Game 82: Red Sox look to avoid sweep at Angels
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The Angels will counter with lefthander Yusei Kikuchi as they look to get back to .500.
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Lineups
RED SOX (40-41):
TBA
Pitching:
RHP Richard Fitts (0-3, 4.71 ERA)
ANGELS (39-40):
TBA
Pitching:
LHP Yusei Kikuchi (2-6, 3.01 ERA)
Time:
4:07 p.m.
TV, radio:
NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
Red Sox vs. Kikuchi:
Jarren Duran 2-9, Nate Eaton 0-2, Romy González 3-10, David Hamilton 0-2, Ceddanne Rafaela 4-7, Rob Refsnyder 6-13, Trevor Story 1-7, Abraham Toro 1-10, Connor Wong 4-9
Angels vs. Fitts:
Jo Adell 1-1, Scott Kingery 0-1, Zach Neto 1-1, Logan O'Hoppe 0-1, Luis Rengifo 0-1, Nolan Schanuel 0-0, Mike Trout 1-1, Taylor Ward 1-1
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Stat of the day:
The Red Sox are 9-19 in one-run games and 5-9 in extra-inning games, including 0-6 on the road.
Notes:
Fitts had a rough outing in
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New York Times
29 minutes ago
- New York Times
Ohtani was supposed to usher in a two-way player revolution. A rule change may be preventing it
This June, Shohei Ohtani stepped onto the mound for the first time in 21 months. Two minutes after recording the final out of the first inning, he dug into the batter's box to lead off for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That moment marked the official return of the two-way player to the major leagues. It wasn't supposed to be this way. When Ohtani debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, other teams had seemingly warmed to the idea of allowing players to pursue mastery both on the mound and at the plate. But years later, even with several two-way players selected in the higher rounds in recent MLB Drafts, Ohtani remains MLB's only two-way player. Advertisement The reasons for that aren't clear-cut, say team executives and players who have attempted to hit and pitch at the big-league level. They point to the physical and mental strain of doing both, noting that it can be too great for players to bear over the course of a full season. Others believe the injury risk remains too great to justify what might be a minimal return on investment. And then there's another theory, one predicated on the extremely high bar Ohtani has set for two-way players: If you're not him, the thought goes, then what's the point of even trying? 'Shohei kind of came in and he's like the Babe Ruth of hitting and pitching,' said the Kansas City Royals' Michael Lorenzen, who has been a two-way player at points in his career but hasn't done both since 2021. 'Now you're like, that's the bar. How much value is there in someone who's just above average at both? I think if that's proven by someone that it's really valuable, then a lot more people will do it.' Average, of course, is not an easy standard to reach in the big leagues. As a pitcher, Lorenzen has a 104 ERA+, slightly above league average over the course of his 11-year career. But his 84 OPS+ at the plate made him a below-average hitter. Then there's a matter of opportunity. During his time at Cal State Fullerton, Lorenzen batted .324/.394/.478 as a center fielder and went 5-0 with a 1.63 ERA and 35 saves as the Titans closer. Once he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 2013, he was told that the quickest way for him to make it to the major leagues was with his arm rather than his bat. That holds true for many prospects coming up who want to be two-way players. According to an NL scout, by the time a player is drafted and signed, the team is '99 percent' sure on whether that player will hit or pitch if they did both at a previous level. Because these players' lifelong dream is to make it to the majors, they usually follow the team's advice to get there. Advertisement And then there was Ohtani, who came to America after five seasons as a two-way star in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. 'Shohei had all the leverage in the world,' Lorenzen said. 'He proved it in a different, high-caliber league, and he came over early so he was a discount (salary-wise) to everyone when he did come over. He got to make every decision of like, this is what I want to do.' Lorenzen would get chances only sparingly to show that he was capable of playing both sides of the ball. Against the Phillies in September 2019, he became only the second player in history to hit a home run, earn a win and play in the field in the same game. The other player to do that was Babe Ruth back in 1921. Lorenzen's last plate appearance came in 2021. Other two-way players haven't had as many opportunities as Lorenzen did to do both. Former Angels first baseman and right fielder Jared Walsh — a teammate of Ohtani's with the Angels — only got to pitch in five blowout games over his six-year major-league career, all in 2019. Brendan McKay, the No. 4 pick in the 2017 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, was a three-time recipient of the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award in college. He was developed as a two-way player in the minor leagues but injuries have limited him to just 49 big-league innings as a pitcher and 10 major-league at-bats (he homered in one of them), all of those coming in 2019. More recently, the New York Mets' Nolan McLean spent his first two minor league seasons pitching and hitting. However, his path toward the majors seemed clearer as a pitcher and he decided to choose that route. It paid off with McLean now the Mets' No. 3 prospect. Though the Mets have yet to develop a player who hit and pitched in the big leagues, they haven't been shy about drafting two-way players. In addition to McLean (a third-round pick in 2023), the Mets took Carson Benge and Mitch Voit with their first picks in the 2024 and 2025 drafts, respectively, and announced both as two-way players. Benge has been exclusively a position player since turning pro and has already reached Triple A, while Voit also is expected to focus on second base. Advertisement The Mets are hardly alone among clubs who have seemingly been intrigued enough by the possibility of developing a two-way player to draft them and announce them as two-way players on draft day. The San Francisco Giants used first-round picks on Reggie Crawford (2022) and Bryce Eldridge (2023) and announced both as two-way players, but Crawford has been slowed by injuries and has primarily been a pitcher, while Eldridge showed such early promise as a hitter he hasn't thrown an official professional inning. Arguably the most famous player in last year's draft class was No. 6 pick Jac Caglianone, who went to the Royals. A two-way star at Florida, Caglianone was dubbed the 'Ohtani of college baseball.' But he, too, has found a one-way track to the major leagues as a position player. So the question remains, with all of this two-way talent in college and professional baseball, why haven't we seen anyone join Ohtani as a two-way player in the major leagues the past few years? Part of the reason could come down to the complication of creating a development plan for a player who pitches and hits. But the main blockade could boil down to MLB roster rules. Starting in 2020, a new MLB rule altered who qualified to have the two-way classification on an official roster. To earn the distinction, a player would need to pitch in 20 MLB innings and play in at least 20 MLB games as a position player or DH, with at least three plate appearances in each game in either the current or previous MLB season. This distinction matters because those designated as two-way players would not count toward the limit of 13 pitchers on the 26-man roster. The designation would essentially allow teams to carry an extra pitcher on the roster. That same rule stunted Jake Cronenworth's growth as a two-way player. The San Diego Padres infielder was a two-way player in college during his time at Michigan. When he was drafted by the Rays, he got reps pitching in Triple A and even threw bullpen sessions later when he was acquired by the Padres. But since making it to the majors, he has only pitched once, in a game that went into extra-innings against the Dodgers in 2021. 'Why does somebody need to qualify for something they've already proven they can do in college or the minor leagues?' Cronenworth asked. 'And all of a sudden they have to qualify to do it in the major leagues? To me, that doesn't make any sense. Now you're taking away this guy's natural ability to do two things at a high level, and now you have to make them basically earn it again?' Advertisement Outside of earning the two-way classification, the only way a hitter would be able to pitch in a game or vice versa would be in a game that goes to extra innings or when their team is either winning or trailing by six runs or more in a contest. 'You could go four games where you have that,' Cronenworth said. 'You could go three weeks where you never have that. So you're getting put on the roster as a hitter but you're a two-way guy and you can only pitch in certain situations. But if you put a guy on the roster as a pitcher, now you're taking away that bullpen spot. That was really the thing that hurt all the (two-way) guys.' Even with Cronenworth's two-way dreams stalling out, he still believes that there is a place for it even if it's not at the level of what Ohtani has been doing. 'Another value,' Cronenworth said, 'is you have your bench guy who comes in, makes a start sometimes, pinch-hitter at the end of the game but also available in the bullpen. So now you kind of have this kind of super-utility bench guy who's playing 150 games a year, some as a pitcher, some as a hitter. I think that would be the next-best thing.' Some players had a choice. Coming out of high school, Reds right-hander Hunter Greene was touted as a big two-way star. The Reds believed in his potential, selecting him with the second pick in the 2017 draft. But because of that high selection, in addition to his coming out of high school versus college or another league, he and the Reds decided to cut short his two-way development. 'In today's game, it's a lot harder to develop hitters, especially high school hitters,' said Shawn Pender, the Reds' vice president of player development. 'There's a lot of things that go into it that are difficult, more difficult than a pitcher. (Greene) knew what he needed to do from a secondary pitch standpoint, so his path to the big leagues is certainly going to be quicker than if you were to be a high school hitter that is now trying to do both.' Advertisement Caglianone followed a similar route to Greene by taking the advice of the team to get to the majors quicker, and it paid off with him getting called up less than a year after being drafted. Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach showed promise as a two-way player in college, culminating in his winning the John Olerud Award in 2021. Despite that, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he had to choose. He had people in his corner urging him to choose one or the other, but ultimately Schwellenbach made the decision based on his own personal experiences. After getting Tommy John surgery following his junior year of college, he knew that the physical demands on a two-way player in college were simply too much for him. 'It's not a good recipe to stay healthy,' Schwellenbach said. 'Doing both is almost impossible, especially if you're gonna play a position and pitch. There's not enough time to heal up in between starts and get enough work in to play both positions.' Injury risk, according to players and execs, another significant reason for the lack of two-way players. Royals reliever Lucas Erceg was drafted as a power-hitting third baseman out of college. In 2021, he'd pitch in Double A one or-two times a week and either play first, third or DH upwards of five times a week. Erceg soon felt soreness in his pitching arm. And during at-bats, whenever he'd swing over a change-up, he'd hyperextend his elbow slightly. Before long, Erceg committed fully to pitching after realizing his body simply couldn't hold up. Even Ohtani isn't immune to overuse injuries. He's had two major elbow surgeries within five years. And during a recent start, the Dodgers star exited the game after throwing six straight balls. Ohtani cited cramping in his right hip as the issue. One NL scout believes that moments like these are why teams are hesitant to let more of their guys become two-way players. Advertisement 'It all goes back to the number one fear: injury,' the NL scout said. 'Teams are scared to risk hurting their best hitter or one of their best hitters.' The scout cited another reason for Ohtani's standing as baseball's only two-way player: the belief that kids tend to specialize earlier more today than they did in the past. 'I think we're a pick-one society more today than we used to be,' the scout said. 'We're very big at categorizing right away.' Still, players such as Lorenzen still want to give playing both ways a try, even insisting he has no problem going down to Triple A to take at-bats to prove he still has what it takes. Caglianone said he'd be 'lying' if he still didn't think about the possibility of being a two-way player. But despite the interest, Ohtani stands alone as the sole two-way star in today's game. 'I'm sure we can look forward to having another two-way player in the future,' Ohtani said through his interpreter Will Ireton. 'When that time comes, I'll be excited as much as that person will be too. In that sense I'm just excited for that kind of possibility.' But, for now, that possibility seems remote. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Hey Red Sox, don't ruin the Green Monster
Three out of three local architecture professors I interviewed say no. Advertisement 'The building in question is too tall,' says Jonathan Knowles, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. With a giant faux-warehouse office building hovering behind it, he says the wall would feel 'diminutive.' Dubbed 55 Lansdowne, the building is planned to house street-level retail, along with the headquarters of both the Red Sox and FSG. Construction is tentatively planned to begin next year, according to FSG spokesperson Zineb Curran. Renderings show people outside on terraces on the top floors, relaxing in plush chairs or milling about while looking down on the field. Atop the building is a very big lightboard. Advertisement From field-level at Fenway, nothing is currently visible above the wall, save the Citgo sign. Pleasant as this new tableau may be, the building would literally block out the heavens. 'The wall has always felt monumental not just because of its size, but because it stood against an open sky,' says Carlo Ratti, a professor of urban technologies and the planning director of the MIT Senseable City Lab. 'When the backdrop becomes a building, the view compresses, and the Monster might lose some of its presence.' In fact, it's that blue sky that makes the green wall stand out so much in the first place, says Paul Hajian, who directs the graduate program in architecture at MassArt. 'If you put a solid color behind the Green Monster, it's going to pop — that's what the blue sky does to it,' he says. How will it look with a brick building? That's harder to say. 'It will be a big change,' Hajian says. Hajian, who grew up a Red Sox fan in Rhode Island, remembers feeling transported when he stepped into the cloistered world of Fenway Park and the Monster. 'As a kid you think it's huge, like 100 feet, it seems insurmountable, and that's part of its mystique,' he says. This is exactly the aura that Knowles — a Rehoboth native and lifelong Sox fan — worries 55 Lansdowne would rob from Fenway. He noted that when FSG presented plans to a city board in June, all Advertisement There is also the matter of home runs. Pick your favorite Monster job — mine is Well, forget that. 'You could follow that ball over the Green Monster and now you're not going to be able to because it's going to be lost against that building,' Knowles says. The office building is part of a much larger, $1.6 billion FSG development project, called Fenway Corners, with seven other mixed-use buildings planned to go up in the neighborhood. To be fair, the project went through a robust public process — and a public comment period — and was approved by the city in 2023. It is admittedly rude of me to butt in with my opinion now. But better late than never. For his part, Knowles wonders why the top floors of 55 Lansdowne couldn't be transferred to those other buildings. Curran, the FSG spokesperson, said in an email that 'significant height' had already been shifted to other buildings 'as part of a deliberate effort to ensure the scale behind the Monster felt appropriate.' She did not answer directly, though, whether FSG had studied the impact on sightlines within the ballpark. (FSG principal owner John Henry also owns the Globe. ) Advertisement 'We understand the deep emotional connection fans have to the Green Monster and the view beyond it,' Curran said. 'Any change to the visual backdrop of Fenway Park is approached with great care, and the building at 55 Lansdowne is no exception. 'Every element of the building — its scale, materials, color palette, and massing — was thoughtfully considered to complement Fenway Park, not compete with it.' Hajian was the most conflicted of the architects I spoke to. He loves Fenway Park, but hates the idea of resisting change. 'I'm not someone who wants to mummify history,' he says. 'If you keep [something] precisely the way it is, then I think it dies.' He thinks 55 Lansdowne could create a more enclosed, intimate feeling in the park and notes that, at least, the top floors are tiered back, so they don't hover quite so dramatically. Plus, he says, Fenway has proven resilient over its 113 years: 'It has a presence that I think can take change.' But still. 'This one is hard,' Hajian says. 'It's a big building back there.' There's still time, John Henry. You saved Fenway Park once. Please do it again. Jason Schwartz is a writer and editor from Newton. Send comments to magazine@
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
A Red Sox iPad suggested Robert Suarez was tipping pitches. The Padres were already on it
SAN FRANCISCO — It was the top of the ninth inning Saturday at Petco Park when a not-so-secret yet oft-hidden game within a game spilled into public view. There, on the San Diego Padres' telecast, was a member of the Boston Red Sox coaching staff, holding an iPad that displayed side-by-side images of Robert Suarez from a previous game. The left side of the screen showed the San Diego closer in his pre-pitch setup before a fastball. The right side showed Suarez in his pre-pitch setup before a changeup. It was not much of a juxtaposition — save for the fact that in the latter frame, a bit more of Suarez's right hand was visible from a center-field angle. Advertisement Later, after a blown save and a walk-off victory in the 10th, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla checked his phone. His inbox was flooded with notes from strangers. 'I know it was made a big deal,' Niebla said before Monday's 4-1 win against the San Francisco Giants. 'I got 36 DM messages about it. But it's like, 'Yeah, we already know.'' Cameras got an angle of a Red Sox coach showing images of the difference between Padres reliever Robert Suarez's setup when he's about to throw a fastball or a changeup — Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 10, 2025 Yes, Suarez might have been tipping pitches two nights earlier. No, it was not clear that the Red Sox, a savvy team led by a savvy coaching staff, had taken full or even partial advantage. Either way, Niebla said, the Padres and Suarez had been working on certain adjustments for a while. 'The whole year,' Niebla said. 'That's one of our things in spring training where we're like, 'Hey, this is what you do to tip pitches.' And … through the course of the year, when you're working through battles or however you want to put it, some tendencies start showing back up. And we're always cross-checking, cross-checking, cross-checking. 'In the heat of the battle, sometimes that's the last thing (pitchers) might be thinking about. You know, it might show up. But overall, I think we've been really good as a team.' Niebla, the Padres' own savvy instructor, did not go into great detail discussing those tendencies. 'We're trying to find the right mix,' Niebla said, 'because a lot of the stuff is, like, how his arm swing comes out of his glove, too.' Suarez, in a separate interview Monday, acknowledged he had recently made adjustments — including since Saturday — but declined to specify what those were. Meanwhile, the rehashing of a viral moment opened a window into what players and coaches say goes on throughout every game. 'I mean, you could pan in our dugout and look at our dugout, and it's the same thing,' manager Mike Shildt said. 'You could take a picture of anything. … The fact of the matter is it's taking place all the time. Now it's just become more public.' For close to a decade, Major League Baseball has permitted the in-game, in-dugout use of iPads containing pre-uploaded materials. In 2021, the league updated its tablet-related rules and began uploading video of each at-bat soon after completion. (The video is edited to remove catchers' pre-pitch signals.) Saturday in San Diego, a television broadcast happened to capture an iPad in use during a game, perhaps in unprecedented detail for public consumption. Advertisement Aside from that visual, the inning in question didn't appear all that unusual. Suarez, the major-league saves leader, took the mound with a one-run lead. Ceddanne Rafaela made soft contact with a changeup and legged out an infield single. After a subsequent strikeout of Connor Wong, Suarez threw a 98.9 mph four-seamer at the top of the strike zone. Roman Anthony, a noted fastball hitter, lined it for an opposite-field double to tie the score. Suarez then got Alex Bregman to pop out against a fastball. Following an intentional walk of left-handed batter Jarren Duran, the right-hander struck out Trevor Story with yet another four-seamer. Suarez, like so many others, saw the video clip of the Red Sox's iPad soon after the game. 'Regardless, I think the coaches would have been able to let me know, 'Hey, there's something that they might be picking up,'' Suarez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. 'I think, regardless, even if it would have been after that game, they would have told me, 'Hey, make that adjustment.' But obviously, it was just that one moment specifically where they were able to pick that up on TV.' Entering Monday, San Diego's pitching staff had the majors' fourth-lowest earned run average (3.63) and lowest relief ERA (3.04). (Red Sox manager Alex Cora, speaking Sunday, called it 'the best bullpen in the big leagues.') Those numbers might be even more impressive when considering that KinaTrax, a markerless motion-capture technology, enables major-league teams to detect potential tells in real time before relaying them to their dugouts and, eventually, their hitters. 'We're in a society where no one can hide,' Shildt said. 'I mean, just the technologies, everything that's out there, it's being used. It's there. You know, these guys are not machines, but machines are evaluating and overlaying and using (artificial intelligence) and all the different things that take place. And it's something that, clearly, we monitor. We have internal awareness of it. We're looking at our side, (the opponent's) side. Advertisement 'I think it's overblown. You can look at it and slow it down, and you can take a picture of it. Go do it in front of 40,000 people in real time and with an athlete that's moving and see how successful you are. I do think there's people and there's teams and players that are good at it, but I also think that even if it's slightly there, it's really hard to pick up in live competition.' Shildt and Niebla agreed there are times when teams — base runners, in particular — pretend as if they have something on an opposing pitcher or catcher. 'It's like, 'He's relaying from second base!' No, that's a deke,' Niebla said. 'They're bluffing. They want to get in our head. They want us to, like, have to change.' One such ruse played out in late April when Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, after reaching second base against starter Nick Pivetta, looked as if he might be relaying pitches. Monday, Suarez ensured San Francisco would not have the opportunity for similar hijinks. In his first appearance since Saturday, he jogged in from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth. He proceeded to retire the side, securing the win and his 33rd save. He did not require the assistance of a dugout tablet. Pitchers, when they have time in between innings, sometimes use the technology themselves. 'More than anything, it's just seeing what the game is dictating and how guys are batting throughout the game and seeing what pitches they are swinging and missing at,' Suarez said. 'That's really what we're using iPads for.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
