Red Sox starter Garrett Richards looked helpless through his first 1 2/3 innings of work on Monday night against the Royals. He allowed six hits (three of them home runs) and put Boston in an early 5–1 hole. He looked like a guy who was completely incapable of getting hitters out. And yet, he managed to pitch 4 1/3 innings of scoreless ball after that point. How? By reinventing himself on the fly.
After giving up a home run to Whit Merrifield with one out in the second, Richards decided that what he had been doing wasn’t cutting it, and so he got creative.