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Final: Red Sox 1 vs. Chicago Cubs 7 - Pitching struggles against Cubs lineup
Trevor's Game Notes
Rough start: Crawford has a difficult outing on the mound, giving up 4 runs. In every inning except the first he allowed multiple runners on base, having difficulty getting outs compared to his previous starts. The pitching staff overall gave up 14 hits in this game.
Hot starter: Shota Imanaga has another great start to his young MLB career, only allowing a solo home run to Tyler O'Neill. In 4 starts, he now has a 0.98 ERA with 28 strikeouts.
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WHO: Red Sox (14-12) vs. Chicago Cubs (16-9)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston
SERIES TO DATE: 2-1 in 2023 (0-0/2-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Kutter Crawford (1-0, 0.66) vs. LHP Shota Imanaga (3-0, 0.84)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Jarren Duran (L) CF
Tyler O'Neill (R) RF
Rob Refsnyder (R) LF
Rafael Devers (L) DH
Connor Wong (R) C
Pablo Reyes (R) 3B
Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B
Enmanuel Valdez (L) 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) SS
SP Kutter Crawford
Cubs
Nico Hoerner (R) 2B
Mike Tauchman (L) RF
Ian Happ (S) LF
Christopher Morel (R) 3B
Michael Busch (L) 1B
Dansby Swanson (R) SS
Matt Mervis (L) DH
Miguel Amaya (R) C
Pete Crow-Armstrong (L) CF
SP Shota Imanaga
WHAT'S UP
The Red Sox and Cubs tonight will begin their 4th ever series at Fenway Park, their first since 2017. The Sox have batted .198 AVG with a .620 OPS at home,averaging 3.5 runs per game. The Red Sox have lost each of their 3 series openers at home while going 4-1 in road series openers.
Boston went 4-2 on their 6-game road trip to PIT (3-0) and CLE (1-2). The Sox are 4-3-1 in series play, going 1-2-0 at home and 3-1-1 on the road.
Kutter Crawford leads MLB with a 0.66 ERA, the 3rd-lowest mark by a Red Sox pitcher during their first 5 starts of a season in the Live-Ball Era (since 1920) behind Lefty Grove (1936-0.21) and Dave Ferriss (1945-0.60). In his last 6 starts, beginning 9/30/23, Crawford owns a 0.54 ERA in 33.1 IP. He joins Chris Sale (2018) as the only Red Sox pitchers in the last 50 years to post an ERA that low over any 6-start span.
Alex Cora’s next win will tie Jimmy Collins (455) for 5th on the Red Sox’ all-time managerial wins list. He has led the Sox to a 454-382 (.543) record, the 4th-highest win percentage in franchise history (min.500 games managed).
Vaughn Grissom is currently on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester. He started at 2nd base last night at Toledo and went 1-for-4 with a double. Alex Cora said injured second baseman Vaughn Grissom is scheduled to play nine innings both Saturday and Sunday for Triple-A Worcester at Toledo. “So this is kind of like the last hurdle probably,” Cora said. “I think as far as like the time, we’re almost there. So he’s feeling good. Took off a few times to steal bases, which means that he is feeling great. Played good defense, put some good at-bats.”