Ausmus Reflects On Having Hunter Bunt: 'I Don't Think It Was A Bad Decision'
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
COMERICA PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus made a decision Wednesday that he has revisited more than perhaps any other call he has made so far in his short career as a skipper. With two men on in the eighth inning and the Tigers trailing the Cleveland Indians 3-1, Ausmus called on Torii Hunter to bunt, and Hunter faltered twice and then hit into a double play. The Tigers got one run that inning but failed to score any more and lost to the Indians, 3-2.
"I certainly thought about it, talked about it with some of the coaches, and overall, I still think that [Miguel] Cabrera probably doesn't end up getting walked, and if he does, we have Victor Martinez at the plate," Ausmus said Thursday morning. "If I had to second-guess myself, the one thing would be would I have Torii bunt again? Sometimes I come up with the answer 'yes,' and sometimes I come up with the answer 'no.'
"If everything turned out rosy, we wouldn't even be talking about this," Ausmus added. "I certainly thought about it again."
While Ausmus has looked back on that particular decision, he did not appear to regret it.
"I go back and forth in the sense that it didn't work, but again I don't think it was a bad decision," Ausmus said. "If it works out rosy, we're not even talking about it 12 hours later. From a strategy standpoint, I still think that would put us in a position to have our best hitters up with runners in scoring position in the eighth inning."
