FWIW, Duran was pinch hit for last night. And it worked out. Renfroe singled...and then was stranded.
I posted this in the game thread, but it seems like Cora was apt to get roasted no matter what he did with Houck yesterday. In Houck's last start, he was pitching much better than he was yesterday, was left in to face the top of the order for the third time, and gave up three straight hits and left the game behind instead of tied. That was Cora trying to steal outs with his starter because his pen was absolutely fried, and it burned him. If he does that again yesterday, and something similar happens, I bet we'd be talking in this thread about how he should have been trusting the stats that say Houck shouldn't face batters a third time. So instead, he gave Houck the early hook in a shortened game (the 7 inning thing was ABSOLUTELY a factor that no one is mentioning) and, coming off an off-day as well as a relatively light weekend of work (thanks Orioles), turned to a guy who's been Mr. Reliable all year and the furthest thing from over-used. That guy failed. Then he brought in another guy who's been rock solid all year who was coming off four days off, and he failed (might blame rust more than over-work there).
I'm not here to lionize Cora so much as to suggest that few if any managers were likely to do it any different. They don't win because of his managing and they don't lose because of it. Players play the game, and right now the players aren't playing the game well.