Corey Kluber's Role Reassured After Rough Loss To Padres
The Boston Red Sox have struggled to find stability and consistency in their starting rotation this season. That trend continued Sunday, leading to Boston’s 7-0 loss to the San Diego Padres and the end of its four-game winning streak.
Corey Kluber took the mound for the Red Sox and struggled out the gate, as the Padres rallied for four runs in the first inning. The 37-year-old didn’t last much longer on the mound, pulled after just 2 1/3 innings after allowing five runs off three hits and a walk with three strikeouts, giving Kluber his sixth loss of the season.
Despite failing to make it out of the third inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora assured Kluber’s place in Boston’s rotation moving forward after already shifting Nick Pivetta from the rotation to the bullpen.
“He pitches Sunday. He’ll pitch Sunday in Arizona,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.
For the bulk of the year, Kluber has struggled with both location and velocity, which the Padres took advantage of, especially in scoring opportunities.
“He’s gonna keep working,” Cora said. “Like I said before the game, he’s gonna get ready for the next one. When he’s around the plate and ahead in the count, he’s been tough. But today you saw it. He had (Matt Carpenter) with two strikes, right? Ended up with a walk. He had (Xander) Bogaerts with two strikes, he walked him. And he battled with (Rougned) Odor. Had him 1-2 and 3-2, he threw it in the zone and (Odor) put a good swing on it.”
Here are more notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Padres game:
Source: NESN
