Between all pitchers, the Sox have combined to fan at least 10 batters in five straight games — matching the longest double-digit strikeout streak in team and AL history. But manager John Farrell is willing to trade a few K's for a little more longevity from starters.
BOSTON — The Red Sox rotation has been excellent eight games into the season.
Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have been what the team needs, and all starters combined entered Thursday with a 2.38 ERA, the third-best mark in the majors and best in the American League. The next closest team in the AL is the Rangers, and they're carrying a 2.93 ERA.
Red Sox starters, too, are doing well keeping the ball out of play, with the highest rate of strikeouts per batters faced in the majors. Between all pitchers, relievers included, the Sox have combined to fan at least 10 batters in five straight games — matching the longest double-digit strikeout streak in team and AL history.
But the manager is willing to trade a few K's for a little more longevity.
Sox relievers have been asked to throw 24 2/3 innings this season, one of the fewest in the majors, but if Sox starters continue to throw more pitches per batter than any other, the bullpen — an expected strength for the Sox, Joel Hanrahan's Wednesday aside — will start to feel it.
Sox starters are averaging exactly 4 pitches per batter faced, better than just three teams: two of which happen to be the combined 5-12 Astros and Padres. That's not great company. Put it this way: Red Sox starters had a terrible 2012, with a 5.19 ERA, and they averaged 3.77 pitches ber batter.
Only one Red Sox pitcher is under that mark this season, Clay Buchholz, and he's at 3.76 per hitter.
"I think it’s a reflection of the type of stuff we have," manager John Farrell said of all the Ks. "I will say Ryan Dempster's strikeout totals are a little more than expected. We were kind of joking about it today, maybe we trade off three strikeouts for another inning or two of work in that role, but he’s there to get outs and by virtue of the strikeout, we can’t argue about that. But I think overall it’s a matter of the talent our pitching staff has, and the swing-and miss-ability, and the overall talent they have."
Dempster was held to five innings Wednesday night in an 8-5 loss because of a 43-minute rain delay before the sixth, and he would've gone back out for probably one more, but he was already at 93 pitches. Still, his first two starts are atypical: he's averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine — 15 strikeouts combined in two five-inning outings — and this is a guy who averaged eight per nine a season ago.
Pitching to contact and not allowing bombs is "a very fine line," as Farrell put it.
"He’s going to use the stuff that he has," Farrell said. "It’s not like he’s going to come up with an above-average sinker to get a higher rate of ground balls. He’s going to pitch with a four-seamer, he’s going to pitch with a split and his slider. So we don’t want him to try to reinvent himself for the sake of an additional inning. We do know that when we get through the month of April and he has four or five starts under his belt, that pitch-count limit will climb to give him the opportunity to get deeper in games. You could make the argument last night that if it’s not raining or if it’s not delayed, he goes back out for the sixth inning. So over time he’ll get the opportunity to get deeper in games."
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