The Boston Red Sox

Friday, August 9, 2019

* The Boston Globe

Red Sox get a glimpse of the old Chris Sale in win over the Angels

Julian McWilliams

It’s rare that three runs is enough for this version of the Red Sox.

It’s rare that Sam Travis and Sandy Leon propel the Sox’ offense. This season, at least, the Red Sox have

searched for but haven’t quite found the Chris Sale of old, so it’s fair to say a game in which he goes eight

innings and strikes out 13 is rare, too.

But on Thursday night, rare was the norm. The Sox were timely and displayed sheer dominance and execution in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park.

Travis and Leon homered, and Sale dazzled for eight. The game was the Sox’ shortest of the year: 2 hours

and 16 minutes.

“Honestly, when I got to the clubhouse, I was like, ‘What do we do now?’ ” manager Alex Cora joked

afterward. “We have so much time, I can play with my kids at home.”

This was the Sale the Sox had been waiting on. Sure, Sale historically owns the Angels. Thursday’s

performance only added to that. He’s now 7-0 against them with a 1.06 ERA in 10 career games, including

eight starts.

But after last Saturday’s outing against the Yankees, when he got hit around for eight runs in just 3⅔

innings, you questioned if Sale would ever find it.

“You never want to say you figured it out,” Sale said. “But it was a step in the right direction. I hope to be

able to keep doing what I’m doing because obviously we’re in an uphill battle, but we still think we have a

shot. We’re all still playing in here.”

For Sale, cruising might be an understatement in this one. He was electric. The only extra-base hit he

surrendered came on a Shohei Ohtani dribbler in the first inning that third baseman Rafael Devers decided

to let go foul. However, it stayed fair and went into short left field, giving Ohtani enough time to reach

second for a double. Sale retired the next 16 batters until Mike Trout — who struck out twice against Sale — singled to start the seventh.

“He had good stuff tonight,” Trout said. “He was painting on me, I’ll tell you that. It’s just a battle, a grind.

He had his [velocity]. He looked the same to me.”

Cora didn’t go into detail, but he said the entire staff worked tirelessly to get Sale back to that point. But

with the struggles and inconsistent outings Sale has turned in this season, his manager didn’t quite call it a

comeback just yet.

“We have to wait for the next [start],” Cora said. “It’s been like that the whole time. Everybody is going to

be asking if he can do it again. There’s a lot of question marks for the right reasons obviously, but at least for today, he looked great.”

Travis’s two-run homer in the second off Angels lefthander Dillon Peters gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

Leon followed with a solo shot in the fifth. Otherwise, the Sox’ offense struggled. They mustered just five

hits, with Mookie Betts, Devers, and Xander Bogaerts, the first three batters in the order, going a combined

0 for 11.

“It’s good to be able to contribute when called upon,” Travis said. “You have to stay ready.”

Said Cora: “Good swing by Sam. First-pitch attacking, and Sandy gets on top of a fastball. We’ve got some

guys right now, they are struggling. But that was a good baseball game.”

A good game that included timely hitting from Travis and Leon, and a dominant Sale. It’s part of what

made the Sox a championship team last season, and part of what’s been absent during this one.

Sale added an exclamation point to his outing in the eighth inning, striking out Wilfredo Tovar swinging on

a fastball registered at 97 miles per hour.

“That’s the Sale I saw over the years in the Central [Division],” said Angels manager Brad Ausmus, who

managed the Tigers for three seasons when Sale was with the White Sox. “I know this hasn’t been a

vintage Chris Sale year. But when I’ve watched him on TV he doesn’t look that different to me. He still can reach back for velocity.”

Red Sox place David Price on 10-day IL with injured left wrist

Julian McWilliams

Alex Cora knew something was off when David Price wasn’t locating the way the Red Sox manager is

used to seeing.

If there’s one facet of Price’s game that Cora has grown accustomed to, it’s the way the lefthander can

consistently spot the ball. But that really hadn’t been the case since Price started against the Orioles on July 19.

In that span (four starts), Price had allowed 20 earned runs in just 17 innings for an ERA of 10.59. The Sox

believe Price’s struggles are related to a recent MRI, which revealed a triangular fibrocartilage complex

(TFCC) cyst on Price’s left wrist. The team on Thursday placed Price on the 10-day injured list retroactive

to Aug. 5 and called up Hector Velazquez to fill his spot.

“As you guys know, David’s last three or four [outings] as far as location and the action of the pitches, it

wasn’t there,” Cora said prior to Thursday night’s series opener against the Angels. “For me, it was more

the changeup. It seemed like the changeup had some cutting action. I actually asked our analytics

department about it and they said it’s actually the cutter. The cutter was actually sinking.”

Price received a cortisone shot and now the team will wait to see how he responds. The cyst is located on

the outer part of Price’s wrist. He was not available to the media Thursday but will be on Friday, according

to the Red Sox.

“It seems like it puts restrictions as far as like how he executes his pitches,” Cora said. “As far as

extension, or the hand placement and all of that. But the actions are actually not great.”

Price dealt with carpal tunnel syndrome last season, but Cora said he doesn’t think there’s a correlation

between the two. Cora mentioned Price’s cutter not having its normal bite dating to his July 2 start against

the Blue Jays, which might indicate this is something that’s plagued Price for some time.

When asked if that was the case, Cora added, “We treat everything. There are certain things you can pitch

through, but there’s certain things that are going to limit you throughout your outings.”

After last Sunday’s outing against the Yankees, when Price allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in just

2⅔ innings, he relayed to the Sox that he was feeling tightness in his wrist.

“At least we found out,” Cora said. “Whatever people were thinking, if it was the elbow or something else,

at least we know. We’ll shut him down for a little bit and he’ll be back.”

Brian Johnson will start in Price’s place on Friday night.

What’s next?

Though the Sox expect Price to be back, his absence does complicate things. As recently as Wednesday,

Cora mentioned how the team was thinking of creative ways it could help its struggling starting pitching.

Cora told reporters that the team would be open-minded to piggy-backing starters with shorter stints, or

skipping starters’ turns in the rotation.

Whatever the Sox decide, the Price news complicates potential plans and adds pressure to an already-taxed

bullpen. The Sox aren’t sure what they’ll do with Price’s turn in the rotation after Johnson’s start on Friday.

A lot of it might depend on how Price responds.

Meanwhile, Nathan Eovaldi has been stretched out to two innings. Though he surrendered a run in

Wednesday night’s suspended game against the Royals, it was by far the best Eovaldi has looked recently,

striking out five.

“I felt good,” Eovaldi said. “I felt really comfortable going back out there for the second inning. I’m just

trying to help the team as much as possible.”

If this happens to be a long stint on the injured list for Price, would putting Eovaldi back in the rotation be

in the cards?

Cora didn’t totally rule it out.

“Let’s just go with Brian Friday and decide what we’re going to do,” Cora said. “The offdays are going to

give us a chance to be creative. Nate pitched two innings [Wednesday] because we needed two innings

from him. Let’s not think that we’re stretching him out to start. But he pitched two innings, too.”

Cut to the chase

Rafael Devers chasing pitches outside the strike zone might be a bit overstated. In July, for instance, when

he hit .358 with nine homers, Devers had a chase rate of 43.4 percent outside the zone.

Entering Thursday night, his chase rate was down to 37.3 percent, but it seemed as if he had been chasing a

ton. The problem might lie in the contact percentage on pitches outside the zone. Devers was down to 57.1 percent contact rate on pitches outside the zone compared with 72.6 percent in July. His swing-and-miss

percentage entering Thursday was more than over 18 percent in August. In July? 12.6 percent.

This shows how locked in Devers was in July, and how that hasn’t carried over to August, during which he

was hitting just .152 entering Thursday.

Devers went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on Thursday.

“He’s going to go through stretches like this,” Cora said. “Sometimes he gets caught up on swinging too

hard.”

Velazquez healthy

This season marked the first time Velazquez was optioned to Triple A Pawtucket since 2017. Now back

with the big club, he’ll be coming out of the bullpen, and he said he worked on command of all his pitches,

something he struggled with this season (4.1 walks per nine innings with a 5.67 ERA in major league 46

innings).

But part of those struggles might have been because of his health. Velazquez said he was dealing with a

bad back earlier this season.

“Now I feel good. Sometimes I felt tight,” Velazquez said. “I couldn’t rotate my hips. Sometimes I had

problems locating my pitches. Now I feel really good.”

Suspended game

Team president Sam Kennedy said the Red Sox are discussing how best to approach the continuation of

Wednesday night’s suspended game against the Royals.

It was 4-4 when the game was stopped with no outs in the top of the 10th inning because of rain. The game

was suspended after a delay of 1 hour and 9 minutes and will be picked up from that point on Aug. 22 at

1:05 p.m.

There is no other Red Sox game that day. So Fenway Park will be opened for as few as four batters, or for

who knows how long until somebody wins.

Ticket-holders from Wednesday’s game will be allowed back in. But the Sox do not expect all 32,453 to

return. The team could let some fans in at a discounted rate or hold some other kind of promotion.

“We have to talk about what to do,” Kennedy said. “We haven’t had something like this before.”

It was the first suspended game for the Sox since April 16, 2010, against Tampa Bay. That game, also

halted because of rain, was resumed the next night before the teams played the regularly scheduled game.

The Sox lost, 3-1, in 12 innings.

Peter Abraham of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Dustin Pedroia and the start of a Red Sox era of risky business

Alex Speier

Back in 2013, it all seemed so promising. In the middle of what became a championship season, the eight-

year, $110 million deal reached by Dustin Pedroia and the Red Sox was cause for organizational

celebration — a franchise cornerstone taking what seemed like a below-market deal to spend the rest of his career with the only team for whom he’d ever played.

“If we’re going to bet on someone at 37 or 38 years old,” general manager Ben Cherington said at the time,

“we’re not sure there’s a better guy to bet on.”

The logic underpinning that proclamation was twofold: Pedroia was an incredibly skilled player, an elite

defensive second baseman and a hitter whose remarkable hand-eye coordination allowed him to adapt his

swing to nearly any circumstance. And, of course, he was a singular force of nature, his determination and

commitment to compete at the highest level complete.

The latter trait remains evident. Earlier this week, Pedroia underwent a complicated “left knee joint preservation procedure,” one meant to continue the nearly two-year effort to find something that will

permit him to get back on the field.

Yet with Pedroia’s deal now in its sixth season, there’s a good chance that, despite his willingness to

exhaust every possible avenue in seeking a comeback, he has played his last game (or something close to it)

in the big leagues. If that is indeed the case, then the four-time All-Star will have played just nine big

league games over the last four years of his contract while earning $56 million and counting (based on

deferrals), for $13.3 million per season of payroll as calculated for luxury-tax purposes.

The Red Sox likely anticipated decline over the latter half of Pedroia’s long-term deal, signed when he was still near a lengthy peak and on a potential Hall of Fame arc. They did not anticipate that the returns would

be next to nothing.

Yet that is precisely the problem they face — not just with Pedroia but with others — and will face moving

forward, as the weight of long-term deals accumulates in crushing fashion.

The Red Sox feature the largest payroll in baseball at over $240 million — a figure that doesn’t even

account for the $11 million being spent on Rusney Castillo in Triple A. It does include the $19 million

being spent on Pablo Sandoval, the $5 million spent on Eduardo Nunez (released after playing at a level 1.3

Wins Below Replacement in the calculations of Baseball-Reference.com), and the $6.25 million being

spent on Steve Pearce (who posted a WAR that was 0.6 below replacement level).

Tyler Thornburg received $1.75 million for performing below replacement level before his release, and

Nate Eovaldi likewise has been a tick below replacement level while counting for $17 million against the

luxury-tax threshold this year.

Sandoval, Eovaldi, Pedroia, Pearce, Nunez, and Thornburg collectively account for about $62 million of

the team’s payroll — more than one-quarter. As a group, they’ve been a drag on the Red Sox’ efforts to

contend.

The issue for the Red Sox in 2019 is not one of payroll size. As president of baseball operations Dave

Dombrowski noted in his July 31 session with the media, the team has the biggest payroll in the game —

by a sizable margin — and will pay plenty (upward of $12 million) in luxury taxes (on top of the roughly $11 million Castillo tax).

The issue is the efficiency of the investments; they have placed a growing number of long-term bets,

including several on players who have aged or will age past their primes during the life of their deals.

Sandoval and Rick Porcello (just over $20 million per year) will come off the books after this season. But

the Red Sox will still have several guaranteed eight-figure commitments, including:

2020: David Price ($31 million), Chris Sale ($25.6 million), J.D. Martinez ($22 million, if he does not opt

out and depart), Xander Bogaerts ($20 million), Eovaldi ($17 million), Pedroia ($13.3 million).

2021: Price ($31 million), Sale ($25.6 million), Martinez ($22 million, if he does not opt out and depart as a free agent), Bogaerts ($20 million), Eovaldi ($17 million), Pedroia ($13.3 million).

2022: Price ($31 million), Sale ($25.6 million), Martinez ($22 million, if he does not opt out and depart),

Bogaerts ($20 million), Eovaldi ($17 million).

The Red Sox already have $115 million committed for the 2022 season — a staggering amount, without

even contemplating what extensions for Mookie Betts or Rafael Devers or Andrew Benintendi might look

like, or whether deals for those young.

* The Boston Herald

Chris Sale leads Red Sox past Angels with vintage performance

Steve Hewitt

Chris Sale’s frustrating 2019 season seemed to hit its boiling point last Saturday in New York. Some bad

calls from the home-plate umpire manifested itself into a dismal fourth inning and he was ejected as he

walked off the mound.

The Red Sox ace looked lost. For as bad as his season has gone, he might have reached his lowest point.

But what a difference five days makes.

Sale has since cooled off, and he responded Thursday night with one of his best starts of the season. Even

someone as critical of himself as Sale had to be pleased with this performance as he gave up two hits in

eight shutout innings and struck out 13 in the Red Sox’ 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in a tidy

two hours and 16 minutes at Fenway Park.

Sam Travis’ two-run homer in the second and Sandy Leon’s solo shot in the fifth were more than enough

for Sale.

The lefty, as he always does, went to work in between starts to try to find the answers to his issues. Hours of video, meetings with pitching coaches Dana LeVangie and Brian Bannister, everything. It was only one

start, but there was something certainly different about Sale on Thursday.

“It was a team effort on the field and a team effort behind the doors,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

“There was a lot of work, a lot of video and the group did an outstanding job trying to figure stuff out.

Sometimes I don’t even know what it’s all about, but you can see the tempo was good, the delivery was

clean, the mix of the pitches was outstanding and when he gets rolling, he gets rolling. …

“Good one for everybody.”

The performance was vintage Sale. He dialed up his fastball to the high 90s, his slider was unhittable and even used his changeup more than usual. The Angels, over and over, left the batter’s box scratching their

heads — even Mike Trout, who struck out twice.

Sale gave up a double in the first inning on a weakly hit ground ball down the third-base line that

inexplicably rolled past Rafael Devers and he was otherwise unbeatable. He retired 16 in a row from that

point forward as the Angels never stood a chance against him.

Trout opened the seventh with a single, but Sale responded with three consecutive strikeouts as he ticked

up the velocity. He buried Albert Pujols with a 98-mph heater to end the inning, and then he hit 97 on his

punchout of Wilfredo Tovar to end the eighth on his 99th and final pitch, letting out a scream as he walked

off the mound as he received a standing ovation on his way into the dugout.

“Any time you get results, it’s satisfying, especially when you see what you’ve been doing that has made

you unsuccessful and you look at what has made you successful,” Sale said. “You trash the one and pick up

the other. The way that I felt, the visual satisfaction from what I saw and to be able to go out and do it, I

just try to build off of that and keep it going.”

Even though Sale has had a mostly frustrating year, we’ve seen glimpses of this before this season. He

struck out 17 against Colorado in May and pitched a complete game three-hitter against Kansas City in

June.

But there seems to be belief that this is sustainable, that it’s not just another one-hit wonder. The Red Sox

certainly will need it to be if they have plans to play in October.

“We have to wait for the next one,” Cora said. “It’s been like that the whole time. Everybody’s going to be

asking if he can do it again the next one. This is August, so there’s a lot of question marks for the right

reasons, obviously. But at least for today he looked great. The delivery was great. The velocity was up. The

shape of the pitches were amazing. I’m proud of him but I’m proud of the group. Everybody contributed to

this and they deserve a good night like this.”

But especially Sale.

“You never want to say that you figured it out, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Sale said. “I hope to

keep doing what I’m doing because obviously we have an uphill battle, but we still feel like we have a shot

and we’re all still fighting in here.”

Alex Cora in awe of Mike Trout’s speed: ‘The way he moves is impressive’

Steve Hewitt

Mike Trout’s abilities have been obvious since he entered the big leagues at 19 years old in 2011.

But as dominant as he is a hitter and as natural as he is defensively as a center fielder, it’s something else

that Red Sox manager Alex Cora finds most impressive with arguably the game’s best player: his speed.

At a hulking 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, Trout’s quickness is probably the most underrated part of his game. He

once stole 49 bases in a season, and while that happened in 2012 when he was 20, he hasn’t lost much of a

step. Trout has swiped at least 20 bags in each of his last three seasons.

It’s something Cora has certainly noticed, and he saw it firsthand when he managed this year’s All-Star

Game. As the Red Sox opened a four-game series against Trout’s Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night at

Fenway Park, the two-time MVP’s speed was one of the first things Cora mentioned.

“I had the pleasure of managing him in the All-Star Game,” Cora said. “The first at-bat he hit a rocket to

the second baseman and ran like a 4.1 to first base, an exhibition game where home-field advantage is not decided anymore. He plays the game right and he enjoys playing the game. …

“That got my attention. He got there. He hit a rocket. Who played second base for the National League?

(Ketel Marte) knocked it down, got it, not a routine play, but just an out and he made it a bang-bang play.

The way he moves is impressive. … If I had to compare it to somebody, his body, the way he’s built, how

fast he is, Raul Mondesi. Mondy was strong, big neck, and he flew from first to third, kind of like that.

Very impressive.”

Trout is having a very Trout-like season as he entered the weekend’s series against the Red Sox. Entering

Thursday, he was hitting .299 with an American League-leading 38 homers — well on pace to break his

career high of 41 set in 2015 — with 89 RBI. His 7.5 WAR leads MLB, just ahead of the Dodgers’ Cody

Bellinger.

For as good of a player as he is, Cora also marveled about Trout’s character, which he also saw a glimpse

of at the All-Star Game.

“Tremendous guy. When I talked to him, obviously they were coming from a tough week with everything

that happened with the organization (the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs), but he was cool with

everybody in the clubhouse. He was great with the families. Very polite kid. It was a pleasure to be around

him. …

“He hasn’t played in the playoffs in a while, but he goes out there with the same attitude — smile on his

face and he just enjoys it. It’s always cool to see him play but let’s keep him in check.”

David Price placed on 10-day IL with left wrist injury

Steve Hewitt

Alex Cora knew something seemed off with David Price over the last few weeks, and his suspicions were

confirmed Thursday.

The Red Sox placed Price on the 10-day injured list — retroactive to Aug. 5 — with a left wrist injury, the

latest blow to their struggling starting rotation. The medical concerns seemed to be building with Price, who reported tightness in his wrist after his start last Sunday against the Yankees. The left-hander then had

an MRI that revealed a TFCC cyst, which was treated with a cortisone shot.

Price had been struggling of late, posting a 10.59 ERA over his last four starts dating back to July 19. Cora

noticed command issues with Price, which caused warning signs with the manager. Specifically, after

talking with the team’s analytics department, it seemed his cutter was sinking instead of cutting.

“Regardless if he’s throwing 87 or 95, precision and strikes is his game, and after the last one, we talked

about it,” Cora said. “He didn’t feel 100 percent, he felt tight, so we decided to send him and get the MRI

and the results were right there. It’s something I was wondering. I know you guys asked about him being

healthy, but the fact that he wasn’t controlling his pitches for me was a red flag. It’s nothing elbow-related

or shoulder, whatever, but it gave me the answers for what was going on because with David, I’m going to repeat myself, regardless of the stuff, strikes is his game and he was all over the place.”

Cora didn’t know how long Price will be out. Hector Velazquez, who will be used out of the bullpen, was

recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to fill his spot, and Brian Johnson will start Friday in place of Price and

assume that role for the foreseeable future.

“He got a shot (Wednesday) so we’ll see how long it goes,” Cora said of Price. “The hope is for him to

come sooner rather than later, but we don’t have a timetable. We’ll make sure he’s OK and we’ll go from

there.”

Cora didn’t seem to know the factors that led to the cyst building his wrist, but also didn’t seem to be overly concerned about the seriousness of it.

“It’s from pitching,” Price said. “I mean, repetition and honestly knowing the guy and knowing what he did

last year, and how we communicate and how we go, maybe he was feeling a little bit tighter, but he felt like

he can compete at this level that way. But little by little, it seems like the cyst growing, growing, growing,

and it was actually limiting himself from other stuff, like the changeup and all the other pitches.

“Hey, at least we found out. Whatever people were thinking if it was the elbow or something else, at least

we know and we’ll shut him down for a little bit and he’ll be back.”

Eovaldi shows length

For the first time since he was moved to the bullpen, Nathan Eovaldi pitched multiple innings in

Wednesday night’s game against the Royals that ultimately was suspended in the 10th inning. He threw

two innings, and though he gave up the tying run in the seventh, he also struck out five.

Cora said Eovaldi felt good physically Thursday and the Sox likely weren’t going to use him in the series

opener against the Angels. But the manager saw it as a good sign in Eovaldi’s progress as a reliever and

how he’s able to use him moving forward.

“It was very important,” Cora said. “He’s still learning. We talked about it yesterday, the usage and all that.

He didn’t execute one pitch yesterday, the 0-2 fastball, and mixing up the breaking ball is going to be very

important and he knows it. Overall, it was great to see him going two innings because it helps me envision how we use guys.”

No other choice

Cora had empathy for the league in its decision to suspend Wednesday night’s game against the Royals

after heavy rain forced a nearly two-hour rain delay in the 10th inning. Kansas City wasn’t scheduled to

return to Boston this season, but the situation left all parties without much of a choice. The game will

resume Aug. 22 at 1:05 p.m., which was a mutual off day for both teams.

“It’s hard,” Cora said. “For the league to make decisions with traveling and where teams are and mutual off

days, it’s not as easy as people think. It’s one of those that we have to play that game, we have to finish

that. It’s not good for them and it’s not, I guess, great for us, but that’s the only way we can actually finish

the game. We’ll do it. We’re not going to complain about it. It’s just a tough one.”

* The Providence Journal

Sale Day arrived at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox left-hander gave the Angels no chance

Bill Koch

For as long as his baseball career lasts, Chris Sale should demand to start August 8.

There’s something about that moment in time each year where Sale reaches his apex. Granted, the sample

size is small – just two outings. But there isn’t a pitcher alive or dead who wouldn’t accept an average of

eight innings, two hits, 0.5 walks and 13 strikeouts.

Tampa Bay felt Sale’s wrath at Tropicana Field in 2017. The Angels felt it Thursday night at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox weren’t going to be beaten on this perfect summer evening. They also weren’t going to stick

around very long – a season-best two hours and 16 minutes on the game clock, which was a far cry from

Wednesday’s rain-soaked suspension against the Royals.

Most importantly? A victory, and a resounding one at that. Sale’s brilliance set up a 3-0 win over Los

Angeles, one that was seemingly never in doubt after Sam Travis drilled a two-run homer to center field in

the bottom of the second inning.

“He was lights out,” Travis said. “Quick work. We weren’t on defense very long. It’s a lot of fun when that

happens.”

The 34,744 fans on hand would likely agree. They spilled into the sounding streets of the Back Bay in

plenty of time for a late bite to eat and perhaps a rooftop beverage or two. Driving their train home was a

man nicknamed The Conductor – punching tickets, his personal slang for racking up strikeouts, has been

Sale’s calling card since he debuted with the White Sox in 2010.

“Just the way it felt,” Sale said, when asked how Thursday might have been different from his other 23

starts this season. “The way it all felt.”

He wasn’t the only one thinking that way. There were audible groans from the crowd when Brandon

Workman was summoned for what turned out to be a 1-2-3 ninth inning. It was nothing against the right-

hander – they wanted to see Sale, at 99 pitches, finish what he started and throw a second shutout of the

season.

Alex Cora is here to win baseball games, however, and not a popularity contest. The Red Sox manager

never wavered in his decision to bring on Workman and clinch two wins in three games for the first time

since July 25-27. Cora also allowed Sale to leave his start on a high note, as he blew a 97 mph fastball past Wilfredo Tovar to end the eighth.

“There was a lot of work in between starts,” Cora said. “It was a team effort on the field and a team effort

behind the doors. A lot of work, a lot of video – the group did an outstanding job trying to figure stuff out.”

Sale was last seen melting down at Yankee Stadium and raging at home plate umpire Mike Estabrook on

his way to the visiting clubhouse showers. The manner in which New York hammered him for nine hits and

eight earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings threatened to have a lingering effect beyond a four-game weekend

sweep. Sale’s earned-run average swelled to a career-worst 4.68, and there were somewhat nonsensical questions about whether or not his five-year extension through the 2024 season was already dead money.

“You look at what’s made you successful,” Sale said. “You trash the one and pick up the other.”

Brian Bannister earned special mention from Sale, as the Red Sox vice president of pitching development is

generally the man behind the monitor searching video for answers. Sale’s fastball and slider frequently

found the same starting tunnel Thursday, with high heat and low breaking balls producing all but one of his

16 swings-and-misses. Mike Trout saw 11 pitches and nothing approaching his knees from Sale, singling

softly on a slider and striking out on a pair of elevated fastballs.

“You look at the names they’ve got in that lineup,” Sale said. “At any given time – what were we up, three

runs? You make a mistake here, you make a mistake there and they’re right back in it.”

There were no mistakes forthcoming on this night. There was no whisper of a rally from Los Angeles. This

outing came on the one and true Sale Day, and the man himself looked firmly back on track.

Red Sox 3, Angels 0: Chris Sale dominates as Boston coasts past Los Angeles

Bill Koch

Chris Sale has looked lost more nights than not this season, a pitcher struggling to summon the dominance

he once possessed.

Thursday was not one of those nights.

This was a vintage performance from the Red Sox left-hander, one that should give both Sale and the club a

healthy dose of encouragement going forward. His crackling fastball and mound presence were both on

display against the Angels at Fenway Park, and this sort of effort could carry Sale and Boston into the

stretch run.

Is the American League wild card race already over for the Red Sox? Even if you’d like to make that case,

this version of Sale through 2020 and beyond will be necessary for Boston to return to contention. The

milestones were many and the hits were few as Los Angeles succumbed, 3-0.

Sale retired 16 straight men between Shohei Ohtani’s fluke double in the top of the first and Mike Trout’s leadoff single in the top of the seventh. He pitched to just four batters out of the stretch and carved his way

through eight innings on a mere 99 pitches. Brandon Workman took over in the ninth and worked a 1-2-3

frame to nail down his seventh save.

“That was a good baseball game,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Three runs, eight innings, Workman

did an outstanding job, we played good defense. Let’s move on to tomorrow.”

It was just the fourth scoreless outing for Sale in 24 starts this season and his third time completing eight

innings or more. Los Angeles managed just those two hits without drawing a walk, and Sale struck out 13 –

his third-most in a game this season. He seemed to gain strength as the game went on, throwing his hardest

pitch of the season – 98.4 mph – to strike out Albert Pujols in the seventh.

“You never want to say that you’ve figured it out, but it was a step in the right direction,” Sale said. “I want

to be able to keep doing what I’m doing because we’ve obviously got an uphill battle.”

Sale’s seventh strikeout of the game, a fastball that caught a looking Luis Rengifo to end the fifth, was also

his 200th of the season. He’s reached that number in each of his three years with the Red Sox, only the

third pitcher in club history to do so. Roger Clemens (eight) and Pedro Martinez (six) have some fresh

company among the franchise elite.

“It’s amazing what he’s done throughout his career,” Cora said. “I’m very happy that he was able to

accomplish that and happier for him to go out there – after what happened last week and the work he put in

– and perform this way.”

Sale also became just the fifth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to reach as many as 200 strikeouts

in seven straight seasons, his first four coming with the White Sox prior to his 2016 offseason trade to

Boston. Clemens, Tom Seaver, Walter Johnson and Max Scherzer are also included on that list of true

power arms.

“It’s cool,” Sale said. “I appreciate it. But you’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got something bigger ahead

of us.”

Boston held the lead throughout after the bottom of the second. J.D. Martinez lined a leadoff single to right

and Sam Travis ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Dillon Peters, driving it to deep center. His two-run

homer gave the Red Sox a 2-0 cushion, one Sale never looked in any danger of conceding. Sandy Leon’s

solo shot over the Green Monster in the fifth tacked on additional unnecessary insurance.

“There’s still a lot of work to do ahead,” Travis said. “Looking forward to tomorrow.”

“One swing can change the game,” Leon said. “You just have to focus on one pitch at a time and try to get

outs.”

Mike Trout, Angels making their lone Fenway Park visit of 2019

Bill Koch

Mike Trout turned 28 this week and is the overwhelming favorite to capture his third American League

Most Valuable Player Award at season’s end.

The center fielder entered leading the league in home runs, RBI, walks, on-base percentage, slugging

percentage and OPS. Trout has never finished below fourth in the MVP voting since his first full season in

2012 and closed runner-up to Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts in 2018.

“I had the pleasure of managing him in the All-Star Game,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The first at-

bat he hit a rocket to the second baseman and he ran like a 4.1 (seconds) to first base. It’s an exhibition game, home field advantage is not decided anymore, but he plays the game right.”

The four-game series marks Trout’s only scheduled visit to Fenway Park this season. Trout’s 12-year

contract extension signed prior to the season should keep him with the Angels for the rest of his career. The

deal expires after the 2030 season and is worth $430.17 million.

Could Nathan Eovaldi make a start for the Red Sox at some point soon?

Bill Koch

Nathan Eovaldi worked two innings in Wednesday night’s suspended game against Kansas City, his first time recording more than three outs in a game since April.

The Red Sox right-hander was a starting pitcher at that point, but his last six appearances have come out of

the bullpen. Eovaldi had surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow and was out of action until

his July 22 return at Tampa Bay.

“It was very important, and he’s still learning,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We talked about it

yesterday, the usage, and he didn’t execute one pitch yesterday – the 0-and-2 fastball. Mixing up the

breaking ball is going to be very important, and he knows it.”

The pitch in question was to Nick Lopez, and he sent a soft grounder up the middle that turned into a

hustling RBI double. The Royals rallied to make it a 4-4 game in the top of the seventh inning, and the

game stayed that way through the ninth before being suspended due to a lengthy rain delay. Eovaldi was

charged with the 21st blown save of the season collected by the Boston bullpen.

Eovaldi and Darwinzon Hernandez could be used as openers should the Red Sox opt to go bullpenning with

Price out of the rotation. Brian Johnson is scheduled to start Friday’s game against the Angels and Hector

Velazquez has been recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Red Sox place pitcher David Price on the injured list

Bill Koch

David Price has been placed on the 10-day injured list for the second time this season.

The Red Sox left-hander received a cortisone shot in his left wrist after an MRI discovered a cyst in his

triangular fibrocartilage complex. The structure is located on the outside of the wrist and supports the small

carpal bones leading to the little finger.

Price reported tightness and discomfort to Boston’s medical staff following a 7-4 loss Sunday night against

the Yankees. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings and was tagged for a season-high nine hits. Price’s last four starts

have seen him hammered to the tune of a 10.59 earned-run average, and the Red Sox have dropped all four

games.

“He didn’t feel 100 percent,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He felt tight. We decided to send him and

get the MRI, and the results were right there.”

Cora said Price has been trying to pitch through the issue since after the London Series in late June, and the

numbers support the manager in one specific area. Price has walked 16 batters over his last seven starts

after issuing just 15 free passes in his previous 14 this season.

“It kind of gave me the answer for what was going on,” Cora said. “With David, regardless of his stuff,

strikes are his game. And he was all over the place.”

The location of the discomfort also explains the changes Cora saw on Price’s secondary pitches. The cut-fastball was suddenly working more like a sinker and the changeup had a cutting action back toward the

strike zone instead of down and away. Price was in pain extending his hand through his pitches and

finishing them upon release.

“It seems the changeup had some cutting action,” Cora said. “I actually asked our analytical department

about it and they said it was the cutter. Instead of cutting it was actually sinking, and he was all over the

place.”

There is no timetable for Price’s return. The club discovered no other medical issues during its

examination. There was no recurrence of the left elbow tendinitis that sidelined Price earlier this season and

no other more serious cause of the cyst like an infection.

“We’ll see how long it goes,” Cora said. “The hope is for him to come sooner rather than later, but we

don’t have a timetable. We’ll make sure he’s okay and we got from there.”

Suspended game provides travel headaches for Red Sox, Royals

Bill Koch

Bullpen catchers Mike Brenly and Mani Martinez were marooned in right-center field late Wednesday

night, watching as the rain poured down from the dark sky.

The tarp covered the infield at Fenway Park, and a small puddle just beyond shortstop grew larger on the

saturated grass. The Red Sox and Royals waited in their respective clubhouses for a resolution that will

come two weeks from now.

Boston and Kansas City were tied, 4-4, in the top of the 10th inning. Josh Taylor was three pitches into his

outing and behind in the count, 2-and-1, against Meibrys Viloria. The Red Sox had squandered a 4-2 lead

after five innings and now will be forced to forfeit one of five off days at the end of this month.

“It’s not good for them and it’s not great for us but that was the only way we can actually finish the game,”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We’ll do it. We’re not going to complain about it. It’s just a tough one.”

The game will resume at 1:05 p.m. Aug. 22. Boston will board a cross-country flight to San Diego

following the completion, embarking on an eight-game West Coast trip. Some family members will beat

the Red Sox to their eventual destination — relief pitcher Marcus Walden’s wife, Nichole, is headed for

California the previous night when Boston will have hosted the Phillies.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Walden, a Fresno native. “She’ll be there for a day and a half before I get

there.”

The Royals will be forced to sacrifice their only scheduled rest in a 17-day span. Kansas City returns to

Boston between a three-game series at Baltimore and a three-game series at Cleveland. A couple of other

mutual off days for the clubs weren’t possibilities due to other travel concerns.

“For the league to make decisions with traveling and where teams are and mutual off days, it’s not as easy

as people think,” Cora said. “We’ve got to play that game. We’ve got to finish it.”

According to the Twitter account @SportsAviation, the Royals didn’t take off from Logan Airport until

after 4 a.m. Thursday. The rain delay lasted until 12:36 a.m. — one hour, 49 minutes — before the decision

was made to suspend. Kansas City was in Detroit on Thursday night to begin a four-game series with the

Tigers.

“It’s going to be a grind for them,” Cora said. “At least our guys slept at home. We decided to hit inside.

They got their rest. There’s nothing you can do.”

The Red Sox slipped into a 2-0 hole on a two-run single by Viloria in the top of the third inning. But J.D.

Martinez cracked a two-run homer to left in the bottom of the fourth and Xander Bogaerts sent a two-run

double inside the bag at third in the fifth, giving Boston a two-run lead.

Darwinzon Hernandez and Nathan Eovaldi were each nicked for a run in the sixth and seventh, extending

the game. Whit Merrifield’s RBI single to left and a bouncer up the middle by Nick Lopez that went for a

fluke RBI double drew the Royals even. Mookie Betts was stranded at first base after a leadoff single in the

ninth.

There was one highlight for the Red Sox during the wait. Dustin Pedroia, who underwent left knee surgery

in Colorado on Tuesday, checked in with his teammates via FaceTime. Pedroia returned to his Arizona home to begin his recovery and has been there since May on indefinite leave from the team.

“That was epic,” Cora said. “He was all dizzy. He was talking to [Andrew Benintendi] and he said, ‘Go get

‘em. Score three runs.’ And it was like, ‘No, we just need one.’ ”

* MassLive.com

15 future Boston Red Sox GM candidates if Dave Dombrowski (eventually) leaves

Chris Cotillo

It’s way too early to know if Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will return this

season, as the final six weeks of Boston’s season (and Dombrowski’s feelings on his own future) will likely

determine much of how the organization will shape its front office moving forward. Regardless, it’s fair to

assume the Red Sox will make a change at their top executive position at some point in the near future,

with the 63-year-old, two-time World Series champion potentially departing within the next half-decade.

This is not an argument that the Red Sox should move on from Dombrowski after the year; the prudent

move would be to see how the rest of the season shakes out and have a frank discussion with Dombrowski

about how he views his future. It’s easy to forget amidst the supposed turmoil of an inconsistent season that

Dombrowski did just build a roster that won a championship nine months ago and it probably would be wise to keep him around past this season.

Instead, it’s a thought exercise on who could replace Dombrowski, when that time does indeed come. Here

are some candidates who could be considered to be next in line for Boston.

INTERNAL CANDIDATES

Brian O’Halloran, Red Sox assistant GM

O’Halloran has paid his dues with the organization, breaking in as a baseball operations assistant in 2002

and climbing the ladder ever since. The Weymouth native is in charge of Boston’s contractual negotiations

and already plays a major role in almost all of the team’s deals.

Eddie Romero, Red Sox assistant GM

Romero would be an ideal candidate to lead a rebuilding project due to his expertise in international

scouting. He has also been in the organization for a while (14 years) and has been an important advisor to

Dombrowski since he took over in 2015.

IN THE FAMILY

Jared Banner, Mets executive director of player development

Banner just left the Red Sox in December, joining the Mets as their executive director of player

development after being in Boston for over a decade. The former Amherst College baseball player is seen as a rising GM candidate throughout the league.

Josh Byrnes, Dodgers senior VP of baseball operations

Byrnes has been with the Dodgers for five years now, but has roots in Boston as the Red Sox’ assistant GM

from 2003-2005. It has been a while since Byrnes last ran his own show (he was fired by the Padres in June

2014) but he has the experience to do so.

Mike Hazen, Diamondbacks GM

Hazen may be the most likely candidate of all to replace Dombrowski and the Red Sox may be able to lure

him home with the “president of baseball operations” title. The 43-year-old is only in his third year as Arizona’s GM but likely would be open to returning to the Sox, where he spent 11 seasons before being

hired away in 2016.

Jason McLeod, Cubs senior VP of player development

McLeod, who worked in Boston’s scouting department from 2003-09, has interviewed for a handful of GM

jobs over the last few years and is expected to land one soon. He’s a direct descendant of the Theo Epstein

tree who has plenty of scouting experience.

Jared Porter, Diamondbacks assistant GM

Porter was with the Red Sox from 2002-15 before joining Epstein and the Cubs and later, Hazen and the

Diamondbacks. He’s viewed as a future GM candidate and has plenty of Red Sox ties.

Amiel Sawdaye, Diamondbacks assistant GM

Sawdaye went to Arizona with Hazen and oversees the Diamondbacks’ amateur and international scouting

operations. If the Sox are thinking rebuild, Sawdaye (who spent 15 years in Boston) would make a lot of

sense as a top choice.

LOGICAL FITS Derek Falvey, Twins GM

Falvey, along with Thad Levine, has formed a two-headed monster in Minnesota that has turned the Twins

into a contender. But Falvey may want an opportunity to be the No. 1 executive on a team and could find a

fit near his hometown of Lynn.

Tim Naehring, Yankees VP of baseball operations

Naehring might be viewed as a successor to Brian Cashman in New York but also may be viewed as a fit in

Boston. The 52-year-old spent his entire playing career with the Red Sox, appearing in 547 games from

1990-97.

J.P. Ricciardi, Giants special advisor

Ricciardi, a Worcester native, will be linked to the Red Sox until he retires. The ex-Blue Jays GM is now a

special advisor in San Francisco but could have the urge to run his own show again.

OUTSIDE-THE-BOX OPTIONS

Brian Bannister, Red Sox assistant pitching coach/VP of pitching development

Bannister’s role with the Red Sox is a crucial one, and he has enough respect in the organization to at least

get an interview, if he wants one. The 38-year-old would be a bold choice.

Craig Breslow, Cubs director of strategic initiatives for baseball operations

Breslow was always known as one of baseball’s most cerebral players and has been working for the Cubs

in a front office capacity this year. The Connecticut native and Yale graduate won a ring with the Sox in

2013 and would be a raw, surprising hire.

Bobby Evans, former Giants GM

Evans has been out of baseball this year after being fired by the Giants in September. The central

Massachusetts native would likely have interest in coming home if the Sox called.

Peter Woodfork, MLB senior VP of baseball operations

Woodfork drew some interest as a GM candidate over the winter and was interviewed by the Mets. He may

not want to leave the league office but has spent time in Boston, serving as the Red Sox’ director of

baseball operations and assistant director of player development from 2003-05. The Sox would be savvy to

hire someone with CBA expertise as the league approaches potentially tough negotiations in the near

future.

***

10 thoughts on the last week in baseball:

1. The Yankees are an absolute juggernaut. Their lineup was a Triple-A lineup over the weekend in the

Bronx and they still destroyed the Red Sox. Hard not see any other team disrupting the Yankees-Astros

ALCS matchup that is bound to happen.

2. Ty Buttrey will finally make his Fenway Park debut, and of course, Red Sox fans will lose their minds

about it. At the time, was viewed as a good price to pay for Ian Kinsler.

3. Eduardo Rodriguez would be an extremely valuable trade chip if the Sox decide to rebuild this winter.

Young, controllable lefty who has grown up a lot in 2019.

4. Lots of comps between the 2018 Red Sox and 2019 Yankees, and, of course, the 2018 Yankees and the

2019 Red Sox. News flash: the 2018 Yankees won 100 games and were much, much better than these Sox.

5. Any suggestion of Alex Cora being on the hot seat is unbelievably ridiculous. He has kept his cool,

confident demeanor all season and is still beloved in the clubhouse.

6. No August moves, you say? Tell that to the Reds, who nabbed Kevin Gausman off waivers just over a

year after the Braves snagged him in a big deadline deal that four players to the Orioles.

7. The Indians got hot quickly, huh? Looks like a wild-card spot will go to an A.L. Central team.

8. Remember brushing off when the Red Sox lost three of four in Oakland in the first week of the season?

Well that’s costly now that they’re chasing the A’s in the standings. Boston did sweep the A’s at home in

May.

9. Two good divisional races left with six weeks to go (both in the Central). Fun times. Lots of parity.

10. The Little League Classic will be a fun event for the Red Sox and Orioles next year. Only a matter of

time before the Sox play in Puerto Rico, as long as Cora is still at the helm.

Chris Sale turnaround even more important for Boston Red Sox with David Price on IL

Chris Cotillo

Entering this week, the formula for the Red Sox to turn things around and push themselves into a

postseason spot appeared to be a top-heavy one. Everything appeared to start and end with top starters

Chris Sale and David Price, who had looked like shells of themselves in recent weeks.

After the two lefties combined to allow 15 earned runs on 18 hits over 6 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium

over the weekend, it was clear the Red Sox were only going to go as far as their two aces would take them.

Sale would get his next chance Thursday night against the Angels, Price a night later in the second game of

a four-game set at Fenway Park.

Those plans took a turn Thursday afternoon, when the team announced Price was headed to the 10-day injured list with a cyst on his left wrist. Though the injury doesn’t appear serious, it will sideline Price for

an indefinite amount and cost him at least a couple of his six or so remaining starts this season.

For a team that needed both Sale (7.47 ERA in last seven starts) and Price (10.59 ERA in last four starts) to

turn things around quickly, the news was a gut punch. Instead of trying to get Price back to the pitcher he

was in the first half of the year, the team will instead be forced into using a depth option like Brian Johnson

behind Sale, the rising Eduardo Rodriguez and disappointing righties Rick Porcello and Andrew Cashner.

So the loss of Price-- which was devastating enough on its own-- put the pressure even more squarely on

the shoulders of Sale entering a stretch of the season in which he has not historically been good. As Sale goes, the Red Sox go, and his role only grew larger with his rotation-mate hitting the IL.

“(Price) is obviously a big part of our team and a big part of our rotation,” Sale said. “He’s one of the few

guys in our rotation that has actually been very consistent the whole year. All that given, where we’re at,

where we need to do and what we need to do to get there, that doesn’t really change a whole lot. We need

to win some games."

Sale shook off any added pressure Thursday night, striking out 13 Angels and allowing just two hits over

eight shutout innings in a 3-0 win. After a week of adjustments, Sale and manager Alex Cora were very

pleased with the fruits of their labor.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Sale said. “I hope to be able to keep doing what I’m doing.”

If Sale keeps doing what he did Thursday, the Sox will be guaranteed a chance to win every five days. Add

in the continued strong performance of Rodriguez and a couple offensive outbursts to cover up the warts of

an ugly back-end of the rotation and the Sox may be able to survive until they eventually get a healthy

Price back.

A vintage Sale, a healthy Price and a steady Rodriguez would go a long way to giving these Red Sox a

chance in September. Their ace took a big step toward filling his role Thursday night.

“We know that, for where we want to go, (Sale) is a big part of the equation,” Cora said.

Boston Red Sox wild card standings update: Sox 5.5 games out of playoff spot after beating Angels in

series opener

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox beat the Angels in the series opener Thursday night, 3-0.

Here’s how that impacts the standings (Aug. 8):

5.5 games behind the Rays for the second wild-card spot

9 games behind the Indians for the first wild-card spot

16 games behind the Yankees in the A.L. East

SCORES:

Red Sox 3, Angels 0

Indians 7, Twins 5 (Red Sox and Indians stand pat)

Yankees 12, Blue Jays 6 (Red Sox and Yankees stand pat)

Rays, Athletics, Rangers OFF

STANDINGS:

A.L. Wild Card:

Indians: 69-46

Rays: 66-50 (3.5 games behind Cleveland)

____________

Athletics: 65-50 (0.5 games behind Tampa Bay; 4 games behind Cleveland)

Red Sox: 61-56 (5.5 games behind Tampa Bay; 9 games behind Cleveland)

Rangers: 58-56 (7 games behind Tampa Bay; 10.5 games behind Cleveland)

Angels: 56-60 (10 games behind Tampa Bay; 13.5 games behind Cleveland)

A.L. East:

Yankees: 76-39

Rays: 66-50 (10.5 games back)

Red Sox: 61-56 (16 games back)

Chris Sale’s 13-strikeout start for Boston Red Sox a ‘team effort,’ Alex Cora says

Chris Cotillo

Weeks of trying to fix ace Chris Sale finally came to fruition for the Red Sox on Thursday night.

Sale, who had a 7.47 ERA in his last seven starts entering Thursday, dazzled the Halos, striking out 13

batters in eight scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and maxed out at 98.4 mph, looking like the vintage

version of himself in a 3-0 Sox win.

Manager Alex Cora and his staff believed they had found something that could help fix Sale’s struggles

before his last start, only to have the lefty allow eight runs in 3 2/3 innings Saturday in the Bronx. Thursday

was different.

“There was a lot of work in between starts. It was a team effort on the field and a team effort behind

(closed) doors,” Cora said. “A lot of work, a lot of video. The group did an outstanding job trying to figure

stuff out. Sometimes, I don’t even know what it’s all about. You could see the tempo was good, the

delivery was clean, the mix of the pitches was outstanding. When he gets rolling, he gets rolling.”

Cora and Sale wouldn’t get into too many specifics about his adjustments, but it was clear both men

thought the start represented a significant step in the right direction. It was Sale’s best performance since

his three-hit shutout in Kansas City on June 5.

“You never want to say you figured it out but it’s a step in the right direction,” Sale said. “I hope to be able

to keep doing what I’m doing. We’ve obviously got an uphill battle but I still think we have a shot and

we’re all still fighting in here.”

Sale said he worked with assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister between starts, looking at pitch zones,

analyzing where he was getting hit hard and considering potential changes to his arm path. The lefty was

pleased with how he incorporated the adjustments the pair had discussed.

“When you seen what you’ve been doing that has made you unsuccessful and you look at what has made

you successful, trash the one and pick up the other,” Sale said. “(I was satisfied with) the way it felt, the way it all felt. The visual satisfaction, of what they were showing me, and then to be able to go out and do

it."

Sale has shown flashes of brilliance at times this season but hasn’t been able to be consistently dominant

like he has been throughout his career. Cora said the team will have to wait for his next outing Tuesday in

Cleveland to see if the success is sustainable.

“Everybody’s going to be asking if he can do that again with the next one,” Cora said. “This is August. There’s a lot of question marks for the right reasons obviously. At least for today, he looked great. Delivery

was great, velocity was up, the shape of the pitches was amazing. I’m proud of him but I’m proud of the

group. Everybody contributed to this and they deserve a good night.”

Boston Red Sox suspend game vs. Royals: What does it mean?

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox and Royals experienced a rarity Wednesday night, suspending their game in the 10th inning

with the score tied, 4-4. Three pitches into extra innings, the skies opened up and the teams ended up

calling the game (and postponing the end of it almost two weeks) after a two-hour rain delay. Here’s what

it all means.

What’s a suspended game?

A suspended game is a “game that is stopped early and must be completed at a later date from the point of

termination, though not all terminated games become suspended games,” according to MLB.com. It usually

happens in tie games that cannot be completed due to weather.

In this case, the Sox and Royals were tied, 4-4, and couldn’t finish due to continued rain.

Why was it suspended?

Rain in the Fenway Park area started around 10:30 p.m. and was too heavy to continue play by 10:37 p.m.,

when the grounds crew put the tarp on the field. The weather showed no signs of lightening up over the

next two hours, leading the teams to suspend play around 11:30 p.m. The rain didn’t stop for a few more

hours.

The Red Sox are playing at home Thursday, but the Royals were scheduled to fly to Detroit after

Wednesday’s game and play the Tigers on Thursday. Any more of a wait would have delayed Kansas

City’s trip too long.

When will it be resumed?

The Sox and Royals will resume play on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 1:05 p.m. That date was a mutual off day between the teams; the Red Sox will be in between a home series and a road series in San Diego and the

Royals were slated to have an off day between road series in Cleveland and Baltimore.

Boston will now stay home an extra night and fly to San Diego after the resumption of the suspended game.

The Royals will stop in Boston in between Baltimore and Cleveland.

What are the rules when the game is resumed?

Red Sox lefty Josh Taylor had a 1-2 count on Royals catcher (and leadoff batter) Meibrys Viloria when the

game was suspended, so that’ll be the count when the teams resume in two weeks. Any pitcher either team

has used is ineligible to pitch in the rest of the game and any player who has been removed from the game also can’t play.

The Sox and Royals may make roster moves before the completion of the game, making players eligible for

the final inning(s) who weren’t on the roster for the original game. Just an oddity.

Who can go to the rest of the game?

Anyone who had tickets to Wednesday’s game can go see the end of it. Could be five minutes or five

hours. Who knows?

Are these things common?

No. Since 1970, this is just the sixth time the Red Sox have had a game suspended (and the third due to

rain). The last occurrence was on April 16, 2010, when a 1-1 game against the Rays was suspended in the

ninth inning. The Rays won, 3-1, in 12 innings the next day.

All five of Boston’s previous suspended games were resumed the next day. Their 15-day wait for this one

is a franchise record.

Travis, León power Red Sox in win: ‘It’s good to be able to contribute when you’re called upon’

Jason Kates

On a night in which their top three batters went a combined 0-for-11, the Red Sox gave pitcher Chris Sale

the run support he needed through home runs by Sam Travis and Sandy León.

For the second time this week, Travis hit a two-run homer, this one coming on the first pitch he saw from

Angels pitcher Dillon Peters to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

With an estimated distance of 443 feet, it is the furthest home run of Travis’ career. Since being recalled on

July 15, he is batting .288 with a .916 OPS in 20 games.

“It’s good to be able to contribute when you’re called upon," Travis said. "You gotta stay ready, we’ve got a lot of work to do ahead so we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

León’s fifth long-ball of the season provided Sale with some extra cushion as he a fastball up in the zone

over the wall in left for a solo homer.

“I was looking for something that I could put a good swing on, I wasn’t looking to hit a homer,” he said.

"He threw a fastball and it wasn’t even in the zone, it was up and in but I was ready for it and put a good

swing in and it was a homer.”

When the top of the lineup struggles like it did on Thursday, León acknowledged the desire to give the

team a lift, but recognized the production the team constantly receives from their everyday starters.

“Every time I can do something for the team to help offensively, it feels good for me, I’m working every

day," he said. "Those guys they do it every day. They play 158-160 games a year and they’re hitting .318,

.320 and they do that every day. I enjoy watching them hit, watching them play so it’s really fun to play on

the same team as they play.”

Manager Alex Cora praised both León and Travis for the offensive boost they supplied in the victory.

“Good swing by Sam, first pitch attacking, then Sandy gets on top of a fastball and that helped us,” he said.

"We’ve got some guys right now that are struggling, but that was a good baseball game.”

Chris Sale strikes out 13 in 8 shutout innings, Boston Red Sox defeat Angels, 3-0

Jason Kates

Chris Sale threw eight shutout innings and the Red Sox hit two home runs in a 3-0 win over the Angels on

Thursday.

The lefty, now 6-11, allowed just two hits on 99 pitches, striking out 13 batters to reach the 200-K mark for

the seventh straight season.

It was Sale’s longest outing since June 5, when he delivered a complete game, 12-strikeout performance in an 8-0 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Sam Travis gave the Red Sox an early 2-0 lead, sending the first pitch he saw from Dillon Peters in the

second inning deep to center field for a 443-foot, two-run home run. It was his second of the week after

going yard in Monday’s 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Sandy León added an insurance run on a solo homer to left off Peters in the fifth to make it 3-0.

Brandon Workman picked up his seventh save for Boston, retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth.

The Red Sox moved to 61-56, and are back in action tomorrow at 7:10 p.m.

David Price injury: Red Sox lefty felt tightness after last start, diagnosed with wrist cyst after MRI

Chris Cotillo

After exiting his last start Sunday night against the Yankees, Red Sox left-hander David Price felt some

tightness in his arm. The Sox sent him for an MRI that revealed no elbow or shoulder issues, instead

indicating an unusual issue that may have been limiting Price’s effectiveness on the mound.

Price was diagnosed with a TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage complex) cyst in his left wrist and was placed

on the 10-day disabled list Friday. He received a cortisone shot Thursday and there is no timetable for his

return.

“We’ll see how it goes,” manager Alex Cora said. “The hope is for him to come back sooner rather than

later. But we don’t have a timetable. We’ll make sure he’s okay and go from there.”

Price lasted 2 2/3 innings in a loss to the Yankees, posting his fourth straight underwhelming start. Cora

saw some red flags with how the lefty was shaping his changeup and cutter and asked Price if everything

was okay.

Price confirmed he was dealing with some wrist tightness.

“He didn’t feel 100%. He felt tight,” Cora said. “We decided to send him to get the MRI and the results

were right there. It’s something that I was wondering and (the media) asked about him being healthy. The fact he wasn’t controlling his pitches, for me, was a red flag. It’s nothing elbow-related or shoulder,

whatever. It gave me the answers for what was going on.”

The cyst is not related to Price’s carpal tunnel syndrome, according to Cora, and is a benign mass. The

belief is that it grew throughout the season as Price continued putting strain on his arm.

“It’s on the side of it, on the wrist,” Cora said. “It actually seems like it puts restrictions as far as how he

executes his pitches. Maybe the extension, maybe the hand placement and all that. The action of the pitches

is not great.”

Price will miss at least two starts, with lefty Brian Johnson pitching in his place Friday night against the Angels. He has been pretty healthy throughout the season, missing just two starts with elbow tendinitis in

mid-May.

Cora is glad to have an answer after a few weeks of worrying about Price, who has a 10.59 ERA in his last

four outings.

“We treat everything,” Cora said. "There are certain things you can pitch through, but there are certain

things that are going to limit you throughout your outings. When your pitch shapes and the action on your

pitches aren’t usually what they do, it’s a red flag.

“Whatever people were thinking, whether it was the elbow or something else, at least we know.”

Boston Red Sox rotation: Brian Johnson to start Friday vs. Angels with David Price on IL

Jason Kates

With David Price placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist injury on Thursday, Red Sox pitcher

Brian Johnson will take the lefty’s spot in the rotation for Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.

Johnson has appeared in eight games this season, three of which have been starts. He is 0-1 with a 6.88

ERA, most recently starting the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees on Aug. 3

when he allowed three runs on eight hits in three innings.

Hector Velazquez was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket, and will be used as a reliever.

“(Johnson) tomorrow, Hector will be in the bullpen," manager Alex Cora said. "Hector isn’t stretched out,

he’s been coming out of the bullpen in Triple-A so that’s the way we’re gonna go.”

There is no timetable set for Price’s return, with Cora saying Johnson is the replacement for now. The Red

Sox have five off days in 19 days beginning next Thursday.

"We’ll go with him tomorrow and then we’ll decide what we’re gonna do after that,” Cora said. "This is

just recent so like I said, the off days are gonna give us a chance to be creative.”

* RedSox.com

Sale joins elite group with another 200-K season

Jessica Camerato

Chris Sale joined a list of baseball’s elite on Thursday.

With a 95.3 mph four-seam fastball that caught Angels second baseman Luis Rengifo looking in the fifth

inning, the left-hander became just the fifth pitcher to record 200-plus strikeouts in seven consecutive seasons in the Red Sox’s 3-0 win.

Walter Johnson (1910-16), Tom Seaver (1968-76), Roger Clemens (1986-92) and Max Scherzer (2012-18)

are the only others to achieve that feat.

“It’s something he’s not going to talk about because he’s not that kind of guy,” Red Sox manager Alex

Cora said. “But it’s amazing what he’s done throughout his career.”

Sale, who was acquired by the Red Sox from the White Sox in the winter of 2016, is also just the third

pitcher in team history to reach 200-plus K’s in three or more seasons. Clemens accomplished it in eight

seasons, while Pedro Martinez did it six times with Boston.

“It’s special,” Sale said. “I appreciate it. Obviously with how this entire season has unfolded personally, I

wish it was something else, but I appreciate the fact that all my teammates, all my catchers, pitching

coaches, coaches along the way helped me reach that goal. It’s cool.”

In his 24th start of the season, Sale recorded 13 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings. He only allowed

two hits, and he threw 99 pitches, 67 of them for strikes. His seventh-inning strikeout of Albert Pujols

clocked in at 98.4 mph, his fastest pitch all season.

“He was getting ahead of the count,” Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon said. “He was throwing the fastball to both sides of the zone -- inside, outside. He was able to spin some up and then breaking ball down. It was

really fun to catch him today.”

Sale set the tone for the evening when he struck out Mike Trout in the second at-bat of the game. He fanned

the Angels star twice, and the Red Sox left-hander retired 16 straight batters from the last out of the first

inning through the last out of the sixth.

“That’s why he’s an ace,” Trout said. “He’s got good stuff. He can mix it up with his fastball speeds and

keeps you off-balance. Once you get to two strikes, he can pump one up to 98. So it’s just a tough at-bat.

You can’t miss your pitch on him.”

Sale looked like a far different pitcher on Thursday than he has at several points throughout the season. He began the year 0-5 and didn’t earn his first win at home until July 18. Along the way, he called his

performances “flat-out embarrassing" and "as bad as it gets,” among other descriptions.

Reaching the milestone was a bounceback from Sale's struggles as recently as Sunday, when he was ejected

from his start against the Yankees. Cora credited a total team effort for working with Sale between outings.

The final product on Thursday was rewarding.

“Any time you get results, it’s satisfying,” Sale said. “Especially when you see what you’ve been doing has

made you unsuccessful, and you look at what’s made you successful. You kind of trash the one and pick up

the other.”

Sale put together his longest start allowing two hits or fewer since Aug. 8, 2017, exactly two years ago,

against the Rays. If all the work he is putting in pays off, he won’t have to wait that long again, especially

at this point in the season. Cora considers Sale “a big part of the equation” for the Red Sox to reach their

goals as they fight for a playoff berth.

“You never want to say that you figured it out, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Sale said. “I hope to be

able to keep doing what I’m doing, because obviously we’ve got an uphill battle. But I still think we’ve got

a shot, and we’re all still fighting here.”

Red Sox place Price (wrist cyst) on injured list

Jessica Camerato

The Red Sox will make yet another adjustment to their pitching rotation after David Price was placed on

the 10-day injured list on Thursday, retroactive to Monday, with a left wrist injury.

The lefty had been experiencing tightness in his wrist and underwent an MRI to address the issue. The

result revealed a triangular fibrocartilage complex cyst that was treated with a cortisone shot on

Wednesday.

“It’s from pitching, repetition,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Thursday of the cyst. “Honestly, knowing

the guy and knowing what he did last year and how we communicate and we go, maybe he was feeling it or

feeling a little bit tighter, but he felt like he could compete at this level that way.

“But little by little, it seemed like the cyst was growing and growing and growing, and it was actually

limiting himself from other stuff, from the changeup and other pitches.”

Cora said he had noticed a change in the action and location of Price’s pitches over his past three or four

starts. He consulted with the Red Sox's analytics team, which told him Price’s cutter was sinking.

“He was all over the place,” Cora said. “Regardless if he’s throwing 87 or 95 [mph], precision and strikes is

his game.”

After reviewing the video, Cora felt Price looked affected back on July 2, a win against the Blue Jays. Price

is 0-3 with two no-decisions in his last five starts. He allowed seven runs on nine hits (two home runs) over

just 2 2/3 innings in his most recent outing on Sunday against the Yankees, after being reinstated from the

paternity leave list prior to the game. Price is 7-5 with a 4.36 ERA over 21 starts this season.

“It actually seems like it puts restrictions as far as how he executes his pitches,” Cora said. “Maybe

extension or maybe the hand placement, but the action of the pitches are actually not great.”

Cora was relieved to have an answer to Price’s struggles, and that the injury wasn’t more severe. There is

no timetable set for Price’s return. Cora hopes he will be cleared to play “sooner rather than later.”

“It’s something that I was wondering,” Cora said of the injury. “The fact that he wasn’t controlling his

pitches, for me, was a red flag. Now, it’s nothing elbow-related or shoulder, whatever. But it kind of gives

me the answers for what was going on.”

The Red Sox plan to start left-hander Brian Johnson against the Angels in place of Price on Friday. Johnson

has a 3.27 ERA over 11 innings in three starts (all no-decisions) this season.

In a corresponding move, the team recalled right-hander Hector Velazquez from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Velazquez will be used out of the bullpen, where he had been utilized during this stint in Pawtucket.

Velazquez, who said he has been working on all of his pitches, including his changeup, has a 5.67 ERA

over 46 innings for the Red Sox this season.

“We talk about him getting better with his secondary pitches,” Cora said. “I do feel the velocity was up

when he was here, using it in the right spots. But I think the split and the other pitches weren’t great. He

went down there, he made a conscious effort working on that.”

Cora looks forward to the Red Sox's next day off next Thursday, when the team will be able to assess the

pitching situation. Johnson, Rick Porcello and Andrew Cashner are slated to start the final three games of

this series against the Angels.

"At least we found out," Cora said of Price’s injury. "Whatever people were thinking about -- if it’s the

elbow or something else -- at least we know and we’ll shut him down for a little bit and then he’ll be back."

* WEEI.com

Baseball as it should be showed up at Fenway Park Thursday night

Rob Bradford

Two hours, 16 minutes.

This was the night of double-takes. A baseball game played in 136 minutes? Players. Fans. Reporters.

Everybody in and around Fenway Park were left with Vin Scully's call of Kirk Gibson's home run ringing

in their heads: "I don't believe what I just saw!"

"We’ve had a bunch of games that have moved quickly then came to a screeching halt," said Mookie Betts

just before leaving the clubhouse at 9:45 p.m., otherwise known as the time the seventh inning is rolling

around for most of these 7:10 p.m. starts.

"Oh, I didn’t know it was that fast," said Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon. "I can go home now and enjoy my

kids,"

"Honestly, when I got to the clubhouse I was like, ‘What do we do now?’ We’ve got so much time. I can play with my kids at home, finally," noted Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "Because whenever I get home

they’re sleeping. I don’t know even know what to do with my life now."

This is what everyone asked for and for one night anyway they got it. A baseball game that wasn't going to

make fans worried about train schedules or early-morning appointments. We're not talking about shaving a

few minutes off the major league average time for a game this season (3 hours, 8 minutes). This was a full-

on revolution.

It wasn't the quickest game in the majors this season. That belongs to the Marlins and Mets who treated

everyone to a 1-hour, 59-minute tilt earlier this season. But it was the fastest game for the team -- the Red

Sox -- who have played more minutes of baseball than any other club.

The closet any other Red Sox game had come this season was on April 16 when Chris Sale helped facilitate

a 2-hour, 23-minute game at Yankee Stadium. For the year, we have had just 27 of the Red Sox games land

under three hours. That's one fewer than the number of games that have gone 3 hours, 30 minutes or more.

Not to sound all curmudgeonly, but night's like Thursday make you look up when this sort of existence was

the norm. Take 1978, for instance, when the average big league game took 2 hours, 28 minutes. That

season the Red Sox played 19 games quicker than the one we saw in the series opener against the Angels.

I bring up 1978 because that was the year I fell in love with baseball. Now I know why.

A good chunk of baseball's problems wouldn't be lingering if this was kind of sport that could be soaked in more times than not. As Cora said before surprising his family, "I mean, that was a good baseball game."

So, how did this gift from the gods happen? It really wasn't all that complicated. A pitcher who works

really fast was really good.

"Chris dominated, that’s the reason," said Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., pointing to Sale's eight

innings of shutout baseball.

If it was only that simple. There was a total of five baserunners (along with two home runs). That meant

less stressing about the theft of signs and bases. No need for mound visits. Not a single pitcher was

replaced in the middle of an inning. Replays? There was one.

It was what it was. Duplicating this sort of thing isn't about rule changes or mandates. It was simply about

good baseball. Sure, lessons can be learned regarding the pitchers' pace. But the fact of the matter is that we

simply have to take this for what it is -- the Red Sox version of Haley's Comet.

It was nice while it lasted (or in this case didn't last).

Chris Sale shows he's still dominant pitcher, and his massive extension could work out after all

Alex Reimer

Chris Sale is a shining example of how sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. The left-hander has limped through the the bulk of the season, with the Red Sox winning just nine of his 24 starts. But when

one looks deeper at Sale’s statistics, and reflects on his dominant performance against the Angels Thursday,

it’s possible he’s been the victim of bad luck more than anything else.

Perhaps there’s hope for his massive five-year, $145 million deal after all.

Sale struck out 13 Angels on 99 pitches in a breezy 3-0 Red Sox victory that took just two hours and 16

minutes to complete. The average Sox game this season has hovered above the three-hour and 20-minute

mark.

His hardest pitch of the evening came late in the outing: an elevated 98 mile per hour fastball that future

Hall of Famer Albert Pujols swung right through. Sale leads the league with 13.2 strikeouts per nine

innings, a definite sign his stuff is still tantalizing.

Though Sale’s been hit hard at times this season –– already allowing 22 home runs, which is just five shy

of his career high –– his high strikeout totals show he can still dominate Major League hitters. This does

not appear to be the case of a 30-year-old pitcher with diminishing stuff.

As the excellent “@RedSoxStats” points out, Sale’s 4.41 ERA is significantly higher than his 3.35 FIP,

which measures what a pitcher’s ERA would look like if he were to experience league average outcomes

on balls in play. In other words, it measures a pitcher on the elements he can control, such as strikeouts and

home runs allowed.

Oftentimes, FIP is an excellent indicator of where a pitcher is trending. Look no further than Andrew

Cashner, whose 4.27 FIP in Baltimore compared to his 3.83 ERA showed he was performing above his

ability level.

He’s leveled off in Boston, posting a ghastly 7.53 ERA in five starts.

Sale’s strikeout totals aren’t just a result of the swing-and-a-miss happy times in which we live. He’s

fanned 35 percent of batters faced this season, which is roughly 12 points higher than the league average

strikeout rate of 22.7 percent. When batters do make contact against Sale, their average on balls in play

(BABIP) is 20 points higher than it’s been throughout his dominant career.

Certainly, Sale’s meltdown against the Yankees last Saturday was very concerning. He’s struggled mightily

against New York this season, just like the Red Sox as a whole.

But his sterling performance Thursday shows hope is not lost. For the first time in his career, maybe Sale is

gearing up for an electrifying finish. The numbers indicate that may be the case. With David Price hitting

the Injured List with a cyst on his wrist, and the Red Sox gasping for their last playoff breath, it couldn’t

come at a better time.

Vintage Chris Sale silences Angels in dominant performance

Amin Touri

It’s been an up-and-down year for Chris Sale, and while recent outings have ranged from disappointing to

embarrassing, Thursday saw the ace back to his very best.

Sale was dominant in a 3-0 Red Sox win over the Angels, going eight shutout innings and giving up just

two hits and striking out 13 without a walk in one of his best starts of the season.

"Just getting back to what I was doing to make myself successful before all this," Sale said of an excellent

night. "Spent a lot of time this week looking at some things, (pitching coach Brian Bannister) kind of broke

it down for me yesterday, just zones and tunnels and where all my damage is coming from, and kind of

getting back to doing some things with my arm path that help my pitches."

The big lefty had all his pitches working, with his fastball location and velocity returning to its best, his

slider tying batters in knots and his overall command — 67 of his 99 pitches were strikes — allowing him

to stay ahead in counts.

Sale found a bit of trouble early when Rafael Devers let Shohei Ohtani’s dribbler roll down the third base

line — Devers thought it would roll foul, but it stayed fair — for a two-out double, but he promptly froze

Justin Upton with a 1-2 to escape the first.

From there, Sale cruised, retiring 16 consecutive Angels before Mike Trout — twice a Sale strikeout victim on Thursday — singled to lead off the seventh.

Sale said postgame that his confidence in these sorts of starts comes from "results, any time you get results

it's satisfying, especially when you see what you've been doing that has made you unsuccessful and you

look at what has made you successful and you trash one and pick up the other. Just the way it felt, the way

it all felt, the visual satisfaction of what I saw, what they were showing me, and then to be able to go out

and do out, you just try to build off of that and keep it going."

The heart of the order — Trout, Ohtani and Upton — had the only two hits on the day, going 2-for-9, but

combined to strike out six times, with a hat trick of punchouts for Upton. Third baseman David Fletcher

was the only Angel to avoid the hammer, going 0-for-3 with two groundouts and a lineout.

After Trout singled to open the seventh, Sale proved he still has the extra gear in his most impressive

inning of the night, dialing his fastball up on three separate occasions to strike out three straight and strand

Trout at first.

After Ohtani worked the count full, Sale delivered a 3-2 fastball that he could only stare at, hitting 96.1

mph on the gun for the southpaw’s fastest pitch of the night to that point. With two strikes on the next

batter, Sale dialed up the fastball again, reaching back and firing it past a helpless Upton at 96.7 mph, again

his fastest of the night. Finally, Albert Pujols fell victim to the heater, flailing at a 98.4 mph fastball to end

the inning, as Sale’s dominance was on full display.

Sale came back for the eighth and got Kole Calhoun fishing at a slider, got Luis Renfigo to line out to right and fired one more fastball at 97 mph past Wilfredo Tovar for his final strikeout of the night, exiting to a

standing ovation at Fenway. Homers from Sam Travis and Sandy Leon, along with a shutdown ninth from

Brandon Workman, were enough for a 3-0 Red Sox win.

'There was a lot of work in between starts," said manager Alex Cora. "It was a team effort on the field,

team effort, behind closed doors. It's a lot of work, a lot of video and the group did an outstanding job

trying to figure stuff out. Sometimes I don't know what it's all about. But you can see the tempo was good,

the delivery was clean, the mix of the pitches was outstanding, and man when he gets rolling he gets

rolling. You saw the fastball, it played today, the changeup was good, the slider was amazing, so good win

for everybody.

Thursday was vintage Sale through-and-through; his command was on, his fastball was hitting the upper 90s and his slider was lethal, as he moved to 6-11 on the year. The Red Sox remain 15.5 games out of first

place in the division and 5.5 games out of the Wild Card, but it's a positive sign for the team to see their ace

find his best stuff again.

"You never want to say that you figured it out, but it's a step in the right direction, and I hope to keep doing

what I'm doing," Sale said. "Obviously we have an uphill battle, but we still think we've got a shot and

we're all still fighting in here."

Darwinzon Hernandez continues to leave a powerful impression

Sam Cohn

Five different pitchers took the mound during Wednesday night’s extra-inning affair that has yet to declare

a winner between the Red Sox and Royals.

One of them who continued to leave a most powerful impression was Darwinzon Hernandez.

Hernandez pitched just one full inning striking out the first two batters he faced before allowing one run off

two hits. He only threw 15 pitches but is in the back of Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s mind to mix things

up as a possible starter.

“As far as where the schedule is right now it’s tough to be that creative,” said Cora. “The off days will

come because of inter-league and we might get creative at that time but as of now, we’re going to stick to

our plan and see where it takes us.”

Hernandez leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball in the sixth inning while managing to mix in his slider.

The lefty pitcher saw five batters and found success in just about every part of the strike zone.

“It doesn’t have to be precise. It doesn’t have to be down and away or up and in, he has margin for error,”

Cora said. “He’s been attacking them the right way.... there have been a lot of foul balls or swings and

misses.”

To date, Hernandez has struck out 31 batters in just 15 1/3 innings, having recorded punchouts for five of his last six outs.

* NBC Sports Boston

Whether he's back or not, Chris Sale was great when the Red Sox needed him

John Tomase

No sooner had the media entered the Red Sox clubhouse at the absurdly early time of 9:45 p.m. than Chris

Sale strode to his place among the postgame cameras.

He wasn't wasting one second, on the field or off.

Anyone looking for a glimmer of hope that the Red Sox can make a go of it for the final eight weeks of the

season spotted that tiniest little sliver of light on Thursday night.

There's no use in declaring Sale "back," because even manager Alex Cora acknowledged we'll need to see

it again. "We need to work towards the next one," he said. But for one night, anyway, Sale looked

*exactly* like the Sale we've missed for most of the season.

You want short work? He carved up the Angels like the world's most dexterous sushi chef, cruising through

eight shutout innings in barely two hours to lead the Red Sox to a 3-0 victory that allowed everyone to exhale.

You want dominance? Try two hits and 13 strikeouts on 99 pitches. He gained strength as the game

progressed, striking out Albert Pujols to end the seventh with his hardest pitch of the season, a 98.4 mph

elevated fastball that left the future Hall of Famer shaking his head.

You want hope? It's a little soon for that. But look at it this way: there's only one way the Red Sox reach the

postseason, let alone make a peep there, and it's if Sale rediscovers his mojo and then sustains it.

"Anytime you get results, it's satisfying, especially when you see what you've been doing that made you

unsuccessful and you look at what has made you successful and you kind of trash the one and pick up the

other," Sale said. "And just the way it all felt. The visual satisfaction from what I saw, what they were showing me, and then to be able to go out and do it, you just try to build off of that and keep it going."

Sale credited a Wednesday session with assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister, who noted "zones and

tunnels" where Sale was absorbing particular damage. On Thursday, he not only had his fastball working

up in the zone, he also featured his slider on both sides of the plate and mixed in an effective changeup.

Add it all together, and it equaled his best outing since a three-hit shutout of the Royals on June 3. He followed that game with a tough-luck no-decision against the Rangers (7 IP, 0 ER), but pretty shortly

thereafter the wheels fell off again.

Both Sale and the Red Sox are approaching this latest start with appropriate restraint. He looked great, but

it won't mean anything if he starts allowing multiple home runs a start again.

"You never want to say you figured it out, but it's a step in the right direction," Sale said. "I hope to be able

to keep doing what I'm doing, because obviously we've got an uphill battle, but we still think we've got a

shot, and we're all still fighting in here."

The timing is important, because the Red Sox rotation is once again facing a manpower shortage after left-

hander David Price was placed on the injured list with a wrist cyst on Thursday. Price's absence makes Sale more important than ever, because he's the only pitcher on the roster capable of carrying the staff.

"He's obviously a big part of our team, a big part of our rotation," Sale said of Price. "He's one of the few

guys in our rotation that's been very consistent the whole year. Given where we're at, where we need to go,

and what we need to do to get there -- it doesn't really change a whole lot, but we've got to win some

games."

When Sale is carving up opponents in two hours and 16 minutes, it makes you wish this could've been here

all year.

"Everybody is going to be asking if he can do it again in the next one," Cora said. "This is obvious. There is a lot of question marks for the right reasons, obviously. But at least for today he looked great. The delivery

was great. The velocity was up. The shape of the pitches was amazing. I'm proud of him but I'm proud of

the group. Everybody contributed to this and they deserve a good night like this."

Chris Sale's win over Angels was so fast, it took less time than this movie

John Tomase

Here's your clue that Boston's 3-0 victory over the Angels wasn't a boring slog: it took one fewer minute to

complete than the newest entry in the "Fast and Furious" franchise.

"Hobbs and Shaw" checks in at two hours and 17 minutes, but Chris and Sale only needed 2:16 to dispatch the visitors from Anaheim in the fastest Red Sox game of the season. Next on the list was a more

disappointing Sale start -- he dropped an 8-0 decision to James Paxton and the Yankees in April in just

2:23.

So what does a baseball person do with themselves when the game ends that quickly?

"Honestly, when I got to the clubhouse I was like, 'What do we do now?'" said manager Alex Cora. "We've

got so much time. I can play with my kids at home, finally. Because whenever I get home, they're sleeping.

I don't know even know what to do with my life now."

It wasn't the fastest game of the year. That distinction goes to the Mets and Marlins, who completed Miami's 3-0 shutout on May 19 in only one hour and 59 minutes. Thursday's win is tied for the third-fastest

game in the American League, however, trailing only a and a Rays-Astros game from March and a

Yankees-Orioles game two months later. Both of those were completed in 2:12.

The Red Sox will take this one, especially after Wednesday's suspended game against the Royals was only

called after a rain delay of nearly two hours in extra innings.

"That was fun to watch," Cora said.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

Fixing Red Sox rotation won’t be easy

Sean McAdam

It will be necessary to upgrade the bullpen, figure out the right side of the infield and make some big (and

difficult) decisions about some players on the roster headed to free agency.

But if the Red Sox are going to turn things around this off-season, the bulk of their work will have to begin

with the team’s starting rotation.

Make no mistake: the Red Sox are where they are — several furlongs out of first place, and at the very

edges of the wild card race — because of the failure of their starting pitchers. The Red Sox spent a lot of

money on their rotation and envisioned it as the primary strength of their roster.

Instead, Red Sox starters carried a ghastly 5.09 ERA into Thursday’s game. The projected Big 5 of Chris

Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovladi and Eduardo Rodriguez have combined for just 40 quality

starts — or about one every three games.

Sale, Price, Eovaldi and Rodriguez will be under the team’s control for the near future. Whether that’s

viewed as good or bad news depends on your confidence that the veteran starters can turn things around.

And that’s where things get tricky.

Price and Sale are likely viewed as untradeable within the industry. Price will be 34 at the start of next

season and is due $96 million over the next three seasons. And while it’s true that the Arizona

Diamondbacks recently dealt Zack Greinke, a year older than Price, Greinke had just two years remaining

on his landmark contract (at $35 million per, slightly above Price’s salary), he’s also transitioned far better

from power pitcher to one who relies more on finesse.

And while Greinke returned three good prospects from the Houston Astros, the Diamondbacks had to eat a

considerable chunk of his remaining contract.

Could the Sox do the same with Price? Yes. But it would be naïve to think that they could expect fair value

in return.

Dealing Sale would be virtually unthinkable, since the five-year, $145 million contract extension he agreed

to back in March doesn’t even kick in until next season. And Sale’s subpar season will do nothing to

enhance his value further.

Eovaldi will have three years and $51 million remaining and while that’s not onerous, his injury history —

two Tommy John procedures and two lesser surgeries on his elbow — would undoubtedly scare most

teams off. So, too, will the fact that only twice in his major league career has Eovaldi pitched more than

150 innings per season.

Porcello is heading for free agency and the Red Sox have shown little inclination to extend him. He wasn’t

approached this spring when the team got deals done with fellow free agents-to-be Sale and Xander

Bogaerts. There’s been the suggestion that Porcello’s durability and competitiveness might lead to the Sox

giving him a qualifying offer this fall.

That would limit their liability to him for a single season, but it’s also hard to justify paying about $18

million to someone whose ERA is currently 5.54.

That leaves Rodriguez, who is under control for two more seasons. He’s both the youngest and cheapest starter of the bunch, it wouldn’t seem to make sense to shop him. Then again, precisely because of his age,

he might have the most value, and if the Red Sox are resigned to retaining Sale, Price and Eovaldi, moving

Rodriguez could result in the team getting several younger pitching prospects in return.

What’s most clear is that the Red Sox don’t have much in the way of immediate help on the horizon. In the

team’s minor league system. Bryan Mata is regarded as the best starting pitching prospect and he’s only 20,

having recently been promoted to Double-A.

It would seem that Mata can’t be counted on until the second half of next year at the earliest. Other

potential starters are similarly short on experience and development. Even Mata, though highly regarded,

can’t be viewed as a sure thing.

It’s this inability to develop starting pitchers that have put the Red Sox in their current predicament. The

organization hasn’t had a homegrown starter make meaningful contributions since Clay Buchholz.

That’s led to them having to stock their rotation through free agency (Price, Eovaldi) or via trade (Sale),

with neither an efficient pathway. Free agency requires outsized, long-term commitments while dealing for

established front-line starters can strip-mine a player development system.

And so the Sox face a winter conundrum: stay with the pitchers who underperformed this season, along

with the inflated salary burden or deal them at a loss in expected return and begin a rebuilding process.

Neither one is appetizing, emphasizing how the disappointment of 2019 may linger past this September.

BSJ Game Report: Red Sox 3, Angels 0 – Sale dominant over eight shutout innings

Sean McAdam

That’s more like it for Sale: In what unquestionably his best outing since he struck out 17 Colorado

Rockies in May, Chris Sale looked his old self, allowing just two hits over eight shutout innings while

racking up three strikeouts. It was a far cry from his last two starts in which he allowed 14 runs in a

combined nine innings. Both Sale and Alex Cora said the start was the result of teamwork leading up to the

game and noted a few adjustments were made. “We spent a lot of time this week looking at some things,”

explained Sale. “(Brian Bannister) kind of broke it down for me yesterday, with zones and tunnels and

where all of my damage was coming from and kind of getting back to doing some things with my arm path that helped my pitches and get some extension.” Sale worked quickly, reached back for extra velocity when

necessary — hitting a season-high 98 mph in the seventh inning — and commanding both of his secondary

pitches. The test, of course, will be to sustain this and take it into his next start and going forward. “You

never want to say that you’ve figured it all out,” he said. “But it’s a step in the right direction.”

History in the strikeouts: Beyond the eighth shutout innings, Sale’s 13 strikeouts took him over the 200-

strikeout plateau for the third straight season in Boston and seventh straight overall. He’s the only active

pitcher in the game with 200 or more strikeouts in seven straight seasons, though Washington’s Max

Scherzer is likely to soon join him with 189 strikeouts already. He’s one of eight A.L. pitchers — and 15

pitchers overall — to have seven different 200 or more strikeout seasons and joins Roger Clemens and

Walter Johnson as the only two in the A.L. to do it seven years in a row. “It’s special,” said Sale. “I appreciate it. Obviously, with how this season has unfolded personally, I wish it was something else. But I

appreciate all my teammates, all my catchers and my pitching coaches along the way who helped me reach

that goal. It’s cool. But you’ve got to just keep fighting. We’ve got something bigger ahead of us.”

Travis delivers at the plate: Sam Travis continues to wield a hot bat for the Sox. He had a big two-run

homer in the second inning that provided Sale and the Sox with all the runs they would need. In the 20

games since he was last recalled from Pawtucket, he’s hitting .288 with four homers and nine RBI to go

along with a .916 OPS. “It’s good to be able to contribute when called upon,” said Travis. “You’ve got to

stay ready.” With Steve Pearce still on the IL and Michael Chavis sharing second base duties with Brock Holt, Travis has provided theSox with a run-producing bat against lefty pitching. In 121 big league at-bats

against lefties, Travis is hitting .279 in his career and this season and all four of his homers this season have

come against lefty throwers.

TURNING POINT: With the Sox leading 2-0 in the fifth, the margin wasn’t very big, even considering

how well Sale was throwing. But for added emphasis, Sandy Leon hit the first pitch he saw and hit out for

his fourth homer of the season, stretching the lead to 3-0. “That was awesome, seeing our catchers go out

and swing the stick,” Sale said. “We know how much time they put into working for us and to see them get

some satisfaction (at the plate) is always fun.”

TWO UP:

Sandy Leon: In addition to guiding Sale through his eight shutout innings, Leon contributed a solo homer

in the fifth inning to help the cause.

Brandon Workman: He earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. Of his 53 appearances this year, 45 have been

scoreless.

ONE DOWN:

Rafael Devers: The third baseman continues to slump with no hits in four plate appearances, including two

strikeouts. He has just five hits and one walk in the month of August. He’ll be given a night off Saturday.

QUOTE OF NOTE:

“Honestly, when we got to the clubhouse, I was like: ‘What do we do now? We have so much time.”’ Alex

Cora on the unusually brisk pace to the game which lasted just 2:14.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The shutout was the sixth for the Red Sox this season and the first since July 18 vs. Toronto.

The Sox are 31-18 when hitting multiple homers this season.

J.D. Martinez is batting .404 against lefty pitching this season.

Over the last 18 games, Andrew Benintendi is hitting .395.

UP NEXT: The Red Sox and Angels continue their four-game series Friday at 7:10 p.m. with LHP Brian Johnson (1-1 6.88) vs. RHP Jamie Barria (4-5, 6.36)

* The Athletic

Seriously? Well, here’s the path for the Red Sox to win the AL East and reach the World Series

Al Melchior

There is still more than seven weeks of baseball left to play, but it’s getting to that time of the season when

some fans might be ready to pack it in. Even as early as the July 31 trade deadline, if a team is 10 games or

more off the division lead and struggling to close the gap in the wild-card race, the remaining chunk of the season can look bleak and foreboding.

Yet fans looking for a reason to be optimistic can take comfort in some of baseball’s miraculous late-season

comebacks. The 1951 Giants were 13 games out of first place as late as Aug. 11, and a late-season surge

culminating in Bobby Thomson’s Shot Heard ‘Round the World propelled them into the World Series. The

1995 Mariners were 10 1/2 games out of first place in the final week of August and got as far as the

American League Championship Series. The 2006 Twins were 10 1/2 games behind the AL Central-

leading Tigers on Aug. 7, and they managed to make it to the postseason.

This might sound like the lead-up to an accounting of the Mets’ surprising recent run of 13 wins in 14

games, which sliced four games off their deficit in the National League East. It’s not. This is a call for Red

Sox fans to dream of a possibility of a title.

Entering this weekend’s series against the Angels, the Red Sox had dropped nine of 10 decisions and fell

16 games off the lead in the AL East. They were also six games behind the Rays for the second AL wild-

card spot. Yet the result of a recent simulation run by Out of the Park Developments (OOTP) — the

creators of sim games, one of which is “Out of the Park Baseball” — suggest the Red Sox have a path to

the World Series. They ran a computer simulation of the entire post-trade deadline, and not only did the

Red Sox finish atop the AL East, but they made it all the way to a World Series matchup against the

Dodgers.

To be sure, they have not put their best foot forward so far in the month of August, but the sim did not have

the Red Sox coming out of the trade deadline looking like the next coming of the ’51 Giants. These make-

believe Red Sox dropped three of their first seven games in August, so if we can imagine that the real Red

Sox can pick up a couple of wins from here on out that the simmed team lost, we can keep the dream of

them reaching the World Series intact.

Taking advantage of an opportunity

The sim begins where the month of July leaves off, with the Red Sox sitting at 59-50, 10 games behind the

Yankees in the AL East race and 2 1/2 games behind the Rays for the second wild-card spot and second

place in the division. In this simulated final portion of the season, the Red Sox rode a 38-15 finish to wind

up one game ahead of the second-place Rays and seven games ahead of the third-place Yankees, ending up with a 97-65 regular-season record. The Yankees would compile a 22-33 record over the season’s final two

months.

Before delving into how the Red Sox were able to turn a double-digit deficit into a division title, I’d be

remiss if I didn’t also recount the Yankees’ late-season swoon. If they had just managed to play three

games over .500 through August and September and won five of the six games they dropped to the Red

Sox, the Yankees would have won the division, and the Sox would have been on the outside looking in.

The biggest factor in their demise was the collapse of their starting pitching. Jordan Montgomery

completed his recovery from Tommy John surgery and returned to be the Yankees’ best starter over the

final two months, posting a 4.43 ERA in nine starts. No one in the rotation excelled, but Masahiro Tanaka

(6.92 ERA) and J.A. Happ (6.05 ERA) were especially ineffective.

If you’re wondering what role Luis Severino might have played, he gave the Yankees 10 1/3 innings of

relief, finishing with a 3.48 ERA and a dazzling 0.58 WHIP.

The offense had a few positives. Aaron Hicks (.267 avg, 11 home runs) didn’t get injured and was the

team’s most consistent hitter. Edwin Encarnación also avoided injury in this parallel universe, and he

chipped in 10 homers. Aaron Judge and Gary Sánchez got hot for extended periods, but they alone could

not prevent a late-season meltdown. Gleyber Torres and Didi Gregorius slumped terribly, and Giancarlo

Stanton returned to make 186 plate appearances but batted .190.

The Yankees’ collapse opened the door for the Red Sox, and by Aug. 30, the two teams were tied atop the

AL East, with the Rays half-game back. On Sept. 7, the Yankees were already starting to fade, losing a 5-4 squeaker to the Red Sox at Fenway Park that put them 2 1/2 games out of first place, but the final two

nights of the series spelled their demise. The Red Sox put on a show for the Sunday night game, winning

18-0. Travis Lakins and Darwinzon Hernandez combined for a six-hit shutout. In case you’re wondering

how Lakins, currently pitching as a reliever at Triple-A Pawtucket in the real world, wound up in the

rotation, he took the spot vacated by Andrew Cashner, whom the Red Sox designated for assignment. On

Monday night, Chris Sale also got far more run support than he needed, as the Red Sox crushed the

Yankees yet again, this time by a 20-3 margin. The Rays had that Monday off, so the decisive win put the

Red Sox alone in first place, and they never looked back.

Less than two weeks later, the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth in a game that was a microcosm of their late-season run. On Sept. 22, they defeated the Rays, 3-2, and the go-ahead runs were provided by Xander

Bogaerts’ two-run homer off Diego Castillo in the top of the seventh inning. The bullpen protected the lead

for the final three innings, with Carson Smith (yes, he’s back and healthy, apparently), Josh Taylor and

Matt Barnes combining for the final six outs. Bogaerts’ offensive prowess and a rejuvenated bullpen were

key elements of the Red Sox’s dash toward a division title. They would not actually seal that title until the

final day of the season when they defeated the Orioles, 7-1. Once again, Lakins was the starter, and he gave

his team 6 1/3 scoreless innings.

Out-of-nowhere late-season heroics, like the ones the sim assigned to Lakins, are not unprecedented, but if

he actually played this important of a role in a late-season hot streak, it would certainly qualify as a fluke.

However, much of the simulated surge was driven by events that one could imagine happening in a real

pennant race without too much difficulty. There were three specific elements behind the Red Sox’s strong finish: increased production from an already-potent offense, rebounds by key members of the rotation and a

shakeup in the bullpen. Here’s a breakdown of how each of those factors came into play.

The offense hits a higher gear

Through July 31, only the Twins had a higher OPS than the Red Sox’s .822 mark. In the sim, they

improved on that lofty stat. Their .878 OPS in August was the best of any team by a 38-point margin, and

in September, the team regressed only slightly to an .850 OPS.

Key to the uptick in offense was the return of J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts to their 2018 production

levels. In August and September, Martinez batted .326 with 15 home runs, while Betts hit .340 with 11

homers and six stolen bases. Incredibly, Bogaerts out-did both of them, as well as his own stellar numbers from the first four months. The shortstop batted .371 with 17 home runs in the two-month sim.

Chris Sale and Rick Porcello find their groove

While the offense picked up its pace in the sim, the pitching staff did a better job of limiting offense. They

entered August having held opponents to a .762 OPS while registering a 4.70 ERA. In the August portion

of the sim, the Red Sox’s staff allowed a .686 OPS while posting a 4.26 ERA, and they followed that with a

.703 OPS allowed and a 3.53 ERA in September.

If the sim is to be believed, Chris Sale’s up-and-down season is about turn upward again, as he recorded a

3.21 ERA over 11 starts. In real life, Rick Porcello recently turned in his best start since mid-June, holding

the Royals to one run over six innings on Monday. The sim suggests that this could be a sign of better

things to come. Over his nine simmed starts, Porcello recorded a 3.47 ERA, allowing 1.21 home runs per nine innings. Through July 31, Porcello’s ERA was a bloated 5.74, and he had allowed 1.62 home runs per

nine innings. In the sim, he was also stingier with walks, much like in his 2016 Cy Young season,

compiling a 1.51 BB/9 ratio.

The Red Sox were able to turn around their season, even though David Price did not fully rebound from his

recent slump. Over 11 simmed starts, the lefty compiled a 4.57 ERA.

Unlikely bullpen heroes emerge

This is arguably the most fascinating part of the sim results. The Red Sox’s bullpen has been a

disappointment this season, and through the end of July, it produced a 4.54 ERA that ranked just 17th in the

majors. It was also tied for the fifth-highest total of blown saves with 19, while producing only 21 saves.

Though a deal had been anticipated for months, the team did not acquire a closer before the trade deadline,

so the Red Sox moved forward with Brandon Workman primarily in that role. There is nothing in his real-

world stat line, including a 1.95 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP and six saves, that foreshadows him losing the job, but

in the sim, Matt Barnes claims the role and runs away with it. Through August and September, Barnes

picked up 15 saves while compiling a 2.05 ERA.

The bullpen makeover didn’t end with the switch at closer. While Workman pitched his way out of a high

leverage role, Nathan Eovaldi hit his stride in August in a long-relief role, allowing six runs in 18 innings, while striking out 22 and walking five. Manager Alex Cora seemingly changed his style of bullpen

management because he also gave Marcus Walden bulk innings, and he responded with a 2.66 ERA and 24

strikeouts over 20 1/3 innings through Sept. 3. Perhaps Walden was overused because he was placed on the

10-day injured list on Sept. 5. The most curious bullpen development of all was re-signing Smith and

pitching him in a setup role. He wasn’t an especially effective run-preventer, putting up a 5.40 ERA, but he

did pick up five holds and a save.

With Walden on the IL and Eovaldi’s workload reduced in September, a new group of previously

unheralded relievers stepped in to fill the void. In the season’s final month, Hector Velázquez, Josh Smith

and Josh Taylor all contributed more than 10 innings with an ERA below 3.00. Taylor even received some

high-leverage work, recording one hold and one save. This is a development that is actually plausible, as

Taylor has been sneaky-good for the Red Sox, registering a 30.1 percent strikeout rate with a 3.72 ERA that could easily be lower. Opponents have compiled a .361 BABIP and a .261 overall Avg against Taylor this

season, but his xBA of .233 suggests that he has deserved a better result.

The postseason run

The improvements in the lineup, rotation and bullpen pushed the Red Sox into the postseason, but some

new heroes emerged once the playoffs started. Martinez was the MVP in the 3-1 series win over the Twins

in the ALDS, but Christian Vázquez and Andrew Benintendi led the team in hits, while Price and Eduardo

Rodriguez made good starts. In the five-game ALCS against the Indians, Mitch Moreland was the MVP,

though Martinez continued to shine.

The pivotal moment was in Game 5, when it looked as if Cleveland was going to extend the series to a sixth game. Sale lasted only five innings, and meanwhile, Corey Kluber was cruising into the seventh

inning with a 4-2 lead, but the Red Sox rallied against him to go up 5-4. Kluber gave way to Nick Goody

with two outs, and two batters later, Martinez delivered a bases-clearing double that put the game and the

series out of reach.

The Red Sox had little problem disposing of their AL foes, but the Dodgers proved to be too much for them

in World Series. They were no-hit by Hyun-Jin Ryu for 6 2/3 innings in a 4-0 Game 1 loss, and while they

were closer in the remaining contests, the series lasted just five games. Boston’s lone win came in Game 2

at Dodger Stadium, where both David Price and Clayton Kershaw exited after four innings. The Red Sox

contingent of relievers — a healthy Walden, plus Workman, Barnes and Smith (who got the save) —

outperformed the Dodgers’ Ross Stripling, Kenley Jansen, Dylan Floro and late-season addition Jesen

Therrien.

In Game 3, Eduardo Rodriguez didn’t make it out of the first inning, and while the Red Sox rallied, they

never caught up. Game 4 was a duel between Porcello and Kenta Maeda, and Porcello came up short.

However, Lakins — now moved to a bullpen role for the postseason — kept them in the game with three

scoreless innings of relief. Both Sale and Ryu stumbled in a tight Game 5, but Max Muncy’s fifth-inning

solo homer proved to be decisive in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory. A.J. Pollock collected two hits in the series

finale and was named World Series MVP.

It’s a path, but just one path

While there are elements of this simulated stretch run that are plausible, such as Martinez and Betts

rebounding to 2018 levels, Sale and Porcello finishing strong, and Barnes, Walden and Taylor playing key roles in a bullpen resurgence, there are numerous ways the remainder of the season could play out for the

Red Sox. This particular result came from just a single run of OOTP’s simulation program, and they ran

two additional simulations that came out very differently. In both of these iterations, the Red Sox finished

in third place in the AL East. The Yankees were the first-place team and the Rays were in second in both of

them. In one, the Red Sox won 91 games and finished six games out of first place, and in the other, they

ended up 17 games back with an 86-76 record.

These three simulations speak to the broad range of outcomes that could occur for any of the three

contenders in the AL East. The Red Sox might be on the downswing right now, but enough time is left in the season for something unexpected to happen. Maybe even something miraculous.

Is Chris Sale back? According to the Angels, he never left

Chad Jennings

It had been a couple of years since the Angels last faced Chris Sale, and all the numbers suggested they

would get a diminished version of the Red Sox ace Thursday night. This would be a lesser edition, a

weaker facsimile. The Angels might actually face a version of Chris Sale they could beat for the first time

in franchise history.

Instead, they got more of the same.

“He was painting on me, I tell ya that,” Mike Trout said.

Sale’s average fastball velocity was 93.5 mph, same as it’s been most of the year. He topped out at 98, a

number he’d reached before. He threw 32 sliders, which was not unusual. But the Chris Sale who

dominated the Angels for eight scoreless innings, racking up 13 strikeouts and only two baserunners, was a

throwback to the guy who terrorized the American League for years and closed out the World Series just

nine months ago.

“I saw a lot of him in my last job,” said Angels manager Brad Ausmus, who used to serve in the same role

for the Detroit Tigers. “And that’s what I saw. That felt like the Chris Sale that I saw for four years in the Central Division.”

Back when Ausmus managed the Tigers, Sale was establishing himself as a perennial Cy Young candidate.

He finished in the top five six years in a row and went to seven consecutive All-Star games, but he came

into Thursday night with a 5-11 record and 4.68 ERA that have become relatively notorious in Boston. The

Red Sox just gave this guy a five-year, $145 million contract extension, and he’s pitching like this?

Thing is, there have always been peripheral stats to suggest all was not lost. Sale’s 1.06 WHIP ranks sixth

in the American League. His 206 strikeouts are the second-most in the league, and his strikeouts-per-nine

rate is better than any starter in either league. So, don’t tell the Angels he’s not himself this year.

“He looked electric tonight,” Justin Upton said. “His stuff was there. It didn’t look any different to me.”

Upton struck out three times, something he’d never done in six previous games against Sale. The bottom

six hitters in the Angels’ lineup combined to go 0-for-17 with 10 strikeouts. Leadoff hitter David Fletcher

was the only Angels batter without at least one K, and he got the ball out of the infield only once. Lefty

Kole Calhoun went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, making him 0-for-11 lifetime against the Red Sox pitcher.

The only times he’s reached base against Sale have been a pair of hit-by-pitches.

“He looked like the Sale that I remember,” Calhoun said. “He’s funky as it is, and if he’s throwing strikes

and keeping guys off balance — and he kept his pitch count down, too — I mean, that’s tough to hit.

Definitely funky. We’re not in the same (division) as him. We get to see him, maybe, once a year. I think

it’s been a while since we saw him last, and he threw the ball good.”

Calhoun, Trout and Upton all agreed that Sale approached their at-bats the way he always has. There were

no unexpected wrinkles. No new tricks. No new version.

“I think when he has his good stuff, you see it,” Trout said. “He looked the same to me. Pretty nasty to me.”

Trout actually has good numbers against Sale. He came into the game 5-for-17 with a home run, five walks

and four strikeouts. Of the 90 hitters who had faced Sale at least 20 times, Trout was one of only three to

have more walks than strikeouts.

Emphasis on was.

Trout managed a clean single in the seventh inning, but he struck out in his first two at-bats to tilt the

strikeout-to-walk ratio back in Sale’s favor. He was called out on an inside fastball in the first inning, then

he swung through a 2-2 fastball in the fourth.

“The angle (is tough), and I think it was 95 or something,” Trout said. “That’s why he’s an ace. He’s got

good stuff. He mixes up his fastball speeds and keeps you off-balance, and once he gets to two strikes, he

can pump one up to 98. Just a tough at-bat. You can’t miss your pitch on him.”

Sound familiar?

“I know this hasn’t been a vintage Chris Sale year,” Ausmus said. “When I’ve watched him on TV, though,

he hasn’t looked that different to me. He still can reach back for the velocity when he needs it, and he was

doing that his last couple of years in Chicago. He was kind of doing it similar where he’d coast at 91 to 93,

and then when he wanted to elevate with velocity at 96 or so, especially with two strikes, he would do that.

And that’s what he did tonight. So, I’ve seen that, really, since I guess I’ve watched him from May 1 on.

So, I’m not really surprised. I’m probably more surprised we haven’t seen more of it. Maybe he’s trending

in that direction.”

Alex Cora said the Red Sox did a lot of work behind the scenes to get Sale on track — video sessions,

bullpen work, all the usual stuff — and Sale said the only secret was getting back to what made him

successful in the past.

It sounds simple. Obviously, it’s not.

With 45 games to play, Sale should make another nine or so starts. The Red Sox need him to make the most

of them, and Sale hasn’t had one more encouraging than Thursday night. That’s when the Red Sox saw a

giant step forward, and the Angels were left wondering what the fuss was all about.

* The USA Today

Baseball's future: Declining attendance – and shrinking stadiums to match

Gabe Lacques

For more than a decade, from coast to coast, they rose from urban cores and suburban sprawl alike, feats of

architectural perfection that defined the fan experience in Major League Baseball – in perpetuity, it seemed.

The great ballpark building boom that spanned the 1990s and into the millennium’s first decade was a

welcome correction from the multi-purpose mausoleums that dotted the landscape in the 1970s. And the

billions and billions of dollars expended – much of it coming from taxpayers – to create a more intimate

setting felt like a permanent fix.

Yet as the industry discovers the appetite for live baseball may be shrinking, a third wave of stadiums are

gradually coming online, revealing franchises' desire to further shrink the ballpark - be it new or already existing.

“The Camden Yards-era ballparks were fitting the bill,” Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval says of

Baltimore’s innovatively retro stadium that opened in 1992. “But that was 20 years ago.”

Kaval is charged with finding a new ballpark for the A’s and the club has progressed significantly on a

waterfront project at Howard Terminal, near Jack London Square. Major hurdles remain, most notably

Oakland City Council approval of a complicated deal centered on a 34,000-seat stadium.

Since 1989, every major league club save for the A’s and Tampa Bay Rays have inhabited a new or

significantly renovated stadium. The Rays’ failed attempt at building in Tampa’s Ybor City aimed for a

ballpark with 28,000 seats; they have already reduced capacity at Tropicana Field to 25,000.

The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers, leaning significantly on public funding that came without taxpayer

referendums, ditched parks built in the 1990s for smaller digs framed by the game’s new revenue engine –

mixed-use developments at least partially controlled by the team. The Braves are in their third season at

SunTrust Park (capacity, 41,000, replacing Turner Field’s 53,000) while the Rangers in 2020 will open

Globe Life Field, a retractable-roof facility that will seat 40,000 compared to its predecessor’s 49,000-seat

capacity.

The Los Angeles Angels are negotiating with the city of Anaheim to fix up 45,000-seat Angel Stadium (last major renovation: 1997) and develop the parking lot; the club has floated the possibility of moving the team

to Long Beach, where the ballpark footprint would be significantly smaller.

And the Arizona Diamondbacks can escape their Chase Field lease in 2022 if they build a new stadium

within Maricopa County; the team gained that right by agreeing to drop a lawsuit claiming the county owed

$187 million in repair and renovations to Chase Field, which opened in 1998.

Failing that, the Diamondbacks could follow the lead of the Rays, Cleveland Indians and others, and simply

transform their 48,000-seat stadium into a smaller venue that reflects an environment where attendance

across MLB is projected to decline for a fourth consecutive year, mirroring trends in several sports.

“We are definitely keeping our options open as it pertains to remaining at Chase Field,” Diamondbacks

CEO Derrick Hall said in an email to USA TODAY Sports. “We have said for years that our ballpark

capacity is far too large.

“In a market like ours, it is not realistic to believe we can fill Chase Field on a regular basis.”

For the Diamondbacks, A’s and perhaps a significant number of clubs that may replace – or revamp – their

Camden Yards-era parks, finding the sweet spot of atmosphere, accessibility and inclusion will be

paramount in a sport with an aging and occasionally alienated fan base.

Less is more

It seemed like a good idea in the 1960s and ‘70s: Build massive, multi-purpose stadiums for your local

football and baseball team. Lay down some AstroTurf – it doesn’t even need water! – and your facility is

suddenly a year-round destination for sports, concerts, religious revivals or monster truck pulls.

But as the 1990s dawned, Major League Baseball’s 26 stadiums were aging and almost always half-empty.

In 1990, the year before Chicago’s new Comiskey Park kicked off a wave of 21 new or heavily renovated

stadiums in 20 years, the average major league park seated more than 54,000 fans.

Eleven teams had capacities of at least 57,000, with football-inspired expansions creating enclosed ghost

towns in cities like San Diego (59,000-seat capacity), San Francisco (62,000) and Anaheim (64,000).

In the median ballpark, 53% of seats were empty.

By 2009, when the Yankees and Mets rolled out new stadiums in New York, the wave of new ballparks

lopped nearly 20% off MLB’s ticket inventory: Average stadium capacity was 44,000, and the median club

enjoyed a 64% occupancy rate.

Since then, the Twins, Braves and Marlins rolled out newer, smaller stadiums. So far in 2019, teams are playing to 66% capacity.

But MLB’s attendance took a 4% hit in 2018 and is on pace for another dip this year. As pace-of-play and

other concerns roil the game internally, and bottomless entertainment options threaten it externally, it’s

easy to imagine other markets following Cleveland’s lead: Shrink the stadium.

With Cleveland suffering a population decline and the 2009 recession hitting it particularly hard, the

crowds that jammed then-Jacobs Field beyond its 43,000-seat capacity in the late ‘90s were unlikely to

similarly fill rebranded Progressive Field.

So before the 2015 season, the club chiseled away.

After surveying its fans and season-ticket holders, unused suites were converted into a two-story indoor-

outdoor family area with baseball-related activities. The right field corner was turned into a “social space,”

with a large outdoor bar and gathering area. The right-center field area opens up to the city around it.

Nearly every change in the refreshed 34,000-seat park was geared toward a nebulous concept viewed as

crucial to resuscitating the ballpark experience: Engagement.

“It’s incumbent on us to create an environment in ballparks to give people compelling reasons to make that

trip,” says Alex King, the Indians’ senior vice president of brand and marketing. “There are no barriers for

fans to engage in our game in a living room.

“In the ‘90s, it was creating intimacy, it was the architecture. I think those changes were fantastic. And

now, how do we make those micro changes – the social changes, the experience. That’s the regular work

the industry needs to do to make sure that experience is compelling enough to come out.”

Kaval has racked up a few miles in service of that mission. He’s visited all 30 ballparks, as well as

stadiums overseas, and as president of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes played a central role in

developing 18,000-seat Avaya Stadium.

The A’s are aiming for distinct in their desired home, hiring a Danish firm to design a stadium that would

include a rooftop park that encircles the stadium. A panoramic view of the bay – not visible from stadium

seats for myriad reasons – would be the catnip to encourage fans to circulate throughout the game.

For now, they’re using antiquated Oakland Coliseum as a petri dish for that concept, selling monthly passes

to “The Treehouse,” an area above left field with 1,500 seats and nearly as many libation options. The idea

is to roam during the ballpark and enjoy “multiple experiences,” Kaval says, during each game.

Yet for all of Kaval’s globetrotting, his vision of a new stadium is largely driven by a development just a

few miles from home.

“The iPhone has ushered in a whole new era,” says Kaval. “We just found the fans wanted – younger fans,

Millennials and Gen Zers - experiential things they can show on their Instagram, their Snapchat. Live

sports are changing. Entertainment is changing.

“When we’re thinking of deploying hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure, we need to stay with

the times. Stadiums are iconic gathering places. You have to do it in the context of the way people are

experiencing entertainment today.”

It all sounds a bit like a stock-art photo touting a new mixed-use development come to life, with baseball

subbing in for trivia night or ax-throwing as the backdrop for young and old alike to sip IPAs and preen for

the ‘Gram.

Yet, the industry also knows it must be wary of the price tag – to build the stadium and access it.

Access is everything

Baseball has five franchises essentially invulnerable to sagging attendance – the Red Sox, Cardinals, Cubs,

Yankees and Dodgers. All have sold at least 87% of their 2019 ticket inventory and drawn at least 2.6

million fans every season this century.

For most of the 25 other franchises, team performance, the economy and the limitations of their stadium

can have a far greater impact.

Right now, 15 teams are on pace to draw fewer fans than a 2018 season that saw a 4% overall drop; with

September likely to mirror an ugly April at the gate, it wouldn’t be surprising if up to 20 teams’ attendance declined.

Not that some haven’t tried.

The Tampa Bay Rays sold 5,000 tickets to five June home games for $5, selling out the allotment for just

two of the games. After announcing their intention to explore playing half of their home games in

Montreal, the Rays – who declined comment for this story – held a $2 flash sale for a three-game July

series against last-place Baltimore.

The San Francisco Giants – suffering through a 17% drop at the gate in the first year of an expected rebuild

– also offered $5 tickets during a one-day flash sale.

With the in-game experience so key to building fan loyalty, wouldn’t it behoove teams to fill up empty

seats at discount prices?

Perhaps not at the expense of undercutting season-ticket holders.

“Is value important? Certainly. But it’s not a silver bullet in terms of a single solution to ensuring we have

the attendance that we want,” says the Indians’ King. “Our season ticket holders are investing a significant

amount in us and shown a lot of loyalty. We really value that and want to ensure that as the lifeblood of our

organization, we protect the investment they’ve made.”

On the other end of the spectrum, smaller, successful stadiums can breed ticket scarcity, tempting teams to increase prices and potentially squeeze out fans of lesser means.

The A’s will be the only game in town on that side of the bay, with the Warriors gone and Raiders going.

Proximity to Silicon Valley means no shortage of wealth – corporate and otherwise – to tap.

But will 34,000 seats be enough for fat cats and working families?

“Inclusiveness and making sure we have product available to fans at all income levels is critical,” Kaval

insists. “The family of four has been priced out of (a lot). I think baseball can own that spot where just

regular folks can access affordable options.”

Says the Diamondbacks’ Hall: “We need to check ourselves constantly to ensure affordability for fans. We

base this on history and market demands. A new stadium should not be a launch pad for ticket prices if

previous levels are already deemed appropriate.”

Who’s footing the bill?

The A’s are already navigating perilous waters. Their proposed stadium deal would allow them to recoup

construction costs by developing the land on their current Coliseum site, no small ask given the Bay Area’s

ongoing housing crisis.

Alameda County agreed in April to sell the A’s its share of the Coliseum site for $85 million, while the

club is negotiating for the other half with the city of Oakland, which desires to bake affordable housing,

environmental mitigation and living-wage jobs into the project.

In a cruel twist, Alameda County is expected to use money from the A’s to pay off debt on its 1995

renovation of the Coliseum for the Raiders – widely considered one of the worst financing deals in stadium

history, particularly for a team that stayed just more than two decades, anyway.

Though the Rangers’ and Braves’ new stadiums show the public-funding spigot may never be turned off –

particularly if taxpayers have no say – municipalities may be warier to fund the palaces of billionaires.

While the Braves’ park got funded essentially behind the public’s back, it also cost Cobb County politicians

their jobs.

More than $12 billion in public money was spent on stadiums across all sports in the first 15 years of this

century, that on the heels of billions more spent to fund many of the ballparks in the Camden-inspired

wave.

It would be unsurprising if public sentiment sounded something like, “Didn’t we just buy you a stadium?”

That won’t stop teams from trying – particularly when the bar for entertainment only seems to rise.

“If you’re going to come out to the park,” says Kaval, “it has to be special, it has to be different.”

And in the future, probably a lot more cozy.

* The Los Angeles Times

Angels are no match against Chris Sale in loss to Red Sox

Maria Torres

Angels outfielder Kole Calhoun raced to his left, eyes trained on a baseball slicing toward the right-field

foul line at Fenway Park. If he didn’t get to it, the ball would skitter into no-man’s land. A Boston Red Sox

batter would easily have an extra-base hit, maybe an inside-the-park homer, to lead off the fourth inning. Not an ideal situation for an Angels team that on Thursday struggled to pick up its starting pitcher.

Calhoun did not allow those circumstances to arise. He dived, fully extended his body and stuck out his

right arm. The ball nestled into Calhoun’s glove, a few inches away from a fence that Calhoun might have

crashed into if he were taller than 5 feet 10.

“I knew I had a chance to make a play and gave it a shot,” Calhoun said later. “Probably one of my better

ones.”

The catch was so impressive, Boston fans cheered Calhoun when the replay streamed across the

videoboard.

It was the Angels’ only highlight on a night they dropped their seventh straight game, falling 3-0 to a sputtering Red Sox squad that had lost nine of 11. Boston’s Chris Sale commanded all the attention,

returning to vintage form with eight masterful innings.

Angels starter Dillon Peters tried to keep the Angels in the game. He mostly used his low-90s fastball to his

advantage, striking out Rafael Devers twice and Sandy Leon once on high heaters. His curveball and

changeup drew three swings-and-misses each. He allowed only five hits and struck out eight in six innings

before relinquishing the mound to relievers Taylor Cole and JC Ramirez, who threw one scoreless inning

apiece.

But the Red Sox twice did damage. Sam Travis jumped on a first-pitch, 93-mph heater down the middle

and crushed it 443 feet to straightaway center field for a 2-0 Boston lead in the second. Sandy Leon led off

the fifth inning with a solo shot that sailed over the Green Monster.

The Angels never recovered, handcuffed by an especially effective Sale.

Before Mike Trout led off the seventh inning with a single, Sale had retired 16 in a row. Shohei Ohtani,

who reached second base on a dribbler that third baseman Rafael Devers let by him in the first, had owned

the Angels’ only hit. No one else got to Boston’s lanky left-hander.

“I know this hasn’t been a vintage Chris Sale year, but when I’ve watched him on TV he hasn’t looked that different,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “He can still reach back for the velocity when he needs it.

His last couple years in Chicago he was doing similar. He’d coast at 91-93 and when he wanted to elevate

the velocity, go to 96, especially with two strikes. That’s what he did tonight.”

Sale had been bled dry by the New York Yankees in two consecutive starts. Their high-octane offense

scored a combined 14 runs over nine innings. Sale didn’t even make it out of the fourth inning when he left

his last game.

His performances in those games were a microcosm of Sale’s overall struggles. The ace has struggled with

his velocity all season. His ERA was under 3.00 in 2017 and 2018; this year, it shot up to 4.41.

On Thursday, he was the Sale of old. He only needed 97 pitches to get through eight innings. He fooled

hitters with the 10-mph range of his fastball and his funky delivery. Sale tricked Justin Upton with sliders,

striking him out three times. He threw the breaking ball to Trout for a strike on the outer edge of the plate,

then came back inside with a 96-mph heater. Trout swung over it and went back to the dugout, striking out

for the second at-bat in a row.

Albert Pujols struck out twice, too, including on a 98.4-mph fastball in the seventh inning. It was Sale’s

hardest-thrown pitch of the season — and he still threw a 97-mph fastball to close the eighth inning.

“He looked the same to me,” Trout said. “Pretty nasty.”

* Associated Press

Sale fans 13 in two-hitter, Red Sox beat Angels 3-0

Red Sox ace Chris Sale and assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister logged long hours in the video room

after Sale was lit up twice by the rival Yankees recently.

With a few tweaks, the lanky left-hander was picture perfect Thursday night.

Sale righted himself and struck out 13 over eight innings of two-hit ball to lift Boston over the Los Angeles

Angels 3-0. He had allowed 14 runs over nine innings during his previous two starts, both against New

York, but he bounced back with his 13th double-digit strikeout game this season.

"Just getting back to kind of what I was doing to make myself successful before all this," Sale (6-11) said.

"We spent a lot of time this week looking at some things."

Sale's brilliance against the Angels merely lowered his season ERA to 4.41.

"This is August, so there's a lot of question marks for the right reasons, obviously," Cora said. "At least for

today, he looked great."

A resurgence by Sale would be welcome news for a Boston club that needs to make up a sizable deficit in

order to defend its World Series title.

The Red Sox had lost nine of 10 games, not including's Wednesday's contest against the Royals that was

suspended in the 10th inning with the score tied at 4. Thursday's game ran without issue and was over in a

tidy 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Boston pulled within 5 1/2 games of the second AL wild card with Tampa Bay and Oakland idle.

"We've got a lot of work to do ahead, so (we're) looking forward to tomorrow," said first baseman Sam

Travis, who hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off starter Dillon Peters in the second inning.

Angels star Mike Trout went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts a day after his 28th birthday. Los Angeles, which

fell 10 games out in the AL wild card, suffered its season-high seventh straight loss.

"This is a tough stretch for us right now," Trout said.

Sandy Leon tacked on a solo homer in the fifth against Peters (2-1), who gave up three runs and five hits

while striking out eight over six innings.

"I made a couple mistakes," Peters said. "You get beat out of the yard against this team."

SEVENTH HEAVEN

Sale became the only pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in each of the past seven seasons.

"It's special. I appreciate it," Sale said. "Obviously, with how this entire season's unfolded personally, I

wish it was something else."

SCORE THAT "9?

Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun made a spectacular diving catch near Pesky Pole on a ball hit by Xander

Bogaerts for the first out of the fourth inning, drawing "oohs" and "aahs" from the Fenway Park crowd.

"I had front-row seats to that catch. It was pretty incredible," Trout said. "Honestly I didn't think he was going to get to it."

TROUT TURNS 28

Trout celebrated his birthday at home during the team's day off Wednesday. The eight-time All-Star is one

of seven players to hit 278 home runs before turning 28, a list that includes Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr.

and teammate Albert Pujols.

"I think that's the most amazing part is he's only 28," Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. "With all the

numbers that he has, the age is what sticks out."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Angels: LHP Andrew Heaney (left shoulder inflammation) will be activated from the injured list to start

Saturday's game in Boston. Heaney last pitched July 26 versus Houston. ... SS Andrelton Simmons (left

ankle bone bruise and sprain) is receiving treatment in the Los Angeles area and has no timetable to return.

... RHP Griffin Canning (right elbow inflammation) threw on the field before the game. ... Los Angeles

reclaimed LHP Adalberto Mejia, who pitched for the team earlier this season before being designated for

assignment, off waivers Thursday and granted C Jose Briceno his unconditional release.

Red Sox: LHP David Price was placed on the 10-day injured list after receiving a shot of cortisone Wednesday to treat a cyst in his left wrist. "The hope is for him to come (back) sooner rather than later, but

we don't have a timetable," manager Alex Cora said. RHP Hector Velazquez was recalled from Triple-A to

fill Price's spot. ... 2B Dustin Pedroia (left knee irritation) spoke with the team via FaceTime during

Wednesday night's rain delay after having joint preservation surgery Tuesday. "He seems like (he's) in

good spirits," Cora said.

UP NEXT

Angels: RHP Jaime Barria (4-5, 6.36 ERA) has lost two straight starts and three of his last four.

Red Sox: LHP Brian Johnson (1-1, 6.88) takes Price's spot in the rotation and will be making his third start

this season.

Red Sox's Price goes on IL with left wrist cyst

Red Sox left-hander David Price was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday after an MRI revealed a

cyst on his left wrist.

The team announced that Price, 33, was treated with a shot of cortisone in the wrist Wednesday.

"The hope is for him to come [back] sooner rather than later, but we don't have a timetable," manager Alex

Cora said about Price, who was not made available to address his injury. "We'll make sure he's OK, and

we'll go from there."

Cora noted that the ailment, classified as a triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) cyst, was not

cancerous or related to any other serious illness.

Price most recently pitched Sunday against the New York Yankees after being reinstated from paternity

leave. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in 2⅔ innings in New York, falling to 0-3 with a 10.59 ERA in

his past four starts.

Cora said Price told him after the game that he "didn't feel 100%" and "felt tight."

"His last three or four [starts], as far as the location and the action of the pitches, it wasn't there," Cora said.

"Regardless if he's throwing 87 or 95 [mph], precision and strikes is his game."

Price missed 14 games earlier this season with left-elbow tendinitis and was plagued by elbow

inflammation during the 2017 season. He is 7-5 with a 4.36 ERA over 21 starts this season.

"Hey, at least we found out," Cora said. "Whatever people were thinking about if it's the elbow or

something else, at least we know [it's not]. We'll shut him down for a little bit, and then he'll be back."

Right-hander Hector Velazquez was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Price's spot on the 25-man

roster before the series opener Thursday night against the Los Angeles Angels.