OK, ladies and gents, never ever question a lineup by Alex Cora. He DH's with the backup up catcher (and brought up a 3d catcher), and Plawecki gets hard hit double of a good lefty.
OK. Clearly, Verdugo is back. Duran is faster, but Verdugo looks twice as good in CF. And he hit that grounder hard even if it turns out to be an error--against a good lefty starter.
Richards and Vazquez are fixated on fastballs, fastballs, and the occasional slider. Either one or none curveballs and one changeup so far.
Based on that last pitch, a curveball, it looks as though he can't command anything all that well today.
mlb.com superimposes that Richards threw two 98 mph fastballs in the 1st, the fastest he's throw all year. What's left out is that the Jays hit both of them.
First inning: no K's by either team, a leadoff double by the Jays but no run, and 2 leadoff singles by the Sox and 1 run. Kike's going to 3b on that single was a big play.
Stunningly good play by Verdugo. I don't remember ever seeing an outfielder sprint back so that he could then stop and run forward to make his throw even stronger.
Richards has good heat (98 mph), a good changeup, and I think a good curve. But in the 1st the Jay hit everything. Fortunately, the two flies led to 3 outs.
This point, the discussion about Bogey's wrist, Arroyo on the IL, etc are reminders it's an awfully long season and every game carries risks, sometimes, as with pitchers and catchers, cumulative risks.
Absolutely true. However, even though I've written and called him repeatedly, the son of a gun refuses to join talksox. Meanwhile, we get to guess about his moves and thinking.
I say again, it's possible the wrist hurts more/gets worse when he swings the bat. His last dinger was July 11, and since then he is 5 for 27 and his OPS has dropped from .930 to .891.
On the other hand, the Sox need his bat, even with the bad wrist, more than his glove.
Maybe Iortiz is right: rest him until the wrist is right.