Desperate times … you know the saying.
The Boston Red Sox find themselves in dire straits, sitting 5.5 games out of the second American League wild card spot with just 24 games left to play entering Wednesday. With the chips stacked against them, the Sox admittedly will have to get a little creative if they plan on scratching their way into October.
Boston on Wednesday announced it had recalled four pitchers from Triple-A Pawtucket, meaning the team now is carrying 21 hurlers.
And manager Alex Cora plans to use them.
Cora bemoaned his starting rotation, which has been unreliable throughout the season, and says he is going “winter-ball style,” when it comes to his pitching staff. That means two things. 1. A lot of pitching changes. 2. Even longer games.
Cora: ‘We’re going winter ball style. Games, instead of going four hours are going five hours.’ Then adds: ‘Our starters are not giving us enough…We need outs…We’re not waving a white flag. We’re going to keep on pushing.’
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) September 4, 2019
Boston currently leads all of baseball in average duration of games at three hours, 24 minutes — seven minutes more than the next team. The Sox have played 15 games longer than 4 hours. They have played 53 games of 3 hours, 30 minutes or longer, according to MassLive.
So while the Sox currently seem on their way to an early end to the season, it appears they quite literally plan on making it last as long as they can.
