* The Boston Globe The Boston Red Sox Monday, September 24, 2018 At least Mookie Betts got something out of this game Peter Abraham CLEVELAND The next game that matters for the Red Sox will be Oct. 5 at Fenway Park, Game 1 of the American League Division Series. That seemingly can t come soon enough for the Sox, who were walk-off losers in the 11th inning again on Sunday night against the Cleveland Indians. Greg Allen s single to left field with the bases loaded won the game as the Indians beat the Sox, 4-3. One night after the Sox were beaten, 5-4, in 11 innings, they were again unable to clinch the best record in baseball and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. Mookie Betts was 4 for 6 with two doubles and a home run. That raised his batting average to.343. The rest of the team was 4 of 34 as the Sox were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Betts is 8 of 11 with six extra-base hits, five runs and six RBIs in his last two games. His Most Valuable Player credentials seem airtight with six games remaining in the season. You can kind of give yourself a pat on the back, but you still have to go out, play the game, and take care of business, Betts said. I think it s all I really want to do. If I do good, cool. As long as we win the game, that s kind of the most important thing for me. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts left the game during an at-bat in the seventh inning after feeling what he described as a pinch and then a pull in his left shoulder. After fouling a pitch off, Bogaerts dropped his bat and shook his arm. That prompted manager Alex Cora to come out of the dugout with an athletic trainer and Bogaerts returned with them. Bogaerts tried to stay in the game. But Cora made it clear that would not happen. I have so much respect for him, Bogaerts said. He said it, I tried to convince him and he said no in a way that I could not come back with an answer. I had to let it go. Tests were negative and no further exams are planned. Bogaerts felt fine after getting some treatment and is day-to-day. I m not going to take any chances, Cora said. We ll see [Monday] how he feels and go from there... but he s fine. The 105-51 Sox were 2-4 on their final road trip and still need a win [or an Astros loss] to wrap up the best record. One more victory also would set the single-season franchise record. With rookie William Cuevas pitching his sixth inning of relief, Jose Ramirez led off the 11th with a walk then was sacrificed to second by Rajai Davis. When Erik Gonzalez grounded to shortstop, Tzu-Wei Lin committed the team s third error of the game.
Lefthander Robby Scott was called in, and Cleveland pinch-hit with the righthanded-hitting Yandy Diaz. Cora ordered Diaz intentionally walked to get to Allen, another righthander. On the eighth pitch from Scott, he singled through the drawn-in infield to end a game that lasted four hours and 20 minutes. Josh Tomlin (2-5) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Cuevas (0-2) allowed one run on two hits over 5⅓ innings with three walks and four strikeouts. He threw 93 pitches. Amazing, amazing, Cora said. That was fun to watch. Cuevas had the longest relief stint by a Red Sox pitcher since Steven Wright worked 5⅔ innings against Oakland on May 12, 2015. I m really thankful for the opportunity to prove myself, Cuevas said. I m going to be fighting every time I get the chance. The Sox did something unusual in the first inning: they used a sacrifice bunt to move a runner up. Betts led the game off against righthander Adam Plutko with a double to center field and moved up when Andrew Benintendi put a bunt down. It was the seventh sacrifice of the season for the Sox, the second by Benintendi. Only the Athletics (six) and Blue Jays (five) have fewer. With Betts on third, Bogaerts drew a walk. Betts then scored on a wild pitch. The lead grew to 2-0 in the third inning. Christian Vazquez and Betts led off with singles. Bogaerts walked to loaded the bases, and Vazquez scored when Rafael Devers grounded to first. The Indians took a 3-2 lead in what was a poorly played fourth inning by the Sox. Michael Brantley singled to start the inning. Hector Velazquez struck out Jose Ramirez then threw away a pickoff throw and Brantley went to third. When Edwin Encarnacion singled to score Brantley, Cora went to Wright. Cora wanted to see how Wright would pitch coming into the game with a runner on base, something he had not done since 2015. It did not go well. Wright struck out Josh Donaldson on a wild pitch that advanced Encarnacion to second. Yonder Alonso followed with a single to center. Encarnacion had no intention of scoring but Jackie Bradley Jr. fired to the plate. His throw was wide left and Alonso moved up to second on the second error of the inning. Switch hitter Melky Cabrera batted righthanded against Wright and doubled to right field to drive in two runs. Cabrera had batted righthanded against Wright the last time he faced him, in 2016, and singled. The Sox tied the game in the fifth when Betts homered off Plutko, a low line drive that rose until it cleared the fence in center. It was his 31st of the season, matching a career best. Betts doubled to right field against Chad Otero with one out in the seventh inning but was stranded. The Sox start a three-game series against Baltimore at Fenway Park on Monday night. Rafael Devers steps up in Nunez s absence Peter Abraham CLEVELAND Third baseman Eduardo Nunez hasn t played for the Red Sox the last four games, sitting out again on Sunday night to rest a sore right knee and hamstring as the Sox played the Cleveland Indians. The expectation is Nunez will return as soon as Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles and that he has plenty of time to prepare for the postseason. But the player Nunez displaced at third base, Rafael Devers, may be giving the Sox something to think about. Devers went into Sunday s game 7 of 21 with two home runs and three RBIs in his previous five games. He homered on Saturday night in a 5-4, 11-inning loss against the Indians.
Devers had two stints on the disabled list with a hamstring strain and played sparingly when he returned from the second on Sept. 4. The Sox felt the 21-year-old needed more work in all aspects of the game. Devers has shown improvement in the last week. He has closed his stance a bit and is getting a better look at pitches. Since he came back, he s been very disciplined, manager Alex Cora said. He understands that for him to be successful he has to stay in the [strike] zone. He s doing a good job putting [up] good at-bats. Devers hit.284 with an.819 OPS in 58 games last season. Through Saturday he has hit.241 with a.722 OPS. After being rushed to the majors in 2017, he s paid the penalty this season. Being consistent is the main thing I ve learned this year, how to be consistent, Devers said via translator Daveson Perez. The way you do that is making those adjustments. Pitchers are going to throw you pitches in different spots. It s on me to make those adjustments so I can stay consistent. I ve learned a lot from my teammates and the coaches around me. Devers has 19 home runs, so there will be a lure to play him in the postseason. But his poor defense is a detriment. Nunez offers a higher degree of confidence a ground ball will be turned into an out. That could outweigh hoping Devers connects. At least Devers is showing the ability to improve at the major league level and not just rely on his talent. We re comfortable with him, Cora said. The more disciplined he is, the better he is. I do feel that he s been able to slow down the game. He s not anxious in the batter s box. You can see that he s in control. Tough times for Pomeranz The Sox were down, 4-2, on Saturday before Andrew Benintendi s two-run single in the eighth inning. Relievers Robby Scott, Brian Johnson, and Joe Kelly shut the Indians out for five innings, Kelly working out of a jam in 10th inning to extend the game. Drew Pomeranz started the 11th inning and the game ended quickly. With Pomeranz pitching on back-to-back nights for the first time in a month, Yan Gomes reached on an infield single as Devers was unable to make an accurate throw. With Rajai Davis pinch-running, Greg Allen singled to left field. After a double steal, the Sox intentionally walked Francisco Lindor. With the infield and outfield playing in, Pomeranz left a curveball up in the strike zone and Michael Brantley hit a fly ball to left field that Benintendi had no play on. A year after he was 17-6 with a 3.32 earned run average, Pomeranz is 2-6 with a 6.37 ERA. Rodriguez in relief When Nathan Eovaldi starts Monday against Baltimore, Eduardo Rodriguez will pitch in relief behind him. Ideally the Sox want five full innings from Eovaldi then four from Rodriguez to finish the game.
If the Sox play the Yankees in the Division Series, Eovaldi is almost certain to be in the rotation with Rodriguez working in relief. That could be flipped if they play the Athletics. It s for them to get used to it, Cora said. We don t know who we re going to play so we ll make decisions later on. Nate came out of the bullpen already [on Sept. 11]. We know he can do it. We know Eduardo did it last year in the Division Series. Betts returns; Martinez rests Mookie Betts was back in the lineup after two days off and back in right field for the first time since Sept. 16. The Sox were careful with the MVP candidate after he felt some pain on his left side making a throw last week. That has since cleared up. J.D. Martinez was out of the lineup but is expected to play on Monday against Baltimore... Cora said the Sox have no preference which team they play in the Division Series. But they are 9-7 against the Yankees and 2-4 against the Athletics. There are travel considerations, as well. Both teams are great, but five hours on a plane? We know how it feels. It s not easy, Cora said. Lee Stange, pitcher on 1967 Red Sox, dies at 81 Peter Abraham Lee Stange, a member of the 1967 American League champion Red Sox and a longtime coach in the organization, died on Friday. He was 81. Stinger played parts of 10 seasons in the majors and was with the Sox from 1966-70. He appeared in 35 games in 1967, going 8-10 with a team best 2.77 earned run average over 181⅔ innings. Stange threw two innings of relief in Game 3 of the World Series in 1967, allowing one unearned run. Stange was 62-61 in his career with 21 saves and a 3.56 ERA. The Chicago native also played for the Twins, Indians and White Sox. Stange was twice the pitching coach of the Sox, from 1972-74 and again from 1981-84. He then became a minor league pitching instructor for the Sox from 1985-94. Stange also had coaching stints with the Twins (1975) and Athletics (1977-79). In all he spent 40 years in professional baseball, 23 of them with the Sox. Stange spent nine years as the pitching coach for Division 2 Florida Tech before retiring from baseball at age 78. Survivors include his wife, Barbara and three children, Tim, Jim and Jana. Stange also had two stepchildren, former Sox infielder Jody Reed and Paul Reed. Alex Cora s chaotic entry to Red Sox reshaped his career Alex Speier CLEVELAND For Alex Cora, the allure of Boston as his first managerial outpost was compelling. Once the Red Sox made clear their desire to hire him, there wasn t much need to spend much time contemplating the interest of the Mets, Nationals, or any other potential suitor. Boston represented everything about where he wanted to be. He couldn t imagine a more desirable destination, to the point that he turned down chances to interview with other clubs this offseason while trying to launch his managerial career in Boston. Here was kind of the perfect fit, said Cora. This is the place I wanted to be.
Yet the idea of the unmistakable pull of Boston and the Red Sox, of a hand-in-glove fit for his personality, wasn t always present. In fact, when he first joined the Red Sox in 2005, Cora joined the team at a time that proved jarring, one in which it seemed anything but easy to settle into the Red Sox. It was a weird vibe. I was like, Holy [expletive]! What is this? Cora recalled with a laugh of his first exposure to the Red Sox. What does he mean? Rewind 13 years. Cora had a strong 2004 season for the Dodgers, the organization with whom he d spent his entire career. As the primary Los Angeles second baseman, he contributed strong middle infield defense and solid offensive numbers (.264/.364/.380 with 10 homers). Yet that offseason, he was blindsided when the Dodgers elected in late-december to non-tender him, thus making him a free agent. He signed a two-year deal with Cleveland, thinking he d be the primary second baseman. Instead, he served chiefly as a backup middle infielder, with playing time proving less steady than he or Cleveland expected at the time of his signing. We thought Alex could not only help us with what he could contribute on the field and his versatility but just the way he understood the game, his baseball IQ, his reputation in the clubhouse for being able to unify a clubhouse. There were a lot of reasons we were attracted to him at that time and thought he would be a good fit, recalled Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. In the end, we ultimately didn t have the role we envisioned for him. Cora struggled in the 2005 season with the sporadic playing time and the disappointment that the role for which he thought he d signed wasn t the one that was available to him. It was very difficult. I had a hard time dealing with it, said Cora. I actually went to [then-cleveland manager Eric Wedge] and talked to him about it. The conversation took place in early July. Almost immediately, Cleveland explored potential landing spots for Cora and found a willing taker in the Red Sox, who were getting poor middle infield production from Edgar Renteria and Mark Bellhorn, and whose seldom-used backup Ramon Vazquez was both struggling and limited by a hip injury at a time when the Sox wanted to change their playing time allocation. So, a deal was struck: Cora for Vazquez. The two players, acquaintances from winter ball in Puerto Rico, agreed to a house swap, with Cora finding himself in a shoebox-sized apartment near Fenway and Vazquez landing a large house in Cleveland. Cora joined the first-place Red Sox, still theoretically basking in the afterglow of their first World Series in 86 years, on July 7 in Baltimore for the final series before the All-Star break and found himself dropped into an unexpectedly chaotic clubhouse. I m like, I m going to the Red Sox everything should be fine. It s the world champs and everyone gets along, said Cora. It was a lot different than I was expecting. One night earlier, fourth outfielder Jay Payton initially refused to enter the late innings of a Red Sox victory in Texas. He said, I m not going in, recalled bench coach Brad Mills. I said, We need you in, and he said it again, I m not going in. That precipitated a dugout blowup between Payton and manager Terry Francona.
Jay just wasn t happy in that role. It had kind of come to a head, recalled Francona. [GM Theo Epstein] was trying to move him, and then we had that issue in the dugout. I called Theo and was like, Theo, I think I might have forced your hand a little. Payton was designated for assignment in the wake of one of the most brazen in-game challenges that Francona endured in his Red Sox tenure. Yet even with Payton s departure, Cora discovered that there was an ongoing unsettled sense. Key contributors Kevin Millar and Bellhorn among them to the World Series run were seeing their playing time dwindle due to poor performance. Keith Foulke had just undergone surgery. Curt Schilling was getting ready to move to the bullpen with his ankle still recovering from post-bloody-sock surgery. Some members of the Red Sox fuming that Francona had failed to use his position as the manager of the AL team to name his own players foremost, reliever Mike Timlin to the All-Star Game. You sensed the fact that something was going on and it wasn t real good, said Dave Wallace, the pitching coach of that team. Walking around, you were going to look over your shoulder and it was, OK, what s going to happen next? The Sox thought Cora could help them but for him to do so, they needed the sort of buy-in that had been difficult for him to offer with his limited role in Cleveland. Cora appreciated the candor of both Francona and Wallace (with whom Cora had a long history dating to his time in the Dodgers system, where Wallace was a coach and then later an assistant GM) in outlining exactly how they saw him fitting in. Though Wallace didn t recall the exact details of a conversation that occurred 13 years ago, what he does recall served as a blueprint for his next three and a half years in Boston and three subsequent years in the big leagues with the Mets, Rangers, and Nationals. I m sure that came up: You re a winning player. Do you want to be an everyday player on a seconddivision club, or do you want to really be part of winning and a winning culture, and what we ve got going on here in Boston? We ve just won and we re going to win again, Wallace recalled. My guess is that Tito explained that to him as well. Knowing Alex the way I do, and did, when he understood how important that role was, he was going to embrace it and do the best he could with it, and continue to build his résumé which ended up being pretty damn good, he continued. He was such a professional, such a good baseball guy. Yet when you re kind of told that you re going to be a utility player, we re not sure you re an everyday player, that s tough to swallow. But at the end of the day, they appreciate the fact that you told them the truth. Cora took that initial series in Baltimore to process that message about his future, and continued to mull it while he packed his belongings in Cleveland during the break. I decided, Yeah, so be it. I m in a winning situation, Cora said. I accepted my role and moved on. I think that made me stick in the game for a long time. I was able to do a few things on the field that would help championship-caliber teams and I became a guy in the clubhouse who could help other guys. The decision to accept that role helped to establish one of the most important relationships of Cora s career. Francona quickly came to rely on Cora, and to share with him the sort of team perspective on decisions that continues to inform how Cora sees the game. And, for his part, Cora served a vital role for Francona in rebuilding a strong clubhouse culture that helped the Red Sox over the coming years, particularly in the championship season of 2007. He was immediately a guy that you could trust, said Francona. I remember how much trust I put into him with Pedroia. I told him, This kid is going to play, and you ve got to help him. He handled it. [Pedroia] was hitting about.330, but he understood.
As a player, Cora proved a catalyst for change in the clubhouse culture, and was rewarded with delight in the Boston baseball experience. From the most unlikely of circumstances personal dissatisfaction with his role in Cleveland, resulting in his relocation to a strangely unsettled Red Sox clubhouse his future took shape. * The Boston Herald Alex Cora loves Xander Bogaerts in field despite metrics Michael Silverman CLEVELAND The Red Sox will not be sharing their internal defensive metrics anytime soon, if ever. So, we don t know exactly what numerical figure the Red Sox have placed on their shortstop, Xander Bogaerts. It may be higher, it may be lower than the 2.8 UZR FanGraphs has him at, which is slightly above replacement value. For his career, Bogaerts UZR rating is 0.5, a decidely average number. But that s fine with the Red Sox. As manager Alex Cora will tell you, what his eyes tell him about Bogaerts matter more than numbers. Xander is not the most rangy guy, but he makes all the plays, said Cora. There s a value for that. And also, people have to take into consideration where we play him. Are we more aggressive than other teams? Are we more straight with him? That s how we do it. We put him in spots where we feel he ll make the play. We don t put him in areas that, all of a sudden, we feel like he s not going to finish the play. That s how we do it. The shifts the Red Sox use are based on their knowledge of their own players as well as their best take on the tendencies of opposing hitters. That s why publicly available metrics don t play well behind doors along Jersey Street. Other teams are extreme the Astros are extreme, the Brewers are extreme, said Cora. Then you ve got the Cubs they don t shift. It all depends who you are, what you believe as an organization. I ll tell you what. For us, Xander Bogaerts is a good shortstop. UZR on FanGraphs rates Bogaerts as the 10th best defensive shortstop in the big leagues this season. Not bad, but not close to the best, like Andrelton Simmons of the Angels or Francisco Lindor of the Indians. Again, the Red Sox know who they have in Bogaerts. If you re going to go by metrics, he s not up there but if you talk about being solid and making the plays, he s been that, and that s all we want from him we don t want him to be Simmons or Francisco Lindor, said Cora. We want a solid shortstop that makes a play and obviously being an offensive shortstop like he s done. Cora has little use for numbers that differ than what he sees. His eyes and UZR happen to agree that Simmons is the best defensive shortstop but if the UZR was off, Cora wouldn t doubt himself. Numbers are numbers, but you know who are the elite defenders, said Cora. You just watch the game. If they tell me that Simmons is not an elite defender, I ll call B.S. They re crazy. Red Sox waste another chance to clinch best record
Michael Silverman CLEVELAND The 2018 Red Sox apparently have no interest in becoming the Best Team Ever (regularseason version) anywhere except Fenway Park. In a 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Indians last night that was further tarnished by a left shoulder injury to shortstop Xander Bogaerts (he's day-to-day), the Sox wasted their second consecutive shot at clinching the best record in baseball this season and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The loss also left them with a 105-51 record, still tied with the 1912 Sox for the most wins in franchise history. The silver lining to losing the last two games of this series against a team they could face in the American League Championship Series is they have six more tries at home to get the job done. That includes three against the worst team in baseball, the Orioles, starting tonight, and three against their most despised rivals, the Yankees. We need to get home, manager Alex Cora said after a game that lasted four hours, 20 minutes. I thought the game started at 8 (but it actually) started at 7. It was a long one. Go home tomorrow, go at it, and get back to normal. We re going to be home for what, two weeks now? It should be fun. The game was tied at 4 in the 11th when Greg Allen hit a bases-loaded single off Robby Scott to win it for the Indians. William Cuevas threw 93 pitches in his 5 1/3 innings of relief. He put the winning run on base, but he entered in the sixth inning with no outs and a runner on base and held a strong lineup back for five full innings. In the 11th, he walked Jose Ramirez, and after a sacrifice by Rajai Davis, Erik Gonzalez reached on an error by Tzu-Wei Lin. I think William was the star of the game, Cora said. That was great to see. I was hoping we would get the W' for him, but he did his job. We re very proud of him. Said Cuevas: I'm really thankful for the opportunity to prove myself. I'm going to be fighting every single time I get a chance. To the end, I'm always going to be working. Bogaerts hurt himself swinging during his seventh-inning at-bat and was replaced by Lin. Mookie Betts had himself a night, going 4-for-6 with a homer and a pair of doubles. Betts got the offense rolling right from the start, leading off the game with a double off Indians starter Adam Plutko. After advancing to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Benintendi, Betts scored on a wild pitch, and the Red Sox had the quick 1-0 lead. Betts again contributed in the third inning. Christian Vazquez led off with a single, and Betts' single pushed him to second base. After a walk moved Vazquez to third, he scored on Rafael Devers' groundout. Red Sox starter Hector Velazquez pitched a solid 3 1/3 innings. Velazquez allowed a run and two baserunnners in the fourth, as the Indians closed within 2-1. In came Steven Wright in an experiment the Red Sox have been curious to conduct: see how the knuckleballer pitches when he inherits runners. The early results were not good. After striking out the first batter, Wright allowed a single and then a tworun double by Melky Cabrera as the Indians took the lead, 3-2. Betts tied the game at 3, leading off the fifth inning by scorching a missile over the right-center field fence, his 31st home run of the season.
It was his first time back in right field after he tweaked his side. Hitting was never the issue, it s just throwing, Betts said. Didn t have to make really any tough throws today. So, today was a good day. Red Sox notebook: Xander Bogaerts injured Michael Silverman CLEVELAND Xander Bogaerts felt a pinch in his left shoulder after a couple of swings in the seventh inning of the Red Sox' 4-3 loss to the Indians last night. He said his shoulder felt better soon after he returned to the clubhouse and after a stability test revealed no damage. It s nothing now. It was just during the at-bats, Bogaerts said. Probably the cold weather wasn t helpful with that, the issue, but I feel good. I m ready for tomorrow. Bogaerts tried to stay in the game, but something in the way manager Alex Cora spoke to him while checking him out at home plate convinced him not to try. In the heat of the moment, it was really hard for me to go by his word and come out of the game, but I mean, I have so much respect for him, and he said it, Bogaerts said. I tried to convince him, and he said no in a way that I could not come back with an answer. I had to let it go.... Mookie Betts came close to hitting a cycle for the second time in as many games. Everybody told me, You need to hit a triple, you need to hit a triple, Betts said. I was going to go up there, do what I can to get on base and score a run. Wasn t necessarily trying to do it. With his 82 extra-base hits, he passed Alex Bregman and Javy Baez (81 each) for the major league lead. He raised his batting average to.343, the highest by a qualified Red Sox hitter since Manny Ramirez hit.349 in 2002. DOMBRO TRUSTS BULLPEN If you ve been worrying about the Red Sox bullpen, Dave Dombrowski would like a word. I think it s fine. I know everybody else doesn t, but we re comfortable with it, the team s president of baseball operations said. Dombrowski doesn t believe you have to worry about those relievers who have made fans nervous the past few weeks. People look at our bullpen, but some of the guys that are getting beat no offense to them they re not going to be on our roster, said Dombrowski, without naming names. He emphasized that the bullpen is about to undergo a metamorphosis, and that change is all for good. Everybody is so immediacy, said Dombrowski. But my job is, OK, we re getting Matt Barnes back. When he s healthy, he s been a very effective pitcher. He s healthy, he s going to be healthy, he s going to be important for us. Steven Wright he s a good pitcher, he s going to go into the bullpen, he helps your bullpen. One of our starters (Nathan Eovaldi or Eduardo Rodriguez), they re going to go into our bullpen. So, I mean, all of a sudden, those are three guys who haven t been in our bullpen for a month. So it s a little different.
That different look is why Dombrowski feels good about the bullpen, before mentioning two other relievers who have been performing well. (Ryan) Brasier s pitched tremendous for us, I don t think he s afraid at all, said Dombrowski. Barnes has been good, (closer Craig) Kimbrel is outstanding right now, better now than he has been all season long. Steven Wright s a big addition. I know if I was on the other side, I wouldn t want to face Steven Wright. Whoever we slide into the bullpen of our starters, they re pretty good. The Red Sox are all but certain to carry seven relievers. With Kimbrel, Barnes, Brasier, Wright and either Eovaldi or Rodriguez as locks, that still leaves two spots open to be filled by somebody out of the crew of Brian Johnson, Bobby Poyner, Brandon Workman, Hector Velazquez, Robby Scott, Drew Pomeranz, William Cuevas, Tyler Thornburg, Heath Hembree and Joe Kelly. Once the two are identified, Dombrowski will have a postseason bullpen that is likely going to play a critical, if not the most critical, role in the Sox success next month. And if others don t think that bullpen is good enough, its architect vouches for it. His praise is not glowing, but it still qualifies as praise. I like it; I think it s fine, said Dombrowski. We have some other guys who have ability and haven t performed as well as you would like, but it doesn t mean that they won t. Rodriguez was in the bullpen last October, and is likely to be back in it if the Sox face the Yankees in the postseason, considering Eovaldi s recent track record of success against the Yankees. If the Sox face the A s, Rodriguez might well be the fourth starter, but those answers are not yet definitive. Rodriguez, however, will make his first relief appearance tonight, when he will come in immediately or shortly after Eovaldi finishes a short start against the Orioles at Fenway. It s part of Rodriguez October tryout. We don t know who we re going to play, so we ll make decisions later on, but Nate came out of the bullpen already, we know he can do it, said manager Alex Cora. I know Eduardo did it last year in the Division Series for whatever it was, two hitters or three, but it will be good for him to go out there and come in and compete from there. SHOOTING FOR BIG NUMBERS Cora said the only personal milestones he would like his players to reach are a 30-30 season for Mookie Betts and 100 RBI for Xander Bogaerts. It s funny because I was talking to somebody earlier today, and I hope he gets it, but if he doesn t I hope he doesn t get down on himself, said Cora. Because before the season if you said that Xander was going to get 95 RBI, you ll take it.... J.D. Martinez had the night off, but will play the three games against the Orioles at Fenway before having another day off with the rest of the team on Thursday. I think it s good for him, said Cora. He played the one after we clinched. Long day yesterday. So sit down today and go after it during the week. HOT CORNER DEBATE Who s on third base Eduardo Nunez or Rafael Devers remains unknown. Nunez had the inside track before he tweaked his left hamstring, but Devers has hit well in his place.
Who the opposing starter is may play into the decision Nunez hits right-handed, Devers left-handed but it sounds like it s a decision that will not be made for a while. Still, if Nunez is healthy, he likely stays as the favorite. We will have to wait and see who we play, said Cora. Obviously with Oakland, it s kind of like a bullpen game with them the whole time. And obviously with the Yankees, you have (left-handers J.A.) Happ and you have CC (Sabathia). We ll see. I m happy that Raffy s swinging the bat well, and it s not the results. It s the approach. We ve just got to see when Eddy comes back, he s healthy and he s able to run around. That s going to be important for us. * The Providence Journal Indians 4, Red Sox 3 (F/11): Boston falls in extras for second straight night Bill Koch CLEVELAND --- There haven t been too many club records to date this season the Red Sox have left on the table. Road victories in a single campaign will be one of them. Boston will remain locked with the 2002 team at 51, and there are no chances remaining outside of Fenway Park this season to pick up another. The Red Sox fell short in the 11th inning for the second straight night at Progressive Field. Greg Allen grounded a one-out, bases-loaded single through the left side as Cleveland edged Boston, 4-3, in front of 27,879 fans. William Cuevas turned in five scoreless innings of relief but couldn t come up with a sixth, absorbing a tough-luck loss. Jose Ramirez drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second and took third when Tzu-Wei Lin bobbled a grounder by Erik Gonzalez. Yandy Diaz was intentionally walked to create a force at every bag, but Allen sent a two-hopper off Robby Scott into left field to end it. I m really thankful for the opportunity to prove myself, Cuevas said. Like I said, I m going to be fighting every time I get the chance. Until the end I m going to be working hard. Cuevas threw 93 pitches in relief and stranded a pair in the 10th when he induced groundouts from Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley atop the Indians order. The right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out four in his longest outing since turning in seven innings for Triple-A Pawtucket at Buffalo on Aug. 27. I think William was the star of the game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. He was there in a tough situation with Lindor and Brantley and was able to expand up, down it was fun to watch. Not even another spectacular performance from Mookie Betts was enough to power the Red Sox, who also remain one win shy of setting a new franchise record for victories in a season. The 1912 World Series winners have company at the top for at least one more day with 105. Houston left Boston s magic number at 1 to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs by taking care of the Angels, 6-2, in an afternoon matchup. Betts matched the career high he set in 2016 by smashing his 31st home run of the season. He opened the fifth by sending a wicked liner 409 feet to right-center field, knotting the game at 3-3. Each Betts homer
this season has come out of the leadoff spot, topping Nomar Garciaparra s franchise record of 30 that he set during a Rookie of the Year campaign in 1997. He s fine, Cora said, referring to the left side soreness Betts has battled throughout the week. You guys should take a look at his numbers after two off days in a row (his batting average is) probably like 8.000. Betts grounded a one-out double to the corner in left in the seventh, making it 46 for the year to match another career high he set in 2017. It was a league-best seventh four-hit game for Betts and the 20th time he s reached base at least four times in a game this season. Barry Bonds was the last to touch that mark in 2004, a year in which he won the last of his seven National League Most Valuable Player honors. The Betts double in the seventh also gave him three extra-base hits in the game, the seventh time he s done that this season. No other player since 1908 has accomplished that, with Betts mixing in a pair of threehomer efforts at the Angels on April 17 and against the Royals on May 2. Betts now has 17 career games of three extra-base hits or more, the most of any player since 1900 before his 26th birthday. You kind of give yourself a pat on the back, but you still have to go out there and play the game and take care of business, Betts said. I think that s all I really want to do. If I do good, cool as long as we win the game. That s kind of the most important thing to me. Boston squandered its early 2-0 lead thanks a sloppy fourth inning that included two errors, a passed ball and four Cleveland hits. Edwin Encarnacion lined an RBI single to center that chased Hector Velazquez and Melky Cabrera lined a two-run double to the right field corner against Steven Wright. It was the first time entering a game in the middle of an inning for the knuckleballer this season, and Wright exited facing a 3-2 deficit. Betts blasted a double to left center leading off the first and eventually scored on a wild pitch by Adam Plutko, making it 1-0. Christian Vazquez singled to center leading off the third and was moved around thanks to a single to right by Betts and a one-out walk by Xander Bogaerts. Rafael Devers bounced to first with the bases loaded, an RBI groundout that made it 2-0. Bogaerts left the game in the middle of his at-bat in the seventh. The Red Sox listed him as day-to-day with left shoulder soreness. Tzu-Wei Lin took over with a 1-and-2 count and struck out, stranding Betts with the go-ahead run at third base. In that situation for me as a player it s hard to understand, but once I got out of the game I kind of understood, Bogaerts said. In the heat of the moment it was really hard for me to go by (Cora s) word and come out of the game. I have so much respect for him. He said it, I tried to convince him and he said no in a way that I could not come back with an answer. I had to let it go. He took two swings there and kind of moved his shoulder and I m not going to take any chances, Cora said. He came in and everything tested fine. He didn t need any treatment, so we ll see how he feels (Monday) and go from there. Boston squandered another chance to take the lead in the eighth, drawing back-to-back walks to start a rally and loading the bases when Jackie Bradley Jr. was hit by a pitch with two outs. Christian Vazquez popped to Jose Ramirez in short right, allowing Neil Ramirez to escape the jam. The Red Sox stranded 13 men in all, including seven in scoring position. Red Sox Journal: To Cora, Bogaerts has nothing to prove Bill Koch CLEVELAND Alex Cora can only go so far when it comes to defensive metrics.
In the eyes of the Red Sox manager at least, Xander Bogaerts is just about everything he could want in a shortstop. Bogaerts is a considerable factor offensively, generally sure-handed defensively and well-liked by his teammates in the clubhouse. Cora s early conversations this season with Bogaerts involved joining the ranks of the game s elite at the position. What he s seen over 155 games is Bogaerts do exactly that, posting a career-high.863 OPS and ranking ninth among shortstops in defensive runs saved above average. For him to play and put up the numbers, he s back in the conversation, Cora said. It s not only offensively. Defensively, obviously, it all depends on how you see it. If you go by the metrics, he s not up there. If you talk about being solid and making plays, he s been that. And that s what we want from him. Bogaerts who left Sunday night s game in the seventh inning with left shoulder soreness has already set new career highs in doubles (43), RBI (95) and slugging (.509, with a previous best of.446). His next home run will be his 22nd, snapping a tie with a mark he reached in 2016 for another career high. It s a season Cora would have signed for without hesitation coming out of spring training. I hope he gets [100 RBI], but if he doesn t, I hope he doesn t get down on himself, Cora said. Before the season, if you said Xander was going to get 95 RBI, you would take it. Bogaerts made just his third fielding error his ninth overall on Saturday. His 8.7 defensive runs above average are of less concern to Cora than how he s handled the routine chances this season. Bogaerts has made an out on 97.3 percent of all plays classified as routine by FanGraphs and followed the lead of a player like Houston shortstop Carlos Correa, one of the standards for comparison frequently used by Cora at the position. If you go to any website, FanGraphs or Baseball Reference, they had Carlos as a minus defender, as a bad defender, Cora said. For us, for Houston, he wasn t. For us, for whatever we looked for from a shortstop and where he positioned himself, he s a sure-handed shortstop who makes the plays. Correa was ranked 17th among shortstops by FanGraphs last season at just 2.7 defensive runs above average. Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons is set to lead the big leagues in that category for the second straight season, checking in at 24.6 in 2017 and 24.2 this year. Mookie in right Mookie Betts returned to right field for the Red Sox on Sunday. Betts was in the lineup as the designated hitter on Wednesday and Thursday against the Yankees, still tending to the left side soreness that forced him to leave a game against the Mets a week ago. Betts was sensational Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, going 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits as Boston clinched the American League East title with an 11-6 victory. J.D. Martinez was given the day off after playing the first two games of the series against Cleveland. Martinez has seen a flirtation with the Triple Crown wane in the season s final weeks, as Oakland s Khris Davis has pulled away in the home run race. Betts also remains in line for the batting title ahead of his teammate. Like I told you guys a month ago, Triple Crown means Mookie struggling, Cora said. We don t want that [despite] how cool it would be for J.D. We ll take that season. You look up at the numbers and you re like, Wow, that s impressive. Martinez is likely to return Monday against the Orioles.
Bullpen prep Eduardo Rodriguez will come out of the bullpen behind Nathan Eovaldi in the first game against Baltimore, with the Red Sox casting an eye toward the upcoming postsesason. Cora hasn t officially locked in his starting pitchers for the A.L. Division Series, and matchups could dictate whether Eovaldi or Rodriguez get the ball in a Game 4. Eovaldi s 14 scoreless innings in two starts against the Yankees have caught Cora s attention, and he s already simulated coming out of the bullpen in October by throwing 3 2/3 innings in relief against the Blue Jays on Sept. 11. We don t know who we re going to play, so we ll make decisions later on, Cora said. Nate came out of the bullpen already. I know he can do it. I know Eduardo did it last year in the Division Series for two hitters. It will be good for him to go out there and come in and compete. Devers pushes to regain starting job at third Bill Koch CLEVELAND Rafael Devers could be doing more than making one final push for a 25-man postseason roster spot. The Red Sox third baseman is threatening to reclaim his starting job after homering for the third time in his last seven games Saturday night. Devers has put in his rearview mirror three separate stints on the disabled list two for left hamstring strains, one for inflammation in his left shoulder. He went into Sunday with hits in five straight games and six of his last seven. Devers totaled three homers and seven runs scored in that stretch, gradually ascending from the bottom third of the batting order to the top third. With the injury, I wasn t able to play consistently, Devers said through Red Sox translator Daveson Perez. These last few days, I ve been able to take advantage and it s helped a bit. Devers stepped into an opportunity provided by the absence of Eduardo Nunez, who hasn t played since Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. Nunez is battling left hamstring and right knee soreness, and he could potentially return as soon as Monday against the Orioles at Fenway Park. He was riding a six-game hitting streak and slashing.306/.320/.500 in his last 20 games before exiting in the ninth inning of a 10-1 defeat against New York. He s feeling better, Cora said. He s moving around and doing a few tests. The goal is for him to play in the next series. The notion of platooning both players in the upcoming American League Division Series, depending on the opposing starting pitcher, was one Cora discussed prior to Sunday s game at Cleveland. Nunez actually has slight reverse splits lifetime his average is 22 points higher against right-handed pitching (.286 to.264), and his OPS is 33 points higher (.735 to.702). Devers has the same OPS against left-handers and righthanders at.755 but actually hits 30 points higher (.278 to.248) against southpaws. With Oakland, it s kind of like a bullpen game with them the whole time, Cora said. Obviously with the Yankees, you ve got [J.A.] Happ and you ve got C.C. [Sabathia]. We ll see. I m happy that Raffy is swinging the bat well. And it s not the results it s the approach. We ve just got to see when Eduardo comes back. If he s healthy and he s able to run and move around, that s going to be important for us.
Neither player provides a significant defensive advantage at the position. Nunez is rated at 0.3 defensive runs above average per FanGraphs while Devers checks in at minus-2.6 defensive runs above average. Nunez lacks the range possessed by Devers, and Devers lacks the seemingly sure hands shown by Nunez. That s what we see, Cora said. Eduardo, the only play I can remember that he missed was at Yankee Stadium [a two-run error on Wednesday]. With Raffy, obviously, he goes hard to his left. There are still the errors there. As far as range, Raffy has more range. Postseason performance could tip the scales toward Devers, as Cora saw firsthand the sort of damage he can do last season. Devers went 4-for-11 with two homers and a pair of walks in four games against the Astros in the American League Division Series, and Cora looked on from the opposing dugout as Houston s bench coach. That Devers did this as the youngest player to appear in any A.L. game in 2017 hinted at his considerable promise. Eduardo is hurt, but he s been getting a lot of at-bats against lefties, against righties we re comfortable with him, Cora said. The more disciplined he is, the better he hits. I do feel he s been able to slow down the game. He s not anxious in the batter s box. You can see that he s in control, and that s great to see. I guess I was naïve in thinking that before you just come to the park and you play ball, Devers said. You realize pretty quickly that teams and pitchers are going to treat you differently everywhere you go. It s all a learning process. * MassLive.com William Cuevas' 93-pitch Boston Red Sox relief outing was a Bob Stanley-like performance Christopher Smith CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bob Stanley made 40 relief outings of 5 innings or more during his Red Sox career from 1977-89. His most epic relief appearance came May 22, 1983. He allowed one run in 10 innings. He pitched from the third through the 12th inning. Red Sox righty William Cuevas played the role of Bob Stanley here Sunday. He took the loss in the Red Sox's 4-3 defeat in 11 innings to the Indians at Progressive Field. But he pitched terrific. He tossed 5.1 innings of relief and threw 93 pitches. That doesn't happen very often anymore. Steven Wright was the last Red Sox pitcher to throw that many pitches in a relief outing. His Stanley-esque performance came May 12, 2015. He hurled 5.2 innings (110 pitches) in a loss to Oakland. Drew Pomeranz earned the win for the Athletics that day, pitching 7 strong innings. Cuevas allowed one run, two hits and three walks while striking out four. "Amazing. Amazing. That was fun to watch," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "Him and Christian (Vazquez). Christian had a great game behind the plate. He did an outstanding job staying with the game plan and calling pitches with conviction, blocking balls, throwing people out. But I think William was the star of the game. He was there in a tough situation with (Francisco) Lindor, (Michael) Brantley. And made some pitches. Was able to expand up, down, it was fun to watch. It was great."
The 27-year-old Cuevas is a great story. He never was a top international prospect. He signed with the Red Sox on July 2, 2008, a little more than three months before his 18th birthday. Most top international players sign at 16 years old. He went to college in Venezuela to study accounting, then decided to give baseball a shot after a semester of school. He pitched 7 innings on Aug. 27 for Pawtucket. He hadn't pitched more than 2.2 innings in an outing for Boston here in September. "It's been a while since I (pitched) that many innings but I'm going to do my best every time that I have a chance," Cuevas said. Cora added. "At the big league level, it really doesn't matter your stuff on the mound. If you execute, you have a shot. And he pitched well in New York. People forget that big outing in Baltimore when he came in in the eighth inning in the doubleheader. So I've been talking about those guys coming up and doing their job and he's one of them. And that was great to see. I was hoping we'd get the 'W' for him. But he did his job and we're very proud of him." Bogaerts injury: Sox shortstop says shoulder feels fine after being removed from game vs. Indians Christopher Cotillo CLEVELAND -- Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts said he felt perfectly fine after being removed from Sunday night's game in the seventh inning with left shoulder soreness. "I feel good," Bogaerts said. "I'm ready for tomorrow." Bogaerts said he felt a "pinch" in his shoulder during the final two or three pitches of his at-bat against Dan Otero and that he believed the cold weather in Cleveland was a factor. The shortstop pleaded with manager Alex Cora to stay in the game, but Cora strongly recommended Bogaerts come out. "In the heat of the moment, it was really hard for me to come out of the game and go by his word," Bogaerts said. "I have so much respect for him. He said it, I tried to convince him and he said no in a way that I could not come back with an answer. I had to like let it go." Shoulder stability tests in the clubhouse revealed that there was nothing wrong with Bogaerts' shoulder. He said the pain subsided right away and that he believed he could be in the lineup Monday night in Boston. With the A.L. East clinched, Cora might be inclined to give Bogaerts a day of rest against the Orioles on Monday. "I'm not gonna take any chances there," Cora said. "He came in and everything tested fine. He's been getting treatment. We'll see how he feels tomorrow and go from there." Mookie Betts' 4-hit night not enough as Boston Red Sox lose, 4-3, to Indians in extra innings Chris Cotillo CLEVELAND -- Another MVP-caliber performance from Mookie Betts wasn't enough for the Red Sox to set a franchise record with their 106th win Sunday night at Progressive Field. Boston fell to the Indians in extra innings for the second straight night, losing 4-3 on a Greg Allen RBI single in the 11th inning. It was Cleveland's second straight walk-off win in extras against the Sox.