Alex Cora Identifies Weakness Red Sox Need To Address
The Boston Red Sox beat the Athletics on Monday, 7-0. They did it on the back of Garrett Crochet, who fired seven scoreless innings to keep the game out of reach after a strong offensive showing.
Zack Kelly and Chris Murphy pitched the final two innings of the game, retiring the final six A’s hitters in order to secure the series opener. The final two innings, while seemingly insignificant, were a breath of fresh air.
According to Matthew Gross, it was just the third Red Sox victory since August 12 in which Garrett Crochet or Aroldis Chapman did not appear. Boston is 15-10 over that span.
Of course, Whitlock and Chapman typically only pitch with a lead. It makes sense that they would appear in most of the Red Sox’s victories. At the same time, too often the Red Sox have allowed teams to climb back in games thanks to low-leverage relievers failing to get outs, forcing the high-leverage arms into the game.
On Monday, that easily could have been the case again when Kelly took the ball, but he stayed in the strike zone and got the job done. The same is true of Murphy. Red Sox manager Alex Cora was happy with the improvement.
“I’m glad they pounded the strike zone because that’s something they haven’t done lately,” Cora said. “We need them to be aggressive in the zone.”
In September, each win becomes more and more important. On top of that, one day compounds to the next. Had Kelly and Murphy not been able to find the zone, and Whitlock or Chapman needed to enter the game, it could have left the team shorthanded on Tuesday or Wednesday. Managing workloads is important, and every out helps in that endeavor.
The Red Sox only used two relievers on Monday, giving the rest of the unit a day to rest. With Dustin May on the mound on Tuesday and a bullpen day on Wednesday, they’ll need as many innings as possible from the pen.