Michael Wacha is the best starting pitcher on the Boston Red Sox right now (not including Whitlock)

Michael Wacha (Photo from MLB.com Video: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/red-sox-vs-rays/2022/04/22/661914#game_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=661914)

Michael Wacha had lots of traffic on the bases early in the Boston Red Sox 4-3 win at the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday night.

He allowed Wander Franco to hit solo home runs in the first and fifth innings.

The Rays' Randy Arozarena reached base (in the first inning) on a fielding error by Red Sox's shortstop Xander Bogaerts after Franco's first home run. He was put out on a baserunning mistake when Ji-Man Choi lined out to right fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley Jr. then threw to first baseman Bobby Dalbec to complete the double play.

Wacha allowed multiple Rays to get on-base in the second and third innings (but the Rays did not score, and the Rays who reached base in those innings were never put out). In the fourth inning, Wacha was perfect. In the fifth inning, I just told you what happened.

Wacha pitched five innings, gave up three hits, two runs and two earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts. He had three groundouts, three line outs, three pop outs and two fly outs.

Austin Davis came in and pitched a perfect sixth inning with two swinging strikouts. He gave up a single to Yandy Diaz, but Diaz got tagged out by Trevor Story trying to stretch a single into a double.

Matt Strahm pitched 2/3 of an inning and had two groundouts, gave up two hits, gave up one unearned run and zero earned runs.

The Red Sox defense committed three errors and only one of those errors costed them a run in the bottom of the seventh when Xander Bogaerts made a throwing error. Trevor Story also committed a throwing error when Wander Franco reached base in the third inning.

Hansel Robles pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball, had one strikeout, one flyout and two groundouts. He gpt Wander Franco to fly out to left fielder Alex Verdugo to end the bottom of the seventh inning.

Jake Diekman pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up three walks, had one groundout and one strikeout.

Matt Barnes came into the game in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded and got Wander Franco to ground out to second baseman Trevor Story to end the game.

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Through almost three games in the rotation for each starting pitcher (Rich Hill is making his third start of the regular season on Sunday), you could argue that Michael Wacha is the best starter on this Red Sox team right now (with the exception of Garrett Whitlock, who made his first Major League start on Saturday).

Wacha now has a 1.88 ERA this regular season and a 1.80 ERA when the Red Sox win and a 2.08 ERA when the Red Sox lose.

Michael has actually lost less than the other four starters and he has performed better than the other four starters as well.

Wacha has actually won more games than any other Red Sox pitcher and he has been in a larger percentage of games than all other Red Sox pitchers (despite the fact that Nathan Eovaldi has 14 2/3 innings pitched while Michael Wacha has pitched in just 14 1/3 innings pitched).

Michael's ERA is the best among the five starters and it is the best among the five starters in Red Sox wins and losses.

Only Tanner Houck's true run average and very true run average of 1.75 in Red Sox wins among the five starters is better than Wacha's 1.80 true run average and very true run average.

Michael's ERA is also better than Garrett Whitlock's 3.86 ERA in losses.

There are only six Red Sox pitchers who had a better ERA than Wacha's before Boston's 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Four of those pitchers had a 0.00 ERA and they are named Tyler Danish, Jake Diekman, Hansel Robles and Phillips Valdez.

Garrett Whitlock's ERA before Saturday was 0.93 and Matt Strahm had a 1.35 ERA.

Also, before Saturday's game, only five Red Sox pitchers had a better true run average and very true run average than Wacha.

The true run average and very true run average for Danish, Robles and Valdez was 0.00. Whitlock's was 0.93 and Strahm's was 1.69. Wacha's was 1.88.

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Finally, as I am about to publish this story, it is obvious that the Boston Red Sox mismanaged Tanner Houck and they should have let him pitch as long as possible for Thursday afternoon's start.

It is the bottom of the seventh inning right now in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

Yandy Diaz just hit a solo home run off Jake Diekman and the Rays have a 5-2 lead over the Red Sox.

Tanner Houck is now pitching.

The only major value Houck has for the rest of this game for the Red Sox is if the Red Sox offense can come back to tie or take the lead and/or if this game goes into extra innings (or several extra innings).

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NOTE: Very true run average and run average include all runs scored. So they are not like earned runs. Very true run average is more accurate than true run average because it doesn't blame a pitcher for allowing a baserunner to start on second base in extra innings. True run average blames the pitcher for allowing a baserunner to start on second base to start extra innings. Other than that, very true run average and true run average are more accurate and truthful than earned run average (earned runs) and run average (runs).

FINAL NOTE: All statistics in this story are from after the April 22nd, 2022, game and before the April 23nd, 2022 game (unless otherwise noted). This story was posted on Sunday, April 24th.

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Actual won-lost records in the 2022 regular season for Boston Red Sox pitchers depending on the Boston Red Sox win/loss result for any one specific game

NEW: The "wins" are all games that the Boston Red Sox actually won. The "wins" are percentages of innings pitched for each pitcher. All of the percentages of innings pitched (of games the Red Sox actually won) are then added together to get "wins", which is what you see below. The "losses" can be thought of as the percentage of runs any one pitcher allowed the opposing team to score. These percentages of how many runs a pitcher allows in any one game to score are then added together for every game (and only of the games that the Red Sox actually lost) to get "losses". Pitchers who start any extra inning are blamed for allowing a baserunner to start the inning at second base (and any other additional bases they allow that baserunner to advance) if that baserunner eventually scores. The winning percentage is wins divided by wins plus losses.

Matt Barnes .148 wins and .417 losses (.262 win pct.)

Ryan Brasier .148 wins and .958 losses (.134 win pct.)

Kutter Crawford .259 wins and .635 losses (.290 win pct.)

Tyler Danish 0 wins and 0 losses (Not applicable. Hasn't been in a game yet the Boston Red Sox actually won and he also hasn't given up any runs yet at all. So technically that means he's a winner. 1.000 win pct.)

Austin Davis .296 wins and .083 losses (.780 win pct.)

Jake Diekman .407 wins and .125 losses (.765 win pct.)

Nathan Eovaldi 1.074 wins and .500 losses (.682 win pct.)

Rich Hill .481 wins and .500 losses (.491 win pct.)

Tanner Houck 1.000 wins and 0.667 losses (.600 win pct.)

Nick Pivetta 0.000 wins and 2.333 losses (.000 win pct.)

Hansel Robles .593 wins and 0.000 losses (1.000 win pct.)

Hirokazu Sawamura .074 wins and .281 losses (.208 win pct.)

Matt Strahm .593 wins and 0.000 losses (1.000 win pct.)

Phillips Valdez 0 wins and 0 losses (Not applicable. Hasn't been in a game yet the Boston Red Sox actually won and he also hasn't given up any runs yet at all. So technically that means he's a winner. 1.000 win pct.)

Michael Wacha 1.111 wins and .333 losses (.769 win pct.)

Garrett Whitlock .815 wins and .167 losses (.830 win pct.)

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Actual won-lost records in the 2022 regular season for Boston Red Sox pitchers not depending on whether the Boston Red Sox actually win any one specific game or not.

In other words, this tells the complete picture of their entire regular season (the good and the bad) of how many people the pitcher got out (innings pitched) and how many runs the pitcher truthfully gave up (which is more accurate than runs or even earned runs given up). So to make this more easy for people to understand, starting pitchers don't 100% get blamed for the inherited runners that the reliever(s) allow to score. The starter will get 25%, 50% or 75% blame for giving up one run instead, for an inherited runner that eventually scores.

Also, a pitcher can get a partial win and a partial loss in the same game. So pitchers that throw more innings pitched are going to get a higher percentage of partial wins and pitchers who give up more runs are going to get a higher percentage of partial losses. So if one pitcher pitches a complete game he will get one win (regardless of the team's win/loss result) and if the pitcher's team actually loses that same game in which he was the only pitcher who pitched for his team, he will also get credit for one loss.

The only time any pitcher cannot take a loss or a partial loss is if the winning team doesn't give up any runs to the team they are playing.

Basically, this is truly giving credit where credit is due among pitchers only.

NEW: The "wins" are percentages of innings pitched for each game for each pitcher. All of the percentages of each game are then added together and the sum total of all percentages for each game are "wins" (whether the Red Sox actually won that specific game or not) and are what you see below. The "losses" can be thought of as the percentage of runs that any one pitcher allowed the opposing team to score for each game. All of the percentages of runs given up for each game are then added together and the sum total of all of those numbers are the "losses" and what you see below. The "losses" presented here are represented as the total number of potential losses that a pitcher could have if the Red Sox actually lost every single game in which a pitcher gave up a run(s). The winning percentage is wins divided by wins plus losses.

Matt Barnes .495 wins and .417 losses (.543 win pct.) 4 1/3 innings pitched

Ryan Brasier .442 wins and 2.125 losses (.172 win pct.) 4 innings pitched

Kutter Crawford .574 wins and .957 losses (.317 win pct.) 2 1/3 innings pitched

Tyler Danish .222 wins and 0.000 losses (1.000 win pct.) 2 innings pitched

Austin Davis .685 wins and .369 losses (.650 win pct.) 6 innings pitched

Jake Diekman .441 wins and .232 losses (.655 win pct.) 4 innings pitched

Nathan Eovaldi 1.574 wins and 1.786 losses (.469 win pct.) 14 2/3 innings pitched

Rich Hill 1.000 wins and 1.500 losses (.400 win pct.) 4 1/3 innings pitched

Tanner Houck 1.556 wins and 1.250 losses (.554 win pct.) 14 innings pitched

Nick Pivetta 1.375 wins and 2.333 losses (.371 win pct.) 11 2/3 innings pitched

Hansel Robles .693 wins and .000 losses (1.000 win pct.) 6 1/3 innings pitched

Hirokazu Sawamura .718 wins and .281 losses (.718 win pct.) 6 1/3 innings pitched

Matt Strahm .743 wins and 0.583 losses (.560 win pct.) 6 2/3 innings pitched

Phillips Valdez .912 wins and 0.000 losses (1.000 win pct.) 8 innings pitched

Michael Wacha 1.653 wins and 1.000 losses (.623 win pct.) 14 1/3 innings pitched

Garrett Whitlock 1.048 wins and .167 losses (.863 win pct.) 9 2/3 innings pitched

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Wins, Losses, Holds, Blown Saves and Saves that everybody understands

Matt Barnes Saves 1

Ryan Brasier Hold 1, Blown Saves 1

Kutter Crawford 1-1

Austin Davis 0-1 Holds 1

Jake Diekman Holds 5 Saves 1

Nathan Eovaldi 1-0

Rich Hill

Tanner Houck 1-1

Nick Pivetta 0-3

Hansel Robles 1-0 Holds 2 Saves 1

Hirokazu Sawamura

Matt Strahm 1-0 Holds 2

Phillips Valdez

Michael Wacha 1-0

Garrett Whitlock 1-0 Blown Saves 1 Saves 1