Three takeaways from the Red Sox' 6-4 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night . . .
1) Long relief may be short for the Red Sox in the postseason
The news that Drew Pomeranz won't start Thursday and is dealing with forearm soreness was ominous -- to say the least. While the Sox aren't concerned enough to order up an MRI for the lefty, it seems a fair bet that he won't pitch again this season. Pomeranz wasn't going to crack the postseason rotation and would likely have been relegated to relief duty. Now, even that seems a stretch.
Add that development to the continued absence of Steven Wright and the Red Sox are missing 40 percent of their rotation from late July and early August.
Healthy, both would have been stretched-out and available to provide multiple innings in the postseason.
Of course, most teams would prefer to not have to rely on long men in the postseason, since their very appearance in a game would signifiy that a starter got knocked out early.
When that happens, however, it's nice to have experienced, dependable arms to cover innings and not impact the bullpen's high-leverage pitchers.
Boston Red Sox
Now, in such a scenario, the Sox will likely have to turn to either Robbie Ross Jr. or Heath Hembree.
2) Is Aaron Hill heating up?
In the month of September, Hill has posted a line of .381/.409/.571. On Tuesday night, he blasted a pinch-hit homer.
Admittedly, that's a relatively small sample size. But Hill has had better at-bats of late, especially against lefties.
It's doubtful that he'll take over third base -- now or in the postseason -- full-time, since John Farrell has two left-handed hitting options, with Travis Shaw and Brock Holt. Shaw certainly more power and has shown the ability to go on hot streaks at the plate.
But Hill is a veteran player, albeit one with little postseason experience (11 at-bats in the Division Series for Arizona in 2011) for a 12-year veteran.
And one other benefit: Hill is a .373 career hitter as a pinch-hitter, making him a valuable part off the bench in games started by either Holt or Shaw.
3) One loss is all it took for the second-guessing to resurface
The Sox had won 11 straight before Tuesday's loss, which quickly re-introduced criticism of Farrell.
Starter David Price had given up four runs through six innings, but the Sox rallied for two runs off Tommy Layne in the seventh to tie things at 4-4.
At 76 pitches, Price went back out for the seventh and promptly yielded a two-run homer to Tyler Austin, giving the Yanks another two-run lead.
Price hadn't been sharp in the first six. With expanded rosters, plenty of available relievers and a rested bullpen after a day off Monday, why stick with Price?
Offered Farrell: "You go with a right-hander they’re going to go with [Mark] Teixeira and [Brian] McCann with that right-field porch,” Farrell said. “Wanted to keep the (right-handed hitters) in the ballgame, (but Price) mislocated over the plate.”