Stop me if you've heard this one. The Boston Red Sox starting pitcher is dealing, manager Alex Cora pulls him, the bullpen coughs up the lead and the offense does absolutely nothing. Sound familiar? Yet another disaster in a season full of them saw the one man wrecking crew of Shohei Ohtani take a dump in Fenway Park and made the pathetic Red Sox clean it up. Ohtani struck out the $140 million dollar trainwreck Trevor Story 4 times en route to 7 shutout innings and 11 strikeouts. Meanwhile Rich Hill held the Angels to just 1 hit in 5 innings. Even though he only threw 68 pitches, Hill was removed for Tanner Houck (1-2, 5.14 ERA) who proceeded to allow SEVEN runs in the next three innings. Meanhile the Boston bats once again pushed across no runs and fans are finally starting to boo them loudly. It all added up to yet another ignominious, unwatchable 8-0 defeat by the Angels at Fenway Park. How many runs did the Sox score Dean Wormer?
Hill got the ball in the top of the first and Taylor Ward took strike three to start. David Fletcher flies out to right and Shohei Ohtani grounded out to first to end the inning. Ohtani got the ball in the bottom of the first and Trevor Story struck out swinging to start. Rafael Devers whiffed but the ball got away and he took first on a wild pitch. Xander Bogaerts struck out swinging and JD Martinez forced Devers at second to end the inning.
Anthony Rendon flied out to center to start the top of the second and Jared Walsh grounded out to second. Max Stassi flied out to center to end the inning. Alex Verdugo grounded out to third to start the bottom of the second and Franchy Cordero grounded out to short. Bobby Dalbec slashed a base hit to right but Jackie Bradley Jr flied out to center to end the inning.
Jack Mayfield struck out swinging to open the top of the third before Brandon Marsh also went down swinging. Andrew Velazquez grounded out to short to end the inning. Kevin Plawecki flied out to right to begin the bottom of the third before Story struck out swinging. Devers & Bogaerts stroked back to back base hits but Martinez struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Angels threatened in the top of the fourth as Ward walked to start. Fletcher lined out to center but JBJ lost a fly ball by Ohtani in the sun that dropped in to move Ward to third. Rendon went down hacking and Walsh hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning.
Verdugo struck out swinging to open the bottom of the fourth before Cordero grounded out to first. Dalbec went down hacking to end the inning.
Hill punched out Sassi swinging to open the top of the fifth before Mayfield flied out to right. Marsh struck out swinging to end the inning. Hill had allowed 1 hit through 5 innings at just 68 pitches but naturally got yanked.
The Sox blew a rally in the bottom of the fifth after JBJ doubled to right to start. Plawecki lined out to right, Story earned the hat trick by striking out swinging and Devers went down hacking to end the inning.
Tanner Houck came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Velazquez struck out swinging to start. Ward took strike three and Fletcher struck out swinging to end the inning. Bogaerts struck out swinging to start the bottom of the sixth but Martinez doubled to left. Martinez moved to third on a grounder to second by Verdugo but Cordero lined out to a diving Velazquez to end the inning.
Ohtani flied out to center to start the top of the seventh but Rendon walked and took second on a wild pitch. Walsh then pounded a home run into the Arctic Ocean to put the Angels up for good. Stassi took strike three and Mayfield flied out to center to end the inning but the Angels iced it 2-0.
Dalbec flied out to left to start the bottom of the seventh but JBJ got a base hit to right. Plawecki popped up to short and Story earned the golden sombrero by striking out swinging to end the inning. Ohtani threw 99 pitches and tossed a 7 inning shutout meanwhile Cora yanked Hill after 68 pitches. You reap what you sew, Cora.
Houck imploded in the top of the eighth as Marsh singled to left to start. Velazquez was plunked and Ward singled to center to load the bases. Fletcher dropped a base hit to left to score Marsh and Ohtani knocked his own number off the Monster with a base hit to score Velazquez. Rendon grounded out to third to score Ward and FINALLY Cora pulled the plug on Houck. Kutter Crawford came in and poured gas on the fire as Walsh ripped a base hit to left to clear the bases. Stassi took strike three and Tyler Wade pinch hit for Mayfield. Wade flied out to center to end the inning but the Angels were up 7-0, totally embarrassing.
The Sox rolled over in the bottom of the eighth with Mike Mayers on the mound as Devers popped up to third to start. Bogaerts hit one up the elevator shaft and Martinez took strike three to end the inning.
The hits kept on coming in the top of the ninth as Marsh hit a home run into the Charles River to increase the lead. Velazquez struck out swinging, Ward flied out to center and Fletcher grounded out to first to end the inning with the Angels up 8-0.
Mayers returned for the bottom of the ninth and Verdugo grounded back to the mound to start. Cordero struck out swinging and Dalbec flied out to left to end the game. The Angels laughed at the Sox and won the game 8-0.
Jackass of the Night is Tanner Houck. He turned a 0-0 game into 7-0 in the span of 3 innings.
The Good:
Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 3.
Rich Hill threw 5 shutout innings and allowed just 1 hit while striking out 6.
The Bad:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Franchy Cordero was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Kevin Plawecki was 0 for 3.
Kutter Crawford allowed 2 inherited runners to score and 1 of his own in 1 2/3 innings.
Trevor Story was 0 for 4 with a golden sombrero of 4 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Rafael Devers was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Bobby Dalbec was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Final Thoughts:
This is a complete organizational failure from the very top to the bottom. Chaim Bloom put this unwatchable team together and his "analytics" have completely backfired. The Sox bats are routinely doing nothing and the bullpen is a complete disgrace. He traded away Hunter Renfroe for Jackie Bradley knowing Bradley couldn't hit anymore and signed Story who has been the biggest bust since Tony Clark twenty years ago. Then you get to Cora who literally just got showed up on national television by pulling Rich Hill because of "analytics" yet Ohtani throws 100 pitches and 100 miles an hour right in his face. Cora's overuse of the bullpen last year ruined the arms of Matt Barnes and Hiro Sawamura and the bullpen this year wasn't even good to begin with. The hitting coaches are just kicking back and collecting a paycheck while the rest of the league laughs at them. The sad part is the problems are fixable, the offense can right itself at any time and if and when management puts Whitlock as the closer, some of the issues will be solved. Until then the Red Sox aren't even watchable let alone any good. Its too early to blow the team up but now Bloom HAS to do something. The Sox have only won ONE series so far this season and we're already into May. The losing continues tomorrow night with the Chicago White Sox in town to give the Sox a beating. Nathan Eovaldi (1-0, 2.51 ERA) gets the start for the Sox against Vince Velazquez of the White Sox. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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