Only one time in the history of the current Wild Card format has a team won the series after losing Game 1. That was when the New York Yankees did it a season ago to the Boston Red Sox. Now, the Red Sox would desperately like to return the favor.
They’ll need to quickly turn the page. Game 1 was a disaster for Boston, after Payton Tolle had a solid start, manager Chad Tracy came with a quick hook and the bullpen melted down. That didn’t matter, though, because the offense didn’t score in the 9-0 loss.
Worse, Roman Anthony went down with an injury. The Red Sox star seemed to reaggravate his finger injury that forced him to miss most of the season. Going into an elimination game, the vibes around the team are in a bad place.
Boston Red Sox Manager Chad Tracy on Overcoming the Loss
In the regular season, the Red Sox would have had a bad game. In a longer series, there’s more time to bounce back. In a three game series, the Red Sox immediately have their back against the wall. Chad Tracy knows his team is in a bad spot, and wants to see his team play aggressively.
“It’s a challenge,” Tracy said. “That’s, holistically, the challenge of a three-game series. That’s why (Payton) Tolle was out there. That’s why (Cam) Schlittler was out there trying really hard to get Game 1. Now you have to win two in a row, so you’ve got to be aggressive and try to win as many moments as you can.”
Prior to the end of the regular season, Tracy had the interim tag removed. He had previously replaced World Series-winning manager Alex Cora and led the Red Sox on a massive turnaround in the middle of the summer. The belief is also that he’s on the same page as CBO Craig Breslow, which Cora wasn’t.
Getting quickly eliminated by the Yankees is a great way to end the honeymoon period before it ever begins for Tracy. Do it in two games while getting embarrassed is even worse.
Chad Tracy Explained His Bullpen Management for the Red Sox
If Red Sox fans are looking for something to immediately question, it’s how Tracy managed the Red Sox bullpen.
Tracy came with a quick hook for Tolle at 4.2 innings of 1-run baseball. He turned to Erik Miller, who immediately gave up a solo home run. Hindsight is 20/20, but it was a major mistake that swung momentum.
“You’re trailing already, you’re moving through the third time, Rice had already hit a double in the gap off of him,” Tracy said. “You have a nice lane there for Miller, and obviously (Rice) got him. Just felt like it was the time to go.”
Miller would stay out for the start of the sixth, letting another runner on base. That forced Greg Weissert into the game. He’s struggled with inherited runners on base but took care of things nicely.
At this point, the Red Sox were down 2-0 and trying to get the offense going. Tracy could go with a high leverage arm to keep it close, or he could use a back-end arm and hope it worked out, leaving those top arms for later. He went with the back-end arms, pitching Alec Gamboa, who couldn’t get an out, and then Wyatt Olds, who got 1.1 innings in. They combined to give up 5 runs.
Replacing Olds, Tracy made an odd decision. By this time, the game was about over. Still, instead of letting Olds eat it, he went to Brayan Bello, potentially wasting bullets.
“I just think we were at a point, the way the game was going along, if we could try to keep the game there but also keep guys short as we moved through it. Obviously, we had fallen behind by four and if we could try to keep guys short, stay in the game, and still have people online for tomorrow, but obviously the game was getting away from us at that point,” Tracy said.
Tracy needs to manage the bullpen better. That’s true. At the same time, without scoring any runs, it doesn’t matter. Everyone on the Red Sox needs to be better in Game 2.
Red Sox Manager Chad Tracy on Trying to Overcome Game 1 Loss vs. Yankees