BOSTON -- First impressions from the Red Sox' 10-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals:
Boston’s bullpen continues to be a roll of the dice every night.
This time Matt Barnes was the latest reliever to suffer from the plague that’s filled this bullpen all season.
Part of it was bad luck on two perfectly placed balls, the other part was Raul Mondesi lacing a triple, and Lorenzo Cain smacking a single.
Robbie Ross was better, but not by much.
No lead seems safe in the hands of any Boston reliever.
Boston Red Sox
David Ortiz keeps putting himself in the same breath as legendary Hall of Famers.
This time it was former Red Sox great Jimmie Foxx, who Ortiz is now tied with at 534 home runs, 18th all time.
Early in the season he’d match a legendary player every so often, it was impressive. Now it’s almost to be expected every night he plays.
Next on the all-time home run list is Yankee Legend Mickey Mantle with 536.
The bottom of the order continues to play an important role in Boston’s run production.
Chris Young got things started in the fifth, then Sandy Leon and Jackie Bradley Jr. kept it rolling so both Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts could cash in all three runners.
Moving JBJ back to ninth Saturday proved to be a good move, and moving Leon back down with his recent scuffles seems to be the best move, too.
Not only can they knock each other in any given instance, but they also put Dustin Pedroia (or Holt) and Bogaerts in run-producing situations, as opposed to just setting the table.
Chris Young’s hamstring shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
He was able to leg out the soft grounder to third base in the first inning.
Young has lost a step or two with age, but it seemed like he opened it up on the play.
Hopefully that’s a sign of the end of the injuries in left field this season.
Junichi Tazawa looked strong.
That’s more so an observation of his fastball reaching 94 mph.
Tazawa has a long way to go before he’s back to where he was, but the righty took a step in the right direction Sunday night. He retired Kansas City’s 2-3-4 hitters in his first inning and working past a leadoff single in his second inning of work.