BOSTON — On the same day he went public with his desire to get more high-leverage opportunities in the Red Sox bullpen, Liam Hendriks let one go to waste.
Hendriks took the loss in Boston’s 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Mets, allowing three earned runs and recording just two outs in relief of starter Garrett Crochet. The outing was just the second time this season in Hendriks’ 11 appearances that the Red Sox weren’t either trailing or ahead by more than five runs. For a three-time All-Star with designs on pitching in the eighth or ninth, frustrations have mounted. Hendriks entered the night with a 3.38 ERA (that ballooned to 5.56) and nine strikeouts in 10 ⅔ innings.
“There was a couple games where it was like I was the last guy in the bullpen,” Hendriks said after the game. “It’s a new experience for me. I felt like I had been pitching well to get trusted in a couple of those situations and it didn’t come to fruition. We had a couple chats. I got in there today and it didn’t quite work out.”
Before the game, Hendriks told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier that he had “no idea” what his role in Boston’s bullpen was and that his lack of usage had become a “source of contention” that had necessitated “multiple conversations” with the team. He said he wasn’t on the verge of requesting a trade but was clear he wasn’t happy.
“I just want to pitch,” he told Speier. “I feel like I can make contributions to this team. I feel like I can make a lot more contributions than I have been, and I just want to be given that opportunity.”
After the game, Hendriks confirmed that he had spoken to the Red Sox not only about the bullpen pecking order, but also how he has not pitched as often as he’d like.
“I think they understand the frustrations,” he said. “I haven’t been a guy who has been taken out of a game in six years, and now, it has happened back-to-back games. I don’t like that. But, I understand it. I feel like I haven’t been pitching enough. If you want me to be me, I’ve got to pitch. I’ll rust before I wear out, and that’s something.”
Hendriks entered Wednesday having pitched 10 times since making his injury-delayed Red Sox debut on April 20. In those games, just two of the 46 batters he faced came to the plate in “high-leverage” situations. The only high-leverage opportunity was May 14 in Detroit, when he kept a tie game tied thanks in large part to a miraculous home run robbery tag-team effort by Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela.
The Red Sox have relied on Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson and others in pressure situations so far as Hendriks, who didn’t pitch in the majors for a period of 681 days due to Tommy John surgery and multiple minor setbacks as he neared the end of his recovery road late last season and into spring training. There has clearly been a leash on Hendriks so far; he has not pitched on back-to-back days or been trusted to get key outs in the month since he debuted.
Before the game — and before Hendriks’ issues with the Red Sox became public — manager Alex Cora offered that the club was actively trying to find pockets for the 36-year-old. Cora said he had a conversation with Hendriks in Detroit about the team’s plans for him last week. Before Wednesday, he had pitched just once in the first five games of a homestand — when the Red Sox were down by a run in the ninth inning Friday.
“We have to use him. That’s on me,” Cora said. “That’s on the pitching department. We’ve got to trust him. There’s a reason he’s here. Been there, done that. Right now, numbers-wise, he has been solid. The fastball is trending up,, which is great. He has been able to bury the slider and the curveball, which is great. We have to use him.
“That’s the hard part. You want to take it easy with him, but at the same time, if we don’t use him, we’re doing a disservice not only to him but the whole bullpen. He needs to be a big part of this.”
With the bullpen combining for 11 innings in Boston’s first two games against the Mets and Crochet restricted to a shorter workload in what became an 85-pitch outing Wednesday, Hendriks knew he’d have a big role in the series finale. He warmed in the fifth, then sat down before getting back up again in the sixth inning. After Crochet struck out Juan Soto to lead off the inning in a 1-1 game, Hendriks entered and quickly got two strikeouts. The wheels fell off in the seventh when Hendriks allowed a trio of base hits (including an infield single to Luisangel Acuña) and all three runners came around to score after Brennan Bernardino came in to pitch.
“I don’t know what it was, whether I was tired, just yanking pitches or trying to overthrow stuff,” Hendriks said. “Just didn’t go my way. Unfortunately, that cost us the game.”
Outings like his latest won’t help Hendriks’ case for more pressure-packed situations. And though Cora downplayed the frustrations as something that happens “over the course of 162 (games),” it’s clearly something to monitor in the weeks ahead.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to reward them (for) throwing me by getting guys out,” Hendriks said. “If I’m not doing that, I don’t deserve to pitch.
“Regardless of any situation, I’ve got to go out there and get the job done when I do pitch. Today, I didn’t.”
