Justin Masterson's first start at Fenway was nowhere near as good as his first start of the season.
After limiting the Philadelphia Phillies to just two runs over six innings last Thursday, Masterson couldn't get through the fifth inning, coughing up a 5-1 lead his teammates had built over the Washington Nationals.
That the Sox were able to come back with a three-run seventh and a 7-6 victory. But that didn't make his outing look any better.
"He didn't have his best stuff overall,'' said Masterson. "He threw enough strikes early on to keep away from a big inning, but it seemed like the stuff kind of ran out of gas in that fifth inning with multiple walks and a pitch up on the plate. The action to the pitches -- the fastball slider -- was there, but the walks mixed in with some base hits created some issues here tonight.''
In all, Masterson allowed 13 baserunners in 5 1/3 innings. He retired the side in order just once and saw eight Nationals come to the plate in the fifth before he was lifted with just one out.
"Command...my command was just not there tonight,'' said Masterson. "I have a rough idea (why), but we're still working through it. We were working through it throughout the game. You could see it from the get-go -- just off, just missing, not as sharp as they were before. I got by with some stuff, changing speeds. There were a lot of balls in the zone.
"There were (three) walks and that's not good. As we got to that (fifth) inning, I kind of got a little out of it.''
Boston Red Sox
Masterson repeatedly describe his mechanics as "tight'' -- meaning that his throwing motion wasn't as free as it should be, though not, he emphasized, because of any physical restrictions.
Rather, Masterson was shot-putting the ball rather than, as he termed it, "using the whip.''
"Some of it was mechanics,'' concluded Masterson, "and some of it was (not) getting it through (with his delivery), just trusting. I was kind of battling that mentally and physically. I think I understand it now, but the Nationals kind of gave us the game back and we took ownership of it.''
Masterson credited the bullpen for 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, while wishing he hadn't left them such a big workload.