HOUSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora used Danny Santana as a pinch hitter for slugger Hunter Renfroe with Boston down one run in the eighth inning Friday.
Santana put together a quality at-bat. He made Astros righty Kendall Graveman throw nine pitches but Santana struck out swinging on a curveball for the first out of the eighth.
The Red Sox lost 5-4 to the Astros in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series here at Minute Maid Park.
It was an interesting decision by Cora considering Renfroe (31 homers this season) has the power to tie the game with one swing.
Santana, a switch-hitter, also had recorded just 14 plate appearances after July 21. He had not taken an at-bat in the majors since Sept. 10. He also batted just .181 (21-for-116) this season.
“I think the guy on the mound dictated what we did,” Cora explained. “Danny put a great at-bat. He (Graveman) is actually better against righties. ... That two-seamer at 99 is hard to hit it in the air and we went Danny. That was a great at-bat. 3-2 count. He had to go through curveball instead of the slider, so, yeah, we’re going to use everybody. We’re going to try to use everybody on the roster to try to win games.”
Graveman held the right-handed hitters to a .117 batting average, .222 on-base percentage, .126 slugging percentage and .348 OPS in 117 plate appearances this season. Meanwhile, left-handed hitters batted .253/.352/.396/.748 against him in 105 plate appearances.
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