Baseball fans were in for a nice treat on Friday evening as the Atlanta Braves faced the Boston Red Sox. Friday's game featured a pitcher's duel between Garrett Crochet and Chris Sale. It lived up to the billing, and fortunately, two early homers and an implosion by Boston's bullpen allowed the Braves to improve to 23-22.
Atlanta had an opportunity to bury the Red Sox in the sixth inning. Atlanta was able to load the bases against Boston's ace Garrett Crochet. It allowed manager Brian Snitker a chance to play his hand and go for the death blow.
Not pinch hitting for Stuart Fairchild with the bases loaded was absolutely incorrect
Unfortunately, he decided Stuart Fairchild was the right option in that moment despite having one of their best hitters on the bench. Drake Baldwin has been a revelation for Atlanta this season and despite him being a left-handed bat, he's been great against them in May.
Baldwin is 4-for-5 against left-handed pitching this month, and as Braves insider Mark Bowman pointed out, would have been the better option in a clutch spot.
Making matters worse, Fairchild would come up AGAIN with the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth inning and Snit still inexplicably let Fairchild hit. Luckily, the Red Sox bullpen had little interest in throwing strikes, Fairchild drew a walk, and the Braves ended up with a pair of insurance runs.
Snit has been pretty good about getting Baldwin playing time, but that felt like the perfect opportunity to put him in the game. The stats support his getting that chance: With two outs and runners in scoring position, Baldwin is slashing .364/.417/.636 this season. That includes one homer, five RBI, and a 195 OPS+.
Baldwin seems to love hitting when the lights are the brightest, and it was odd not seeing him used in that spot. Luckily, it didn't matter at the end of the day, as Raisel Iglesias earned the save, with Stuart Fairchild catching the game's final out.