KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was a pretty simple decision for manager John Farrell.

He wanted Chris Young to give the Red Sox a chance to tie the game or take the lead in the top of the eighth Monday.

And so he was willing to take the risk of having Christian Vazquez at third base in the bottom of the eighth for the first time since 2009.

The Red Sox continued to carry 12 position players and 13 pitchers on their 25-man roster Monday. And with Dustin Pedroia unavailable, we ended up finding out Vazquez was the backup infielder Monday.

Farrell pinch hit right-handed hitting Young for Pablo Sandoval with two outs in the eighth against lefty Mike Minor.

Young ended up walking to load the bases. Vazquez grounded out to third base to end the inning.

Farrell acknowledged how Vazquez playing some third in the minors factored into his decision.

"Yeah, and the game situation dictated an opportunity for us to get a matchup we liked," Farrell said. "That's Chris against the left-hander representing the go-ahead run if he catches one. We didn't get a two-out base hit to narrow the gap. And we're coming right back at them again with the triple in the ninth, a lineout. A lot of quality at-bats here tonight late in the game."

Vazquez started nine games at third base (70 innings) during 2009 between the Gulf Coast Red Sox and Short Season Lowell.

He started three games at first base and 4 2/3 innings at second base for Low-A Greenville during 2010.

It seems like Farrell has little desire to use Sandoval, a switch-hitter, against left-handed pitchers.

If the Red Sox plan to continue to use Sandoval as a bench player, then shouldn't he abandon switching hitting and go exclusively from the left side.

You also have to continue to question how much value he has coming off the bench as a switch-hitter when he'll only be used vs. righties and he can't do anything else off the bench other than pinch hit.