Justin Masterson

Game 33 Recap: Athletics 9, Red Sox 2

The Red Sox can’t hit or pitch, but A’s end up proving the opposite. Why, no, I didn’t copy & paste that from another game, why do you ask?

Top Play (WPA): To the surprise of no one, Stephen Vogt’s two-run homer in the first inning was the clear top play, with a .161 WPA. Vogt took a 88 MPH Masterson-brand sinker(?) that didn’t live up to its name, and whacked the right field camera with it.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/0/v112618683

Not only do the A’s have the top spot here, they also have every single top ten play in this game by WPA. The best Sox play was when Pedroia reached second on an errant throw by Marcus Semien in seventh inning for a glorious .006 WPA. You’d be hard-pressed to find a compliment for the Sox that doesn’t sound like a backhanded one.

Bottom Play (WPA): Mookie Betts grounding out for the first out of the game was the worst play by WPA, with a -.022 mark. Seriously. You’d think there’s a worse play than that, but with the A’s jumping all over Masterson early and often, no one really could make the situation any worse for either team. It’s not often that a team dooms itself within the span of a game’s first six outs.

Key Moment: Semi-famous writer guy Matthew Kory & I assumed it was when Justin Masterson awoke that morning. On a more serious note, I’ve gotta say it was Dustin Pedroia getting thrown out trying to take second base in the first inning. He hit a single to left, but Coco Crisp was having none of Pedroia taking an extra base and threw him out by a mile. The Sox needed all the help they could get with Masterson on the mound, and that was some ill-advised aggression when the Red Sox could not afford it.

Trend to Watch: Justin Masterson. There’s not much the Red Sox can do with him and his 6.37 ERA now. This is his second consecutive start having given up four or more runs while not clearing the 5th inning, and his third start like that this year. His average fastball velocity has dropped to a Jered Weaver-esque 87.8 MPH. He’s missing bats at a career-low 5.8% swinging strike rate, and no one is getting fooled on pitches in the zone – batters are making contact 95% of the time when they swing at pitches located there. Getting designated for assignment before his next start doesn’t sound too farfetched anymore, as Masterson is only earning $9.5 million this year, and the Red Sox have a few starters in Pawtucket that deserve some time in the major league rotation.

Coming Next: The Red Sox take on Sonny Gray, he of the 1.65 ERA & 2.66 FIP, in an afternoon game. Gray has put together a four-start streak of going 6+ innings while giving up two runs or less. The Red Sox really needed to jump all over Drew Pomeranz if they had wanted to win this series easily, but the offense flatlined, and now they have to contend with one of the league’s hottest starting pitchers in the rubber match just to win two of three in Oakland.

Photo by Ed Szczepanski/USA Today Sports Images

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