Here’s Why Ron Roenicke Didn’t Start Zack Godley In Red Sox’s Loss To Mets

Zack Godley was a bright spot for the Red Sox on Monday night.

Though Boston ultimately lost 7-4 to the New York Mets at Fenway Park, Godley dazzled on the mound. The right-hander pitched four scoreless innings giving up four hits, no walks and struck out seven.

It’s fair to wonder why manager Ron Roenicke elected to go with a true opener in Josh Osich, who gave up two earned runs on as many hits through two innings before Jeffrey Springs got rocked for five runs in 1 1/3 innings.

After the game, Roenicke explained his decision.

“Well it’s really just matching up with all their left-handers,” he said on Zoom. “So that’s the reason both of them were out there. Started Osich to hopefully get two-plus innings, get through the lineup with the three lefties at the end. And Springs same thing. Godley pitched great. Four really good innings. Obviously you never know coming into a game what’s gonna happen. But that’s decisions you make, you try to match up and it didn’t go well.”

With the starting rotation facing a lot of questions and with Eduardo Rodriguez sidelined for an unknown amount of time, could Roenicke slot Godley in for a traditional start?

“Well, we’ll see. We’ll talk about it and see how it matches up,” Roenicke said. “He certainly pitched well enough that that’s definitely a conversation we’re going to have.”

If Godley can give the Red Sox four or five quality innings as he did Monday night, he may give the team a chance to win before the game becomes out of reach.

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