Felix Doubront

The Red Sox and Orioles will match up two young lefties in Tuesday night’s game at Camden Yards, as 24-year-old Felix Doubront will face off against 25-year-old Brian Matusz.

After not getting a decision in his first three starts, Doubront has become one of the most reliable arms on the Red Sox staff, earning a 4-1 record and winning his last three. Doubront has a 4.09 ERA and leads the Red Sox in strikeouts with 44, living up to the high hopes that many had for the Venezuelan entering his first season in the Red Sox rotation.

In his last start, Doubront struck out seven and only allowed one earned run in the Red Sox’ 4-1 win over the Rays. Of the six hits he allowed, only one was an extra-base hit. However, Doubront walked four hitters and hit one with a pitch in the outing.

As this is only his third season with Boston, the first two of which he made fewer than 15 appearances, Doubront has had limited experience with the Orioles lineup. However, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Chris Davis all have hits off of him.

While Matusz is only one year older than Doubront, he has been in the big leagues for an extra year and has started 49 more games. Matusz was a former top-50 prospect in the league but has struggled to find consistency in his first few years in the majors.

Since his 5-2 record in 2009, Matusz’s record has worsened each year, as he recorded a 10-12 record in 2010 and a dismal 1-9 record last year. Matusz won his first decision of last year before losing his next nine major league starts, in the middle of which he was sent to the minors.

Matusz has improved from last season’s performance but has been inconsistent. The Grand Junction, Colo., native lost his first three starts of the year but has won three of his last four. Matusz has a 3-4 record and a 5.36 ERA.

Matusz has performed very well against David Ortiz, striking him out eight out of his 10 times facing the left-handed slugger. However, Matusz has struggled against another left-handed Red Sox power-hitter, as Adrian Gonzalez has three hits and two walks in his five plate appearances against Matusz.

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Adrian Gonzalez watches his third-inning blast go just to the right of the right-field foul pole. (AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This time, it was the Red Sox who won the pitchers’ duel at Tropicana Field.

Felix Doubront out-dueled his rookie counterpart, Tampa Bay lefty Matt Moore, on the way to leading the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Rays in the teams’ series finale Thursday night. Doubront picked up his fourth win while lowering his ERA to 4.09 after allowing two runs (one earned) over 5 2/3 innings.

Leading the offense was Cody Ross, who drove in four of the Red Sox’ five runs.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

• Ross got the Sox on the board first with a two-out bases loaded walk, scoring Mike Aviles. The pitch came on a 3-2 changeup, punctuating an eight-pitch at-bat. Moore had loaded the bases thanks to singles by Aviles and David Ortiz, and Adrian Gonzalez being hit by a pitch. Moore finished the first having thrown 33 pitches.

• Marlon Byrd broke his streak of not hitting a home run in 126 at-bats, rocketing a 3-2 pitch from Moore over the center field fence to lead off the second inning and give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

• Ross handed the Red Sox their third run of the game with his seventh homer of the season, launching a Moore 0-2 changeup over the center-field fence.

• Doubront got out of a huge jam in the fourth inning when he induced a hard line drive right at Gonzalez at first off the bat of Luke Scott. The Sox starter was most likely one batter away from being pulled, having finished the fourth at 78 pitches with Scott Atchison warming up.

• Rich Hill got Doubront out of a tough spot in the sixth inning, getting the first batter he faced, Scott, to fly out to left field, stranding runners on second and third while preserving the Sox’ one-run lead.

• Ross capped the scoring for the Red Sox with a two-run single in the eighth inning, grounding a ball up the middle to score Dustin Pedroia and Ortiz. It marked the 18th time in Ross’ career he has totaled at least four RBI in a game, having last done it on April 14 against the Rays.

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Mike Aviles has been one of the best defensive shortstops in the majors this year. (AP)

All spring, the clamor for Jose Iglesias was driven by a chief force, namely, the idea that his spectacular defense would outweigh any offensive deficiencies he might have. That assessment was a direct reflection upon the sense that Mike Aviles was not an adequate defender at the position. He was expected to be a downgrade from Marco Scutaro, let alone a Gold Glove-caliber defender in Iglesias.

With 35 games now in the books, something unexpected has happened. Foremost, Aviles has been among the best defensive shortstops in the majors.

The small sample disclaimer is necessary. Typically, defense is best evaluated — at least from a statistical standpoint — over multiple seasons. A couple of months thus can be deceiving. Nonetheless, the initial returns on what Aviles has done at the position are eye-opening.

The John Dewan Plus/Minus evaluation system (which examines every ball hit into a player’s defensive zone and compares the number of plays made by a single player to the average number of plays made on such balls) suggests that Aviles has made 13 more plays than the average shortstop on the balls hit in his direction this season. He’s made five more plays than the average shortstop on balls hit to his right, three more than average to his left (where his positioning, range and strong arm has allowed him to make a number of plays behind the second base bag) and four more than average on pop-ups. In Dewan’s system, that defensive wizardry has translated to 10 runs saved, the second highest total among all big league shortstops. Fangraphs.com’s UZR statistic pegs Aviles as the fourth best shortstop in the majors, 2.5 runs better than the average shortstop.

With Aviles performing as an above-average defender on the left side and reigning Gold Glovers Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez on the right side, infield defense has been a strength of the Red Sox in the early going.

“I think we’re playing pretty good defense, especially on the infield,” said manager Bobby Valentine. “[Aviles has been] huge. I don’t want to jinx him, but he’s made all the progressions. He’s learning to move with hitters and position himself properly. He always knows the speed of the runner. He’s been huge. The stability of him has been huge for our defense.”

That said, while the infield defense has been solid, the Sox’ defensive efficiency rating (meaning the number of balls in play turned into outs) is 23rd in the majors. That, however, reflects primarily on a makeshift outfield that is without Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.

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Felix Doubront

After spending much of the 2010 and 2011 seasons in the Red Sox bullpen, Felix Doubront finally got the chance to join the starting rotation in 2012 and has been relatively effective.

Doubront is a modest 2-1 with a 5.01 ERA, but three of his six starts have been of the quality start variety. In four starts the lefty has struck out six or more batters, but he has only earned a winning decision in the two starts in which he had less than six strikeouts.

The 24-year-old’s last decision came against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on May 7, when he lasted 6 1/3 innings, which was his longest outing of the year. Doubront allowed five runs, but only three were earned. His threw 111 pitches, the highest pitch count of his career. He allowed three hits in the seventh inning and walked in a run before being relieved by Vicente Padilla. With the bases loaded, Padilla induced Billy Butler to hit an inning-ending double play, allowing Doubront to keep the positive decision as the Red Sox went on to win 11-5.

The young lefty is almost completely unknown to the Indians lineup, as he’s never faced Cleveland in a starter or reliever role. Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman are the only Indians players to have faced Doubront in their careers, and they only have four combined plate appearances against him.

Cleveland will trot out 27-year-old right-hander Josh Tomlin. While Tomlin is 1-2 with a 4.67 ERA, the Indians are 4-2 in games in which he pitches. He has started five games and made one relief appearance, which came April 14 against the Royals. Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez was tossed from the game after hitting Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas in the third inning. Tomlin came in and provided the Indians with 3 2/3 innings of relief, allowing four earned runs on six hits, as Cleveland won 11-9.

In his last start Tomlin was strong, going 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out eight while throwing a season-high 104 pitches against the visiting White Sox. Tomlin left in the eighth inning of that game with the lead and two runners on, but reliever Joe Smith couldn’t finish the job, allowing a game-tying single to Alex Rios. The Indians eventually went on to win 3-2.

Tomlin has started against the Red Sox three times in his career, going 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA. He last faced Boston at Fenway on Aug. 1, 2011. He did not get a decision after pitching six innings, allowing 10 hits and five earned runs. The Indians won that game 9-6. Only five current Red Sox players have faced Tomlin. Mike Aviles has the most at-bats against him with 14, but he is only batting .143, with a home run and a double as his only hits.

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Felix Doubront

Following a three-sweep at the hands of the AL East-leading Orioles, the Red Sox head to Kansas City to play the owners of the league’s second worst record (9-18) in an effort to climb out of the division cellar. The Sox will send out Felix Doubront, coming off of his worst outing of the season, to open up the series against Jonathan Sanchez, who is coming off of his best outing of the season.

One of the final additions to the Sox rotation this season, Doubront has largely avoided the large-scale inconsistencies of the rotation’s other starters, only producing one poor outing. Doubront started the season well, giving up two runs over five innings against the Blue Jays in his first start. He then peaked against the Yankees a couple weeks later, giving up just one run in six innings against the vaunted New York lineup. In his last two starts, though, Doubront has gone 1-1 while giving up eight runs in 10 innings against the White Sox and Athletics.

With few major league starts under his belt, Doubront doesn’t have much experience against many of the lineups he will face in his first year as a full-fledged starter. Against the Royals, this is especially true. Doubront will be taking the mound having not faced a single player in the Royals lineup.

Starting opposite Doubront is Sanchez, a 29-year-old lefty who gained national buzz when he threw a no-hitter for the Giants on July 11, 2009, against the Padres. Sanchez carried that momentum into a strong 2010 season but has regressed since then. In Sanchez’s final season with the Giants, he went 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA while making the fewest starts since he became a full-time starter in 2008.

After being traded from the Giants in the offseason exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera, Sanchez has gone 1-1 with a 5.24 ERA in five starts for the Royals. He is coming off a solid performance last week against the Tigers, going five innings and gave up just one hit, two walks and no runs. Longevity, though, has been an issue for Sanchez this season. In five starts, Sanchez has thrown over 100 pitches just once and has not going beyond five full innings pitched. The numbers continue a pattern for Sanchez, who averaged about 5 1/3 innings in 2011 as a starter.

Sanchez has faced the Red Sox twice in his career, with his first appearance coming in relief in 2007, facing just four batters. Sanchez’s most recent appearance against the Red Sox came in a 5-4 Giants win in San Francisco on June 25, 2010. Sanchez earned the win after going 5 1/3 innings and giving up three runs on four walks and three hits, including a home run.

After pitching in the National League for most of his career, Sanchez has limited experience against most Red Sox hitters. He has faced former Padre Adrian Gonzalez 43 times and holds a solid edge in the lefty-lefty matchup, limiting Gonzalez to just a .231 batting average, four walks and little pop (.385 slugging percentage).

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Felix Doubront set career highs in strikeouts (8) and earned runs allowed (5). (AP)

It is, at times, the nature of the beast with young starters who are getting their footing in the big leagues. While a young pitcher may feature a dominant arsenal, it can be difficult to harness it on a consistent basis. Such was the case for left-hander Felix Doubront, who once again showed stuff that ranked with anyone on the Red Sox staff but nonetheless could not locate his fastball en route to a 5-3 loss to the A’s.

Doubront ended up highlighting both his talent — striking out a career-high eight — and his inconsistent ability to translate that into dominance, as he permitted a career-high five earned runs.

Doubront left the game with the Sox in a 5-0 hole, and that proved insurmountable even as the Sox spent the later innings trying to rally back. The Sox pushed a pair of runs across in the ninth, but with the tying runs on base, Lars Anderson struck out against left-hander Jordan Norberto and Dustin Pedroia grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– On the one hand, Felix Doubront continued to show swing-and-miss stuff that rates with anyone on the staff, in particular, demonstrating a devastating changeup that was responsible for five strikeouts. The left-hander struck out a career-high eight, and he’s now struck out 30 in 26 innings. He has punched out 25.6 percent of all batters he’s faced, a mark that ranks third in the American League behind only Jered Weaver and CC Sabathia, and on Tuesday, he became just the eighth Sox pitcher to record as many as eight strikeouts in an outing of four or fewer innings, and the first since Tim Wakefield did so on June 1, 2003.

All of that said, he lasted just four innings and the Athletics tagged him for five runs on six hits while walking twice. Doubront struggled with both the command and control of his fastball, working behind in the count for much of his outing while tossing just 58 of his 94 pitches for strikes. Of the six hits he allowed, five came on fastballs and one on a cutter.

While Doubront has shown tremendous stuff, he is still struggling with his pitch efficiency and with working deep into games. His four-inning outing was his shortest of the year, but the 24-year-old is now averaging just over five innings an outing in his five starts. The five earned runs and three wild pitches he uncorked were also new career highs, and the southpaw now has a 5.19 ERA for the year. He also allowed three steals of third base. Read the rest of this entry »