What ‘frustrated’ Red Sox setup man most after blown save vs. Athletics

· Yahoo Sports

BOSTON — Red Sox setup man Garrett Whitlock was ahead in the count 0-2 against Athletics No. 3 hitter Jonah Heim.

Visit xsportfeed.quest for more information.

Whitlock had thrown Heim three straight two-seam fastballs, resulting in a foul ball, a swinging strike and a hard-hit foul ball to right field.

Whitlock and catcher Jake Rogers decided to throw a fourth straight two-seamer and it didn’t work out well.

Heim hit a game-tying RBI double the opposite way to left field in the eighth inning, then closer Aroldis Chapman gave up the go-ahead run in the ninth inning. Boston’s two most reliable relievers couldn’t get the job done in a 4-3 loss to the Athletics on Sunday at Fenway Park.

  • BETTING: The over/under is currently set at 8.5 total runs on BetMGM for Monday’s series opener between the Red Sox and the Blue Jays. Our complete BetMGM Sportsbook review makes it easy to figure out how to use their app.

Whitlock wasn’t frustrated with the location of the pitch. It was away, just off the edge of the strike zone.

“I was more frustrated, looking back, like, ‘Dang, I shouldn’t have thrown that pitch,’” Whitlock said. “But that was exactly where I wanted to throw that pitch. And he made a good swing on it, put good contact on it. So more frustrated in myself that I should have thrown a different pitch. Not really frustrated in execution.”

So what pitch should he have thrown there?

“Hindsight, either changeup or slider,” Whitlock said. “When I face him again, I’m not going to give my answer right now, but he should be pretty, fairly confident he’s not going to get a fastball away 0-2.”

It was just the second earned run that Whitlock has allowed in his past 20 outings.

It looked like a play Duran, an above-average defender, might make — but Heim’s double carried a .320 expected batting average and it would have been an impressive catch.

Whitlock immediately thought it was a double off the bat.

“To be honest, I never really saw him (Duran),” Whitlock said. “As soon as I saw the contact that he made, I was frustrated. I was like, ‘I should not have thrown a fastball there.’ And that was more frustrating. And I didn’t even really look and see him or anything like that. He came up to me, he was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I should have had that.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I didn’t think there was any chance you were gonna get to that.’ I just put my head down, started running to home plate because I was mad at myself. And I was like, ‘That’s a double.’”

Chapman then allowed the go-ahead run after retiring the first two batters in the ninth inning. Alika Williams singled with two outs and stole second base. Chapman had Williams potentially picked off, throwing to first baseman Willson Contreras. But Contreras did not make a clean throw to second base. It sailed into the outfield.

Williams scored on Max Muncy’s double, making it 4-3 A’s.

When Chapman was asked if he thought he had Williams picked off, he said, “Yeah, I think he could have been out. But this is baseball and those kinds of things happen.”

More Red Sox coverage

Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Read full story at source