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| (Getty Images) |
All year we have pointed to the
Achilles Heel of this Red Sox team—relief pitching. Yesterday, in Game One of the ALCS, that heel became inflamed as Boston's pitching overall (
including starter
Chris Sale) showed no command against the defending champ Astros. Combined Red Sox pitching
walked ten and hit three batters to place a merry-go-round of Astros on the base-paths. Remarkably, the game was tied a 2-2 in the seventh—as there were only had eight
combined hits between the two teams. This was a
weird one. From the Start, Sale had
nothing—a mediocre fastball and an inability to throw strikes. He left after just four innings—having yielded just one hit—but behind 2-0. Then, after Boston scraped together two runs (on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch), the dreaded bullpen reared its
very ugly head.
Joe Kelly hit a batter who eventually scored the winning run, and
Brandon Workman put away any doubt that this was going to be a loss. Workman pitched one-third of an inning—
giving up two home runs and four runs overall. A
hideous performance. So, Boston is down 1-0 in the best-of-seven-series and may never come back to Fenway in this series. Game Two—with
David Price on the mound—becomes a
must-win.
