Boston @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Apr 25, 2010 ) Baltimore 7, Boston 6
The pop just is not there right now. And neither are the results.
Yes, John Lackey has a winning record at 2-1 in his four starts, but the Boston Red Sox’s major off-season acquisition isn’t exactly living up to his end of the bargain.
That is if anyone can be considered a bargain at $16.5 million a season after he signed a five-year, $82.5-million deal. Lackey’s average fastball (90.4 mph) is down nearly 2 mph and, more importantly, so are his strikeouts.
The 31-year-old right-hander has been getting battered by the opposition – 19 hits in his last 10 1/3 innings – as more balls are being put in play than any time in his major league career.
After never having a strikeouts-per-nine-inning-ratio lower than 6.5 – and as high as 8.6 – since his rookie season, Lackey is at 4.3 through four starts as he takes the mound today against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Take his last start, for example, which also came against the Orioles. He allowed 10 hits and walked two batters in seven innings, but managed to get the win. That might have more to do with the ineptness of the Orioles, who have the least numbers of wins (4) in the majors – half the total of the next-worst clubs.
Despite a strong start in his Boston debut, Lackey has allowed 29 hits in 23 innings (11.3 hits per nine innings compared 9.0 or lower over last five seasons) and nine walks for a 5.09 ERA.
It’s only four starts compared to the 233 others he has had in his career so the small sample isn’t a fair barometer, but the Red Sox Nation isn’t known for its patience.
Lackey will be locked up this outing against Baltimore rookie David Hernandez (0-3. 4.84) and an Orioles lineup that has scored the least amount of runs (70), second lowest on-base percentage (.303) and fourth lowest batting average (.241) in the American League.
Hernandez faced the Red Sox last time out, getting a no-decision after a five-inning stint in which he allowed three earned, four hits and three walks.
The Orioles’ main source of production on offense has been Ty Wigginton, who is hitting .322 with six home runs, 12 RBIs and 11 runs, all team highs.
In an attempt to ignite the offense, first baseman Rhyne Hughes was called up after a hot start at Triple-A and it has continued in his first three games with Baltimore, hitting .384 with three RBIs.