When the Red Sox revealed their starting lineup against the Orioles for Thursday night's tilt against lefty starter Alexander Wells, one item jumped out: Bobby Dalbec wasn't in it.
The omission was notable considering how much of a weapon Dalbec has been against lefties over the last two months.
Against left-handers since Aug. 1, Dalbec is hitting .300 with a .982 OPS with four homers.
But, Alex Cora has his reasons, and he explained them prior to the series finale.
"I think he has been chasing pitches up in the zone, and at the same time, that bullpen is very heavy right-handed so we kind of switched it up with Kyle in there and Alex and Hunter behind J.D.," Cora said. "The hope is to get to the starter early and they are going to bring in some righties. I think it will be good having Kyle hitting second, grinding out at-bats and getting on base. He hasn’t slugged vs. lefties but his on-base percentage is high, so that’s the thought process. I think obviously you always think about, yeah, he might run into one and hit a homer against a left-handed pitcher, but at the same time, I think the last few days he has been chasing pitches out of the zone so it will be good to take a breather and we went with that lineup."
Dalbec has gone hitless in his last three games when facing left-handers, while also striking out six times in those games. Schwarber, conversely, has a .271 batting average, and .387 on-base percentage vs southpaws.