HOUSTON — An irresistible offering for the best of hitters who take the bait. A slow grounder that led to managers leaving the dugout, and some uncertainty still even after the game.
Much of what the sport has veered away from was rolled into one frame on Thursday night. Beyond his case to become a starter again, Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright provided an exaggerated reminder of the action baseball increasingly lacks in this era of strikeouts and home runs.
Knuckleballs, more than ever, are a precious commodity. But the rarity of the pitch, the freak-show novelty, is only one part of its appeal. Wright’s three innings of one-run ball in a 4-2 loss to the Astros were a reminder of what makes you turn your head and snap to attention during a baseball game.
“The defense, especially tonight, has been saving me too,” Wright said. “My part is just to throw it over the plate, change speeds and the defense has been extraordinary.”
Pitchers who invite their defenders are fading away, and Wright does by default.
One person lingering late in the Red Sox clubhouse on Thursday agreed: the inning they remembered, by far, was the eighth. The Sox already trailed 4-2 as Wright went out for his final frame. Jose Altuve came to the plate with one on and one out.
Boston Red Sox
The first pitch was a knuckleball up and on the inner half, practically at Altuve’s shoulders, and he swung out of his shoes. He hadn’t even finished his swing before he started to grin, the reigning American League MVP a bit amused. So too was anyone watching: what a hack.
Therein lies the power of the knuckleball, and the slower pitches that general managers no longer seek: the hitter wants to swing, maybe against his better judgment. The next pitch, another knuckler, produced the same type of swing and not much more of a result: a little chopper up the middle.
Wright couldn’t glove it. Charging across the diamond was third baseman Rafael Devers, who couldn’t get it either. Right behind him was shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts was shielded by Devers and probably didn’t even see the ball which just kept rolling, slowly, by the shortstop.
A trickler proved too tricky for three men.
Rolling still was Devers, whose angle and inertia took him right into the path of the runner on first base, Alex Bregman, as he arrived at second base. There was clear interference as Bregman rounded second, and he put his arms up. Perhaps forgetting the ball was still live, Bregman was tagged out diving back to second as the Sox finally got to the ball.
Out came manager A.J. Hinch to argue, and the call was successfully reversed: Devers’ interference awarded Bregman second base. There was no video replay, just an old-fashioned managers’ request. Out came Alex Cora, who said his animated piece.
An intentional walk to load the bags and Devers redeemed himself with a perfect throw home for a force out and out No. 2.
"The play that Devers made bailed me out of the last inning," Wright said.
That left the bags full with two out for Marwin Gonzalez. With a 3-1 count, Wright perfectly painted the low, outside corner with an 85 mph fastball. Gonzalez, a switch-hitter, batted right-handed against the knuckleballer Wright. The 3-2 offering was knuckler, and Wright and the Red Sox got out of it.
The inning was as seemingly random as the movement of the knuckleball itself. And the slowest pitches of the night amounted to arguably the most entertainment: titanic swings from Altuve, plays good and bad in the field.
It is compelling to be different on the mound these days, particularly when different means more action.
"The key is strikes," Wright said of his success this season. "You get ‘em to swing, and you hope that they don’t hit it with good contact."