TORONTO -- Rick Porcello isn't the only pitcher to have problems with Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista, though the key to Saturday’s 8-4 Boston Red Sox victory over the Blue Jays was that those two sluggers accounted for virtually all of Toronto’s offense. The Red Sox, by contrast, got contributions from their entire lineup in yet another early-season hitting showcase.
“With the lineup that we have and the job that they’re doing now, our [the rotation’s] job is to keep us in the game and pitch as deep as possible,” Porcello said. “That’s really it. Obviously you face some tough lineups and it can be a challenge but we’ve got a great lineup and a really good defense, so it’s to our advantage.”
Eight members of Boston’s starting lineup delivered at least one hit as the Sox topped the six-run and 10-hit plateaus for the fourth time in as many games in the young 2016 season. Dustin Pedroia led the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon highlighted by an RBI double.
The Red Sox also benefited from some sloppy play from the Jays. Two passed balls from catcher Josh Thole led to a pair of runs, and a Hanley Ramirez liner bounced over Bautista’s head in the fifth inning to turn a would-be single into a two-run triple.
Manager John Farrell thought his club needed all the help they could get with Toronto starter R.A. Dickey on the mound.
“We were given some gift outs,” Farrell said. “Dickey’s knuckleball, that’s probably as best I’ve ever seen it, as violent as it was, we were able to put some innings together against him.”
It’s a tribute to Boston's roster depth that the Sox were able to post such big numbers despite not even using their “A” lineup. David Ortiz received a day off, which shifted Ramirez to DH, Travis Shaw to first and Pablo Sandoval stepped in at third in his first start of the season.
Center fielder Rusney Castillo also made his first start; Farrell wanted to get him some playing time and thought Castillo’s swing and approach would be a good counter against Dickey’s knuckler. The strategy paid off, as Castillo (who entered the game hitless in five previous plate appearances against Dickey) collected both a single and a double against the veteran starter.
“Facing Dickey, he’s a very unorthodox pitcher," Castillo said. "He’s a tough pitcher to hit against but I was able to make contact, put the ball in play and it just worked out.”
Porcello was also making his first start of the year, looking to rebound from a disappointing 2015 campaign in his first season in Boston and a rough spring in which he posted a 9.77 ERA over 15 2/3 Grapefruit League innings.
The right-hander has also had some poor results over his past three starts against Toronto, though Porcello held the Jays in check on Saturday -- well, most of them, at least. Donaldson singled in the first inning and Bautista cashed him in with a two-run homer to put Boston in an early deficit.
After Boston’s lineup put Porcello back ahead after a three-run third, the right-hander again ran into trouble against the heart of the Jays' order. This time, Donaldson doubled and Bautista delivered another two-run homer. Between the two homers and a fifth-inning walk, Bautista improved to 13-for-28 all-time against Porcello with three home runs, nine RBIs and five walks.
“I obviously didn’t pitch them very well. I had some bad counts and Bautista does what he does with mistakes,” Porcello said.
Beyond Donaldson and Bautista, however, Porcello limited the other 10 Blue Jays hitters he faced to just three hits (on no walks and seven strikeouts) over his six innings of work. Getting through that sixth inning was an achievement in itself for Porcello, as starters Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly both didn’t make it deeper than the fourth in Boston’s past two games.
Eating innings, Porcello said, is “part of my goal every time I take the ball, especially how much we’ve used the pen the last two nights. Especially after they scored a couple of runs, I had to settle down and battle through it. ... I was definitely excited early on and it resulted in some pitches up.
“As the game went on, I really tried to slow things down, manage it and not let it speed up on me. We started executing some better pitches and getting some better results.”
It’s no secret that the rotation is the biggest question facing the Red Sox. Aside from David Price, there’s a lot of uncertainty as to whether Porcello, Buchholz, Kelly and (when healthy) Eduardo Rodriguez can pitch well and/or simply toss enough innings to turn things over to the relief corps. While it’s obviously still very early in the season, Porcello’s outing on Saturday was certainly a step in the right direction.
“We’re leaning on our guys in that bullpen and they’re doing an outstanding job ... but we also have to be realistic in how many times you can go to that group for a number of innings,” Farrell said. “Rick’s six innings today was what we needed and we’ll need it again going forward.”
