BOSTON — Heading into the 2023 season one of the biggest concerns for the Boston Red Sox was their pitching staff. And after their opening day performance, it looks like the concerns were warranted.
The Red Sox lost their home opener to the Baltimore Orioles 10-9 thanks to the trio of starter Corey Kluber and relievers Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort who combined to give up all 10 runs.
Relievers Zack Kelly, Josh Winckowski and Chris Martin also pitched in the game, but did not give up any earned runs though Kelly uncorked a wild pitch on his first pitch of the game which allowed one of the runners Kluber put on base to score.
Host Lauren Willand of the Locked On Red Sox podcast was joined by 98.5 The Sports Hub's James Stewart to discuss the not-so-stellar performance by the Boston pitching staff.
“So the problem with the pitching is nine walks. Let’s start there," Stewart said. “Kluber needed to be better. Kluber needed to throw more strikes.”
The Red Sox starter walked four batters and only 48 of his 80 pitches were strikes. He also only lasted three and one-third innings.
Then Willand and Stewart joked about Ryan Brasier with Stewart asking if Braiser will be used in close situations and Willand saying, “I hope not.” Brasier gave up three runs in just one inning of work on Thursday afternoon.
But back to Kluber who gave up five runs. Stewart wondered why Kluber was the opening day starter for the Red Sox. He said that they (the Red Sox) are saying Chris Sale can’t pitch on his birthday—he’s slotted to be the starter for Saturday’s game, but Stewart thinks it’s because Red Sox manager Alex Cora doesn’t believe Sale is his best pitcher. He added, “And that’s a problem.”
After the game, Kluber told reporters, “I’d rather them beat me by earning it and me not just handing them free passes,” He said, “I wish I would have done that today, but I just have to make adjustments for next time and hopefully do better.”
“This wasn’t a characteristic Corey Kluber start," Willand said. "He’s usually much better than this. And we can pick apart his start all we want but the first time through the order, he had four strikeouts and he was cruising through.”
Things fell apart for Kluber and the Red Sox in the fourth inning when he walked Gunnar Henderson and gave up a home run to Ramon Urias. He also walked Cedric Mullins to load the bases with only one out and Cora had seen enough from his starter.
Baltimore scored three more runs in the top of the fifth and two in the top of the seventh to make it 10-4 but it was too much for the Red Sox’s offense to overcome.
The Red Sox pitching staff as a whole surrendered nine walks on Thursday afternoon which tied a franchise record for Opening Day.
“There’s a lot to be taken from game one of 162,' Willand said. "Of course, you always want to win, you need to set the tone. And it just reminded me so much of 2022. It’s the same struggles, it’s the same pitchers giving you the same issues. Nine runs should be enough to win a game.”
Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, nine was not enough, and also too many, on Opening Day.
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