GAME #6 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023 - PITTSBURGH PIRATES @ BOSTON RED SOX

[markj]

1:35PM Eastern

Red Sox

Corey Kluber (R)

1. Alex Verdugo (L) RF
2. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
3. Justin Turner (R) DH
4. Masataka Yoshida (L) LF
5. Triston Casas (L) 1B
6. Christian Arroyo (R) 2B
7. Raimel Tapia (L) CF
8. Yu Chang (R) SS
9. Connor Wong (R) C

Pirates

Mitch Keller (R)

1. Oneil Cruz (L) SS
2. Bryan Reynolds (S) LF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) DH
4. Carlos Santana (S) 1B
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes (R) 3B
6. Jack Suwinski (L) RF
7. Rodolfo Castro (S) 2B
8. Ji Hwan Bae (L) CF
9. Jason Delay (R) C

Gametime Temp: 41°F
Chance of Precip: 15%

[markj]

Fly away game. Early start.

[Sea Dog 23]

This game is a show of different tactics.  Pirates Keller offers a 96-97 heater with a cutter at times.  Our guy Kluber is down to 88 on his fastball, but at his age, he is all about location.  And the most favorable walk rate in the league in '22.

[Sea Dog 23]

Kluber struggles in the 1st.  Two singles and a walk loads em up with one out.  He gets out of it.  Settles down in the 2nd with pop flies and a K.  For the Sox Arroyo singles, but nobody else is hitting and leaves him on.  no score in the 3rd.

[Sea Dog 23]

Pittsburgh finds a solo shot in the 4th, 1-0.  Meanwhile Sox bats have been on the shelf for the last 12 innings.  Shades of the last dozen games of Spring ball.  Time to get busy.

[longgame]

Getting shut down for a second day is not a good sign.  Seems like the pitch count was low again too so they're swinging freely.

Did Kluber get ejected for something or was he pulled?  Not sure what happened there. I've had it on audio but have been working too.   

[Schloicka]

Getting shut down for a second day is not a good sign.  Seems like the pitch count was low again too so they're swinging freely.

Did Kluber get ejected for something or was he pulled?  Not sure what happened there. I've had it on audio but have been working too.   

Don't think he was ejected. See nothing to say he was.

[Sea Dog 23]

Pirates on their way to a sweep.  4-1 in the 9th.  Cora actually put Ort in the game,  SMH.   Cherington might have the lowest payroll to work with, but he really did have some good pitchers in Boston this week.

[Pumpsie Green]

This excuse for a team  is even worse than last year.
Hold your noses

[Sea Dog 23]

As one guy noted, the O's and Pirate players look younger and energetic, while the Sox guys look quite old and WTH attitute about them.  If Sox are last place after playing the soft part of their schedule, MGT just may pull the plug by the ASB, and say fire Cora to send a message. 

[elktonnick]

Cora was out managed today for starters.  He needlessly removed Kluber when he did.  We saw the Red Sox shoddy defense in action once again.

This team of mismatched Sox played pretty much up to my expectations.

[SeaBeachFred]

Pirates on their way to a sweep.  4-1 in the 9th.  Cora actually put Ort in the game,  SMH.   Cherington might have the lowest payroll to work with, but he really did have some good pitchers in Boston this week.

Cora seems to have a soft spot for snORT who is totally useless on the mound......two more runs given up by that bum.  Then, again, most of us should know by now  that Cora thinks he still is the smartest man in the room and if he has someone he likes he will use him no matter what the cost is to the team.  The man is a filthy rotten cheater and will not make the team respectable until his sorry ass is cashiered once and for all.  And Bloom is to go with him, o therwise this team is headed for a trainwreck.

[MongoLikeSox]

Break up the Pirates!!!

Seriously, though, I expected a little better offense on the off-days than two straight 1-run games. I didn't watch the game, so can't assess nuttin on my own. Still, box-scores don't tell lies. They made a grand total of 120 pitches and we only got 2 walks.

From what I read, Casas was forthright with their decision making. Basically tried to do too much with the wrong grounder. If we demand we play our rookies enough to get better sooner, we have to live with the occasional rookie mistake.

Cora's comments on taking Kluber out were interesting. He used a lot of "we" and "us" instead of "me" and "I". Was it an organizational philosophy premade decision? Was Kluber rolling, or did he throw some cement mixers and got lucky in the 5th? I dunno, but Analytics-Ball didn't go away just because we banned the shift. This has Tampa 2020 World Series pull Snell written all over it. Look, Bloom, you took our team away from us, but please, at least leave us with our beloved game.

[longgame]

I guess that's why I thought he may have been ejected.  I was only partially listening and the announcers, especially Merloni, were besides themselves for taking him out.  Given the track record of this team, it seems that burning out the bullpen by July isn't a good approach.  These kinds of moves contribute directly to that. 

[MongoLikeSox]

Right? Especially the was the Roster is set up. Our BP depth is already here because some of the BP are starting games. We would need 40-man roster changes in order to call up a reliever should one get over-used.