In the rubble of a 14-2 game, it hardly seemed to matter. But Tadahito Iguchi’s decision to throw to third on a ground ball in the fourth inning Tuesday was a play the Red Sox pointed to as one of the keys to their downfall.
With Kevin Millar on second, no outs and the Red Sox down four runs but rallying, Bill Mueller hit a hard grounder to the White Sox second baseman. Iguchi fired into the dirt to Joe Crede at third base, who scooped it up and tagged out Millar.
Boston didn’t score again, and Millar said afterward he was shocked by the play.
“It’s not a normal play,” Millar said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen it all year in a game we’ve played. Billy hit that ball extremely hard, and Iguchi made an aggressive play. It could have been a turning point if that play’s not made.
“It’s a risky play. If Crede doesn’t make that play and he throws it in the dugout, we have something going. But [Iguchi] came up and made a good play, and Crede picked the ball and that was that.”
Crede said he was not necessarily surprised.
“Every time that situation comes up, [we] always say, `Hey, if the ball is hit hard to me, I’m coming to you,’ because it’s such a big difference between a guy on second and less than two outs and a guy on third and less than two outs,” Crede said. “Especially in a game of this magnitude, you want to try to get every advantage you can. It was a great, smart play by him.”
Crede said the key was that by the time Iguchi got into his throwing stance, they still had Millar by a good margin.
“I wasn’t even at the bag when I caught the ball,” Crede said. “I was a good 2 or 3 feet in front of the bag or we would have had him by more.”
Iguchi, through his interpreter, said his first instinct was to go to first but that the runner appeared “very slow and I changed my mind,” he said. “The throw was bad, but Crede helped.”
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misaacson@tribune.com
