Why Blue Jays didn't pinch-run for Alejandro Kirk late in one-run loss to Nationals

Blue Jays manager John Schneider explained why he didn't opt to use a pinch-runner for Alejandro Kirk when trailing by two runs in the eighth inning of Tuesday's eventual one-run loss to the Nationals.

Video Transcript

- Hey, John. Going back to the eighth inning there, Kirky on second. Was there consideration given to pinch-running? Or how did that process go as he reached third?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, I mean, we were a little short. Brandon wasn't available. We had guys playing everywhere. You know, [? Biz at ?] short, Davis at third. You know, kind of a lot of moving parts. Tying run, yeah, we would have had a runner there. Down by 2, no.

- John, would that always be the way that you handle the pinch-runner, is that it has to be the tying run? Because that DA spot wasn't coming up again. And McCoy was there.

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the way we're looking at it. You know, you pinch-hit [? Bars ?] there, you're looking to do damage to try to take the lead and clip a homer. You know, you never know.

There's way-- the game goes, you know, a lot of different ways to where, you know, crazy shit happens, and you get into the 11th inning, and that spot comes up, and you want Kirky at the plate. So yeah, kind of a general rule of thumb. Yeah, for sure. You know-- you know, the odds of a medium depth fly ball with an average-throwing outfielder and Kirky at third was probably last on my Bingo card.