CLEVELAND — Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo was benched for Thursday night’s rubber match of a three-game series against the Guardians for a lack of rush in Wednesday’s loss, according to manager Alex Cora.
The play that upset Cora came early in the seventh inning when Masataka Yoshida tapped a grounder at 82.1 mph to first base. Verdugo didn’t run too hard on the play, had a lead of about a step and didn’t slip.
As the Sox went defensive at the end of the eighth inning, Jarren Duran made a move from right to midfield and Christian Arroyo took Verdugo’s spot in the batting order.
The Boston Globe was first to report that Verdugo’s lack of rush was the reason he was left out of Wednesday’s game and not in the lineup on Thursday.
“Yeah, there was a play in the seventh inning that I didn’t like,” Cora said ahead of Thursday’s game. “We just felt like his reaction wasn’t great that game, you know, it was obvious he didn’t break his butt to second place. I don’t know if he [would have been] out or safe, but I didn’t like it.”
Cora said Verdugo will be back in the lineup when the Red Sox open a three-game series against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees in New York on Friday night.
Ahead of his meeting with the media on Thursday, Cora brought Verdugo to his office for an interview.
“Dugie as a player this year, you know, there aren’t too many things we can question, are there? Defensively he is one of the best in the big leagues. He was solid offensively,” said Cora. “Even at base running, which is one of the things he needed to get better at, he’s doing a good job.”
The 31-31 Red Sox went into Thursday 5-11 since May 21 and played some sloppy baseball, particularly on defense.
“Obviously we’re there and I don’t take him as an example because we have to improve in many aspects, but yesterday I felt, you know what, that’s not acceptable. And he knows it, so I took him out of the game and today he won’t start.”
Cora didn’t sound like he would use Verdugo in any situation on Thursday.
In Sunday’s loss to the Rays, Verdugo was involved in one of the ugliest defensive plays of the season for Boston, ultimately resulting in a little league two-run home run.
Cora said the game — a collective Red Sox meltdown — didn’t matter in Thursday’s bench change.
“The play the other day, both of them, they have to go through with it, you know, you can see their reaction,” Cora said. “I think Jarren took Alex for granted. And Alex actually didn’t have a great jump. Just know that when he wasn’t on the ball, he didn’t see it right away.”
While Cora knows that regular players need to protect their legs at times over a long season, he didn’t think Yoshida’s slow grounder in the seventh inning on Thursday was the right time to do so.
“Like I told him, he plays 155, 150 games and there are a few routine balls on the floor that he can assist. I’m good at him giving the overall performance and he’ll be eliminated,” Cora said. “But there are certain plays that we expect him to play because they’re game-changing. And I’m not saying he would be safe or go second. I say when he goes hard there’s no doubt and we can’t question the effort or the decision. It just so happened yesterday that he wasn’t in a hurry to finish second and I decided to take him out of the game.”
Without Verdugo in the line-up, Cora went up front with midfielder Duran while playing Rob Refsnyder in right field.