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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 2:46:25 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox’s Matt Barnes (9 Ks in 4 innings) dominating in early part of season: ‘We’re very happy with him,’ Alex Cora says Updated Apr 08, 2021; Posted Apr 08, 2021
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
If Matt Barnes is still auditioning to be the Red Sox’ closer, he has made quite the case for himself in the first week of the regular season.
In the ninth inning of Thursday’s 7-3 win over the Orioles, Barnes struck out all three batters he faced, tossing only 11 pitches in a near-immaculate inning. In four innings so far this year, the righty has only allowed one baserunner while striking out nine.
“That was amazing, right? Just throwing all of those strikes,” said manager Alex Cora. “Velocity, I do believe this is his best fastball, at least of the last three years. The carry. It’s not only up in the zone. It’s actually through the zone and down. The breaking ball is good.”
Barnes saved nine games at the end of last season after the Red Sox traded Brandon Workman and entered the winter as the heavy favorite to take the ninth inning in 2021. But Cora has yet to officially announce his choice for closer between Barnes and Adam Ottavino, delaying the decision after a false positive COVID-19 test held Barnes out of camp for a few days shortly before the beginning of the season.
Barnes was dominant in Grapefruit League play, allowing just two hits and striking out eight in 5 ⅓ scoreless innings. Because the Red Sox have yet to have a save situation through seven games, Cora hasn’t been forced to reveal his choice.
At this point, it looks likely Barnes gets the nod in the ninth, but Ottavino (who has allowed a run and two hits while walking two batters in 1 ⅓ innings) might still have an outside chance. Either way, Barnes’ early performance is a strong indicator that he might be in line for a career year in 2021.
“We’re very happy with him,” Cora said. “He has matured a lot. He’s going to be a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 2:47:43 GMT -5
Rafael Devers crushes titanic 452-foot homer in Boston Red Sox’s win; did Alex Cora call it before the game? Updated Apr 08, 2021; Posted Apr 08, 2021
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
Speaking before Thursday’s game against the Orioles, Red Sox manager Alex Cora offered a hopeful prediction about third baseman Rafael Devers.
“I know he likes hitting here,” Cora said, referencing Devers’ four career homers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. “Hopefully he can pop one out and then get rolling.”
Devers, who entered Thursday having hit .105 (2-for-19) with zero home runs through six games this season, didn’t take long to make Cora look like a modern-day Nostradamus. In the first inning of Boston’s 7-3 win, Devers launched a Matt Harvey fastball into the right-field stands for a two-run homer. The mammoth blast came off the bat with an exit velocity of 111 mph and traveled 452 feet.
After the game, Cora wasn’t willing to take any credit.
“He has been hitting the ball hard,” Cora said. “When he starts controlling the zone, good things happen. That was a good swing.”
Devers, traditionally a slow starter, owns a lifetime .711 OPS in March and April, the lowest in any month throughout his career. Of his 75 career homers, just five (including Thursday’s) have come before April 30.
Devers’ ability to drive a pitch Thursday was a good sign that he’s on the other side of another difficult start. Speaking before the game, the 24-year-old said he thought he was in a good place with his swing.
“I’m not worried about how I’ve started off this season,” Devers said through translator Bryan Almonte. “It has only been six games. I’m continuing to go out there and work and do my best because I know the type of player that I am.”
Cora moved Devers down in the lineup to start the season, switching him from the No. 2 spot he has occupied for most of the last two seasons to the No. 5 spot behind sluggers J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts. Devers said his new spot in the order has not forced him to change his approach at the plate.
“The manager and the coaches are the ones who decide on the lineup,” Devers said. I’m just here to contribute in any way that I can. Obviously, I’ve batted second and I’ve enjoyed that, but at the same time, I’m just glad I can play every day.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 2:48:54 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox notebook: Chris Sale taking next steps of rehab in Boston, Garrett Whitlock impresses again; road trip taxi squad revealed Updated 11:39 PM; Today 11:33 PM
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale is throwing from 120 feet on flat ground and will take the next steps of his rehab process in Boston, manager Alex Cora said Thursday. Cora isn’t sure when Sale will start throwing off a mound.
Sale, who has spent more than a year in Fort Myers rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery he had last March, traveled with the Red Sox to Boston for the club’s opening homestand and will remain there for the foreseeable future. It’s unclear if or when he’ll head back to the Fenway South facility in Florida.
“We’ll know more, obviously, during the week,” Cora said. “I know this doesn’t matter much, but having him around is not only positive for us, but for him. Just to be around his teammates and talk baseball and just be part of the team. That helps him a lot and hopefully that makes him better. It’s not that we want to push him -- ‘Oh you feel better, so now we’re going to push you,’ -- but he’s very excited. We talked a little bit yesterday before the game. He’s feeling good where he’s at.”
Sale dealt with two setbacks -- a bout with neck stiffness in late 2020 and a mild case of COVID-19 in January -- that have delayed his timetable for a return. The Red Sox still haven’t given even a rough estimate of when he’ll be able to pitch in a game, though it won’t happen anytime soon.
“Whenever the rehab process speeds up, then we’ll make decisions accordingly,” Cora said.
Whitlock lights-out in relief appearance
Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock threw 3 ⅓ scoreless innings in his major-league debut Sunday, striking out five batters in Boston’s blowout loss. His second career appearance was even more impressive, as the righty retired all six Orioles he faced, striking out three batters while throwing just 20 pitches.
Cora said Tuesday that he was hoping to use Whitlock in higher leverage situations in the coming weeks. On Thursday, the rookie entered with a one-run lead in the sixth and kept Baltimore’s bats at bay while Boston’s offense added two insurance runs.
“He belongs,” Cora said. “The tempo, the conviction. Most of the time, Rule 5 guys don’t shake off your catcher, but he knows what he wants to do, and he does. He shakes him off and goes to the pitch he feels is right in that situation. He has been great for us.”
Whitlock has stood out to catcher Christian Vázquez during the first week of the season.
“Great kid,” Vázquez said. “He’s got great stuff. Heavy fastball, plus changeup. He’s doing good. I think he’s going to help us big-time.”
Gonzalez emerges as top backup shortstop option
With Xander Bogaerts out of Thursday’s lineup, Marwin Gonzalez got the start at shortstop. The utility man, who has now started at five positions in the first seven games of the season, seems to have emerged as the primary backup shortstop option despite playing there just once over the last two seasons with the Twins.
In nine big-league seasons before 2021, Gonzalez had made 292 appearances at shortstop, the most of any of the seven positions he has played.
“I do believe Marwin played good shortstop in spring training, though he hasn’t played much the much the last two years,” Cora said. “I saw it first-hand. He’s solid, he makes good decisions.”
If Bogaerts is out, the Red Sox are likely to use Gonzalez at shortstop and Christian Arroyo at second base while shifting Kiké Hernández to the outfield. Hernández’s best defensive position is second base.
“Christian is becoming a good defender at second,” Cora said. “I think that’s the way we’ll do it. Although we feel (Hernández) can play short, too, whenever we have to make a decision in the infield, most likely we’ll use (Hernández) and second and stick with Marwin at short. He’s that good at second base.”
Cora pressing for aggressive offense
The Red Sox scored just five runs in their three losses to the O’s last weekend, and Cora thinks the struggles were in part due to an approach at the plate that was too passive. Against the Rays, the manager said, he appreciated how aggressive his hitters were.
“I like them to swing the bat,” Cora said. “I tell them, jokingly, I live my offensive struggles through them. Whatever I wanted to do, I wasn’t able to do. I love when they swing 3-0, I love when they swing 2-0. I didn’t do that, so it’s kind of like my fantasy team.
“There’s value in that first pitch,” he continued. “Guys like to get ahead. If you put a good swing on it, it’s an extra-base hit or you can shy him away from the strike zone. We’ll stay with the same approach but we’ve got to stay in the middle of the field. I believe, against Baltimore, we were very pull-happy and it cost us three games.”
Taxi squad revealed
Cora revealed the club’s five-man taxi squad for the road trip to Baltimore and Minneapolis. Pitchers Colten Brewer and Ryan Weber, infielder Michael Chavis, outfielder César Puello and catcher Chris Herrmann traveled with the team as extra players in case a move needs to be made.
The taxi squad players -- who are all on the alternate site roster -- are limited in what they can do while on the trip.
“They work out with us and then they have to leave,” Cora said. “The only guy who can stay with us is the catcher, but for some reason, he cannot wear a uniform. It’s only his pants and whatever top we give them. The rest of them, there’s a suite somewhere in the stadium. They can watch the game there or they can go back to the hotel.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 6:33:06 GMT -5
Hyde on Mountcastle: “We’re going to be patient with him” By: Roch Kubatko April 9, 2021 4:30 AM
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The sore hamstring that forced Austin Hays onto the injured list again also has removed a plus defender from left field.
There are going to be days and nights, as one would expect, when it shows more than the others.
Ryan Mountcastle served as the designated hitter in the three-game series in Boston, but he’s back in left, where he made 23 starts last summer. He’s still learning the position, his fourth as a professional, and the growing pains have been a little sharper this week.
There was the Gary Sánchez line drive Wednesday night with two outs in the eighth inning that nicked Mountcastle’s glove for a long single. Gio Urshela followed with a game-tying double.
Mountcastle couldn’t run down Christian Vazquez’s shallow fly ball yesterday in the sixth inning, the final batter for Matt Harvey. The speedier Hays or Ryan McKenna, who replaced him on the roster, might have made the catch.
The rookie also stayed back on Franchy Cordero’s liner in the sixth, as if choosing to play it safe, that gave Boston a 4-3 lead, and he was charged with a throwing error that moved the runner to second base. A difficult sequence.
An inning earlier, Cedric Mullins made a lunging catch in left-center to rob Kiké Hernandez while Mountcastle dived for the ball behind him. An unusual site with two players airborne.
A dangerous one, too.
Manager Brandon Hyde was asked earlier in the day about the play in New York.
“I thought the ball came off hot, it’s windy, it hooked,” he replied. “I think it was a lack of experience, honestly, and I think we all have to remember that Ryan has not played much outfield. He did a nice job for the 30-plus games he was out there last year, he was a convert from last year, but it’s still going to be a new position. He’s going to make mistakes in the outfield. We’re OK with that. We’re going to be patient with him.
“He works his rear end off prior to games, he worked his rear end off at spring training. I wanted to put him back out there in the outfield (yesterday) because I want him to feel that we have confidence. I know that Fredi (González) talked to him on the plane. I mentioned something to him. ‘Keep your head up, this won’t be the last mistake you make in the outfield. It was not an easy play anyway. Just continue to do what you’re doing.’ He’s going to be fine.”
Mountcastle hit his first home run in front of Camden Yards fans yesterday to tie the game 2-2 in the first inning. He took a disputed third strike to strand two runners in the eighth.
The Orioles don’t worry about his bat, trusting him in the cleanup spot. They could return Mountcastle to the DH role and put McKenna in left, but the kid won’t truly learn the position if he isn’t playing it.
An expressed reason why the Orioles waited to promote Mountcastle last summer was because they wanted him in the field rather than turning him into a young DH. His development with the glove was characterized as a priority.
Trey Mancini is a terrific and convenient source for Mountcastle, also having gone through the switch from first base to the outfield. They’ve talked about it.
Another plus to having Mancini back in the clubhouse.
“It’s a really hard transition,” Mancini said. “I think between last year and this year, Ryan’s done such a good job. He’s like me, we’ve never really played outfield before and we kind of had to out there. It’s a learning curve out there. You have to have certain balls hit to you. The one that Gary Sanchez hit to him (Wednesday), I had that same ball hit to me from him and did the same thing. It’s really hard. But you get to know guys the more you play them and sometimes how the ball comes off your bat, so everything’s a learning experience and there’s no doubt ...
“I’ve seen him play out there a lot and in spring training I was so impressed how he played out there and there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll be great out there.”
Mancini was blocked at first base by Chris Davis, which led to his switch. Mancini is blocking Mountcastle now that he’s gone back to first.
The Orioles aren’t moving Mountcastle to a fifth position. He’ll keep working in left - the effort is never lacking - and grow more comfortable. The trick is to not lose aggression out of fear of failure.
There are too many team-wide failed at-bats in the first week.
The Orioles struck out 14 times yesterday, giving them at least 13 in the last five games, which is a major league record.
The 91 strikeouts lead the majors. The 16 walks were tied for the third fewest.
The opposing pitchers haven’t been pushovers, of course. You take your chances with Nathan Eovaldi, Gerritt Cole, Eduardo Rodriguez and the power arms coming out of the bullpens. But there’s only so much hat-tipping that can be tolerated.
The Orioles are batting .219/.265/.324, their .589 OPS the fourth-lowest in baseball. They have five hits or fewer in three of the past four games. But they’re 4-3 and tied with the Red Sox for first place, if anyone is checking the standings this early or at all during a rebuild.
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Post by Kimmi on Apr 9, 2021 8:14:10 GMT -5
Huge game. Everyone that was supposed to do something, did something. The two HRs hurt, but that's small potatoes compared to the 7/0 K/W. Barnes has looked really good, but he's always had that on/off kind of thing going. Huge game on Saturday as well. We need some production from Richards. If he can pitch to his potential, then we will have a lot of winnable games. Being ERod's first start back in over a year, you really can't ask for much more. And yes, Barnes has looked really good.
If our pitchers can continue to just keep us in the games, we should win the majority of those.
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Post by Kimmi on Apr 9, 2021 8:15:57 GMT -5
And I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that the play by Devers, where he almost turned a DP, was as good as it gets. Great play. He seems to do better on the plays where he just reacts and doesn't have any time to think about what he's doing.
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Post by Kimmi on Apr 9, 2021 8:18:16 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 8h Rodriguez said Cora gave a postgame speech in the clubhouse congratulating him on his return. Teammates gave him a round of applause. #RedSox
Rodriguez on working with Christian Vazquez again -- 'He came to me after that 1st inning and told me, 'Bro, that's it. Now you're ready.'' #RedSox
Eduardo Rodriguez -- 'It was special. When I went out there in the first inning it felt like my first start in the big leagues.'
'After that I got into the game and kept the game like it was.' #RedSox Good stuff. I love these feel good stories.
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Post by Kimmi on Apr 9, 2021 8:22:14 GMT -5
Red Sox Notes @soxnotes · 9h Who’s your Red Sox MVP of the first 7 games?
Christian Vázquez: .458 AVG (11-for-24), 2 HR, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 1.333 OPS, game-tying 9th-inning HR vs. TB
J.D. Martinez: .433 AVG (13-for-30), 2 HR, 7 2B, 12 RBI, 1.335 OPS, at least 1 XBH in 7 straight games I think I'd give the MVP to the pitching staff, but if I had to choose between Vaz and JD, I'd pick JD. Mostly because of where he was last year.
That said, I'm very happy for Vaz. I have been a fan of his since the early debates about Vazquez versus Swihart.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 9:19:15 GMT -5
Red Sox Notes @soxnotes · 9h Who’s your Red Sox MVP of the first 7 games?
Christian Vázquez: .458 AVG (11-for-24), 2 HR, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 1.333 OPS, game-tying 9th-inning HR vs. TB
J.D. Martinez: .433 AVG (13-for-30), 2 HR, 7 2B, 12 RBI, 1.335 OPS, at least 1 XBH in 7 straight games I think I'd give the MVP to the pitching staff, but if I had to choose between Vaz and JD, I'd pick JD. Mostly because of where he was last year.
That said, I'm very happy for Vaz. I have been a fan of his since the early debates about Vazquez versus Swihart. I expected JD to hit so I am not shocked by him Vaz IMO, has a swagger this season and I like it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 9:38:24 GMT -5
Joe McDonald @joeymachockey · 40m Hearing the Red Sox’ alt camp will play the Mets’ alt camp in a pair of home-and-home games in Brooklyn and Worcester.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 13:37:18 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 1h Not the most glorious stat, but something that was talked about a bunch in spring training was at least making productive outs. Red Sox ranked 6th, 25th, 28th the past three seasons, but are 2nd early this year. They are doing a good job of moving guys along and getting them in.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 13:46:34 GMT -5
Gotta like it when folks talk baseball. getting haircut today and folks asking me why teams (like us ) are off tonight and some on week-end....
Opening day.....and usually they set up 3 game sets over 4 days in case of poor weather..... back to normal after Sunday...
gonna enjoy surfing......Yanks and Rays Nats and Dodgers Halos and Jays
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 14:05:47 GMT -5
Dodgers getting their rings and the Rays opener...and the Rays broadcast is just shitting all over the Yankees.....hahahahahah
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 14:14:47 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni
Sox are a 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees. That is all
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 9, 2021 15:18:35 GMT -5
sooo Kluber gets the hook up 4-3 in the 3rd fooling no one
damn shame
his line 2.1/5/3/1/2bb/3k/62-39
now down 5-4
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