Red Sox best pitcher in embarrassing loss wasn’t actually a pitcher

The Boston Red Sox have had several issues with their rotation and bullpen all season, and it just seems to be getting worse.

The Boston Red Sox have faced several issues with their rotation and bullpen all season. The issues are only getting worse, and non-pitchers are providing better results than their regular pitchers. Catcher Reese McGuire was put in to pitch Tuesday night, and he pitched a perfect inning.

McGuire is still very new to Boston. He got traded from the Chicago White Sox at the deadline and has played 12 games total with the Red Sox. He made his major league debut in 2018, and this was his first time pitching.

The fact that he stood out as doing a good job is concerning considering it’s not even his job to do so.

The Red Sox rotation and bullpen are a new level of concerning

The Red Sox have one of the worst rosters in the league. Among all MLB teams, they have the sixth-worst ERA (4.48), eighth-worst opponent batting average (.251) and seventh-worst WHIP (1.32).

Josh Winckowski opened Tuesday’s game for Boston, and he, unfortunately, pitched a tough 2.2 innings. He gave up six runs and only struck out two. His performance has also gotten significantly worse over August. After giving up 4 total runs in his first two starts of August, he has given up a total of 12 in his second two starts.

He’s not the only one that has been underperforming. Four starting pitchers are currently on the injured list, but out of un-injured starters, Nick Pivetta has been the most reliable this season.

Pivetta has produced an ERA of 4.24, batting average against of .244 and WHIP of 1.29 so far this season. However, he’s also faced a major downfall. He’s improved significantly since July, but he’s still below his bests from May and June.

Boston is running out of steam that wasn’t quite there to begin with, which they can’t afford to do if they want to secure a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.