CINCINNATI — The Red Sox ran out of ABS challenges during the third inning Saturday when Roman Anthony unsuccessfully tried to overturn a strike call with the count 3-1.
Boston ended up losing 6-5 to the Reds in 11 innings.
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Anthony, who led off the inning, had successfully challenged the previous pitch to get a sweeper that landed below the strike zone overturned from a strike to a ball.
The second challenge came on a sinker from Reds starter Brady Singer that clipped the bottom of the zone. The system confirmed home plate umpire CB Bucknor’s initial strike call, driving the count full.
“Just not a good time to challenge; 3-1. I just got too aggressive with it. Can’t happen,” Anthony said.
Anthony ended up striking out looking on the next pitch.
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The Red Sox had already lost their first challenge when catcher Carlos Narváez unsuccessfully tried to get a ball overturned to a strike for starter Sonny Gray during the second inning.
Bucknor struggled throughout the game, with the Reds successfully getting five strike calls overturned. And being without a challenge ended up costing Boston. Trevor Story was called out on strikes on a pitch outside to end the fourth inning.
“I think it just goes back to me kind of wasting that second one,” Anthony said. “Can’t happen. And unfortunately you just lose them. And we saw how that worked out. So it’s a lesson. We’ll take it as a lesson. At least I will. Rather it happen now than down the road. But kind of just take that and learn from that and learn from what followed that and hold onto those.”
Asked whether running out of challenges swung the game, Anthony replied, “At the end of the day, we’ve still gotta play baseball games, still gotta win with or without the challenges, and we know that. But again, wasting it there doesn’t help anything. So gotta do better on my end to just not get overly aggressive and be absolutely sure if it’s gonna happen. But again, the situation, 3-1, didn’t call for it. Stupid on my end and won’t happen again.”
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Anthony had successfully challenged during the ninth inning of the regular-season opener Thursday. It led to him walking and the Red Sox scoring two insurance runs in a 3-0 victory.
“It’s baseball,” Anthony said. “So that’s how it goes. I keep saying it, but just gotta have better awareness and better feel there and understand that that’s not necessarily a challenge call there on my end. It just can’t happen.”
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