Tossed another lifesaver, the sinking Red Sox didn’t grab it once again…
Boston entered Sunday’s series finale in the Bronx just 3 1/2 games out for the final AL wild-card spot, with Detroit and Seattle both one game ahead of them.
Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong did go wrong on Sunday. Minnesota, the current holders of the third AL wild card, beat up on Cincinnati 9-2. The Mariners blew out the Rangers 7-0. Even the Tigers managed to pull a 4-2 win over the Orioles out of their hat…
And making matters worse, the Sox couldn’t find a way to earn a series split and keep treading water with the pack following a 5-2 loss to the Yankees, setting them 4 1/2 back with four series and 12 games remaining.
“We’re four and a half games back and Detroit won, and it’s getting tougher and tougher,” Alex Cora told reporters after Sunday’s loss.
Cora’s team dropped the series opener 2-1 in 10 innings and lost 5-4 on Friday before going off script with an offensive outburst in a 7-1 win on Saturday.
“It was a bad series because we lost three of four, but we were in every game,” Cora said. “I was just talking to (Rob Refsnyder). You look at this week, we played Baltimore and the Yankees. We split up, right? Or whatever it was. We lost three here, one at home. Every game was a close one, but that’s not enough in this league. You don’t get wins by playing tough games. You get ‘W’s’ when you win games, and we didn’t do it.”
The bad
Kutter Crawford just can’t seem to kick his home run problem on the mound.
The long ball haunted the Sox right-hander again in the loss, serving up a pair of blasts — a Gleyber Torres solo homer on a cheapie to right, and an Aaron Judge two-run shot to cap New York’s three-run third inning.
Adding to the disappointment, Crawford had even got the better of Judge in his first at-bat, pulling the string on an 83-mile-per-hour splitter to end the home first.
Crawford is now up to 19 home runs allowed since the All-Star Break and a league-worst 33 blasts allowed this season. Since the break, he is now 2-8 with a 6.55 ERA over 57 2/3 innings.
Kutter Crawford
— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) September 15, 2024
Now has allowed 19 HR’s in 56.1 IP since the All-Star break
HR/9 - 3.04
That is not going to work pic.twitter.com/PeV9nr6wTl
He finished the day having allowed four runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. About the only positive thing you can say about Crawford’s outing was he extended his career-high for strikeouts with 162.
Crawford’s season has truly seen the highs of the highs, and now the lows of the lows. At one point, I had called him the “Red Sox’s defacto ace” as he compiled six wins and pitched to a 3.00 ERA with 112 strikeouts in his first 20 starts of the season.
Now? I can’t help but wonder if Crawford is pitching himself out of a rotation spot next year. It will all depend on what the Sox do over the offseason to supplement the rotation. Crawford is certainly good enough to have a spot on this team, but his optimal contributions to this team might come as a long reliever or spot starter.
The good
Tyler O’Neill just can’t stop hitting dingers. The jacked outfielder muscled out his team-leading 31st home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth to pull Boston within 4-2 and momentarily jumpstart the Sox’s offense.
Lefty Rodon lets up lots of homers. Righty Tyler O’Neill crushes lefties. Yeah, gottem. pic.twitter.com/zqyTi2LaN8
— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) September 15, 2024
That’s now six homers and 10 RBIs in 13 games in September for O’Neill. The very much, not-hidden elephant in the room is that the slugging outfielder is in a contract year that’s just about to conclude. He’s hitting for his next paycheck, and there’s nothing wrong with that — especially when it’s directly benefiting the team.
Connor Wong turned in a three-hit game and is hitting .287 on the season, continuing an encouraging trend this season during which he has established himself as a dependable contact hitter.
Zach Penrod turned in his second straight scoreless outing after making his MLB debut on Saturday. The 27-year-old left-handed reliever struck out two and walked one in a scoreless frame in that game before striking out one in two-thirds of an inning in relief of Crawford.
And not that Joe Castiglione retiring is a “good” thing, as the longest-tenured broadcaster in Red Sox history will be missed by many, but it’s always nice to see the tributes and love pour in after he announced during Sunday’s game that this, his 42nd season, will be his last.
Congrats to Joe Castiglione on 40 years of iconic calls! pic.twitter.com/e1sWtWcf1S
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 28, 2022
Hopefully the Sox can surprise us all and give him at least one more postseason series to call…
What’s next
Boston will look to make up ground as it travels to face Tampa Bay for its second-to-last road series of the year before returning home at the end of the week to face Minnesota in what could turn out to be the most important series of the season.
The Sox haven’t faced Tampa Bay since May 22nd, which concluded a stretch of facing the Rays seven times in 10 games. They went 4-3 in those games, including a three-game sweep down at the Trop.
Nick Pivetta is scheduled to be on the mound for the opener on Tuesday. Cooper Criswell is in line to face his former team on Wednesday, and Thursday’s game is currently TBD (although MLB.com also currently has Wednesday’s start as a TBD).
The Sox will face a trio of decent arms in Shane Baz, Ryan Pepiot and Zack Littell — all of whom are sporting sub-4.00 ERAs.
Boston will need some things to break their way during the lead-up to the Twins series, but it’s certainly not unrealistic to say they could be within three-ish games of Minnesota by the time that rolls around.
Here’s hoping for a good series for the Sox and some bad ones for the Royals (who are 2 1/2 clear of Minnesota), the Twins, Tigers and Mariners…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.