Red Sox manager John Farrell has parceled out playing time based on merit since the start of the season.
He sent third baseman Pablo Sandoval and left fielder Rusney Castillo to the bench in the final days of spring training. Both were high-salaried underachievers and the team has flourished in their absence.
In both cases, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told the manager to do what he thought was right for the team.
Now Farrell could soon face a similar decision with Clay Buchholz.
The righthander struggled again Saturday, allowing five runs over six innings against the Astros. That the Sox won the game, 6-5 in 11 innings, didn’t negate that.
Carlos Correa hit a mammoth home run in the first inning, the ball sailing out of Fenway Park to left-center.
With a 2-1 lead in the second inning, Buchholz allowed a single by light-hitting Luis Valbuena and walked Jason Castro, a .214 hitter. After walking Jose Altuve with two outs, Buchholz fell behind George Springer, 3 and 1, and left a cut fastball over the plate that was crushed for a grand slam.
“I babied a cutter,’’ Buchholz said. “I tried to throw a cutter and babied it because I didn’t want to walk him. I left it middle-in.’’
Buchholz did not give up another run and left trailing, 5-4, having retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Farrell defended Buchholz, saying he kept the Sox in the game. But Buchholz has allowed five earned runs in five of his eight starts and has an earned run average of 6.11.
He has lacked fastball command all season and has allowed 19 earned runs in the first two innings of his starts.
“Just trying to stay out there and pitch is not good enough,’’ Buchholz said. “You’ve got to go out there and beat the other team.’’
Sandoval and Castillo lacked history with the organization and with Farrell, making their demotions painless. But Buchholz presents a thornier problem.
The 31-year-old has 10 years with the Sox and two World Series rings. He also has a habit of rebounding from terrible starts.
Buchholz was 1-4 with a 6.03 ERA after six starts last season then posted a 2.20 ERA in the 12 starts that followed.
Buchholz had a similar resurgence in 2012, his ERA dropping from 7.19 on May 27 to 4.56 by the end of the season.
The difference is the Red Sox were hopeless last-place teams in those seasons and Buchholz was under contract at a reasonable rate. Keeping him in the rotation posed little risk.
Now the Red Sox are contending and Buchholz is signed only through the end of the season with just over $10 million remaining on his deal. The Sox also have viable alternatives in righthander Joe Kelly and lefthander Eduardo Rodriguez.
Rodriguez made his fourth rehab start with Triple A Pawtucket on Saturday. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits over 5? innings against Gwinnett.
Either Kelly or Rodriguez could come off the disabled list by the time Buchholz’s turn in the rotation comes up again, but Farrell seemed disinclined to make a change.
“Everything points to him making his next start,’’ he said.
Climbing the charts
David Ortiz was 3 for 5 with a double, triple, home run, and three RBIs. He now has 513 home runs, good for sole possession of 22d place all time, eight behind Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas, and Ted Williams.
Ortiz has 1,132 extra-base hits, passing Tris Speaker for 14th in history. He is five away from passingTy Cobb.
The game-winning double for Ortiz was the 20th walkoff hit of his career in the regular season. It was his first since June 6, 2013 and the fifth in the last 10 seasons.
Second chance
With Dustin Pedroia getting a routine day off, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit second for the first time this season and the second time in his career.
Bradley wasted little time extending his hit streak to 20 games, beating Houston’s defensive shift with a single to left field in the first inning.
Bradley was 1 for 5 with a walk and is hitting .336.
His streak is the longest in baseball this season and the longest for a Red Sox player since Ortiz hit in 27 straight from 2012-13. It’s the longest streak within a single season since Pedroia’s 25-game run in 2011.
There have been 43 streaks of 20 games or more in Red Sox history. The team record is 34 games by Dom DiMaggio in 1949.
Pedroia pinch hit in the eighth inning and grounded out.
First impressions
The Red Sox scored two runs in the first inning, sending seven batters to the plate and forcing Houston starter Collin McHugh to throw 32 pitches.
The Sox have scored 42 runs and hit .364 in the first inning this season. With the afternoon games complete, the 42 runs are the most in baseball in the first inning with the Washington Nationals second with 41.
Homer happy
The Red Sox have hit at least one home run in 15 consecutive games. The team record is 19 games in 1996 . . . The Sox have had 10 or more hits in six consecutive games . . . Altuve has reached base safely in 11 of 15 plate appearances in the series . . . Rob O’Neill, a retired US Navy Seal with 52 decorations, threw out the first pitch. O’Neill, who has two Silver Stars for valor, is credited with firing the shots that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 . . . Caleb Cascio of Wakefield got a cheer from the crowd for his rendition of the national anthem. The 10-year-old accompanied himself on the acoustic guitar . . . Enterprising fans chanted “You need a haircut’’ at hirsute Astros left fielder Colby Rasmus in the ninth inning.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.
