Rowdy Tellez and the Milwaukee Brewers had Garrett Whitlock’s number early and often on Saturday night, and it led to a kind of loss that’s already become all too familiar this season.
Fresh off the best start of his career (and the fastest Red Sox game since the 1990s), the 26-year-old righty wasn’t at the top of his game in America’s Dairyland. Over four innings, he threw 81 pitches, 54 for strikes, and induced eight swings and misses, but allowed five earned runs on eight hits, walked one, struck out one and hit a batter.
Whitlock pitched into the fifth inning but was unable to record an out in the frame, and left a bases-loaded mess behind for Richard Bleier. The southpaw immediately had to contend with Tellez, whose torment of Red Sox pitching continues to defy logic. The former Toronto Blue Jay hit a two-run homer in the third inning Saturday, and has homered in each of the first two games of the series, bringing his career total against Boston up to 14 of 86 overall. Bleier managed to get him to hit into a double play. Despite the run scoring (charged to Whitlock), it was pretty much the best-case scenario.
Ultimately, the contest was a case of “same issue, different ballgame” — put in a hole by their starting pitching, the bullpen and lineup did their best to overcome. Bleier, John Schreiber and Kutter Crawford teamed up for four innings of one-hit ball with nary a walk in sight; all five of the Brewers’ runs were charged to Whitlock.
But facing the stalwart Wade Miley and 2022 All-Star closer, Devin Williams, who hadn’t allowed a run in his first six appearances of the season, the Red Sox went fairly quietly into the night. The lineup scored four runs on eight hits, the Brewers’ five on nine. Both teams drew one walk and left four men on base.
Miley, who pitched for Boston in 2015, issued a two-out walk (Rob Refsnyder) and double (Rafael Devers) in the first, then settled in. The 36-year-old lefty faced the minimum in each of the subsequent three frames. Masataka Yoshida contributed a two-hit game, but got picked off by Miley in the top of the second. Milwaukee outfielders Blake Perkins and Joey Wiemer each made impressive catches to keep Alex Verdugo off the bases.
The Red Sox briefly got to Miley in the fifth and got on the board when Yu Chang cranked his third home run of the year. It was also his second of the week, and only his fourth hit of any kind this the season.
Devers connected with one of Joel Payamps’ 4-seam fastballs in the sixth, blasting his eighth home run of the season 416 feet to right field. According to the team’s media relations, Devers is one of nine players in franchise history with eight or more home runs and 20+ RBIs in the team’s first 22 games. The 26-year-old third baseman leads the American League in homers, and among all major league hitters, only Pete Alonso has more.
The Red Sox were adamant about turning Whitlock into a full-time starter this year, but it’s fair to question why they see him as a better fit than Tanner Houck. Whitlock worked his way up the New York Yankees farm system as a starter but spent his entire rookie season dominating in the Red Sox bullpen. Over 46 appearances, he posted a 1.96 ERA and struck out 81 batters in 73 1/3 innings.
In 2022, the Red Sox tried to move Whitlock to the rotation, but he struggled in the expanded role. He posted a 4.15 ERA across nine starts (39 innings), compared to a 2.75 ERA over 22 relief appearances. As a starter, batters hit .261 with a .723 OPS against him; out of the bullpen, he held them down to the tune of a .179 average and .547 OPS.
Meanwhile, the versatile Houck debuted as a starter in September 2020, but has worked every possible pitching role since. He was supposed to start the season in the bullpen, but the Red Sox moved him to the rotation temporarily when Whitlock, Brayan Bello, and James Paxton needed to start the season on the injured list, and he’s been one of their best starters. On Thursday, he made the first seven-inning start of his career, and with his expanded pitch mix, he’s a vastly-improved rotation option.
If Houck can pitch well in any role, but Whitlock pitches better out of the pen than in the rotation, why force the matter?
The Red Sox would love to watch this game fade away in the rearview mirror, but it may continue to haunt them. When Reese McGuire flew out to end the game, he was already hurt; the catcher took a foul ball off the top of his throwing hand late in the game, and visibly struggled after. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported that the postgame X-rays were negative for any fractures, but it’s likely McGuire will deal with lingering discomfort, which could keep him sidelined, or impact his performance.
