OAKLAND, Calif. — Pinch hitting is never easy, for a veteran or a rookie. Coming up to bat with little time to warm up or prepare isn’t a recipe for success — especially if you’ve only done it a handful of times.
So it was that Ryan Kalish stepped to the plate with two outs in the sixth inning yesterday, with two runners on and the Red Sox trailing the A’s by a run, for his fourth-ever pinch-hit appearance in the majors.
The first pitch zipped in. One hundred miles per hour.
“That was the hardest ball I’ve ever seen, for sure,’’ Kalish said.
The second pitch zipped in. Again, 100 miles per hour. Except this time, Kalish reversed the fastball from reliever Henry Rodriguez for a single to left field, scoring Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew and giving the Sox the lead, 4-3. They would hold on, making starter Josh Beckett a winner in a 5-3 triumph that prevented the Sox from being swept by the A’s.
“I just really try and treat it like any other at-bat, obviously,’’ Kalish said. “You know the situation, you know what’s going on. But you go out there having the confidence of everyone for you to come through. No one’s ever comfortable. I don’t ever feel comfortable ’cause I feel like you’ll struggle if you feel too confident. You go up there, I think it’s more about just trying to relax, especially with a guy throwing as hard as he was. You don’t really have to do too much.’’
Said manager Terry Francona, “Sometimes it’s almost easier when you’re young. You’re ready. It’s like, ‘See the ball and hit it,’ which is probably the best thing to do when you’re pinch hitting.’’
The Sox looked as if they might go down again, until Drew and Kalish picked their teammates up in the sixth.
The Sox were down by three runs as Drew stepped to the plate against lefthander Dallas Braden with the bases loaded and two outs. And Drew, who had entered batting .185 against lefties, doubled to left, scoring Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz and bringing the Sox within a run. That brought up Kalish, hitting for Bill Hall.
“We weren’t doing anything,’’ Francona said. “Braden’s changeup, even when we got into hitter’s counts, he’d fall behind 2-0, and he’d change speeds. We got I don’t know how many cue shots or off the end of the bat. He just took the sting out. Fortunately, we strung together enough.’’
Drew wasn’t done, helping the Sox get an insurance run in the eighth. The right fielder got Beltre home from second with an infield single that lefthanded reliever Jerry Blevins then threw away. Drew reached second on the error, though he jammed his right ankle on the play. He also injured his shoulder scoring in the sixth.
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