I kept expecting Chang to hit for Bradley in the 10th with two on and nobody out but they left Bobby in to strike out against a lefty on three pitches. Inexcusable.
Another winnable game lost by the bullpen and lack of clutch hitting. The Indians were 2-for-13 with RISP. What the hell was Straw doing bunting when their pitcher could not throw a strike? He threw six balls in a row and Straw still tries to bunt and pops it up. Rosario and Straw had miserable days at the plate, going 1-for-10 with four K's at the top of the order.
Zimmer got on base three times and Bradley got a couple of hits in his first game back - one to left field on an outside pitch. Quantrill had another very good start. But I was frustrated that he started off the game with seven straight fastballs. Schwarber hit one out, Martinez lined a single to center, and Bogaerts lined a double to left. Quantrill had given up two runs in his first seven pitches - all fastballs.
Why do pitchers feel like they need to start the game throwing nothing but fastballs? The hitters know it's coming, or at least the Red Sox did today. It was obvious they were sitting on Quantrill's fastball. Schwarber and Martinez hit the second pitch and Bogaerts hit the first. They were looking for it.
If the best way to get hitters out is by changing speeds and mixing up the pitches, why not start the game doing that? I don't get why a lot of pitchers try to "establish their fastball" in the first inning. Why be predictable when you're facing guys like Schwarber, Martinez, Bogaerts, and Devers? We saw how that worked.
So he gives up two runs before throwing a single breaking ball and it ends up 2-2 after nine innings. Really frustrating. After he started mixing up his pitches he threw 6.1 shutout innings.
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