The Cleveland Indians Have Figured Out Red Sox Ace Chris Sale

On Tuesday night, Chris Sale became the quickest pitcher to reach 1,500 strikeouts. Yay! Do you think he cares? No. Sale admittedly believes that statistics such as K’s are empty trivialities in the world of baseball. This dude wants nothing more than to win, be it in glamorous fashion or not. He is a tenacious nitty-gritty competitor. Despite Sale reaching this career-milestone rather efficiently, does it alleviate any concerns in regards to his history in the latter-half of the season? Don’t forget, there’s still that “Cleveland problem”.

The obstacle that the Indians represent for Chris Sale is certainly an unnerving one. It has encumbered the minds of fans who have appreciated him, as well as the media who have covered him. Be it in Boston or in Chicago, it has always been a conspicuous tarnish on the young lefty’s reputation.

After Sale’s victory over the Blue Jays, John Farrell was asked to address this overshadowing issue. When questioned whether or not Chris Sale has a “Cleveland thing”, Farrell gave a diffident response: “If you look at the starts across the board, maybe.”

Well, that’s not exactly the vote of confidence you want to hear from your manager!

There was no cushioning in his answer. No niceties whatsoever. For Farrell (who would readily go to bat for any of his players) to volunteer that “maybe” there’s a problem: There’s a problem.

History Repeats Itself

His entire career, Chris Sale has been haunted by the Cleveland Indians. Most recently, we saw the Tribe shellac him for 7 runs in 3 IP, last Thursday. What substantiates the forebodings over Sale facing his arch-nemesis is the fact that the Indians are an ineluctable playoff opponent for the Red Sox. Historically he is 5-8 against Cleveland with an outlier of an ERA of 4.72.

Now, many people have suggested that Chris Sale is tipping pitches when he faces the Indians. That is to say: Cleveland has somehow cracked the cryptology of Sale’s delivery. This implies that Cleveland’s scouting report is much more formidable than that of any other team in the MLB. Does this seem plausible, or is it that the Indians just have Chris Sale’s number?

The Perfect Storm

Look at the 10 players on Cleveland who have at least 10 AB’s against Sale. They’re crushing him with a .283 BA, slugging at .429 and they have .781 OPS collectively. This is not derived from a negligible sample-size; those are the aggregate stats of 240 AB’s. The Indians represent a team that has well acclimatized themselves to Chris Sale’s pitching, through experience. They also represent a team that will inherently hit a pitcher with Sale’s approach on the rubber.

There are a few Indians’ players who embody this natural inclination to hit the arsenal of pitches that the “Stickman” (terrible nickname) brings to the table. Let’s take a gander.

Francisco Lindor, the blossoming shortstop, has a .455 BA against Chris Sale while slugging .636 of those hits. What is his success against the flame-throwing lefty predicated on? A wheelhouse compatible with Sale’s attack. Against left-handed pitching, Lindor’s hot-zone tells you that he loves pitches away, especially up in the zone. This is the location of Sale’s bread and butter put-away fastball. He likes to make righties stretch, and Francisco Lindor is one who is flexible enough for the job. In fact, he’d prefer to clobber pitches outside! But that’s just one example of Cleveland’s batting order. The trend overwhelmingly continues.

Edwin Encarnacion: a Right-handed hitter who loves anything up and away against lefties. He’s batting .353 when facing Sale with a 1.182 OPS.

Perhaps the most alarming performance is that of Cleveland’s first-baseman Carlos Santana. In 43 AB’s (the most of the group) he has a .302 BA with a .419 slugging percentage against Sale. His scouting report: A righty who loves the ball up and away.

A Monkey on Sale’s Back

For the rest of the regular season, the Cleveland Indians are not on Boston’s schedule. But predictions tell you that the Red Sox will face them in the playoffs, be it in the ALDS or the ALCS. In any event, Chris Sale will invariably be our ace in the rotation. His resolve to win is going to have to overmaster his vulnerabilities when facing Cleveland, in order to be successful.

Presumably, Sale will be making his postseason debut, come this October. Adrenaline will certainly be a factor. Taking on the Indians, his approach may have to mutate into an aberration of itself. He may have to wander out of his comfort-zone, attacking righties in on the hands. Rest assured that Carl Willis, Chris Sale and the rest of the pitching staff will have ample time to make the necessary adjustments. Whenever Sale sees Cleveland again, he will be more educated, more experienced, and he will surely be out for blood.

Pawtucket Red Sox Close Out At Home And Thank Fans

The Pawtucket Red Sox closed out their home schedule at McCoy Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Paw Sox went on to win the game 3-0 over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. The only runs scored on the afternoon came from a 3 run blast off the bat of Tzu-Wei Lin. Hector Velazquez also had a great game for the Paw Sox. In 7 innings, he only gave up 1 hit as he earned the win.

After the game, the Paw Sox had several promotions going on around the ballpark as they thanked their fans for a great season. The Paw Sox had pony rides on the football field next to the stadium. They let kids run the bases after game. They even had a helicopter drop tennis balls onto the field

The Paw Sox welcomed 409,960 fans into McCoy Stadium this season. That was up from the 2016 season. In the 2016 season, 407,097 fans went through the turnstiles at McCoy Stadium. There were also 11 sellouts at McCoy Stadium this season.

Helicopter Drop

During the helicopter drop, the Pawtucket Red Sox placed three hula hoops in center field. Each hula hoop represented a section of the ballpark. You can find the whole video on the Trifecta Face Book page or you can find a portion of it below.

The #PawSox had a helicopter drop tennis balls onto the field. It was a part of a last game celebration. pic.twitter.com/CsRInyP9eL

— Evan Cook (@evancook33) August 27, 2017

The prize that the team gave out to fans was free frostys from Wendys. That was on top of the free frostys that they were giving out to all the fans from the “Pop Flys For Frostys” promotion that the team has during the game.

Day As A Whole

Pawtucket Red Sox players thanked their fans after the game by throwing soft toss balls into the crowd. After that, the team had the helicopter come in to drop the tennis balls on to the field.

Once the helicopter left McCoy Stadium, the Paw Sox let kids run the bases. Then in the football field next to the stadium, the Paw Sox had horses for children to ride.

The next Pawtucket Red Sox game to be played at McCoy Stadium is on Friday April 6th, 2018 against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

Christian Vazquez Home Run Lifts Red Sox Over Blue Jays

The Boston Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Monday night behind a go-ahead two-run home run by Christian Vazquez.

This game wasn’t without its drama. Boston entered the 9th inning with closer Craig Kimbrel on the mound with a 3-run lead. That lead was enough for the all-star closer, but it got a little hairy for Kimbrel.

Kimbrel gave up a two-run blast to Justin Smoak to make it a 1-run game but Kimbrel was able to hold on for his 30th save of the season.

Vazquez bailed out the Boston Red Sox with his two-run shot. The catcher has been on fire this season and has the second highest average among catchers with a minimum of 200 plate appearances. The only catcher higher? Buster Posey.

Vazquez also continues to show a clutch gene.

How clutch is Christian Vazquez? He has 6 career HRs, 5 of which have come with men on base. All 6 have been when Red Sox were within 2 runs

— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) August 29, 2017

With the win, the Boston Red Sox are now 3.5 games ahead of the second place New York Yankees who lost to the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.

PS: Kevin Pillar might have had the catch of the year by robbing Mookie Betts of a double.

*Looks up Catch Probability on @Statcast*

*Sees 38 percent*

*Continues to watch @KPILLAR4‘s catch again and again* pic.twitter.com/8E6B0fF7lo

— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 29, 2017