BOSTON -- This hardly helps to clarify why Luis Jimenez, who had just one hit in 15 at-bats before being released by the team with the worst record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, is on the Red Sox roster.
Picked up off waivers on Sunday, Jimenez made his first appearance in a game for the Red Sox Wednesday night, entering in the eighth inning to run for David Ortiz at second, one out, and the Sox down a run to the Tampa Bay Rays. The move, while certainly defensible at the time, might have wound up costing the Sox a game.
Not only did Jimenez fail to score -- he was retired on a force play at the plate when Daniel Nava grounded weakly to first -- but he came to the plate instead of Ortiz in the bottom of the ninth as Boston’s last hope, the tying runs on first and second. Jimenez hit a little squibber in front of the plate and was easily thrown out at first.
“With [Ortiz’s] run being the tying run, if we get a base hit and he’s thrown out at the plate, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’’ Red Sox manager John Farrell said.
That wasn't the only move that didn't work out for the Sox. With the team playing short-handed because of Hanley Ramirez’s injury, the only other position player Farrell had on the bench when it was Jimenez’s turn to bat was backup catcher, Sandy Leon. He had one other pinch-hitter available when the eighth inning began in Nava, but chose to use him to hit for Allen Craig rather than saving him in case Ortiz’s place in the order came around again.
Nava had two hits in four previous at-bats off Rays reliever Kevin Jepsen, and with Jepsen walking the two left-handed batters he’d faced earlier in the inning, Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval, Farrell liked the Sox's chances better with the left-handed hitting Nava at the plate, but Nava swung at a 1-and-1 curveball and grounded to first baseman James Loney, who threw to the plate to retire Jimenez.
Nava is hitless in his last 18 at-bats and was 0-for-10 on the homestand. He’s batting .143 overall.
What made the decision to hit for Craig a little surprising was Farrell’s declaration that in Ramirez’s absence, he was going to give Craig a chance to “run with it,” in hopes that regular at-bats might jump-start his bat. Craig struck out, grounded to short and walked before being lifted.
“I’m not going to make an issue about that,’’ Craig said. “It was a great chance for us. I was ready to hit, but it’s John’s decision and I’m just part of the team. I’m not going to get worked up about that.’’
