When left-hander Randy Williams emerged from the Red Sox bullpen to begin the 13th inning Monday night (Tuesday morning) against Kansas City, the pen was left with only Alfredo Aceves. However, he threw 46 pitches in Sunday's win over Seattle, so manager Terry Francona was in a quandary.
"We were in a little bit of a bind," Francona said. "We did not want to touch Aceves."
There was one more option. Unfortunately, he was scheduled to start in less than 48 hours.
"[John Lackey] showed up with spikes on and said, 'I'm going to go out there,'" Francona said.
In one way, the image of Lackey, who is on tap to take the mound Wednesday night, stretching in the dugout and then making his way out to the pen was not something the manager ever wanted to see. In another way, it was.
"That's probably a side of guys that you guys don't see, that we appreciate," Francona added. "Probably why we defend guys, because that's not at my urging. He's running down there to help. We appreciate that."
Francona admitted that he was not quite sure how he was going to handle the matter. He and pitching coach Curt Young talked it over and figured that as long as Williams was not in danger of hurting himself, he was their man. They sent Lackey to the bullpen, but if they ever went to him, they would need a new starter for Wednesday.
When Williams gave up a pair of runs in the 14th, it led to a loss but at least allowed Francona to avoid having to turn to Lackey.
"We were uncomfortable with both scenarios," Francona said.
