Boston Red Sox: Starting rotation performs as expected on opening weekend

Opening weekend 2020 is in the books for the Boston Red Sox and it was (mostly) a rough opening for the starting rotation.

Welcome to the 2020 Major League Baseball season, where the starting rotation for the Boston Red Sox reminded us they were exactly who they thought they were.

A good thing, that is not.

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On one hand, we have Nathan Eovaldi, who rocketed out of the gates. Eovaldi hit 100 mph on the radar gun and pitched six solid innings in Boston’s opening day 13-2 victory.

Then, much to our expected chagrin — against the not-expected-to-be-good Baltimore Orioles — the next two games were simply not that good. Martín Pérez and Ryan Weber combined to give up 11 runs and 12 hits in 8.2 innings of work.

Perez was slightly better, making it to the five-inning mark. Weber, however, lasted only 3.2 innings, giving up six hits and six runs in this brief start.

Before settling into an entire gloom over the results of the first weekend, it should be noted the relief corps did a fine job in holding up their end of the bargain. The bullpen racked up 12.1 innings of work over the course of the series, allowing nine hits and four runs. Not exactly lights out, but also not the abomination we expected them to be.

After the 13-run outburst to start the series, the Boston offense mostly disappeared, as far as producing runs goes. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Kevin Pillar had nice weekends, as did J.D. Martinez and Christian Vazquez, and the team popped back to life at the plate in the late-going on Sunday and I’m not too worried about the offense.

Still, the fears about the starting rotation might be coming true before our very eyes.

Rotation roulette

The next two games have the Red Sox with the starter pitcher as “to be announced” next to it.

This is going to likely be a big uh-oh throughout the season, especially with recent news about ace Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez announced today that he has myocarditis, a heart condition usually occurring as a result from having a virus. His return date now is unknown, though Rodriguez does plan to return this season.

No immediate options are available to aid the starting rotation and it’s not very feasible to ask Eovaldi to start every three days. Normally, one could write off such troubling starts and struggles this early by simply saying, “it’s a long season. Boston will find a way.”

Boston still may find a way, but the luxury of “waiting-and-seeing” is not one the club can afford to do.  Only 57 more games await the team, with games against the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Atlanta Braves, and Washington Nationals looming large on the horizon.

The good news? It is only the opening weekend. The season might not be long, but I expect Perez to bounce back. I fully expect a player or two to surprise us, much like Marcus Walden did for parts of the 2019 season, and Boston, despite some struggles against the Orioles, has an offense that will help slug the team to plenty of victories.

The offense, plus an expanded playoff format, means Boston should still have a fighting chance to eventually be playoff-bound. Eight teams from each league will advance, meaning even third-place in the A.L. East should be enough to clinch a playoff berth.

Maybe then we can see Eovaldi start a game every other day. There’s nothing normal about this season already. Why not add one more oddity to the bucket?

Let’s just hope the Red Sox play well enough to even have that chance come October.