AJ Hinch Reveals Why He Didn't Pitch Gerrit Cole in World Series Game 7

AJ Hinch didn't exactly dig himself out of a hole in attempting to explain why Gerrit Cole didn't pitch in Game 7 of the World Series Wednesday.

The Astros manager said he would have only brought in Cole in a specific type of situation-- unfortunately, it was the exact situation his team was actually in when Zack Greinke left the game in the top of the seventh.

Greinke had one-hit the Nationals through 6.1 innings before surrendering a homer to Anthony Rendon and walking Juan Soto. At that point, he was yanked from the game. The Astros still had a 2-1 lead when Greinke left, of course, which makes Hinch's statement all th more puzzling. Houston still had the lead and was the team to beat, but Hinch bypassed Cole and instead went with Will Harris, who had notably given up a homer in Game 6.

Cole could have gotten eight outs to close the game. He was pitching on two days' rest, so less than half his last start would've been a reasonable workload for the very, very last game of the season. Even Clayton Kershaw pitched a few solid innings out of the bullpen against the Astros in Game 7 two years ago, and he's never had a great postseason reputation. Madison Bumgarner hurled five innings on two days' rest against Kansas City, and Aroldis Chapman pitched in each of the last three games of the 2016 World Series.

Ultimately, Hinch may have mismanaged things enough that Cole, an impending free agent, might be on the way out the door.

AJ Hinch might regret his moves even more during the free agency period.