SEATTLE -- The Red Sox experienced an opening four games like no other defending World Series champion in history, and not in a good way.
They left T-Mobile Park frustrated on Sunday after another faulty starting-pitching performance (this time by Rick Porcello) led to a 10-8 loss to the Mariners -- the third defeat in four games for the champs.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11 homers by Seattle bats represents the most ever surrendered through the first four games of a season by a defending champion. The 34 runs allowed tied the 1984 Orioles for most allowed by a defending champ in its first four games.
Of course, what matters at the end of the day will not be what happened in Seattle, but how the Red Sox respond to it. And they have 158 games left to formulate exactly what that response will look like.
“I know this is going to be the thing everyone wants to talk about, but I’m a firm believer that you look at track records,” said slugger J.D. Martinez. “Look at guys’ track records and what they’re doing. That speaks for itself. Really not concerned about it. Those are the same guys that did it last year. What we kind of just saw was four consecutive bad outings, so to me I’m expecting there are going to be four consecutive great outings.”
Porcello lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up nine runs, but only four earned, thanks to a Martinez error to open a seven-run third inning by the Mariners. Martinez tried to offset the miscue with a three-run homer to left in the fourth for the 1,000th hit of his career. Mookie Betts roped his first homer of the season in the sixth to keep the Sox in it. But the early damage was too much to overcome.
More than anything, Porcello wanted to be the guy to right the ship after the collective woes of Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez in the first three games. Surprisingly, the dependable veteran only added to them.
“Not good,” Porcello said. “I’ve got to be a lot better. Only covered 2 2/3 innings or whatever it was. Not good enough. Absolutely. No excuses. Gotta pick it up, turn the page and get ready for the next one.”
This opening was a far cry from a year ago, when the Sox bolted out of the gate with a 17-2 start.
“Not good baseball,” said manager Alex Cora. “We didn't get any innings from the starters, and that's hard to do. The only thing positive about the weekend is the bullpen. They did an outstanding job. Although offensively we scored runs, we left a lot of people out there. Defensively, we didn't play well. We have to move on.”
An accomplished group like this one isn’t going to read too much into four games.
“I think we’ve got a good group of guys,” said Martinez. “Nobody is really panicking or anything like that. Everyone is not laughing at it, but in a sense, brushing it off, like, ‘What are you going to do?’ You have to give credit to those guys. They were really driving the baseball.”
What were Boston’s starters doing to allow that to keep happening?
“I think we left a lot of pitches over the plate, and they did a good job,” said Cora. “It’s not going to be easy. I think it starts with the rotation. If they can go six [innings], we can go from there. The bullpen did an outstanding job. They threw the ball well, struck people out. If you told me coming into the series it was going to be this way, I would say, ‘No chance.’ It’s baseball. Those guys are going to be OK throughout the season. We know that.”
J.D.’s milestone goes a long way
Martinez unloaded for a three-run homer in the top of the fourth that got his team right back into the game at 9-6. It was also hit No. 1,000 in the slugger’s career.
After the game, Martinez exchanged some personal items with a fan for the baseball.
“I didn’t even know until I came back in and the guys were telling me congrats and stuff,” Martinez said. “I asked them to get the ball, and I was able to get the ball, which was pretty cool.”