Two righties again, Morton v. Porcello
Once more into the breach. The Sox starter is again vastly overmatched on paper despite having been last year's Cy Young winner.
I have disparaged our starters as much as anyone, but have to say that the Astros are definitely part of the problem which we saw in the final four game series at Fenway. Those guys can hit, and Altuve is off the charts with an OPS of 2.333 in 3 games.
Even with Price unavailable today, I by no means think the cause is hopeless. Porcello certainly knows what he has to do. Backing him up will be Kimbrel, Reed, Maddox, Smith, maybe Kelly, and ERod or Sale.
Yesterday I opined Farrell might tweak the top of the lineup, but he did not. He still could do that today given that Bogie and Beni have .000 and .397 OPS's in the first three games to go along with 7 K's (4 by Bogie, 3 by Beni) and 2 singles (both by Beni).
On the other hand, the Sox still scored 10 runs yesterday with the top 4 slots--Bogie, Pedey, Beni, and Betts--going 2 for 18 and 2 runs scored. The top four in the Astros lineup went 8 for 19 and batted in all 3 of their runs, but that was it.
Here's an interesting stat: the Astros have scored 2 + 2 + 3 runs in the first innings of the ALDS, which means the pitching coach should do his darndest to have Porcello ready from the get go. For that matter, 4 or 5 decent innings from Porcello would be manna, a triumph on the order of Pom's start to lock down the AL East title.