David Ortiz, though, said after the first game of Monday’s doubleheader that Alfredo Aceves should be in the Red Sox rotation.
“To be honest with you, the way things are going, he should be starting. It’s as simple as that,” Ortiz was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe. “I think at one point, he might be a starter. It all depends what the front office decides, but he’s got good stuff, and we definitely need a guy that can come in and give us six or seven good innings. He seems like he’s capable to do it, so we’ll see.”
There was some push to give the Aceves a start in the doubleheader today, but the team decided to keep the versatile right-hander in the pen and pitch Kyle Weiland in Game 1 instead. Weiland gave up six runs -- five earned -- in 4 2/3 innings and took the loss in what ended up being a 6-5 game. Aceves came in to start the seventh and pitched three scoreless innings to give Boston a chance to come back. He has a 2.74 ERA in 105 innings for the season.
If Erik Bedard shows he’s healthy when he returns on Tuesday, it would probably eliminate any chance of Aceves joining the rotation for the final week of the season. However, if Bedard struggles, the team just have to take the plunge. Obviously the Red Sox are far from locks to advance at this point, but without a healthy Bedard, Aceves would probably be the team’s best option to start the third game of the ALDS.
