Boston Red Sox: Steven Wright Not Right in Loss to Orioles

Boston Red Sox knuckleballer was rocked in his second outing of the season against the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

It was pretty much over before it started for Boston Red Sox starter Steven Wright on Wednesday night.

In the final game of the brief two-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, Wright couldn’t back up the strong performance delivered the night before by Drew Pomeranz.

In fact, he was completely the opposite.

Wright gave up eight runs on eight hits in just 1 1/3 innings against the Orioles in the 12-5 loss at Fenway Park.  If the eight runs weren’t bad enough, he gave up four homers as Trey Mancini, Jonathan Scoop, Adam Jones and Chris Davis took him deep.  Mancini and Scoop launched their homers in the first inning.

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With the performance, Wright saw his ERA jump to 13.50 in his two starts and questions are arising as to why his knuckleball wasn’t jumping the way it typically does.  It could’ve just been that kind of night for a pitcher who relies on the knuckleball, but one does have to wonder if his shoulder is fully back to strength.

Following the disastrous start, Wright told reporters that he felt fine going into the game.  He also labeled it as the worst performance of his career.

"“It was terrible,” Wright said, via WEEI.  “I felt pretty good in the bullpen and then I came out and obviously kind of shot myself in the foot with the first pitch of the game hitting Seth Smith.  Then after that they wanted to swing and the knuckleball wasn’t doing anything and they capitalized on it.  It was probably one of my worst games as far as my knuckleball and stat line.  I think I gave up more home runs today than I did all last year.”"

Overall, Steven Wright was the opposite of what he was last season.  The knuckleballer was one of the surprise pitchers for the Red Sox, performing well enough to get named to the American League All-Star team.

Hopefully, he can figure things out to get back close to that level while the season is still very young.

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