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Hinch’s decision to pitch to Papi backfires
- Updated: May 14, 2016
BOSTON — The decision whether to intentionally walk Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has left many managers with sleepless nights, as Astros manager A.J. Hinch might be able to attest.
With first base open following a wild pitch and two outs in the 11th inning of a tied game and with a 2-2 count, the Astros opted to pitch to Ortiz, who clubbed a walk-off double to center field to give the Red Sox a 6-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.
“It’s tough when it ends that way,” Hinch said. “I’ll think about it the rest of the night.”
Hinch said the decision was made to attack Ortiz, even with first base open, because pitcher Michael Feliz already had two strikes on Big Papi, but the execution of the pitch wasn’t there. Feliz threw him a belt-high changeup over the out half of the plate that Ortiz drove deep to the outfield.
“Yeah, I think it’s easy now [to second guess],” Hinch said. “You walk a guy with two strikes and the odds are …
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