Red Sox 3, Giants 4 F/11: Lack of Production Walks Sox Off Once Again

It’s not like the pitching didn’t do a good enough job. For most of the rest of July, giving up four runs wouldn’t have been an issue for the Red Sox offense. For some reason, the last two days, they’ve (mostly) been ice cold.

They ran into another double play and weren’t even a threat with the ghost runner on in the 10th and 11th. It was brutal to watch after a phenomenal comeback.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this one. A win was in arms reach, but Josh Winckowski couldn’t pitch well enough in the 8th, and every inning after that, it felt like pulling teeth to get outs. This type of performance wasn’t good enough, and won’t be good enough for a massive series against the Mariners coming up.

FanGraphs

Three Studs

Justin Turner (.127 WPA, 2-run HR)

He. Is. That. Dude. Down late again, Turner—getting mercilessly booed by the SanFran crowd—cranks a go-ahead, two-run shot in the eighth inning. Absolutely Mr. Clutch lately.

John Schreiber (.147 WPA, 2.0 IP, 2 K)

One inning he inherited a jam, one inning he created it on his own. Both times he showed a heck of a lot of prowess to work around it. Though he did give up a run (which was the right call by Devers to get an out and not force something home), he worked a double play the next batter. In the third, despite a lead-off double, he stranded the runner at third with a groundout and two straight K’s. Nice to see him settle in.

Adam Duvall (.068 WPA, 1 HR)

Hey, a little power from Duvall starting to show. A nice homer out to deep left-center field to get the Sox on the board in this one.

Three Duds

Mauricio Llovera (-.367 WPA, 0.0 IP, loss)

That was...terrible. A HBP and two singles kills off this game. He has no options left so I don’t know what to do about him. There have to be better right-handers to use in the pen.

Christian Arroyo (.006 WPA, bad baserunning)

Man, is Christian Arroyo playing himself out of a spot on the roster once Trevor Story comes back. In the sixth, after getting on with a single and advancing to second on a walk from Alex Verdugo, he completely misreads a popup from Triston Casas into shallow center field, getting handily thrown out trying to return to second to conclude an inning-ending double play. That’s the type of empty-headed ball the Sox are actively trying to jettison off the roster.

Jorge Alfaro (.-018 WPA, 1 AB)

The Red Sox expect Reese McGuire to rejoin the team in Seattle, which means we say goodbye once again to Alfaro, who did...absolutely nothing and got pinch-hit for by Jarren Duran, and replaced by Connor Wong.

Play of the Game

By WPA not just for the Sox, but for the game in general, it was JT’s two-run blast in the 8th!