Orioles (Baz) vs Red Sox (Tolle): 7/20/26, 7:10pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Can the Sox keep it rolling against the disappointing Orioles?

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Tyron Guerrero	0	0	13	0	0	13
Ryan Watson	0	0	0	23	19	42
Justin Slaten	0	0	12	0	0	12
Jovani Morán	0	0	11	0	15	26
Greg Weissert	0	0	7	0	12	19
Garrett Whitlock	0	0	12	8	0	20
Brayan Bello	0	0	0	0	0	0
Aroldis Chapman	0	0	13	20	0	33

 

[mvp 78]

BAL currently has a 7 game win streak. Good hitting team. Fielding isn't great. Mediocre to poor pitching. 

BOS just beat the CHW who are built similarly to BAL IMO. 

[JoeBrady]

Those relief performances by Weissert, Watson and Moran are appreciated.  We had the lead, but we still needed to hold it.  Not using Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten and Guerrero make them available for 2 of the 3 games in some sort of mix and match setup.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

BAL currently has a 7 game win streak. Good hitting team. Fielding isn't great. Mediocre to poor pitching. 

BOS just the CHW who are built similarly to BAL IMO. 

Good July showdown then , considering they have won 7 vs our better winning streak (but not to sneeze at theirs).   Also intra-divisional.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Those relief performances by Weissert, Watson and Moran are appreciated.  We had the lead, but we still needed to hold it.  Not using Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten and Guerrero make them available for 2 of the 3 games in some sort of mix and match setup.

The pen, the guy who assembled it and the guys who use it all deserve some props.

ERA- since June 19th:

0 Guerrero

15 Whitlock

25 Moran

46 Watson

65 Gamboa

80 Weissert

91 Slaten

114 Chapman

The mostly fill-in rotation, too...

19 Bennett

25 Gray

39 Early

67 Suarez

80 Tolle

103 Rivera & 110 Sandoval

[JAG]

the sox won't face their best pitcher, Trevor Rogers, so hopes are high. I wonder who will pitch tomorrow. I wish we would hear something about Crochet and Anthony.

 

[mvp 78]

Baz is 4-1 lifetime vs the Sox and has held them to a 512 OPS. 

Back in June: 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K

FanGraphs has it scored as his best start of the season. 

[vegasbob]

15 minutes ago, JAG said:

the sox won't face their best pitcher, Trevor Rogers, so hopes are high. I wonder who will pitch tomorrow. I wish we would hear something about Crochet and Anthony.

 

Crochet's original shoulder inflammation morphed into a lat strain as he tried to work back in, but now  his condition morphed further into rotator cuff problems.  He is doing exercises to help this, but has not thrown baseball #1. It is probably a 50-50, maybe 25-75, that Crochet is not on a mound in 2026 . 

Anthony suffered his torn finger ligament on May 7,  now 74 days ( 10+ weeks)  .    It should have self repaired in a 8-12 week period .     Sox sent him to Ft. Myers to get him away from the influence of M. Mayer .  I am thinking he should be rehabbing baseball skills  by mid August  with a return around Labor Day, having contributed nothing to the team's recent run of success.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Crochet's original shoulder inflammation morphed into a lat strain as he tried to work back in, but now  his condition morphed further into rotator cuff problems.  He is doing exercises to help this, but has not thrown baseball #1. It is probably a 50-50, maybe 25-75, that Crochet is not on a mound in 2026 . 

Anthony suffered his torn finger ligament on May 7,  now 74 days ( 10+ weeks)  .    It should have self repaired in a 8-12 week period .     Sox sent him to Ft. Myers to get him away from the influence of M. Mayer .  I am thinking he should be rehabbing baseball skills  by mid August  with a return around Labor Day, having contributed nothing to the team's recent run of success.

If he just got surgery and had a 12 week recovery, he'd be playing in WOO this week. Maybe even getting into MLB games this weekend. 

[mvp 78]

 

[vegasbob]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

 

Here's hoping Duran goes 2 for 4 with a SB just to help his mental health.     He was not close to hard hit ball yesterday .

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Here's hoping Duran goes 2 for 4 with a SB just to help his mental health.     He was not close to hard hit ball yesterday .

Lowest hard hit % of his career. 

[JoeBrady]

36 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Sox sent him to Ft. Myers to get him away from the influence of M. Mayer .

Is Mayer a bad influence?  I always thought he was too quiet, if anything.

[JoeBrady]

53 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Baz is 4-1 lifetime vs the Sox and has held them to a 512 OPS. 

Back in June: 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K

FanGraphs has it scored as his best start of the season. 

The current RS players are 10-62 against Baz, with -0- HRs, one triple and one double.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, JAG said:

the sox won't face their best pitcher, Trevor Rogers, so hopes are high. I wonder who will pitch tomorrow. I wish we would hear something about Crochet and Anthony.

 

Crochet and Anthony are both no earlier than August.  See notes from Ian Browne on mlb.com.  

A fairly positive game thread, with which I agree.  

I would add that the Sox just swept 4 from the Rays--best record in AL--at the Fens.  Righty now the pitching--starters and relievers--is terrific, the hitting/scoring is actually functioning, and the defense is the best it's been in years.  

As I said elsewhere, right now Breslow looks like Billy Beane in Moneyball.   Dumping Devers and not re-signing Bregman have not hurt because Contreras and Durbin have been better.    Keeping Duran has paid off with Anthony out.  Bringing in a plethora of good starters had completely changed the Sox for the better--and the defense has backed them up well with just 27 unearned runs in 98 games.     Crochet and Anthony injuries have not hurt nearly as much as they should have. 

I have periodically railed against the fiasco of sending Sale to Atlanta along with $20M in cash, but right now Breslow looks like the real deal, especially given the relatively low payroll (12th in MLB) and the talent on the IL. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Lowest hard hit % of his career. 

Fangraph's shows Hard Hit%:

39.7 in '21

38.3 in '26

34.8 in '23

34.0 in '24

33.6 in '25

27.5 in '22

 

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Crochet and Anthony are both no earlier than August.  See notes from Ian Browne on mlb.com.  

A fairly positive game thread, with which I agree.  

I would add that the Sox just swept 4 from the Rays--best record in AL--at the Fens.  Righty now the pitching--starters and relievers--is terrific, the hitting/scoring is actually functioning, and the defense is the best it's been in years.  

As I said elsewhere, right now Breslow looks like Billy Beane in Moneyball.   Dumping Devers and not re-signing Bregman have not hurt because Contreras and Durbin have been better.    Keeping Duran has paid off with Anthony out.  Bringing in a plethora of good starters had completely changed the Sox for the better--and the defense has backed them up well with just 27 unearned runs in 98 games.     Crochet and Anthony injuries have not hurt nearly as much as they should have. 

I have periodically railed against the fiasco of sending Sale to Atlanta along with $20M in cash, but right now Breslow looks like the real deal, especially given the relatively low payroll (12th in MLB) and the talent on the IL. 

You make good points. I'll throw in he could not have expected to get basically zero production from Anthony and Duran.  But I'm not going to succumb to recency bias, which is a real thing.  He is still the architect of a roster that is 2 games over .500 with little power.  I'm afraid this hot hitting streak will come to an end, sooner rather than later.  

[Nick]

3 hours ago, JAG said:

the sox won't face their best pitcher, Trevor Rogers, so hopes are high. I wonder who will pitch tomorrow. I wish we would hear something about Crochet and Anthony.

 

What do you want to know? Anthony's pinky still doesn't feel right. He's not swinging the bat.

I don't think Crochet has thrown in weeks. 

My guess is Anthony will have a surgery this winter and won't return until next July.

That's what we're good at. Paying injured players good money to rehab.

Sandoval will earn $18.5M for 9 1/3 innings pitched so far in two starts.

And they told us he maybe back last September.

Not going to be negative. We don't need Anthony and Crochet. They have done NOTHING this year to contribute. We have won without them.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Nick said:

Anthony's pinky still doesn't feel right. He's not swinging the bat.

It's the ring finger. Don't let Ole Red's bias against prospects and berating nicknames get you to spread misinformation.

[Nick]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

It's the ring finger. Don't let Ole Red's bias against prospects and berating nicknames get you to spread misinformation.

I just like saying 'pinky'. lol

[Nick]

Tolle vs 4-9 pitcher with ERA of 4.19. We should score runs.

[vegasbob]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Is Mayer a bad influence?  I always thought he was too quiet, if anything.

There was an inference in one of the MLB stories that these young bucks like to hit the Boston clubs/bars and may not be sleeping much even when horizontal with pillows.

[Maxbialystock]

5 minutes ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

You make good points. I'll throw in he could not have expected to get basically zero production from Anthony and Duran.  But I'm not going to succumb to recency bias, which is a real thing.  He is still the architect of a roster that is 2 games over .500 with little power.  I'm afraid this hot hitting streak will come to an end, sooner rather than later.  

Fair comments.  I'm going ape because of the 13 straight--recency bias run amuck.  

As you say, the hitting seems unsustainable.  But my rejoinder is that the Sox are over .500 despite having their fewest runs (at 98 games) and lowest OPS in decades. They should be at least 10 games under .500.  Story and Yoshida have not produced (but one can hope Yoshida is turning things around) and cost $40M/year.  Last year's three golden boys up from the minors--Anthony, Mayer, and Campbell-- haven't done squat this year.  Last year Bregman looked like a great addition, but hasn't done much for the Sox or Cubs since that May 2025 injury.  Breslow was smart not to give him that $35M x 5 contract and the trade for Durbin instead.

Firing Cora, one of my favs, was a big decision and, it turns out, the right one.  He was 10-17 with Crochet and Anthony.  Chad Tracy is now 40-31 without them.  

 

No

[Maxbialystock]

17 minutes ago, Nick said:

What do you want to know? Anthony's pinky still doesn't feel right. He's not swinging the bat.

I don't think Crochet has thrown in weeks. 

My guess is Anthony will have a surgery this winter and won't return until next July.

That's what we're good at. Paying injured players good money to rehab.

Sandoval will earn $18.5M for 9 1/3 innings pitched so far in two starts.

And they told us he maybe back last September.

Not going to be negative. We don't need Anthony and Crochet. They have done NOTHING this year to contribute. We have won without them.

What's with this "we" stuff paleface?  We're just fans with no say, for which I am personally thankful.

There was no evidence Anthony or Crochet were going be riding the IL pine for virtually all of this season.  In fact, last year those two were crucial to the Sox success in getting to 89 wins.  Anthony missed the last 21 games during which the Sox were 11-10.  

And can there be any doubt that Breslow has assembled maybe the best pitching staff in Sox history--with Crochet out since April 25? 

Yes, we do need Anthony and Crochet, which is all the more reason to go nuts with this 13 game winning streak.  

[Nick]

7 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

What's with this "we" stuff paleface?  We're just fans with no say, for which I am personally thankful.

There was no evidence Anthony or Crochet were going be riding the IL pine for virtually all of this season.  In fact, last year those two were crucial to the Sox success in getting to 89 wins.  Anthony missed the last 21 games during which the Sox were 11-10.  

And can there be any doubt that Breslow has assembled maybe the best pitching staff in Sox history--with Crochet out since April 25? 

Yes, we do need Anthony and Crochet, which is all the more reason to go nuts with this 13 game winning streak.  

Definition: A noun referring to a person with white or light-colored skin. I'm pretty sure no one would think I have light-colored skin.

Whatcha talkin bout, Max? All good!

 

[Old Red]

34 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It's the ring finger. Don't let Ole Red's bias against prospects and berating nicknames get you to spread misinformation.

As usual you’re spreading false information again. I have no bias against prospects. It’s the SUSPECTS I have bias against. Come on man!🙈

[FredLynn]

Rafaela wastes yet another challenge 

idiot

[vegasbob]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

Rafaela wastes yet another challenge 

idiot

In the first inning no less, no one on base.  Fairly selfish challenge which he has done before. often wrong

[vegasbob]

If the first inning is indicative, this one is a 9-0 Wipeout.

Combined. the Sox and O's have won their last 20 games. Something has to give.

[FredLynn]

I wonder how many innings they will let Tolle throw this year