BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora had lefty masher Rob Refsnyder on his bench. But he decided to stick with rookie Roman Anthony against left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers down 5-4 with two outs and a runner at first base in the seventh inning.
Anthony struck out swinging on a 79.6 mph sweeper from Rogers. The Reds then scored three runs in the eighth inning and won 8-4 over the Red Sox here at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
Cora gave a simple answer when asked if he considered using Refsnyder as a pinch hitter for Anthony. Refsnyder is batting .283 (17-for-60) with a .392 on-base percentage, .550 slugging percentage, .942 OPS, four homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs vs. lefties.
Speedy Jarren Duran was the runner at first base.
“Nah. We didn’t hit for Roman in Anaheim the other day in the eighth. So he’s gonna hit,” said Cora about the 21-year-old who is Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect.
‘Too aggressive’
Romy Gonzalez made a costly baserunning mistake in the seventh inning. He hit an RBI double that scraped off the Green Monster and cut Boston’s deficit to 5-4. The ball got past left fielder Austin Hays, who tried to make a leaping catch against the Green Monster scoreboard.
Shortstop Matt McLain ran out to left field to retrieve the ball. Gonzalez tried to extend his double into a triple but McLain threw him out at third base for the first out of the inning.
“That’s too aggressive,” Cora said.
Where’s Wilson?
Red Sox lefty Justin Wilson hasn’t pitched since June 24.
Cora was asked if anything is going on with the 37-year-old.
“A little bit banged up but today there were a bunch of righties there so we didn’t need him,” Cora said.
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