Alex Cora stuck to his plan on Saturday. Red Sox infielder Andruw Monasterio has his blessing to face lefties when needed, and on Friday that was the case.
The Red Sox had two men on base, including the potential tying run. Adrián Morejón was on the mound when Cora asked Monasterio to pinch hit for Jarren Durán. The Venezuelan-born player battled through nine pitches against the lefty until he hit a ground ball to the pitcher, who threw to second base looking for a double play. He only got one, and the game was tied.
“Amazing. Pretty good,” said manager Alex Cora on Saturday after the game. “When you put the ball in play, good things can happen. He did an amazing job against a tough leftie. Just battling and put the ball in play. We scored and we tied the game.”
The Red Sox lost to the San Diego Padres 3–2, but Monasterio proved why his manager trusted him in that situation.
After the inning, Cora forfeited the DH and replaced the infielder with Roman Anthony, who went from the DH spot to left field. Monasterio has been saying that he has been working to play in the outfield since Spring Training.
“We have players available,” Cora explained the next day. “It’s hard to put an infielder as (an outfielder). We have Izzy too, who can play in the outfield. We are more comfortable with an outfielder playing there.”
However, Cora mentioned that Monasterio is “working on that” if they need to play him in the outfield.
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Andruw Monasterio has played only 15 games in the outfield in his career. That includes all levels, from the Winter League to the majors, where he has appeared in just three games in the outfield.
Photo: MLB.com screenshot
