Houston Astros right-hander Brad Peacock was, as you might imagine, in a bad mood Sunday afternoon.
The Astros had just been crushed 11-0 by the Boston Red Sox in their final game before the All-Star break, and Peacock, who started the game, hadn’t even been allowed to finish the first inning. The righty surrendered a leadoff home run to Brock Holt, then gave up a single, walked one batter and hit another before being removed from the game by manager Bo Porter.
Peacock, who recorded just one out, believed this pitching change was premature.
“(I) definitely was not very happy,” Peacock told reporters after the game, via CSNHouston.com. “I thought I could get out of that jam right there. I had only given up one run at the time and it just kind of sucks. I don’t really know why I came out. I felt fine, just had a little bit of control issues there, but I don’t know.”
Porter, meanwhile, stood by his reasoning.
“You look at where that inning was going,” Porter explained. “It did not look like we were going to be able to get out of it at that point with him. We’ve got a four-day All-Star break and a rested bullpen. It just felt like, at that point, it was the best decision to go get him and bring an end to it.
“It was command. I mean, you look at the at-bats. It’s not like he had command of the strike zone. At that point, again, you sit there and say to yourself, do you wait until it’s four or 5-0? Or are you going to try to give us a chance? And I felt like we had a better chance by getting another guy in there at that point.”
Porter was sorely mistaken in his belief that Houston’s bullpen could pick its starter up. Five Astros relievers combined to allow 10 runs on 14 hits and eight walks, while Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz surrendered just three hits in a complete-game shutout.
