Despite Friday’s 15th inning walk-off bomb by Alex Rodriguez, Terry Francona and the Sox are going back to the 23-year-old righty who coughed up two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings of work at Yankee Stadium en route to his first loss.
“I just don’t think we lost that game because he was nervous — I think
he hung a breaking ball to a really good hitter,” Francona said. “He
throws strikes with all his pitches and he’s so quick, he just might be
the quickest pitcher in the league and not at the expense of
sacrificing stuff with his pitches.”
By the sound of it, it appears that Tito and Co. are going to give Tazawa a few more chances here in the dog days of August. Regardless of how hot he may get here in his first tastes of MLB action, don’t expect the club to rely on the 180-pounder down the stretch, as his innings will likely be limited.
“Every once in a while, when a kid gets called up, he may go an inning or two short here at the beginning of his career,” Francona explained. “Some people don’t understand that and you hear the old rumblings, ‘They don’t do it like the old days,’ but there’s a lot of facts and data that support trying to keep these guys not only healthy but to get these guys stronger as they’re progressing through the minor leagues, so we don’t want to un-do that in the kid’s first start or two.”
