Daniel Bard

Daniel Bard will try to get his fourth win of the season and inch his way closer to a .500 record on Wednesday when he pitches against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Bard’s last outing against the Phillies last Friday was sub-par as he walked five batters and allowed five earned runs over five innings. His first inning was ugly as he walked three on the way to a four-run inning. Bard didn’t allow a run again until the fifth when Hunter Pence went deep. He was then relieved by Matt Albers in sixth and the Red Sox went on to lose 6-4.

This has been a tough transition year for the 26-year-old, who is in his first full season as a starter. Bard is 3-5 with a 4.85 ERA, and though he has gone at least five innings in every one of his starts, he simply can’t find consistency. In three of his seven starts he’s allowed two or less runs, but in the other four starts he’s allowed a total of 19 runs.

This will be Bard’s first start against Baltimore, although he’s faced the O’s 20 times as a reliever, compiling an 0-2 record and a 3.27 ERA. Only seven current Orioles have batted against Bard, with Nick Markakis being the most familiar with the Red Sox pitcher. Markakis is 3-for-11 against him. Adam Jones is the only Orioles player with a home run vs. Bard.

Baltimore will send Jake Arrieta to the mound. Arrieta is a unimpressive 2-4 with a 4.72 ERA.

In Arrieta’s last start he went a strong seven innings, allowing one run while striking out nine against the Nationals. The Orioles righty did not get the decision, but his team did finish off a 2-1 victory over its interleague rival. This outing was his third of seven innings or more. Back on May 2, Arrieta blanked the Yankees over eight innings in a 5-0 win. He also kept the Twins scoreless over seven innings back on April 6 in a 4-2 win.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jonathan Papelbon celebrates his 12th save of the season. (AP)

PHILADELPHIA — Daniel Bard couldn’t keep the starting pitching good times rolling Friday night.

The Sox starter struggled with his command from the get-go in his eighth start of the season, with the end result being a 6-4 win for the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Bard (who threw 94 pitches) finished his five-inning stint allowing just three hits, but he still gave up five runs to raise his ERA to 4.85.

It marked the first time since May 10 a Red Sox starter has surrendered more than four runs.

Philadelphia starter Cole Hamels got the win, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out nine over seven innings. Jonathan Papelbon (and his alter ego, Cinco Ocho) came on to pitch a scoreless ninth for his 12th save of the season.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was ejected for the 38th time in his career, arguing a play at first in the ninth inning in which Marlon Byrd was thrown out for the inning’s second out.

Here is what went wrong (and right) in the Red Sox’ 21st loss of the season:

WHAT WENT WRONG

• Bard struggled to find the strike zone all night long. By the unofficial count of Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, the Red Sox starter hit the zone with just 36 of his 94 pitches. The Sox starter would finish with five walks, marking the fourth time in eight starts Bard has walked four or more batters.

• Bard came out of the gate walking three of his first four batters. The first-inning free passes were followed by a Carlos Ruiz single, Ty Wigginton sacrifice fly and John Mayberry double, giving the Phillies a four-run frame.

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia was forced to leave the game early. Saltalamacchia exited after being hit in the left side of the head with a Bard pitch that deflected off Ruiz’ forearm. The team later identified the injury as a left ear laceration. Saltalamacchia was replaced by Kelly Shoppach, who made his presence felt in the seventh inning by throwing out Shane Victorino trying to steal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Bard

The Red Sox will put Daniel Bard on the mound Friday against the Phillies in the first interleague start of his career. Since converting from a reliever to a starter over the offseason, Bard has been up and down, posting a 3-4 record with a 4.30 ERA. However, the 26-year-old earned the win in his one relief appearance this season and only has two wins as a starter.

Bard struggled with his control in his last start, walking four batters and throwing less than 60 percent of his pitches as strikes. Despite his control issues, he lasted six innings and held the Indians to only one run in the Red Sox’ 12-1 win.

While he has not had much experience against Phillies hitters, Bard has had great success in the few times he has faced them. Ty Wigginton is the only player on the Phillies roster who has a hit against Bard, and he has two. The only other player in on the roster who has reached base against Bard is Hunter Pence, who walked with the bases loaded in their only matchup.

Because this game is an interleague game with the National League team at home, Red Sox pitchers will have to step into the batter’s box. Bard has not made a single plate appearance in his professional career, including his time in the minors.

Bard, along with the rest of the Red Sox lineup, will be battling with Phillies starter Cole Hamels in the matchup.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Bard (right) meets with pitching coach Bob McClure and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia during the third inning of Sunday's game. (AP)

The Red Sox got to a pair of former Boston pitchers early and often as they beat the Indians, 12-1, Sunday at Fenway Park. The victory was Boston’s third in a row, and Daniel Bard‘s first win in the month of May.

The Red Sox had big innings in the first and seventh innings. They did their damage against Justin Masterson in the first, as they plated four runs on RBIs from Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Masterson eventually settled down but ended the day having allowed six earned runs over six innings thanks to a third-inning homer from Middlebrooks and another Saltalamacchia RBI single in the sixth.

It was once Masterson was out of the game that things really got out of hand. The Sox lit up former Sox reliever Dan Wheeler to the tune of five hits and six runs in the seventh inning, including a two-run homer from Saltalamacchia.

Bard went six innings, throwing 97 pitches and allowing one earned run. He walked four batters and struck out two. He had last won on April 27 before dropping his previous two starts.

Mauro Gomez made his major league debut as he came in to play first base in the eighth inning. The 27-year-old first baseman was recalled by the Sox prior to Sunday’s game with Darnell McDonald having been placed on the disabled list with an oblique injury.

The Sox will continue their six-game home Monday and Tuesday against the Mariners. Jon Lester will take the hill Monday against Jason Vargas.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

• It was up-and-down start for Bard, but he still kept the Indians to just one run on the day and picked up his first win in his last three starts. After a seven-pitch first inning and a relatively clean second inning (the lone exception being a walk to Travis Hafner), the wheels started to come off quickly for Bard. He walked in a run as one of three walks in the third inning, but he was fortunate to get a pair of double plays that helped get him back on track.

After walking in Jack Hannahan, Bard got Hafner to ground one to Dustin Pedroia to set up an inning-ending twin killing in the top of the third. The other double play ended the fifth inning. After Jason Kipnis singled to right with one out, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a line drive that was snagged by Mike Aviles. Kipnis dove back to first but couldn’t beat Aviles’ throw.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Bard

Daniel Bard’s first season as starter for the Red Sox hasn’t gone so great. The 26-year-old is 2-4 with a 4.83 ERA. As a starter he is only 1-4. Against the Royals in his last start, Bard went seven innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs in receiving his fourth loss of the season as Boston fell 6-4. That was Bard’s second start of the season in which he allowed five earned runs or more.

While this will be Bard’s first start against the Indians, his career numbers against them are ugly. He’s 0-4 with one save and an 8.64 ERA in 11 appearances. Nine current Indians have faced Bard, but only Johnny Damon has more than three plate appearances against him. Damon is 3-for-8 with a home run against the righty.

Former Sox pitcher Justin Masterson will toe the rubber for the Indians opposite Bard. The Indians acquired Masterson in the 2009 trade deadline deal that brought Victor Martinez to Boston.

In Masterson’s third full season in Cleveland, he hasn’t been able to match the success he had in 2011. Masterson was 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA in 2011, and his 2012 Opening Day start was an impressive eight-inning, 10-strikeout performance, but he didn’t get the win because of a Chris Perez blown save. Six starts later, Masterson’s season ERA is 4.89. The Indians righty has four quality starts yet is only 1-2 on the season.

Masterson’s last start was a no-decision vs. the White Sox on May 8. He earned a quality start by going six innings and allowing two earned runs in an eventual 5-3 Indians loss.

Since leaving the Red Sox in 2009, Masterson is a dominating 3-0 with a 1.95 ERA in four starts against his former team. On June 9, 2010, he pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout at Progressive Field against the Red Sox in an 11-0 victory. Four Red Sox players have more than 10 at-bats against Masterson. Mike Aviles is 4-for-12 and Nick Punto is 3-for-9 against the righty. David Ortiz is the only current Red Sox player with a home run against Masterson.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Bard

After breaking their five-game losing streak and recording their first win in May Monday night, the Red Sox send out Daniel Bard Tuesday to face 23-year-old Royals left-hander Danny Duffy. Red Sox fans may be familiar with Bard as their team’s premier flamethrower, but they will become quickly acquainted with one of baseball’s hardest throwing left-handers in Duffy, whose velocity is up this season, sitting easily in the high 90s.

Coming off his second defeat of the season, a 4-2 loss to the Athletics in which he surrendered all four Oakland runs, Bard sits at 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. In his previous start, Bard was coming off of a relief appearance when he was asked to help keep a sinking Sox bullpen afloat, with many fans calling for the move to be permanent. A week later, the calls to move Bard to the bullpen seem to have quieted as the 26-year-old appears to finally have an opportunity to focus on fully transitioning into a full-time starting role.

Bard has faced the Royals nine times during his time in the bullpen, giving up just three earned runs over 10 1/3 innings. Against the Royals’ current lineup, Bard has had even greater success. Of the seven Royals he has faced, only two have hits, and they are batting a combined .158 against Bard over 19 plate appearances with nine strikeouts and no walks.

Bard’s most recent appearance against Kansas City came in August of last season, when he came in to hold the lead in the seventh and eighth. Boston’s then-setup man retired all six batters he faced, striking out three, in an eventual 8-1 Sox win. That outing followed a one-inning performance earlier in the same series, when Bard gave up one hit in a scoreless eighth inning in a 6-1 Red Sox win.

Starting opposite Bard is Duffy, who is entering his second year as a major league starter and has gone 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA in four starts this season. Duffy, who can hit just under 100 mph with his fastball and has a changeup in the upper 80s, is coming off of a solid 4-3 win against the Yankees, against whom he went 5 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

During his first season in the majors, Duffy made two starts against the Red Sox in 2011, with both starts ending up in Royals losses. Duffy’s first start against the Sox last season turned out to be one of his roughest and shortest of the season. Then a rookie, Duffy was taken out after surrendering six runs in 3 2/3 innings in an eventual 13-9 Sox win in late July. David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia both had huge days with four hits apiece, as Pedroia scored three times and drove in one while Ortiz notched four RBI. Duffy ended up not factoring in the decision, as Sox starter Andrew Miller also had a disastrous outing.

Duffy faced the Sox against almost a month later, bouncing back with a solid outing in a 6-1 Royals loss. Duffy went six innings, giving up just two runs, including a solo home run to Darnell McDonald, but got pinned with the loss after receiving no run support before getting taken out.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Bard was puzzled by a night where he struck out just one batter. (AP)

Against Daniel Bard, two strikes are supposed to represent Game Over situations. But on Wednesday night against the A’s, such counts represented Game On. And Bard was baffled by the development, which played a significant role in the Red Sox’ 4-2 loss to the A’s on Wednesday night.

Throughout the right-hander’s career, opponents have had virtually no shot when Bard gets to two-strike counts. Hitters have managed a singularly feeble line of .137 with a .205 OBP, .198 slugging mark and .403 OPS, striking out in nearly half (232 of 468, 49.6 percent) of the plate appearances in which he has gotten to two strikes.

This year, the numbers hadn’t been as extreme, but Bard still had the distinct upper hand once batters were down to their last strike. Opponents were hitting .244 with a .295 OBP, .317 slugging mark and .613 OPS against him in two-strike counts, punching out in 43.1 percent (19 of 44) of such plate appearances.

Given those sorts of numbers, the pitcher could be forgiven for admitting to confusion (he referred to the game as “weird”) after he gave up eight hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out just one. How to explain the lack of strikeouts, after he had averaged more than a strikeout per inning (19 in 18 2/3 frames) in his prior three starts?

“I was a little bewildered coming out,” the right-hander acknowledged after seeing his record drop to 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA. “I just had a hard time putting guys away. I felt like, especially early in the game, I was getting to a lot of 0-2 and 1-2 counts. I would make those pitches on the edges of the zone, and, for whatever reason, I wasn’t getting chases. They were fouling off, and they’d work it until I left something over the plate. That’s what happened later in the game.”

Bard got to two-strike counts 11 times. A’s hitters went 5-for-9 with three doubles, a walk, a hit by pitch and just the one strikeout in such situations, often scorching balls in counts where that should not be possible.

That was particularly true in Bard’s last inning, where Oakland’s hitters did not chase his sliders out of the zone and instead made him come after them with his fastball. Though Bard was sitting at 93-94 mph during the decisive three-run sixth, he was leaving it over the plate, and the A’s collected three doubles against the offering. Read the rest of this entry »