Doubront stabilizes the ship

Sinking Ship, painting by Bill Frederick

Eric D. Schabell
Contributing Writer

It has been a bit up and down with the Red Sox starting pitching.

Some days it has been amazing and results in wins, other days it has blown up in their faces.

Felix Doubront can attest to being on both sides of that coin. His 24 starts this season have been on average around 5-6 innings per start with a few spikes in there in both directions.

3 May - vs Rangers, lasted 3.2 innings giving up 12 hits and 6 runs.
13 June - vs Orioles, lasted 4.2 innings giving up 7 hits and 4 runs.
18 June - vs Rays, lasted 8 innings giving up 3 hits and 0 runs.
10 July - vs Mariners, lasted 7 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 run.
4 August - vs Diamondbacks, lasted 7 innings giving up 5 hits and 0 runs.
10 August - vs Royals, lasted 4 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 runs.
16 August - vs Yankees, lasted 4 innings giving up 8 hits and 7 runs.

The last two outings were the low point of his year to date, with the worst at the hands of the Yankees where every hit turned into a run.

Last night he started off a bit rough but got the game back under control and produced a string of solid innings with low pitch counts. He lasted 8 innings by sitting down 3 hitters in 4 of the 8 innings, and in the other 4 innings he allowed only one hit.

Pitch count per inning

With a total of 114 pitches, only 68 of which were strikes, leads one to believe that if he can get to pounding the strike zone a bit more he will be a dangerous starter down the stretch and into the playoffs.

It appears that the early run support that he got, he relaxed after the second inning and righted the ship. The Red Sox went on to win 12-1 and Doubront notched his ninth win of the season.

Now would be a good time for him to right his ship, string together a few solid 7-8 inning starts, and help keep the opponents that are nipping at the Red Sox heels at bay.

Post a comment or via twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.

More by Eric D. Schabell