FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports C5
Wednesday night game
AtCoorsField,Denver
BOSTON AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Bettsrf 501001.282
Devers3bBogaerts ss 533100.326423310.311
Martinez lf 5 2 2 2 0 0 .314
Moreland1b 401011.249
Holt 2b 5 0 0 0 0 1 .320
Vázquez cBradley Jr. cf 4 0 2 1 0 1 .2833 0 0 0 1 2 .221
Rodriguez p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000
a-MHerndez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .321
b-Travis phTotals 39 7 12 7 3 71 0 0 0 0 0 .255
COLORADO AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Story ss 4 0 2 0 1 0 .299
Blackmon rf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .316
Arenado3bDesmond lf 522001.3094 2 1 0 1 2 .254
McMahon 1b 3 0 0 1 1 2 .262
Daza cf 4 0 2 1 0 1 .212
Wolters c 4 0 2 1 0 0 .282
Hampson 2bLambert p 301110.2102 0 1 0 0 1 .333
c-Alonso ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .283
Hilliard cf 1 0 0001.250
Totals 36 4 11 4 4 11
Boston...............................002 030 101 — 7 12 0
Colorado............................000 120 100 — 4 11 1
for Walden in 8th, c-struck out for Tinoco in 6th.a-grounded out for Rodriguez in 6th, b-flied out
E—Hampson (5).LOB—Boston 8, Colorado 9.2B—
Bogaerts (46), Moreland (13), Arenado (27), Des-
mond (29).3B—Devers (4).HR—Devers (28), off
Parsons, Bogaerts 2 (30), off Lambert, off Es-tévez, Martinez (32), off Lambert.SB—Hampson
(6).CS—Story (8).Runners left in scoring posi-
tion—Boston 4 (Moreland, Holt 2, Bradley Jr.),
Colorado 5 (Story 3, Hampson 2).for 11, Colorado 4 for 13.Runners moved upRISP—Boston 2—De-
vers, Martinez, Desmond, McMahon.GIDP—
Blackmon.DP—Boston 1.
Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Rdriguz W 16-5 5 9 3 3 3 5 104 3.97
Taylor 1 1 0 0 0 1 11 2.75
Walden 111101133.39
BarnesWorkman S 9 1 0 0 0 1 1 23 4.24 1 00003171.98
Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Lambert L 2-5 4‚ 8 5 5 1 4 88 6.63
Howard ‚ 0 0 0 1 1 13 7.27
TinocoEstévez 1‚ 1 0 0 0 1 18 4.26 1 11100154.03
Parsons 2 2 1 1 1 1 39 3.86
Inherited runners-scored—Howard 1-0, Tinoco
2-1.Umpires—Home, Jerry Meals; First, Gabe Mo-
rales; Second, Phil Cuzzi; Third, Jansen Visconti.
T—3:48.A—40,801 (46,897).
HOW THE RUNS SCORED
THIRD INNING
RED SOX — Betts grounded out to pitcher. De-
vers tripled to right. Bogaerts grounded out to
third. Martinez homered to left, Devers scored.Moreland doubled to center. Holt grounded out
to second.
FOURTH INNING
ROCKIES — Desmond walked. McMahon struck
out. Daza singled to center, Desmond to second.Wolters grounded into fielder’s choice, first to
short, Desmond to third, Daza out. Hampson hit
an infield single to third, Desmond scored, Wolt-
ers to second. Lambert singled to right, Woltersto third, Hampson to second. Story lined out to
second.
FIFTH INNING
RED SOX — Betts struck out. Devers singled to
right. Bogaerts homered to center, Deversscored. Martinez singled to center. Howard pitch-
ing. Moreland walked, Martinez to second. Holt
struck out. Tinoco pitching. Vázquez singled to
right, Martinez scored, Moreland to third. Bradley
struck out.ROCKIES — Blackmon struck out. Arenado sin-
gled to center. Desmond doubled to left, Arenado
to third. McMahon struck out. Daza hit an infield
single to third, Arenado scored, Desmond tothird. Wolters singled to right, Desmond scored,
Daza to second. Hampson grounded into fielder’s
choice, third unassisted, Daza out.
SEVENTH INNING
nez flied out to right. Moreland grounded out toRED SOX — Bogaerts homered to right. Marti-
third. Holt popped out to third.
ROCKIES — Arenado doubled to left. Desmond
grounded out to short, Arenado to third. McMa-
hon grounded out to second, Arenado scored. Da-za struck out.
NINTH INNING
RED SOX — Devers homered to center. Bo-
gaerts doubled to center. Martinez grounded outto third, Bogaerts to third. Moreland grounded
out, pitcher to short to first. Holt grounded out to
second.Red Sox 7, Rockies 4BATTING
G AB R H RBI Avg. OBP 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO
Devers...................130 533 111 174 104 .326 .375 48 4 28 8 8 41 92
M. Hernandez........40 84 14 27 8 .321 .35 250212218
Holt..........................64 178 30 57 26 .320 .393 1 123102035
Martinez...............122 488 85 153 87 .314 .387 28 2 32 1 0 57 109
Bogaerts...............129 511 100 159 100 .311 .389 46 0 30 4 1 67 104
Benintendi............115 470 63 133 63 .283 .357 38 5 12 9 3 51 125
Vázquez................114 403 55 114 58 .283 .321 23 1 19 2 2 24 86
Betts......................132 522 118 147 67 .282 .384 38 5 21 13 3 90 94
Travis ......................44 110 15 28 15 .255 .30 840620925
Moreland................68 221 35 55 46 .249 .328 13 1 14 1 0 27 53
Bradley Jr.............120 412 56 91 51 .221 .316 21 3 17 7 2 47 124
Leon.........................53 143 12 27 16 .189 .25 0205001139
Owings....................5015111 19 11.126.190512411064PITCHING
App. W L ERA IP H CG ER BB SO HR Sv.
Workman................. 60 9 1 1.98 59 24 0 13 35 85 1 9
JTaylor ..................... 39 1 1 2.75 39‚ 34 0 12 11 51 3 0
D. Hernandez.......... 21 0 1 3.33 24‚ 19 0 9 20 44 0 0
Walden..................... 57 8 2 3.39 66‚ 47 0 25 23 65 6 2
Rodriguez................ 28 16 5 3.97 165„ 163 0 73 62 160 22 0
Brasier ..................... 50 2 3 4.05 46„ 39 0 21 15 46 7 7
Barnes...................... 56 4 4 4.24 51 41 0 24 28 90 6 4
Cashner ................... 28 10 7 4.68 132„ 131 0 69 48 93 18 1
Porcello.................... 27 12 10 5.42 149‚ 169 0 90 42 117 26 0
Smith........................ 13 0 2 5.61 25„ 30 0 16 6 23 7 1
Eovaldi..................... 17 1 0 6.64 39‚ 45 0 29 19 38 9 0
Johnson.................... 12 1 3 6.83 29 45 0 22 15 22 6 0
Owings....................... 1 0 0 21.60 1„ 6 0 41020RedSoxstatistics
games in front of the Sox, while the Rays were
4½ games in front of Boston.
For the Red Sox, the problem is twofold.
First, they have to sustain a scorching hot
stretch — something they have been unable to
do this year, and an undertaking made more
difficult by the injury to Chris Sale and the lack
of reliability in the rotation beyond Eduardo
Rodriguez.
Second, they have to hope for stumbles not
just by one team but two.
Even if, say, the Rays endure a skid and get
overtaken by Boston in the four-game late-sea-
son matchup between the teams, that won’t be
enough to ensure the Red Sox a playoff berth.
They’d also need the A’s or Indians to crash.
That combination is a hard one to pull off, as re-
flected in the postseason odds being ascribed to
the team:
Fangraphs gives the Red Sox a 7.6 percent
chance of making the postseason.
FiveThirtyEight gives them a 5 percent
chance.
STRENGTHOFSCHEDULE
Just under half of the Red Sox’ remaining
games (13 of 28) are against teams with records
of .500 or better. In other words, if they are to
mount a postseason push, they’ll have to do
something that they’ve done infrequently this
year: beat winning clubs.
The Red Sox have a .383 winning percentage
against teams with a record of .500 or better,
worst among their postseason competitors.
uODDS
Continued from Page C1
That said, Cleveland has been almost as bad
(.408 vs. .500 or better teams). Moreover, the
Sons of Tito have the most remaining games
against such teams, including interleague
matchups against the Phillies and Nationals.
Given the injuries faced by the Indians — most
notably the loss of Jose Ramirez — is there a
chance they endure a nosedive? It can’t be dis-
missed, though 14 games against the bottom-
feeders of the AL Central represent a significant
firewall.
Not only do the A’s have just seven games re-
maining against teams with winning records,
but they have more than held their own against
such teams (.564 winning percentage, tied for
third-best in the majors). Once they get past a
three-game series against the Yankees this
weekend, they face a downhill September.
The Rays have 11 of 27 remaining gamesagainst teams with winning records. They’ve
held their own against the stiffest competition
in the league, with a .468 winning percentage.
To make the four remaining contests against
the Rays meaningful, the Sox must hope the
Rays stumble in a series or three against
sub-.500 clubs.
HISTORY
There have been some incredible September
comebacks in baseball history — but most re-
quired teams to leapfrog just one team. The
2011 Rays ran down the Red Sox after entering
September with a nine-game deficit, but Tampa
Bay required the collapse of one team — not
two — to complement its surge. The 2009 Twins
overcame a seven-game September deficit
against the Tigers — including a three-game
hole with four to go — to win the AL Central,
but again they were running down just one
team.
The 2007 Rockies were the last team to
make the playoffs by blowing past multiple
teams that entered September with at least afour-game advantage over them. In the 24 post-
seasons since the introduction of the wild card,
that Colorado team is the only one to delete
September deficits of at least four games to
multiple teams.
MORERECENTHISTORY
But what of this Red Sox team? Do they have
a shot at jumping past their chief competitors
given the dwindling number of games?
The best 28-game stretch of the season for
this 2019 edition came after the team reached
its low point. On April 17, the Red Sox fell to 6-
13 — the worst record in the American League
— after getting swept by the Yankees in a two-
game series in New York. But they rebounded
with a 19-9 stretch over their next 28 contests.
During that sprint, the Red Sox gained five
games on both Tampa Bay (13-13) and Cleve-
land (14-14) while outplaying Oakland (12-15)
by 6½ games. Boston’s best stretch coincided
with dips by all three of the teams now in front
of them in the wild-card peloton.
If identical circumstances occur, then the
Red Sox could find themselves playing beyond
the last regular-season game. Of course, the si-
multaneous occurrence of one of the best Sox
stretches of 2019 with extended downturns by
at least two of the three teams within their
reach represents an improbable development.
The postseason hopes, though not extin-
guished, remain faint.Alex Speier can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow him on twitter
at @alexspeier.the team record held by Jimmie
Foxx (92), and also eclipse Joe
DiMaggio for the most extra-
base hits ever by a player who
was in his age-22 season or
younger.
Bogaerts, meanwhile, is up
to 76 extra-base hits, and on
pace for 92. Devers and Bo-
gaerts have a shot at joining
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as
the only teammates ever to col-
lect at least 90 extra-base hits in
the same season. Ruth and
Gehrig did so in the fabled Mur-
derers’ Row season of 1927.
Bogaerts has already en-
sured that he’ll finish the year
with one of the great offensive
seasons ever by a Red Sox short-
stop. He has a .577 slugging
mark (fifth best in team history
by a shortstop) and .967 OPS
(fourth best).
Martinezremainselite
With a typical late-season
explosion, J.D. Martinez is now
hitting .314/.387/.576 with 32
homers. He’s on pace to go deep
39 times, and given his pace of
recent weeks, it wouldn’t be
surprising if he eclipsed 40
homers.
If Martinez gets to that pla-
teau, he’d join David Ortiz,
Manny Ramirez, Carl Yastrzem-
ski, Mo Vaughn, and Jimmie
Foxx as the only Red Sox play-
ers ever with multiple 40-hom-
er seasons. He also has a shot at
a third straight season of hit-
ting .300 with 40 or more hom-
ers, suggesting a remarkable
combination of pure hitting
skill and power. Just 14 right-
handed hitters in big league
history have produced three
separate seasons of 40 or more
homers while hitting .300 or
better.
Run,Mookie,run
For all the consternation
surrounding his falloff from last
year’s MVP marvel, Mookie Bet-
uREDSOX
Continued from Page C1
ts is fulfilling the primary job of
a leadoff hitter in spectacular
fashion: He is getting on base
for the incredible hitters behind
him, a trait that has him in po-
sition to have one of the great
run-scoring seasons in team
history.
He has an amazing 118 runs
through 134 Red Sox games,
and is on pace to cross the plate
143 times for the year. Betts
could become the first player
since Alex Rodriguez in 2007 to
score at least 140 runs, and the
first Red Sox to do so since Ted
Williams in 1949.
WilltheRedSoxsetafran-
chisehomerunrecord?
Permit us to suck the drama
out of this one: Barring a late-
season change to the composi-
tion of the ball, the answer is
yes. The current team record is
238, set in 2003. The team cur-
rently has 211 long balls, onpace for 255.
Of course, the record-smash-
ing is certain to work in both di-
rections. Not only will the team
hit a record number of homers,
but it will also set a new stan-
dard in homers allowed. The
Sox have allowed 176 homers
this year, a pace that would
yield 213. The current mark of
195 (set in 2017) seems likely to
fall by mid-September.
Willthisbetheworstsea-
soneverforaRedSoxrota-
tion?
Probably not, but the fact
that there’s a conversation
about that possibility speaks
volumes about how drastically
this team’s starting pitchers
have fallen short.
The rotation has a 5.01
mark through 134 games; there
have been just six times in fran-
chise history in which the
team’s starters had an ERA
north of 5.00. It is unlikely that
the 2019 group will surpass the
current franchise standard for
egregiousness — a 5.21 mark in
1932 — but again, this isn’t the
conversation that the Red Sox
wanted to have about their ro-
tation.
One other mark seems likely
to fall: The Sox have gotten 5.16
innings per start this year, the
lowest average in franchise his-
tory. The prior standard was set
last year, with 5.38 innings per
start. Between the limited in-
nings and the poor run preven-
tion by the rotation, a case can
be made that this year’s rota-
tion has put more strain on the
rest of the team (the lineup to
score an adequate number of
runs, the bullpen to manage in-
nings and limit the damage
done by rotation members)
than any other in franchise his-
tory.Alex Speier can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow
him on twitter at @alexspeier.Milestonestheretobehad,goodandbad
CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
With bat in hands, J.D. Martinez remains an elite hitter, and is on pace for 39 home runs.Of the American League wild-card contenders,
the Red Sox have the worst record against
teams with a .500 record or better, of which
they have 13 games remaining.
vs..500+ GR .500+ <.500
Red Sox 23-37 (.383) 28 13 15
Rays 29-33 (.468) 27 11 16
A’s 31-24 (.564) 29 7 22
Indians 20-29 (.408) 28 15 13Underwhelming
W L Pct. GB
Cleveland 79 55 .590 —
Oakland 77 56 .579 —
Tampa Bay 77 58 .570 1
Boston 72 62 .537 5½
Texas 65 70 .481 13
Los Angeles 64 71 .474 14ALwild-cardrace
Red Sox don’t have a history on their side
TONY DEJAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOSLosing Jose Ramirez for the regular season to injury could make things tough for the wild-card-leading Indians, but without Chris Sale the Sox will be hard-pressed to take advantage.