The Boston Red Sox head to the National League for their first interleague road game of the season in what will be a three game set against the Milwaukee Brewers. This will mean Hanley Ramirez will see his first innings in the field at first and will send either him or Mitch Moreland to the bench for each game, further handicapping a Sox lineup that’s just now starting to click.
This series will be contested from Tuesday, May 9, 2017 through Thursday, May 11, 2017 at Miller Park in Milwaukee. For those out of the local markets, the Thursday afternoon series finale showdown will be broadcast on MLB Network.
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Pitching Matchups
The series will kick off on Tuesday with the Sox sending Drew Pomeranz to the mound against the Wily Peralta who will be looking for his fifth win of the season.
While Peralta’s 4-2 record is very good, his ERA is an inflated 4.88 and he’s allowing a lot of base runners with a 1.468 WHIP. His lackluster 2.08 strikeout to walk ratio and inflated WHIP have led to a FIP of 5.10.
Yet, despite all of that, the 28-year old right-hander has given his team a chance to win. The Brew Crew is 4-2 in his starts and could easily be 5-1 if not for a stellar pitching performance by Carlos Martinez opposite of him in his last start. In that start, Peralta left the game without giving up a run. He was charged with a couple of runs as inherited runners came across to score, but still allowed just two runs in 5.1 innings in that game.
Peralta’s been pretty good at giving his team a chance to win, but so has Pomeranz. The southpaw is about half a year older than Peralta and like him is coming off a two-run, 5.1 inning appearance, expect Pomeranz got the win in that game over the Orioles.
Overall, Pomeranz is 3-1 in five starts with a 4.00 ERA and has allowed more than two runs in just one start this year. He’s not one to go deep in the game, but does consistently provide five solid innings.
Look for a close one into the middle innings in the opener, with the bullpens deciding the final in the series opener
Moving into the final two games of the series, we’ll see a matchup of Kyle Kendrick against Chase Anderson and then Eduardo Rodriguez against Jimmy Nelson.
Kendrick was signed as depth for a rotation that was rather deep to start the year, but with David Price still working his way back and Steven Wright out for the year, he’s getting a chance to show what he can do. He was far from impressive in his first chance, lasting just four innings and giving up six runs to a powerful Orioles’ lineup. The Brewers have plenty of thump of their own for the veteran righty to contend with.
Meanwhile, Anderson is 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA through his first six starts of the year. The right-handers’ walk rate is a bit elevated, but overall, he’s been very good and his FIP shows that his early success isn’t driven by luck. Most impressive, the right-hander has kept the ball in the yard, giving up only a single homer in his 34.2 innings of work.
As for the E-Rod versus Nelson matchup, the edge there swings back in favor of the BoSox. Rodriguez is pitching very well, helping to fill the void left by Price. He’s just 1-1, but has a 3.07 ERA in 29.1 innings of work. His biggest issue is his lack of ability to go deep in the game has he’s thrown a ton of pitches. He’s prone to the walk, but can also get a big strikeout when needed, striking out 37 batters on the young season.
Who's Hot?
The Boston bullpen continues to slam the door when it has a chance for the win. The offense was slow to come around in his post-David Ortiz world, but with the pitching doing well, they’ve been able to stay relevant.
Craig Kimbrel looks the part of the best reliever in the game, the same guy we saw with the Braves a few years back. He’s already saved 10 games and has been a strikeout machine with 26 in 14 innings. He’s also given up just five hits and two runs in that span of time while walking only two. That’s given him a shockingly low 0.500 WHIP.
Those setting up Kimbrel have done well, too. The team opted to not go bring back a few of its key setup men from the past few years and brought in Tyler Thornburg instead in a deal with this Brewers’ team for Travis Shaw. We’ll see Shaw in this series and he’s been doing well himself, but Thornburg remains sidelined. Without him, the Sox haven’t missed a beat. Joe Kelly has reinvented himself in the pen, able to air it out. Heath Hembree and Roby Scott have been invaluable, too.
Speaking of Shaw and the Brewers, Milwaukee’s hottest players have been on offense. Shaw is certainly one of them as is catcher Jett Bandy who has a .872 OPS and four home runs in what’s been a bit of a surprise. Of course, Eric Thames has had a monster season to date with 12 homers. Power is there for Milwaukee. The Brew Crew have belted 53 long balls, tops in baseball. They’ve nearly doubled up the Red Sox in that category as Boston is led in homers by Andrew Benintendi and Hanley Ramirez with five each.
Interestingly, Benintendi has recently moved into the cleanup and has been part of the solution to fixing this team’s offensive cold spell. He’s fit well in the spot formerly occupied by Big Papi.
Who's Not?
After taking the world by storm in the first few weeks of the season, it seems that Eric Thames is finally starting to cool off.
The Brewers’ first baseman has still slammed 12 home runs and is coming off a 3-for-4 game with one of those homers in Milwaukee’s win over the Pirates on Sunday, but prior to that game he had gone nine games without a bomb, going just 6-for-34 with only one extra base hit in that span.
Thames was one of the big bats carrying the Brewers to a surprising start, particularly on offense. This team has scored runs despite a .197 average from Jonathan Villar and .216 from Orlando Arcia. Those two in the middle were supposed to spark this offense, but have come up cold. Ryan Braun has also missed the last few games due to injury which hurts, too. The tandem of Thames and Braun in the middle were driving this offense. Even with Travis Shaw giving the team some added pop, they need Braun if they’re to continue to overproduce.
Meanwhile, the Sox’s offense is just now starting to produce, but Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to look lost at the plate, calling into question whether last year’s numbers were a fluke.
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