Red Sox Bullpen Shuffle: Boston Recalls Hernandez, Sends Brasier To Pawtucket
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox shook up their bullpen on Tuesday, recalling top prospect Darwinzon Hernandez from Triple-A Pawtucket. To make room for Hernandez on the 25-man roster, the team sent Ryan Brasier down to the PawSox.
It's quite the fall for Brasier, who was an integral part of Boston's bullpen during their postseason run to a World Series title last season. He and Matt Barnes (among others) took over as Boston's closers in their "bullpen by committee" approach this season, but struggled in the role. Brasier has seven saves in 10 opportunities, but is 2-3 with a 4.24 ERA (allowing 19 earned runs over 40.1 innings) in his 44 relief appearances.
The 31-year-old struggled in his last four appearances, allowing six earned runs over 3.1 innings. He surrendered four runs (three earned) in the eighth inning of Boston's 10-8 win over the light-hitting Blue Jays on Monday night, and the Red Sox had to go to Barnes to get the final out of the frame.
For Hernandez, this will be his fourth stint in the majors this season. The 22-year-old lefty made his big league debut with 2.1 innings of shutout relief on April 23, striking our four Detroit Tigers in a 4-2 Boston loss. He got a spot start for the Red Sox last month and was tagged with the loss after allowing three earned runs over three innings of work against the Texas Rangers.
Boston's top pitching prospect, Hernandez is 2-6 with a 5.02 ERA in 17 appearances with Double-A Portland and Pawtucket this season. He has come out of the Pawtucket bullpen in each of his four previous outings, allowing just one run off a hit, a walk and six strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Hernandez will face both righties and lefties out of the bullpen.