On most nights, what Rick Porcello gave the Boston Red Sox wouldn’t have been enough.
The reigning American League Cy Young winner gave up five runs (four earned) on a season-high 11 hits during the Red Sox’s 11-6 win over the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.
Porcello hasn’t been able to find the form that propelled him to the prestigious award last season, as his ERA now stands at 4.35 after Tuesday’s mediocre showing.
The right-hander’s season stats mirror his career averages, which are a far cry from the dominant 2016 season that Porcello put together. His career ERA of 4.20 is just a shade under his season ERA, while his home runs per nine innings (1.6), Fielding Independent Pitching (3.94) and his ERA+ (104) also are very close to his career averages, and in the case of FIP are exactly the same.
But the if the Red Sox’s offense continues to swing the bats like they have over the past two games, then Boston can live with Porcello not being the Cy Young winner of 2016. If the offense falters, though, Porcello will need to find the dominant form that helped lead the Red Sox to the American League East title last year.
On Tuesday, however, Porcello picked up his third win of the season, and that’s all he cares about.
“We got the win, and that’s most important,” Porcello said as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “Obviously, you don’t want to go out there and give up five runs, or whatever it was, but that’s a good hitting team out there.”
Porcello was unable to deliver shutdown innings Tuesday and he now is 6-for-11 on shutdown innings this season. He also has been plagued by shoddy defense, some of which is his own doing, as he now has given up eight unearned runs on the season, which is tied for the most in Major League Baseball. He only allowed seven unearned runs all of last season.
The run support is encouraging, though, and if Porcello can iron out the kinks that have plagued him early in the 2017 season, the Red Sox will be right where they thought they’d be at the end of the season.
Here are more notes from Red Sox vs. Rangers.
— Blake Swihart is on a rehab assignment after suffering a left finger contusion and is slated to rejoin Triple-A Pawtucket in a couple of days.
— Robby Scott gave up his first major league home run in the eighth inning Tuesday.
— Pablo Sandoval didn’t play Tuesday for Triple-A Pawtucket due to an illness.
— Brock Holt has been pulled off his nearly complete rehab assignment as he continues to battle symptoms of vertigo. He won’t play for at least five days.
— Marco Hernandez will undergo shoulder surgery Friday, it is expected to be season-ending.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
