Lack of pitching depth dooms Red Sox yet again. Are Boston's playoff hopes over?
BOSTON — Relievers Chris Murphy and Kyle Barraclough were forced to eat innings on consecutive days.
Maybe that’s all we really need to know about the Red Sox and their playoff chances for the rest of 2023.
Sunday afternoon's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers was supposed to be the bullpen reset. But exactly how fragile Boston’s pitching depth remains was laid bare Monday night, as the Houston Astros administered a pounding to open this three-game series.
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This disaster at Fenway Park, a 13-5 mauling that opened another critical home set, felt close to the end. The Red Sox were defenseless on the mound while Jose Altuve hit for the cycle, Yordan Alvarez reached safely six times and Jose Abreu added two hits and two walks.
Barraclough recorded a lone out in the top of the fifth inning in relief of Chris Sale before the night went sideways. Boston continued in a 4-3 game with a player they signed in June from the independent High Point Rockers, its American League Wild Card hopes hanging by a thread. Altuve whacked a two-run triple off the Green Monster and Alvarez crushed a three-run homer into the home bullpen, which remained eerily quiet throughout.
“We’re still resetting today,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He’s been throwing the ball well (at Triple-A Worcester) — throwing strikes. He just didn’t have it today.”
It was a brutal turn of events for both men — Barraclough left wearing it in his third Red Sox outing, Cora folding his hand until Tuesday and Wednesday while waiting for more rested options behind a thin rotation. Sale needed 92 pitches to record 14 outs a day after Tanner Houck finished just four innings in a loss to the Dodgers. Their return from the injured list, hailed as a reason not to add starting pitching at the trade deadline, has proven to be a false dawn.
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“Didn’t do my team and myself any justice,” Sale said. “It’s tough. Come here every day to put in a lot of work and not get a lot out of it.
“My teammates deserve better. They needed someone to step up big tonight. We were obviously gassed out in the bullpen.”
This evoked some déjà vu to the dreadful 2020 season that played out behind closed doors. Marcus Walden, Kyle Hart, Matt Hall, Andrew Triggs and Robinson Leyer haven’t combined for another appearance in the big leagues after contributing to a Red Sox staff that posted a franchise-worst 5.58 earned-run average in 60 games. That shortened season due to COVID-19 likely spared a higher number — the group as a collective was that poor.
Barraclough hit three batters and walked five while adding to the misery, and the difference on this night was 33,771 fans in the seats. A healthy chunk of them donned Houston’s orange and dark blue, and the rest in red and white voiced their displeasure. They stayed past "Sweet Caroline" and all the way to the close, singing as though there still might be an October date in their future.
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“He wanted to go out in the ninth,” Cora said. “We were thinking about actually sending a position player, but he was like, ‘I’ll take this one. I’ll finish this one.’ And we move on from there.
“You saw me, right? My face was probably all over TV. It’s uncomfortable.”
Boston’s champions in 2018 were defined by unmistakable swagger, and it started at the very top. Cora set that tone from the date of his hiring — he found a lighter balance of atonement and scrappiness in 2021, a return from a suspension that resulted in a surprise A.L. Championship Series appearance.
Watching him in this Monday night presser called to mind a different mood — bewilderment. It almost certainly went against Cora’s competitive nature to allow one of his pitchers to absorb such a beating for a second straight day with the stakes so high. The Red Sox ended the night 5½ games behind Houston and Texas for the final Wild Card spot. There are just 30 games left for Boston to find an escape route.
“Who I’m supposed to be, what I’m supposed to be — I’m not even close,” Sale said. “And that’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Sale spoke only for himself. He’s not the type to deflect blame. But he could well have put into words what any Red Sox fans are thinking at this point with the calendar creeping toward September.
This isn’t who they’re supposed to be. Not even close.
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Red Sox pitching depth is too thin. Playoff hopes in peril
