alvarez DH
Gurriel 1B
Brantley LF
Tucker RF
Maldonado C
Straw CF
RED SOX
Arroyo 2B
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Renfroe RF
Gonzalez LF
Plawecki C
Hernandez CF
Dalbec 1B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B6: Two rockets that inning -- one by Bogaerts, one by Hunter Renfroe -- but both hit directly at Houston infielders for outs.
B5: Red Sox squander an opportunity to close the gap some more. Singles by Vazquez and Kike Hernandez gave the Sox runners at the corners, but they can't produce a run.
B4: Red Sox scratch out a run on a hit batsman, infield hit and a couple of infield groundouts. It's not much, but they're on the board.
T4: Yordan Alvarez got all of that one, cranking one off the back wall of the CF bleachers, measured at 451 feet. Yikes.
T4: Plawecki takes a pitch on a bounce and is struck in the mask. After several minutes of observation from a trainer and Cora, he's come out of the game, replaced by Christian Vazquez,
B3: Kevin Plawecki with a nice stroke to right field for the first first Red Sox hit of the night, but he stays there as Framber Valdez fans the next three hitters.
T3: That's it for Perez. The Sox are short in their bullpen and Perez could have been left out there to eat some innings and take one for the team. Instead, Alex Cora goes to Matt Andriese for the top of the third. It will he Andriese's job to get the Sox into the middle innings -- at least. He last pitched on May 31.
T2: Astros send 11 men to the plate and score five times. This will be a short night for Perez, already at 59 pitches after just two innings.
T2: Perez has now allowed as many runs in the first two innings -- five -- as he did in his last four starts combined.
T2: Whatever Martin Perez did last week against the Astros last week isn't working this time around. Through seven hitters, he's allowed a homer and two hard-hit doubles.
T1: Carlos Correa, the second batter of the game, pulls a pitch down the line in left for a solo homer. Replay upholds the call, which the Red Sox challenges.
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox are a season-high 14 games above .500...They have won each of their last five games and are 12-5 in their last 17. Since getting swept by the Orioles to begin the season, the Sox are 37-20 (.649), MLB’s best record in that time.... The Sox are 15-3 in their last 18 games against AL East teams, after starting the season 0-3...They are 5-0-1 in their last 6 series vs. AL East teams. The Sox have a winning record against each of the other four AL East teams (15-6 overall)...They were a combined 4-16 vs. NYY and TB in 2020 (6-0 this season)....The Red Sox are 6-1-1 in their last 8 series (12-4-4 in series overall). The Sox have earned six series sweeps, but they have been swept only once. They've picked up three sweeps on the road..The Sox are 17-13 (.567) at Fenway Park, the AL’s third--best home record....The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (136) and extra-base hits (214)...They rank second in slugging (.438), third in batting average (.258) and OPS (.755), and fourth in runs (299). The Sox are an MLB-best 33-3 (.917) when scoring four or more runs... Red Sox pitchers lead the AL and rank second in MLB with 0.75 HR/9.0 IP for a total of 44 home runs allowed...They have allowed one or no homers in 52 of 60 games and in 23 of their last 24...The Sox are the only team yet to allow three homers in a game... Xander Bogaerts leads AL shortstops in average (.321), OBP (.378), slugging (.535), OPS (.913), doubles (16), extra-base hits (26), RBI (36), wRC+ (148), and FanGraphs’ WAR (2.8)....Rafael Devers leads MLB in XBH (33) and RBI (tied, 48), and leads the AL in doubles (18)...He also leads AL third basemen in HR (15), slugging (.567), OPS (.909), and hits (59). J.D. Martinez leads DHs in AVG (.321), OBP (.389), OPS (.958), runs (41), hits (67), doubles (tied, 16), wRC+ (160), and FanGraphs’ WAR (2.0).....In his last seven starts, Martin Perez has a 1.98 ERA and 1.05 WHIP...Perez has held lefty hitters to a .130 AVG (3-for-23) over his last five starts, while righties have hit .229 (19-for-83)...He beat Houston last week, tossing 7.2 scoreless innings on 82 pitches...Jose Altuve is 13-for-42 lifetime against Perez and Martin Maldonato is 8-for-12.
NOTES:
* J.D. Martinez returns to the lineup having missed the last three games after jamming his left wrist sliding into second base Friday night in New York. Martinez was the cleanup hitter for the night, with Rafael Devers elevated to second in the batting order as Alex Verdugo was given the night off and Xander Bogaerts third.
* Behind the plate for the second straight game was Kevin Plawecki. Alex Cora thought there was some value in giving Christian Vazquez. "I think Kevin did a good job with Martin (Perez last week) and he's putting up good at-bats,'' said Cora. "It was a tough weekend in New York behind the plate. He'll benefit from the two days. As you know, (Vazquez) has been scuffling offensively. It's kind of like Enrique (Hernandez) last week -- see the game from a different perspective. Hopefully, it's going to help him out and get him going.''
* Cora said he wasn't concerned with Plawecki's struggles in throwing out baserunners, who have succeeded in 16-of-18 attempts this season, including three in three tries Monday. "Overall, if you see the last three or four throws, they've been a lot better than earlier in the season. It's not a concern to be honest with you. In a one-run game, we'll probably use Christian. But we've been very pleased with the way he's been catching, the way he's been calling the games and his at-bats have been amazing. This is a guy we have to get involved; his at-bats are that good. It's refreshing to see him going that way. His numbers are down, but he's actually hitting the ball harder than last year. So, we're very happy with him.''