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Chris Cotillo: If Red Sox offense has ‘more to be desired,’ why didn’t Roman Anthony play Friday?
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- Chris Cotillo: If Red Sox offense has ‘more to be desired,’ why didn’t Roman Anthony play Friday?
ST. LOUIS — The Red Sox ’ offense showed signs of life in the final few days of the club’s homestand, plating at least five runs in three of four games and getting just enough timely hitting to take a series from the Brewers. Friday’s game, then, seemed like a potential breakout spot with the Cardinals starting Dustin May , who entered with a 15.95 ERA.
Yet when the lineup came out hours before first pitch, the team’s most feared bat wasn’t in it . As a product of Boston ’s desire to rotate five talented outfielders through four outfield spots — and not injury or fatigue — Roman Anthony sat Friday and never entered the game. His bat was missed in one of the Sox’ most disappointing offensive performances yet as Boston lost, 3-2.
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After allowing 13 earned runs and 17 hits in 7 ⅓ innings over his first two starts, May snapped back into the best version of himself in six strong innings against his former team. The Red Sox had just five hits (including four singles), didn’t walk and had too many quick, non-competitive at-bats to count. Four Cardinals pitchers needed just 114 pitches to get 27 outs.
“We didn’t slow down the game,” Cora mused.
The Red Sox have had inconsistent starting pitching, a handful of bullpen blow-ups and a series of costly defensive miscues on their way to a 4-9 start. The most consistent flaw, though, has been the offense. Ceddanne Rafaela ’s leadoff bloop double in the eighth inning was Boston’s only extra-base hit of the night and just its second in the last three games. The Red Sox have hit one homer ( Willson Contreras’ ninth-inning blast Monday ) in their last six games.
Through 13 games, Boston ranks tied for 27th in runs (46), tied for 26th in homers (9) and tied for 25th in hits (94) while ranking 12th in strikeouts (121) and tied for 24th in walks (44). Of the nine hitters who started Friday, five had an OPS under .600.
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“There’s more to be desired,” said hitting coach Pete Fatse. “I think we know what we’re capable of doing. We’ve been through stretches where offense is hard to come by. We know our processes are strong. It’s just a matter of stringing things together.”
On Friday, May worked around baserunners in the first two innings before settling down with a 12-pitch third. The Red Sox, playing small ball like they did against the Brewers earlier in the week at Fenway, scraped two runs together in the fourth with two singles, a fielder’s choice, a throwing error and a double steal that allowed Trevor Story to take home.
That was all the offense could muster as Rafaela, Jarren Duran and Caleb Durbin combined to see six pitches in the sixth and Story, Marcelo Mayer and Carlos Narváez were set down in 10 pitches by Ryne Stanek , who had also scuffled to start the year. The eighth brought a chance once Rafaela doubled but JoJo Romero struck out Masataka Yoshida and got Contreras to fly out to preserve a one-run lead. The Sox were no match for closer Riley O’Brien in an eight-pitch ninth.
“Just keeping the line moving is the most important thing right now,” said Fatse.
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Both Cora and Fatse were quick to credit May for adding a couple ticks to his fastball, being deceptive with his arm slot and executing pitches when he needed to. But the sleepy offense was plenty to blame, too, as has often been the case early on.
“He had good stuff today,” Cora said. “He was throwing harder than what he has thrown his first two outings. He threw more strikes. Still, we had our chances. But we’ve got to be better offensively.
“We only scored two runs, so we’ve got to be better.”
To be better, the Red Sox might want to start with not benching their most talented players. Anthony has by no means had the start many expected from him, as he’s hitting only .217 with a .656 OPS so far. Still, though, he’s the hitter on the roster with the best chance to be a game-changer. His absence from Friday’s lineup was notable before the game and felt throughout it. There were spots where the Red Sox could have used him — Cora noted Anthony would have hit for Narváez in the ninth if a runner reached — but it never happened. And the entire episode was yet another reminder of how flawed roster construction has hurt the Red Sox in the early goings.
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By trying to rotate Anthony, Duran, Rafaela, Yoshida and Wilyer Abreu through four daily lineup spots, the Red Sox are doing themselves a disservice, either by putting a suboptimal lineup on the field or by robbing a talented player of his routine. Quite obviously, the Red Sox are not the best version of themselves any time Anthony sits. Duran’s playing time has taken the biggest hit and his poor start — he’s hitting .162 with a .495 OPS — can easily be blamed on a lack of routine for a player who has sat three times, played left field four times, started in center twice and been the DH three times in two weeks. Installing Yoshida in left on certain days hurts the outfield defense, a clear strength of the team. And worst of all, it seems the easy fix — a trade to balance the roster — is an option that has passed the Red Sox by, at least for now.
At some point, an injury will solve the logjam and the quartet of healthy outfielders will settle into regular roles. It seems, though, like the Red Sox have been banking on that eventuality for too long. In a busy offseason that saw Craig Breslow change course numerous times, it seems like the club was afraid to subtract from an already-anemic-looking offense by dealing from the outfield glut . Now, the daily mixing and matching is doing just the same.
The manager makes up the lineup on a daily basis, so Cora will get his share of heat for decisions like the one not to start Anthony. But the front office is to blame for sowing the seeds of such decisions by thinking there was a path forward — even if one wasn’t clear to anyone on the outside — with all five players on the roster. It took Cora two regular season games to describe the situation as “not easy” in a not-so-veiled concession that the front office had left him in difficult waters to navigate. On paper and in projection systems, having five talented players on a roster seems like a solution, not a problem. But when it plays out every day and the human element gets involved, it becomes pretty clear that the Red Sox are working with a less-than-optimal version of themselves.
That was clear again Friday. Perhaps there was confidence that in a seemingly favorable matchup against May, the lineup would be just fine, even without Anthony. At this point, though, the Red Sox need to employ an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to getting their sluggish offense going. Sitting an uber-talented player who has been propped up as the face of the franchise isn’t the answer, even if there are capable alternatives who need at-bats.
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Cora vowed that Anthony will start the remaining five games of the trip to St. Louis and Minnesota , so expect him back atop the lineup against righty Kyle Leahy on Saturday night. That means you might see the red-hot Abreu getting his first day off in the coming days. Or Rafaela out of the mix, not manning a spacious center field at Busch Stadium. Or Duran or Yoshida in good matchups against inexperienced righties.
At some point, though, something’s gotta give.
“We just have to be better,” Cora said. “That’s it.”
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