Red Sox Make Unpopular Roman Anthony Move After 4-Strikeout Game

The Boston Red Sox's strange outfield situation has already affected nearly everyone through five games of the season.

As we know all too well, the Red Sox have four very capable outfielders, plus designated hitter Masataka Yoshida, who can occasionally play an outfield corner. On any given day, one of those players is guaranteed to start on the bench.

On Wednesday, as the Red Sox got set to play their series finale against the Houston Astros, young ascending superstar Roman Anthony found himself with the short end of the stick for the first time.

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Roman Anthony on bench for Astros finale

As the Red Sox announced in their lineup post on social media, Anthony was not scheduled to start Thursday's game against Astros starting pitcher Mike Burrows. That decision came a day after Anthony struck out four times, three of them against ace Hunter Brown.

Anthony has still played only 76 games in his major league career, which is easy to forget. But this was the first time that he was benched against a right-handed starter, period. And before he got hurt to end last season, he wasn't getting benched at all or even pinch-hit for late in games against lefties.

In a vacuum, perhaps it isn't the worst idea for the Red Sox to give Anthony a chance to reset, because he clearly hasn't been seeing the ball well. On the other, it seems relatively clear that he'd be in the lineup were it not for the logjam that's forcing Boston to give every outfielder a day off on a relatively normal basis.

Predictably, there were some fans frustrated about the most popular position player on the team, and arguably already the best, getting benched for what feels like a must-win game (if there is such a thing less than a week into the season).

No Roman for a Crochet start? Yea 1-6 coming
— Bucky “Testi” Smollz (@Emperor_AIIen) April 1, 2026

Ya we don’t need a win or anything so why bother playing our best player by a mile.
— FenwayBudgetDept (@GreenMonstahGuy) April 1, 2026

Losing makes everything feel worse, so the fastest way for the Red Sox to restore goodwill is to start a winning streak on Wednesday. But it's also a case study of how odd this roster is at the moment, because on just about any other team, Anthony would be in the lineup for every game against righties all season.