Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Richards’s quest to reinvent himself following MLB’s foreign substance crackdown continues to be an arduous one.
Since the league began enforcing its rules and checking for sticky substances that help pitchers improve their grip, Richards has seen his ERA balloon from 4.09 to as high as 4.96 (it’s now at 4.91). He’s given up four or more earned runs in four of his last six starts, and he hasn’t pitched six or more innings in a game in nearly two months.
It’s true, of course, that offense is generally up throughout Major League Baseball after a trying start to the season.