In 2023 and 2024, Liam Hendriks waited what felt like an eternity to pitch again in the big leagues. Simply completing his rehab from Tommy John surgery and returning to the mound this season represented an accomplishment.
But Hendriks is a three-time All-Star who craves the adrenaline shot of pitching without a safety net. And so, while being managed carefully (“There was a couple games where it was like I was the last guy in the bullpen,” he said), he’d become frustrated by the frequency and circumstances of his usage.
“No rhyme or reason. I have no idea,” Hendriks said of his role on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s actually a source of contention that I’ve had with [the team] and I’ve had multiple conversations about.
“I just want to pitch, because the track record over the course of however long speaks for itself,” Hendriks — who clarified that he was not seeking a trade (“I’m not going to go that far”) — added. “The more I pitch, the better I get. If the theory is you want the best me, throw me.”
Red Sox consider lineup shakeup to spark sputtering offense
On Wednesday, Hendriks got the opportunity for which he’s pined – and fumbled it in a 5-1 loss to the Mets.
Hendriks, who’d warmed in the fifth inning, replaced Sox ace Garrett Crochet in a 1-1 game with one out in the sixth. The veteran struck out two batters.
But he returned to the mound in the seventh and gave up three hits without recording an out in the seventh. All three runners scored and were charged to Hendriks.
“Regardless of any situation, I’ve got to go out there and get the job done when I do pitch,” said Hendriks. “Today I didn’t.”
Hendriks (0-1, 5.56 ERA) had a lively mix of a 95-96-miles-per-hour fastball, slider, and curveball, but couldn’t put away hitters in his second inning of work. All three hits against him came with two strikes.
Manager Alex Cora pulled Hendriks for a left-on-left, bases-loaded, no-out matchup between Brennan Bernardino and Mets No. 9 hitter Brett Baty.
Baty foiled the strategy, shooting a two-run single down the line to give the Mets a 3-1 lead — and marking the 10th time this season that Sox pitchers have given up a game-tying or go-ahead hit to the No. 9 hitter. Juan Soto then added a sac fly to make it 4-1.
Garrett Crochet was prepared to go deep, but the Red Sox took the cautious route
Cora — who, along with pitching coach Andrew Bailey, has had conversations with Hendriks about the team’s hopes and plans to work him back to a high-leverage role — shrugged off Hendriks’s unhappiness with his role.
“Part of 162,” said Cora.
Francisco Lindor added a ninth-inning solo homer against lefty Sean Newcomb to account for the final score.
The Mets’ late-innings rally foiled what had been an impressive back-and-forth between starters Crochet and Tylor Megill of the Mets.
Crochet — whom the Sox limited to 85 pitches on four days of rest, mindful of efforts to keep him healthy for the long haul — lacked swing-and-miss stuff and allowed the leadoff man to reach in four of the first five innings. Still, the lefthander repeatedly danced through New York’s traffic with a 96-97-m.p.h. four-seamer, cutter, and a sweeper that he used with unusual frequency.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the second on Baty’s two-out single to center with runners on second and third — a hit that cost the Sox only one run thanks to a laser throw by Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela to cut down Luis Torrens at the plate. Crochet allowed no further harm in 5 innings, lowering his ERA to 1.99 while allowing one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out five — with three punchouts coming against Soto.
Rafaela cuts down a run at the plate 💪 pic.twitter.com/O7goiPxOHY
— NESN (@NESN) May 21, 2025
“[There was a] lack of swing-and-miss, but I’m a pitcher, so I pitched. Felt like there was maybe one pitch that I wanted to take back, and that was the four-seam to Baty,” said Crochet. “I’m pretty proud about [the outing].”
Megill dominated the Sox through four scoreless innings in which he punched out nine, but the Sox broke through in the fifth. Infield singles by Nick Sogard and Carlos Narváez (bookending a strikeout, the career-high-matching 10th of the night for Megill) and a stray fastball off Rafaela’s hands loaded the bases with one out and ended Megill’s night.
Jarren Duran attacked the first offering from reliever Huascar Brazobán and pulverized a middle-middle fastball — the sort of blast that ordinarily would have yielded a grand slam.
But on a night where breath was visible (first-pitch temperature: 52 degrees), Duran’s 108-m.p.h. fly ball expired on the warning track for a sac fly that knotted the game at 1-1.
And so, it was up to the bullpens to decide the contest. Hendriks and the Sox blinked.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to reward them by throwing [like] me, getting guys out,” said Hendriks. “And if I’m not doing that, then I don’t deserve to pitch.”
The Mets bullpen, meanwhile, dominated over 4 scoreless frames. The Sox — who took two of three games in the series despite scoring just six runs total in the three contests — finished the night with 16 strikeouts, a season high.
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