On a damp and disgusting Wednesday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres wrapped up a three-game series that was weird for a number of reasons. For one, the Red Sox were playing the Padres. Even with interleague play in its 15th season, the Red Sox and Padres are still two teams you never expect to come together.
Red Sox, Padres Play Series Only A Mother Could Love
Boston and San Diego just completed an ugly three-game set that was ugly for unusual reasons.
For another, the Padres won two of three games. The Padres traveled to Fenway at 30-43, losers of eight of their last nine. The Red Sox, meanwhile, began the series at 43-28, winners of 13 of 15. One figured Boston would roll, or at least take two while narrowly missing the sweep. The outcome was a shock.
But the thing that caught my eye about this series more than anything else was the way in which so many of the runs scored. There were 34 runs scored in the three games. Here’s how they came in:
Single: 12
Double: 7
Home run: 4
Out: 2
Wild pitch: 1
Walk: 5
HBP: 3
There’s nothing really unusual until you get to the bottom. This series saw five RBI walks, and another three RBI hit batters.
That’s ridiculous. Eight times with the bases loaded during this series - four times for each team - a pitcher’s wildness forced home a run. The league average is about 8 percent of all-bases loaded plate appearances ending with a walk or an HBP. In this series, there were 18 plate appearances with the bases loaded, and eight of them ended with a painless or painful free pass.
Even given that the weather wasn’t great, that’s the mark of some exceptionally ugly pitching at the worst possible time. For your convenience, I now present an event-by-event summary.
Monday: Ernesto Frieri hits Marco Scutaro
Monday: Right after hitting Scutaro, Frieri hits Jason Varitek
Monday: Evan Scribner walks Dustin Pedroia
Monday: Pat Neshek walks Jacoby Ellsbury
Tuesday: Alfredo Aceves walks Jason Bartlett - his fourth consecutive walk
Tuesday: Aceves walks Chase Headley - his fifth consecutive walk
Wednesday: John Lackey walks Will Venable
Wednesday: Immediately following Venable walk, Lackey hits Jason Bartlett
Boston vs. San Diego is a weird interleague matchup, so I suppose it’s only fitting that the two teams combined for a weird three-game interleague series. A weird three-game interleague series that included 5% of baseball’s bases-loaded walks and hit batters all season. This was one each pitching coach can’t forget soon enough.
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