Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo Benched For Not Hustling Between Bases

Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo was back in the lineup against the Yankees for Boston’s match against New York Friday night after he was benched.

Against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, the 27-year-old was pulled over base running and lacking the hustle and paid the price for it, as he didn’t start the series finale on Thursday.

This play was in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game, as the Red Sox went 1-2 in the series with the Guardians, as they won their first match 5-4 then lose 2-5 and 3-10 against Cleveland. Verdugo left Wednesday’s game hitting .286/.364/.450 with five home runs and 24 runs batted in this season.

Verdugo was involved in the trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2020.

At this point, Boston is now 14 games out in the division and five games out in the wild card after losing five of their last six games at 31-32. Sitting at dead last in the AL East, their first matchup this weekend with New York Yankees in the Bronx will be pivotal for the fate of the season if they want to turn things around.

*Update: Boston went 2-1 against New York in their first series matchup this season, as the Red Sox 3-2 twice (first and third game) over the Yankees. Their second game was 1-3 Yankees over Red Sox, as Verdugo was back in the lineup for all three games. Collectively against New York, the Boson outfielder had 14 at-bats and four hits, with one strikeout. Verdugo currently has one at-bat and one hit for the Red Sox, as they face the Colorado Rockies tonight in their first matchup of the series.