“Boston hurlers Confirmed Dead” ranks last in MLB with a 6.14

The Boston Red Sox are running a full tilt race to October. These days, a team’s chances of making the playoffs vary greatly based on the outcome of each game, whether they win or lose.

The Red Sox were 2.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the last Wild Card place in the American League going into Sunday’s action. If the two teams drew, Boston, who had defeated the Royals four games to two in the season series, would advance to October. Still, there’s a hill to climb.

The Red Sox, who are in the midst of their most difficult 10-game stretch of the season, have persevered by winning four of their six games this week. However, they have also displayed their dark side, which could prove to be their downfall in the end. Additionally, a baseball writer thinks that their flaws may be reduced to a straightforward assertion regarding a particular position group.

The Red Sox’s pitching has “really gone south,” according to Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer, who stated that this is currently the team’s biggest cause for concern.

“Boston hurlers rank last in MLB with a 6.14 ERA since the All-Star break, for which it hasn’t helped that they’ve served up 12 more home runs than any other staff,” Rymer said. “If this team misses the playoffs, there’s your culprit.” The home run ball has been an outlier for the Red Sox recently, costing them games on many occasions.

Wednesday’s game against the Texas Rangers was a memorable example, in which Josh Winckowski allowed a game-tying three-run blast and Zack Kelly let up the game-winning two-run shot in extras. Boston has allowed an astonishing 56 home runs since the All-Star break in just 27 games. For comparison, they allowed 96 home runs in 95 games before the break, meaning their home run rate has virtually doubled.

It is possible to single out a few pitchers as offenders. Kutter Crawford has allowed 27 home runs, including 13 in the second half, which ties him for the MLB lead. With just 11.2 innings thrown with Boston, trade addition Luis García has allowed four runs, while Nick Pivetta has one of the highest HR/9 rates in baseball at 1.9. You would assume that allowing home runs would eventually have some randomness to it and that the Red Sox would eventually come out on top.

They can’t afford to wait around for their luck to change, though, if that’s the case. Whether by accident or by design, the Red Sox would undoubtedly benefit from ceasing to pitch over the middle of the plate. Their lives in the postseason are at stake.