Red Sox: Steven Wright watches All-Star Game from bullpen

Red Sox catchers Ryan Hanigan and Christian Vazquez are first and third respectively for the most passed balls in the majors, with a combined 26. It’s no coincidence that their names can be found high on this list, given that they have been behind the plate for many of Wright’s starts. Boston has allowed 32 passed balls as a team, nearly double the amount of the next closest team, the Toronto Blue Jays, who also happen to a have a knuckleball pitcher in R.A. Dickey on their staff.

With the AL team clinging to a two-run lead, you can understand why Yost was hesitant to risk turning the momentum in the NL’s favor with a passed ball that could lead to a run.

"“The whole object is to win the game,” Yost told reporters after the game, according to the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato. “[Wright] provided so much depth for us in the back of the game. He was the only guy that could go multiple innings. And he could go two, three innings and maybe push for four if we needed to. So yeah, I wish I could’ve gotten Stephen Vogt in, I wish I could’ve got Alex Colome in and I wish I could’ve got Steven Wright in. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do to win the ballgame.”"

As manager of the defending champion Royals, Yost knows a thing or two about the importance of winning the All-Star Game, which grants the winning league home field advantage in the World Series. The Royals closed out the series on the road in New York in Game 5, but taking the first two games at Kauffman Stadium helped set the tone for the rest of the series.

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