The Red Sox lost to the Minnesota Twins tonight in ten innings. Tonight’s loss snapped a six-game win streak for the Sox and brings their record to 39-33. After tonight, their record against the AL Central is 10-5, which is still their best record against any division in baseball. With tonight’s loss and a win for the Blue Jays, the Red Sox are 1.5 games out of fourth place in the AL East.
Tonight, the Red Sox offense struggled with runners in scoring position as they went 3-15. This was uncharacteristic of the Red Sox because as of late, they have been doing the opposite. During the Red Sox’s six-game win streak, they had a batting average of .390 with runners in scoring position, which ranked third in the MLB. The Red Sox, on the season, are batting .288 with runners in scoring position, which also ranks third behind the Rangers and Rays. When the Red Sox struggled offensively during late May and early June, it was because they didn’t hit with runners in scoring position. Between May 21 and June 14, the Red Sox were 27th in the MLB in runs and were 17th in BA with runners in scoring position. Tonight was another example of how those two stats go hand in hand.
Garrett Whitlock, the Red Sox starter tonight, went seven innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. The Red Sox starter gave the Red Sox bullpen some much-needed rest as they go into a bullpen game in the finale on Thursday. However, Garrett did allow four runs to a Twins team ranked 18th in runs coming into the game. The struggles tonight for Whitlock came because he didn’t have any feel for his slider. On the season, the Red Sox righty throws his slider 22.6% of the time. Tonight, he only threw it 15% of the time. Whitlock did have his changeup working as usual, as that pitch had Twin batters whiffing at a 45% clip. While Whitlock was not perfect tonight, he gave the Sox great length on a day when he didn’t have his best stuff.
It’s time to talk about the season that Justin Turner has had. Tonight, Turner went 2-4 with a 447-foot blast that reached the third deck at Target Field. Tonight, Turner raised his BA to .284, which ranks 6th on the team. Turner also gives the Red Sox a professional at-bat every single time. Turner sees an average of 4.26 pitches per plate appearance, which leads the Red Sox and ranks 13th in the MLB. Turner makes every pitcher work and does his part in raising opponents’ pitch count. When the Red Sox bats struggled during the beginning of June, Turner carried the offense. During June, Turner leads the Red Sox in RBI’s, runs scored, and ISO, a stat that measures the raw power of a hitter. If Turner can continue to produce for this team, it could go down as one of Chaim Bloom’s best moves as GM.
The Red Sox will be back at it Thursday at 1 PM as they conclude this four-game set with the Twins. A win for the Red Sox would be a big one, as it would mean a series win and a great start to this six-game road trip.
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