Jake

Nice inning for Noah attacking the weak part of their order

Nice job Edgar

Brutal batted ball luck for Acuna continues

Why do we have a pitcher batting 8th?

Today he's throwing some sliders that are getting classed as cutters as well but I assume when he's throwing backdoor it's not a slider. But a bunch of 88-90 pitches with way more drop and sweep than his cutter usually has. As far as the true cutter, I don't know why he doesn't throw it inside to righties more often...that's the pairing you want with the barrage of inside sinkers.

I don't like pairing the backdoor cutter with a front door sinker. Gonna really get you in trouble when it leaks towards the heart as those sinkers are prone to do.

I like seeing the 60% zone rate from Noah today. A lot of teams have been going up there against him very passive, trying to bait a walk. As a consequence, they are beatable in the zone since they aren't thinking very aggressively. Of course, if they start getting good hacks in, he'll have to start going out of the zone.

whattttt how did Adames catch a popup with sunglasses on his hat???? Why would he forego the one and only thing you can use to see on a sunny day??

Schultz's cutter is not a cutter today. Dropping about 5 more inches than normal with 2 more inches of sideways break like a hard slider. I assume this is intentional.

I've had a few moments of liking Peters but mostly...extreme frustration

Might have to reconsider the notion that Quero is still a guy who hits lefties better than righties

Don't know why they didn't appeal the swing on ball 4 to Colson but I guess I shouldn't complain.

Alright, nothing too worrisome there. Walk that may have been avoided if he didn't have the worst defensive catcher in MLB. Extremely lucky double after that. Then Devers obliterated one and the rest of the guys put bad swings on him. Keep filling up the zone.

Tried to triple him up on the sweeper and paid for it

Brutal way to give up a double. Can't be walking people.

That was a great defensive play by Noah

I have wondered whether Leasure tips his pitches but it also may be a matter of hitters guessing right on a 2-pitch repertoire or perhaps something about his motion giving hitters a good look. The metrics on his fastball are absolute top shelf and he very frequently hits that spot high in the zone where hitters should be missing it but instead they square it up too often.

High leverage reliever to start the 5th? Who would that even be? Seranthony?

It's a great play by Chase to know to be there and of course to complete the catch. And nice by Mune to have his bearings enough to throw it over there

I think the conditions here in SF might be a little challenging

Will be an interesting decision who goes when Hays comes back. Could do Acuna, but you end up with a lot of outfielders and not so many infielders. Could drop Kelenic but you're pretty right-handed. I might actually lean towards dropping Grichuk.

Another entry in the "openers are stupid" file. And I think that inning is a nice demonstration of how there was no easy choice to handle the pitching. You're going to have to use some untrustworthy guys to work through a game that you only got 3 and change from your starter. Looking like a nice team loss brewing. I'd recommend not losing your minds over it but seems like that train has left the station

Well this would be 5-3 if we caught some popups if I recall correctly. Kelenic makes a catch and we're probably winning, lol.

Curious whether there's some cloud cover or what. That can be the worst for finding the ball. If it's just the ball going into the bright sun, sunglasses don't help much you have to deal with it using your feet

FWIW, I'm not sure that it actually makes sense for the Sox right now, but I recall part of the purpose of signing Newcomb was to provide depth for the rotation.