The Boston Red Sox were stranding runners left and right on Tuesday, but in a potential scoring opportunity late in the loss, they opted not to gamble.
The Red Sox lost 4-3 to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in a fascinating, 11-inning game. Boston trailed 3-1 before a Nathaniel Lowe two-run blast tied the game. The Red Sox largely went in control from there offensively, but despite constant traffic on the bases they could never get a go-ahead run across.
Down one run in the 11th, the Red Sox had speedster Nick Eaton on third with one out. Roman Anthony hit a fly ball to Colton Cowser, and after the O’s center fielder caught the ball, Eaton took off. That was short-lived though, as he quickly hit the brakes and returned to third.
It turns out that was a deliberate decision to hold Eaton, something manager Alex Cora defended after the game. Painstakingly for the Red Sox, Cowser’s throw was off line, so had Eaton not stopped he would have scored with ease.
Third base coach Kyle Hudson explained his thinking after the game.
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“With the arm that he has and the distance that he has from home plate, I thought he had a good chance to make a play at home plate. So that’s why I made the decision that I did,” Hudson said, via The Boston Globe. “You see the play develop and you use your instincts to make the decision, and that’s the decision that I made. Obviously, the throw was off line. We got to live with it, and I live with it. It is what it is at this point.”
Eaton also noted, per The Globe, that it was decided before the game that Cowser’s arm was on they didn’t want to test.
Alex Bregman would pop out the next at-bat, ending the game. The Red Sox will have Wednesday off before opening a huge four-game set against the Yankees on Thursday in New York.
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