Three things we learned in the Red Sox’ 7-5 loss to the Tigers Wednesday night at Fenway:
Cookie crumbles
Aaron Cook, making his seventh start this season, struggled for the third straight outing. The right-hander went 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (all earned) on nine hits.
He was cruising through the first three innings, allowing just two base runners, but things started to unravel in the third, and completely fell apart in the fourth.
Cook allowed a run in the third, but the big blow came in the fourth when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back mammoth home runs, both on hanging curveballs, giving the Tigers a 6-1 lead at the time.
“Two outs, and two strikes, he thought he could bounce a curve ball, and he didn’t bounce it,” said manager Bobby Valentine on Cabrera’s home run. “That is what you live when with you have a contact pitcher. He works quick and doesn’t walk people. Sometimes his ground balls find holes.”
In his last three starts Cook has allowed 17 runs (15 earned) and given up six home runs. It seems likely that this could have been Cook’s last start, with Franklin Morales returning to the starting rotation.
But what remains to be seen is Morales could be forced to take Josh Beckett’s (back spasms) spot in the rotation.
Breslow returns to Fenway
On Tuesday Craig Breslow was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Red Sox, a team he appeared in 13 games with in 2006. With Arizona this season he appeared in 40 games where he was 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA.
The left-handed reliever arrived to Fenway Park just an hour or so before the game and was immediately activated to the major league roster.
“It is exciting for me,” Breslow, a Connecticut native said. “I appreciate the time I had away, but this is home for me. I want to come out here and help the guys.”
Breslow wasted no time getting action, as he was the first reliever out of the bullpen. He came into the game with two outs in the fifth and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two.
“I am here to give them another left-handed option out of the bullpen,” he said. “Whether that is matching up, or throwing at any guy at any time. I’ve always fought the notion that I am just a left-on-left guy. I feel like my splits throughout my career have been pretty even.”
The seven-year veteran gives the Red Sox some flexibility in their bullpen and the opportunity to move Morales back to the starting rotation.
Pedro, Pedro, Pedro…
Filling in for Dustin Pedroia earlier in the month and now Mike Aviles, Pedro Ciriaco certainly has made the most of his opportunity.
Ciriaco has appeared in 21 games, making 19 starts and has recorded hits in 13 of those tilts, including a 1-for-4 night Wednesday, including an RBI single in the seventh.
The RBI increased his career-high hit streak to six games, and he now has RBIs in four of his last five games where he is hitting .391.
Ciriaco is out of options, so if he were to be sent down to Pawtucket he would need to clear waivers where it is likely a team would put a claim in for him.
The 26-year-old should be here to stay for the remainder of the season.
