KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The quartet of former starters, all with moments of greatness, have been relegated to bench players this season.
So they search for a routine, ways to get themselves ready for their rare appearances in the lineup. None of them — Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, Jeremy Hermida, Bill Hall — have quite figured it out yet.
But, as three of them made their first starts last night, it sure looked like they had — even against Zack Greinke.
Manager Terry Francona had said, perhaps with a bit of apology, that the reserves penciled into the lineup had drawn the short straw. Only Hermida had received an at-bat this season, coming Friday night. So, yes, they were cold.
It didn’t show, not with Hermida lashing a pitch into the right-field bullpen in the fifth inning off the 2009 Cy Young winner, and Varitek following with a homer to a similar spot on the next pitch. Not with Varitek blasting another solo shot in the ninth, giving him two of the Sox’ five homers on the night. Not with Lowell making a diving stab on a grounder by Yuniesky Betancourt in the second inning and throwing a dart to first.
“We beat one of the best pitchers in the game,’’ Francona said. “That was what we set out to do. We have some balance. It’s not a typical bench. It’s guys that are used to playing. There are some challenges there. But we beat a really good pitcher tonight.’’
They did so by scoring six runs via the long ball, en route to an 8-3 win over the Royals in front of 37,505 at Kauffman Stadium. It all started with those back-to-back homers, the first time the Sox have done that this season. And it continued with Varitek proving he has something left offensively, registering his first two-homer game since May 28.
“I don’t know if it’s ever perfect, but he’s done a great job of not only accepting but trying to be the best he can be at whatever we ask him to do — whether it’s warm somebody up, help Victor [Martinez], be the captain,’’ Francona said. “But he took a couple of good swings.’’
The back-to-back blasts “got us going, got a little energy in the dugout,’’ Francona said. “And then we did a good job of spreading it out.’’
“I’m very happy for him,’’ Lowell said. “He’s such a hard worker that you want to see it pay dividends. I think in a role where he might not be getting the at-bats daily like most of last year, it’s probably more of a challenge. That’s a great way to start. I don’t think you can root against Tek, ever.’’
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