Alex Cora Left Kyle Barraclough Out There To Die Last Night Against The Houston Astros In What Was An All-Time Brutal Relief Appearance
I love weird pitching lines, man. It feels like we don’t get that many anymore. At the first sign of trouble, it seems like a manager is inclined to pull a pitcher. But last night was one of those weird circumstances where Alex Cora was not going back to the bullpen. Kyle Barraclough was going to pitch as long as they needed him. And boy, oh boy, did he take a beating.
This is Barraclough's first year as a member of the Boston Red Sox. It's his eighth season in Major League Baseball. His career numbers have been relatively solid. He has dealt with many injuries over the last several years, but the Red Sox figured they would take a flyer out on him. Last night was his third career appearance as a member of the Boston Red Sox. He came into last night with a 2.70 ERA on the season, and by the time his outing was over, his ERA had ballooned to an absurd 12.91.
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Chris Sale pitched for the Red Sox last night. It was a pretty substandard outing by him. I went back and looked at the Red Sox's last few games, and while Alex Cora had been forced to make a fair amount of pitching changes, it didn't seem like they had a bullpen that was completely depleted. But sometimes, a manager just gets tired of mixing and matching, I guess. To say Kyle Barraclough took a beating is an all-time understatement. I've never seen a reliever allow 16 base runners. Ten runs is bad enough, but 16 base runners in less than five innings is borderline impossible.
I was following this game. After every inning, I kept saying, "Man, that's a rough outing," Yet, Alex Cora insisted that Barraclough kept being brought back for another frame. That has to constitute as some form of torture. I won't claim to know the ins and outs of an MLB clubhouse, but I do know that pitchers who have the intestinal fortitude to put up with an outing like that earn an insane amount of respect.
Looking at this from a glass-half-full perspective, you could argue that Barraclough did his job. Cora needed length. That's what he provided them with. He didn't provide them with positive results, but a one-run loss and an eight-run loss count the same in the win/loss column. From a baseball standpoint, the proper ending to the story would be for Barraclough to be lights out in his next appearance. I highly doubt that Alex Cora will require him to throw more than 90 pitches in a relief appearance. Even though we can point and laugh at the absurdity of that final line, any pitcher who can get off the mat after taking a beating like that has earned my respect.