Boston trying to adjust to lefty starters

NEW YORK — Friday night's game was a perfect example of why the Red Sox acquired Steve Pearce.

Yet another left-handed pitcher quieted the Boston bats, as CC Sabathia did the honors in an 8-1 drubbing at Yankee Stadium. There were precious few times where the Red Sox made hard contact against the 37-year-old veteran, the possessor of a once-powerful arm who now throws his fastball a mere 18 percent of the time.

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NEW YORK — Friday night's game was a perfect example of why the Red Sox acquired Steve Pearce.

Yet another left-handed pitcher quieted the Boston bats, as CC Sabathia did the honors in an 8-1 drubbing at Yankee Stadium. There were precious few times where the Red Sox made hard contact against the 37-year-old veteran, the possessor of a once-powerful arm who now throws his fastball a mere 18 percent of the time.

Whether it’s Sabathia, Tampa’s Blake Snell, Oakland’s Sean Manaea or any other southpaw, Boston’s weakness was exposed yet again. The Red Sox have totaled just a .724 OPS against left-handers, considerably lower than the .809 OPS they’ve piled up against right-handers. Pearce’s two hits in his Boston debut weren’t enough to pick up the rest of the offense. Andrew Benintendi’s RBI double plated the lone run.

“It would have been nicer if we got the win,” Pearce said. “That overshadowed what I did at the plate. I felt comfortable and I’m going to continue to do what I do.”

How often Pearce will be called into service remains to be seen. Fortunately for the Red Sox, only one of their four potential playoff opponents can roll out multiple left-handed options in the starting rotation. That would be the Mariners, who feature significant variety between the hard-throwing James Paxton and soft-tossers Marco Gonzales and Wade LeBlanc.

“We’ve swung the bat better, but we still have talked about trying to add one more guy we can put in the lineup against a tough left-hander,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Thursday. “(Pearce has) traditionally hit left-hand pitching very well.”

That guy at the start of the season was Hanley Ramirez, who boasts a career .895 OPS against left-handed pitching. The other factors at play in keeping him on the roster — reduced playing time in favor of Mitch Moreland and an unwillingness to allow his $22-million option for 2019 to vest — ultimately convinced Boston to designate him for assignment on May 25. Dombrowski is more convinced that Pearce is ready to accept a reduced role than what essentially would have been a demotion of Ramirez from everyday first baseman to specialized duty.

“It’s a mindset that he’s happy to tackle that type of role,” Dombrowski said of Pearce on Saturday. “I think that’s what it really comes down to.”

As far as other solutions, two players in particular dropped out of the running for different reasons. Sam Travis has struggled to a .576 OPS in 49 games at Triple-A Pawtucket and top position-player prospect Michael Chavis is just now on the cusp of returning from his 80-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.

“In our situation internally, we really didn’t have anybody step up from the minor-league system to jump into that role,” Dombrowski said. “We thought that was possible. It didn’t really happen at Triple-A, and then of course Michael Chavis has also been out. If you were talking to me in the winter time, we thought that could be a potential.”

Dallas Keuchel captured the 2015 American League Cy Young Award, but his 4.22 earned-run average this season likely wouldn’t merit him a postseason start for the Astros. Right-handers Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers appear to be the prime options for Houston, but McCullers did gain considerable experience coming out of the bullpen during last season’s World Series run. Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch could opt to play the percentages and give Keuchel the ball against Boston, holding McCullers in reserve for multiple games.

Cleveland’s rotation is exclusively right-handed, fronted by Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer. The Indians even have a pair of quality right-handers on the disabled list at the moment in Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco. New York’s financial flexibility and stocked farm system could result in a move for a starter, with Texas left-hander Cole Hamels among the rumored names.

Should the Yankees add another left-hander to Sabathia, Boston could play half of its games in an A.L. Division Series or A.L. Championship Series against southpaw starters. With that in mind, the early move by Dombrowski was a proactive one. He said on Saturday that the Red Sox roster was likely set in terms of position players, with pitching help the focus of any potential deadline deals.

“Depending upon what happens there we’ll evaluate our situation,” Dombrowski said. “From a positional player perspective, I’m not really sure what else we would do if we stay healthy.”

-- bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25