CINCINNATI – It didn’t take long for the Red Sox to witness a firsthand demonstration of how valuable the new ABS system will be, especially with Roman Anthony, who knows the strike zone as well as any player in baseball, on their side.
In the top of the ninth inning on Thursday at Great American Ball Park, Anthony was called out looking on a full-count pitch that would have been the third out. It also would have sent his team back out for defense clinging to a one-run lead with three outs to go.
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But Anthony immediately tapped his helmet, and the Reds paused their retreat back to the dugout. Anthony was correct. The pitch was low by nine-tenths of an inch, and Boston had runners on first and second.
Trevor Story and Jarren Duran immediately followed with RBI singles and suddenly the Sox had a 3-0 lead, and that wound up as the final score.
So on a day Anthony had three hits in the first Opening Day game of his career, his challenge turned out to be more significant than any of the knocks.
“I knew it was a ball,” Anthony said. “I was pretty confident with it. It was great. It turned the game around, in a sense. Maintaining a challenge late in the game is going to be huge and something that is underrated. It was great.”
The Red Sox went 2-1 on their first day of ABS challenges.
“That’s going to be part of the strategy,” said Reds manager Terry Francona. “Both teams had them left. I think our pitchers are going to get used to thinking the inning is over and it’s not. It’s almost like when a guy comes out and you say, ‘Hey way to go. Oh, can you get one more?’ So you’re going to have to stay dialed in.”
Throughout Spring Training, the Red Sox worked hard on formulating a strategy on the ABS challenge system. They were pleased to see a possible game-turning result on Opening Day.
“It's a different ballgame now,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “[Without the challenge], that’s a strikeout, and 1-0 game, with [closer Aroldis] Chapman in this ballpark. And then we were able to add on. So it was a great challenge. This is where we’re at now, and it’s going to be interesting.”