Red Sox should have pinch-hit for Hunter Renfroe with game on the line
The Red Sox missed a clear spot to pinch-hit late in the game
One aspect that the Boston Red Sox have vastly improved upon this season is their enviable depth. The front office loaded up on versatile players to give Alex Cora plenty of options but with the game on the line, the manager didn’t take advantage of that flexibility.
Boston trailed by one run entering the final frame of the 7-inning game in the first half of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. Liam Hendriks, the league’s best reliever last season, was on the mound to present the Red Sox with a difficult hurdle in their efforts to rally.
Hendriks retired Rafael Devers with a harmless infield popup on his first pitch, bringing Hunter Renfroe to the plate with one out.
Renfroe got the start with lefty Dallas Keuchel on the mound for Chicago and he reached on an infield single that drove in Boston’s first run in the fourth inning. While he was picked off on a costly base running blunder to stall the rally, Renfroe was having a solid afternoon.
The reason to question the choice to leave him in for that final plate appearance was all about the matchup with the right-handed Hendriks. Renfroe has wide career splits for his career, batting .256/.337/.572 against southpaws but only .215/.268/.444 with a right-handed pitcher on the mound.
The platoon splits were also greatly in favor of the White Sox closer. Right-handed hitters were 1-for-9 (.111) this season against Hendriks entering the day. He also held right-handed bats to a .135 average and .302 OPS last year.
Renfore is off to a rough start to his first season in Boston, entering the day hitting .179 with a .571 OPS through eight games. Between his current slump and long history of platoon splits, there was little reason to have faith in Renfroe in that spot.
Red Sox options on the bench
If the Red Sox wanted to counter Hendriks with a lefty, Franchy Cordero would have been a viable option. He isn’t exactly lighting it up at the plate either but his .250/.314/.313 line is a step up from what Renfroe is producing and Cordero has always been much better against right-handed pitchers. These two outfielders are ideal platoon partners but when Cora had the chance to pinch-hit in response to Chicago’s starter leaving the game, he didn’t pull the trigger.
The Red Sox also had switch-hitter Marwin Gonzalez available on the bench. He’s off to a slow start, hitting only .216 this season, but he was one of the heroes of Saturday’s game with a solo home run that gave his team an 8th-inning lead. Why not take a chance on Gonzalez coming through in the clutch again?
Gonzalez has more experience facing Hendriks than most hitters on the Red Sox roster since both players spent several years with rival teams in the AL West. He doesn’t have much success in nine career at-bats against Hendriks but the one hit he has against him was a home run.
With Kevin Plawecki getting the start behind the plate, that left Christian Vazquez as an option on the bench. His right-handed bat might not be the best matchup against Hendriks but Vazquez was Boston’s best available hitter at the time. He’s on pace for career-highs with a .295 average and .840 OPS.
Vazquez will start the nightcap of the doubleheader so Cora presumably wanted to stay away from the veteran catcher in Game 1 but it’s hard to resist using one of your best hitters with the game on the line.
How it worked out for the Red Sox
Cora stuck with Renfroe and the decision failed to pan out when he grounded out to first base, leaving the Red Sox down to their final out.
Christian Arroyo kept the rally hopes alive with a base hit but Bobby Dalbec followed by watching strike three over the middle of the plate to end the game.
Would the outcome have been any different if the Red Sox had used a pinch-hitter for Renfroe? We’ll never know. There are various realistic outcomes that could have worked in Boston’s favor though.
The power of Renfroe might have been a factor in leaving him in to hit. Perhaps Cora was hoping that Renfroe would run into one to tie the game. His chances of going deep were about as strong as anyone else at Cora’s disposal in that moment.
Boston didn’t necessarily need a homer though. The chances of any hitter available on the bench reaching base were significantly higher in that situation than Renfroe’s chances against Hendriks. Imagine if a pinch-hitter managed to get on base ahead of Arroyo’s single. The Red Sox would have two on with only one out for Dalbec.
It was clear that Dalbec was swinging for the fences looking to end the game with a walk-off. Granted, that’s what he does during most of his trips to the plate. His approach would have been different if he knew a base hit would be enough to tie the game or if there were men on the corners with one out where a sac fly would get the job done.
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Getting the second batter of the inning on base any way possible could have drastically altered how the remainder of the inning played out. Renfroe had the lowest odds of avoiding an out against Hendriks, which is why it was surprising that Cora didn’t pinch-hit in that situation. The Red Sox have a deep roster with players who complement each other’s strengths and mask their weaknesses. Failing to take advantage of that might have cost them this game.