There is no question that can be asked that would remove the pain from yesterday’s loss, no answer that can satisfactorily resolve the frustration from the blown lead in a crucial moment. Still, we can discuss the strategy, and, if not quite come to terms with what happened, at least develop a fuller understanding of it.
Jhoan Duran was tasked with taking the ball with a slim lead in the late game, which was hardly unusual. The fact that it was the seventh inning when he was given the ball, and that he was then
asked to handle the eighth, was much stranger. We know how it ended up working out. But how much blame is to be assigned to the decision to deploy him early, and for a highly atypical multi-inning appearance? Was the bad location on the fateful pitch the result of tiredness, or something that might’ve happened even if he was deployed in more typical fashion? So on and so forth.
What did you think of yesterday’s decision to deploy Duran for multiple innings?
