BALTIMORE — On Thursday, Baltimore Orioles starter Zach Eflin recorded his fourth straight win since a late July trade from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Eflin shut down the Boston Red Sox over six innings, allowing one run — a solo homer to Wilyer Abreu — on five hits. He didn’t issue a walk and struck out eight as the Orioles beat the Red Sox 5-1.
The Red Sox could have used a starter like Eflin.
Just days after the Red Sox watched the starting pitcher they acquired at the deadline — James Paxton — go down with a tear in his right calf, likely ending his season, Eflin’s performance stung even worse.
“He’s a good pitcher,” manager Alex Cora said. “He has a lot of weapons. He knows how to move the ball around the zone. Did a pretty good job.”
Zach Eflin’s 2Ks in the 2nd.
4Ks thru 2. pic.twitter.com/cIH4uJeE7a
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 15, 2024
Of course, there are two sides to every trade and the Orioles sent three prospects — two of their top 20 prospects in infielder/outfielder Mac Horvath and right-hander Jackson Baumeister, as well as outfielder Matthew Etzel — to the Rays for Eflin. Hindsight is indeed 20/20 and it’s possible the Rays were asking for one of the Red Sox top three prospects or even just favored the Baltimore package; nevertheless, it highlighted a hole on the roster the Red Sox have not been able to fill.
Making matters worse, the Red Sox had pursued Eflin entering the 2023 offseason when he was a free agent, only for him to choose the Rays’ deal for three years, $40 million instead.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox’s pitching has continued to falter. Is there a fix available at this late stage in the season?
According to WEEI.com, the Red Sox are close to signing veteran starter Rich Hill to a minor-league deal after Hill held a workout in front of scouts last Friday. But how much the 44-year-old can help the Red Sox remains to be seen.
The lefty hasn’t pitched all season, opting to spend time with his family as his career winds down, but he remained open to pitching in the second half if there were suitors. The 19-year big-league veteran struggled in the second half last season with the San Diego Padres after a trade at the deadline, posting an 8.23 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. But given the Red Sox’s struggles and the loss of Paxton, taking a chance on Hill — who’s pitched for the Red Sox two other times in his career — is among their best options at this point.
Rich Hill is close to formalizing a minor-league deal with the Red Sox. Here he is moments after last Friday’s workout (which the Red Sox were very impressed by) https://t.co/pFWSp3wFu6 pic.twitter.com/xQbyd038VP
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) August 16, 2024
At the start of this big series against the Orioles, the Red Sox’s current pitching situation remains murky. Nick Pivetta returned to the mound Thursday for his first start since Aug. 4 after the Red Sox skipped him one turn in the rotation.
The extra break brought his velocity back to life, as he averaged 93.5 mph with his fastball, more normal compared to the upper 80s he had maxed out at in Texas.
“It was nice to get back on track, feel healthy and strong and looking for my next one,” he said.
But as has been the case for most of the second half, the home run ball continued to plague the Red Sox. Pivetta allowed just three hits over five innings, but two of those three hits were home runs.
The Red Sox lead the majors with 54 home runs allowed since the All-Star break.
Pivetta was squeezed by a bad call from home plate umpire Brian Walsh to lead off the fourth on a pitch that was in the zone but called ball four. Pivetta failed to regroup and hung a first-pitch curveball that Gunnar Henderson crushed to turn a 1-0 Red Sox lead into a 2-1 deficit.
“I executed my pitch, it was called a ball,” Pivetta said. “I still have to execute my next pitch and I feel like I just left it too much over the plate and he was able to put a good swing on an 0-0 curveball and that’s just how it went.”
The next inning Cedric Mullins crushed a slider from Pivetta for a homer. More often than not, the Red Sox offense has been able to overcome a 3-1 deficit but Eflin was too effective at stifling the Red Sox’s bats.
“We didn’t make the adjustments and they won,” Rafael Devers said through a team translator.
The Orioles tacked on two more runs on run-scoring single off Bailey Horn and an RBI double off Chase Shugart, the latter of whom made his major-league debut. Shugart had been called up earlier in the week, but hadn’t pitched. Several family members had spent the last few days in Boston, but needed to return home to work on Thursday. A small group were on their way home to Houston, but had a layover in Baltimore and decided to get off the plane and go to the game, catching his big-league debut.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Shugart said. “Just can’t help but think about the people that got me here, all the work I put in to get here, and it’s a good feeling.”
It was a feel-good story on an otherwise tough day for the Red Sox.
The loss moved the Red Sox to 6-7 this month and pushed them eight games back of the first-place Orioles in the American League East. They sit 2 1/2 games back of the third wild-card spot.
Sunday is shaping up to be a big day for the club. It’s the final day of Triston Casas’ rehab assignment and he’ll need to rejoin the team by Monday. Tyler O’Neill began baseball activities on Thursday with the hope of returning to the Red Sox on Sunday. And reliever Liam Hendriks has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment on Sunday in Triple-A Worcester. But the Red Sox can’t remain in their current malaise much longer.
It won’t get much easier on Friday with right-hander Corbin Burnes on the mound set to face Cooper Criswell, who’s coming off the COVID-IL.
“We just got to keep playing and doing our thing,” Devers said.
(Photo of Eflin: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
