On June 2, the Boston Red Sox fell behind the Los Angeles Angels by a significant amount. Without a rehab assignment prior, Richard Fitts’ second start off the disabled list swiftly soured following a leadoff homer. The Angels took a 6-0 lead in the first inning thanks to two more and careless defense, while the Red Sox scored yet another blowout victory.
Boston, however, almost managed to get out. Rafael Devers doubled an RBI in the third inning, and the Sox were within one run after a four-run fifth inning. The Red Sox’s revival in the sixth inning may have been ended by a second home run from Jo Adell, but Ceddanne Rafaela kept his club alive in the eighth inning by clobbing one of his own.
In the eighth inning, Jarren Duran took the plate with one out on the board. Duran examined his swing on the fifth pitch he saw after fouling off another and saw a strike and two balls. Edwin Moscoso, the third base umpire, disagreed and ruled Duran out swinging.
Alex Cora came out of the dugout to make sure Duran wasn’t dismissed as the outfielder went to the umpire to make his case. Against the Angels, Duran went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs, and a strikeout—something he never should have gotten—but it wasn’t enough to prevent yet another heartbreaking defeat.
A botched strike three call on Jarren Duran checked swing killed Red Sox rally against Angels
Umpires are human, and bad calls occur in baseball everywhere. However, Duran checked his swing completely, and a review reveals that he wasn’t even close to a full swing. Although there was no assurance Duran would have received a hit to keep the Sox comeback going, it is in some ways much more annoying to have it ended by events beyond their control than a typical strikeout would have been.
In one-run games, the Red Sox are now 6-16. To the Angels’ five, they struck out ten times. Eight soldiers were left on base. After spending a month on the disabled list due to a pectoral strain, Fitts had only made one start. Boston was still going to keep an eye on his pitch count on Monday night, but he only managed to get one inning out of him before the bullpen had to cover the next eight innings. Hunter Dobbins took up the most of the work and completed the task, giving up one run on four hits and recording four strikeouts in five innings.
Even if the umpires end a rally in one inning, good teams manage to win one-run games. The Red Sox missed a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning and had several other, better opportunities to score runs. Throughout the season, Boston has struggled with the same internal problems, and if it can’t resolve at least one of them before July, its short starts, high strikeout rate, and strange tendency to fall short with men on base will be its undoing.
