MILWAUKEE — On the face of it, the number of innings provided by Red Sox starters looks impressive.
With 298 innings, the Red Sox are ranked seventh when it comes to starter workload.
But a closer look finds that number inflated by the presence of Garrett Crochet, whose 75 innings are the most of any pitcher in baseball.
Subtract Crochet’s contributions, however, a bigger issue is evident. Without Crochet’s 75 innings, the remainder of the rotation is averaging fewer than four innings (3.98) per outing. That’s hardly a recipe for success.
How stark is the dropoff beyond Crochet? Consider that Sean Newcomb, who was designated for assignment by the club over the weekend and dealt to the Athletics Tuesday, ranked third in innings on the team before he was traded.
Beyond Crochet, the Red Sox haven’t received the kind of length that teams need to stitch together hot streaks. That trend isn’t likely to change much Tuesday night when the Red Sox send Richard Fitts to the mound at Great American Field instead of fulfilling another rehab start for Triple A Worcester.
Through no fault of his own — Fitts threw just 38 pitches in his first rehab outing — he wasn’t expected to get to 60 pitches in the middle game of the series with the Brewers.
Fitts has an excuse. The others in the rotation largely do not.
“It’s great,” said Alex Cora of Crochet’s ability to consistently provide length, “but the other guys need to follow suit. We need the other guys to go five and six (innings). To put pressure on the bullpen like we did last week is hard.
“We won a few games, but maybe we lost a few games because of that.”
Veteran Lucas Giolito, who as might be expected for a pitcher returning from elbow surgery that sidelined him for the entirety of last season, has been inconsistent. Of his five starts, he’s eaten six or more innings three times — and four or fewer in the other two.
Tanner Houck, currently sidelined with a flexor strain, gave the team more than five inning just four times in his nine starters before being placed on the IL. Worse, Houck twice failed to get through three innings, placing a heavy burden on the team’s bullpen to record the remaining outs.
Most disappointing of all might be the inability of Brayan Bello, who, following an encouraging start to the season during which he twice covered six or more innings, has failed to get through the fifth in each of his last four starts.
“We need the kid to step up,” said Cora of Bello, “and give us six. The 4.2 (innings) is not acceptable. And he knows it.“
In his last start against the Baltimore Orioles, Bello did a better job of attacking hitters early in the count, but hitters constantly fouled off pitches against him, driving up his pitch count and forcing his exit from the game after just 13 outs.
Thanks to outings like that, the bullpen was so overworked on the recent homestand that the team was forced to make call-ups to twice over the weekend to provide additional fresh arms from Worcester.
“Hopefully,” said Cora, “the rotation can start picking it up and that’s going to put everybody else in a good spot.”
