Tag: 2023 season

After being hit in face by pitch, Red Sox’ Justin Turner tweets: ‘I’m going to be back out on the field as soon as possible!’

After being hit in the face by a pitch in Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Tigers, Red Sox infielder Justin Turner took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to provide an update on how he was doing.

“Thanks to everyone for all the messages and prayers!” Turner tweeted. “I’m feeling very fortunate to come out of yesterday with no breaks & all my chiclets in tact. The [Red Sox] medical staff and [Lee Health] have been absolutely amazing & I’m going to be back out on the field as soon as possible!”

In the first inning of Monday’s contest at JetBlue Park, Turner took the first pitch he saw from Tigers right-hander Matt Manning — a fastball — off the left side of his face. The 38-year-old immediately fell to the ground and was quickly tended to by Red Sox manager Alex Cora and head trainer Brandon Henry.

Though he was bleeding heavily, Turner was able to get back on his feet under his own power and walked off the field while Henry held a towel to his face. He was then transported via ambulance to a Fort Myers-area hospital, where he received 16 stitches, according to his wife, Kourtney Turner. Kourtney also relayed on Twitter that her husband had a lot of swelling, but he had no fractures and his scans came back clean.

Turner was discharged from the hospital on Monday night and is back at home resting. When speaking with reporters (including The Eagle-Tribune’s Mac Cerullo) on Tuesday afternoon, Cora confirmed that there were no fractures and revealed that chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom visited Turner earlier in the morning.

“We were lucky,” Cora said. “He’s in good spirits, actually Chaim visited him this morning. Obviously the big laceration and the stitches and all that, but besides that … like I said, we’re lucky.”

Cora added that Manning’s pitch hit Turner right next to his nose and right under his left eye. He could not provide a specific timetable for when Turner could return to action, but it sounds like the worst-case scenario has been avoided.

Turner, a veteran of 14 major-league seasons, joined the Red Sox as a free agent in January after a decorated tenure with the Dodgers. The two-time All-Star signed a one-year deal with Boston that guarantees him $15 million and includes a player option for 2024.

With J.D. Martinez leaving the Red Sox for the Dodgers in free agency earlier this winter, Turner is expected to take over as Boston’s primary designated hitter in 2023. As a right-handed hitter, Turner could also complement Triston Casas and Rafael Devers — who both hit from the left side of the plate — and first and third base, respectively.

Since Opening Day (March 30 against the Orioles) is just over three weeks away, Turner’s status will be something worth monitoring as spring training continues.

(Picture of Justin Turner: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Justin Turner taken to hospital after after being hit in face by pitch

UPDATE: Turner’s wife, Kourtney, tweets that her husband has been discharged from the hospital and is back at home resting. She adds that Turner received 16 stitches and while there is a lot of swelling, there are no fractures and all scans came back clean.

In the first inning of Monday’s 7-1 win over the Tigers at JetBlue Park, Red Sox infielder Justin Turner left the game after taking a pitch from Detroit starter Matt Manning off the face.

Turner, who was batting third and starting at first base, took the first pitch he saw from Manning off the left side of his face with no outs in the third. The 38-year-old immediately fell to the ground and was tended to by Red Sox manager Alex Cora and head athletic trainer Brandon Henry.

Although he was bleeding heavily, Turner never appeared to lose consciousness. He was able to get back on his feet and walk off the field while Henry held a towel to his face. Niko Kavadas then came on to pinch-run for Turner, who was taken by ambulance to a Fort Myers-area hospital for treatment shortly thereafter.

At approximately 3:19 p.m. eastern time, the Red Sox issued an update regarding Turner’s status. It read: “Justin Turner was taken to a local hospital after being hit in the face by a pitch. He is receiving treatment for soft tissue injuries and is being monitored for a concussion. He will undergo further testing, and we’ll update as we have more information. Justin is stable, alert and in good spirits given the circumstances.”

Following Monday’s Grapefruit League contest, Cora reiterated to reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) that Turner was alert and in good spirits. He then indicated that Manning’s pitch hit Turner somewhere between the nose and just above the mouth.

“Anything that is above the shoulders, it’s always scary,” Cora said. “So you hear [it], you go and you just react. There was a lot of blood there. So it was just like, ‘Let’s get everybody there and try to help him out.’ He was coherent.”

Manning, for his part, apologized for what happened when speaking with members of the Detroit media (including Chris McCosky of The Detroit News). The 25-year-old right-hander took responsibility and relayed that he did not intend to hit Turner.

“Just a complete accident. The ball got away from me,” Manning said. “I got a swing and miss on a ball up in the zone and tried to go back to it. It got away from me. I definitely want to apologize to him and let him know it wasn’t intentional.”

As of now, it is not yet clear how much time, if any, Turner will miss following Monday’s incident. the Red Sox signed the former Dodgers star to a a one-year deal back in January that comes with $15 million in guaranteed money and a player option for 2024.

Coming into camp this spring, Turner projected to be Boston’s starting designated hitter and a right-handed hitting option at first and third base to complement the left-handed hitting duo of Triston Casas and Rafael Devers.

Since Opening Day is just weeks away now, what transpired on Monday could throw a wrench into those plans. With that being said, it seems likely that more information pertaining to Turner’s health will be made available at some point before Tuesday night’s game against the Braves in North Port.

“Hopefully he’s OK and he can join us sooner rather than later,” said Cora.

(Picture of Justin Turner: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Chris Sale hurls two scoreless innings in spring debut as Red Sox roll past Tigers in 7-1 win

Powered by a four-run first inning, the Red Sox continued their winning ways this spring by taking care of business against the Tigers on Monday. Boston defeated Detroit by a final score of 7-1 at JetBlue Park to remain unbeaten and improve to 7-0-3 in Grapefruit League play.

Despite the strong showing from the lineup out of the gate, Chris Sale was undoubtedly the headliner in Monday’s win. Making his first start of the spring and his first start of any kind since last July, the veteran left-hander scattered two hits and zero walks to go along with two strikeouts over two scoreless innings of work.

Sale began his day by giving up a leadoff single to Matt Vierling to begin things in the top of the first. He then got Riley Greene to ground into a force out at second base before getting Javier Baez to fly out to center field. Greene successfully stole second to put a runner in scoring position with two outs, but Sale stranded him there by fanning Eric Haase.

In the bottom of the first, the first three Red Sox hitters to face Tigers starter Matt Manning all reached to fill the bases with no outs. Adam Duvall then plated his side’s first run on a sacrifice fly to center and Raimel Tapia followed by lacing an RBI ground-rule double into the triangle. Jorge Alfaro capped off the four-run frame by scoring both Niko Kavadas and Tapia on a two-run single that was misplayed by Greene in right.

Taking a 4-0 lead into the second, Sale picked up where he left off by nonchalantly recording the first two outs of the inning. He then gave up a two-out single to Zach Short, but ended the frame himself by getting Nick Maton to ground out to him in front of the pitcher’s mound.

All told, 24 of the 31 pitches Sale threw on Monday went for strikes. The 33-year-old southpaw retired six of the eight batters he faced and reached 95-96 mph with his fastball, according to the JetBlue Park radar gun.

In relief of Sale, Ryan Brasier got the first call out of the Boston bullpen and worked his way around a one-out walk of Vierling in the top of the third. The Red Sox then added to their lead in the latter half of the inning when Tapia took Tigers reliever Brendan White deep to right field for his first home run of the spring.

After Brasier got the first two outs of the fourth, Taylor Broadway took over and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings of his own through the middle of the fifth. Zack Kelly saw the shutout bid come to an end when he served up a leadoff homer to Greene in the sixth, but the Red Sox quickly responded by pushing across two more runs.

Niko Goodrum reached base on a two-out single off Mason Englert and promptly scored all the way from first on an RBI double off the bat of Kavadas. Fellow 2021 draftee Tyler McDonough followed that up by driving in Kavadas and simultaneously displaying his speed on a run-scoring triple off the center field wall.

That sequence of events gave the Red Sox a commanding 7-1 lead going into the seventh. Three different relievers kept the score that way as Jake Faria struck out two of the three Tigers he faced, Durbin Feltman maneuvered his way around a two-out walk, in an otherwise clean eighth inning, and Norwith Gudino stranded two runners by punching out the side in the ninth.

Turner’s scare:

Before the Red Sox mounted their four-run rally in the first inning, a scary moment arose while Justin Turner was at the plate for his first at-bat of the afternoon. On the first pitch he saw from Manning, Turner took a fastball to the face and fell down immediately with blood spewing from his mouth.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora and head athletic trainer Brandon Henry immediately tended to Turner, who was conscious and left the field under his own power while holding a towel to his face. The 38-year-old was transported to a local hospital in Fort Myers and was replaced at first base by Kavadas.

Other observations:

Alfaro and Tapia combined to go 5-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored in Monday’s contest, which took two hours and 31 minutes to complete. The two non-roster invitees are hitting .700 (7-for-10) and .412 (7-for-17) this spring, respectively.

Next up: Houck looks to rebound

The Red Sox will travel to North Port to take on the Braves at CoolToday Park on Tuesday evening. Right-hander Tanner Houck is slated to make his second start of the spring for Boston while left-hander Jared Shuster will take the mound for Atlanta.

First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Chris Sale: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox make first round of spring training roster cuts; Matthew Lugo among four players reassigned to minor-league camp

Before defeating the Marlins, 4-1, at JetBlue Park in the afternoon, the Red Sox made their first round of spring training roster cuts on Sunday morning.

Per a team announcement, right-handers Dan Altavilla and Victor Santos, catcher Elih Marrero, and infielder Matthew Lugo were all reassigned to minor-league camp in Fort Myers, Fla.

Of these four, Altavilla is the only one with prior major-league experience. The 30-year-old righty originally signed a two-year minor-league deal with the Red Sox last March, but he did not pitch at all in 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery while a member of the Padres in June 2021.

Since debuting with the Mariners in 2016, Altavilla owns a lifetime 4.03 ERA (4.39 FIP) with 129 strikeouts to 60 walks in 119 career relief appearances (116 innings between Seattle and San Diego. He will likely begin the season with Triple-A Worcester, but he could ultimately help the Red Sox out of the bullpen at some point in 2023.

Lugo, meanwhile, is the most notable prospect listed here . The 21-year-old briefly held the title of the youngest player at Red Sox camp and has fared well in Grapefruit League play by hitting .400 (4-for-10) with two doubles, one triple, five RBIs, one run scored, zero walks, and four strikeouts over seven games this spring.

A former 2019 second-round draft selection out of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico, Lugo spent the vast majority of the 2022 minor-league season with High-A Greenville. The right-handed hitter batted .288/.344/.500 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs in 114 games (512 plate appearances) for the Drive before appearing in three games with Double-A Portland in late September. He was also named co-Rookie of the Year in the Puerto Rican Winter League after posting an .810 OPS in 39 games with the Criollos de Caguas.

Lugo, who turns 22 in May, is expected to return to Portland for the start of the 2023 season. The Manati native is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 18 prospect in the Red Sox’ farm system and has past experience at every infield position besides first base.

With Sunday’s subtractions, the size of Boston’s spring training roster has shrunk from 64 to 60 players. Twenty of the 60 players who remain are not on the 40-man roster and are therefore at camp as non-roster invitees.

BOSTON RED SOX NON-ROSTER INVITEES (20)

Pitchers (8): Taylor Broadway, Matt Dermody, Jake Faria, Durbin Feltman, Norwith Gudino, Oddanier Mosqueda, Ryan Sherriff, Chase Shugart

Catchers (4): Jorge Alfaro, Caleb Hamilton, Ronaldo Hernández, Stephen Scott

Infielders (1): Christian Koss

Outfielders (3): Greg Allen, Narciso Crook, Raimel Tapia

Infielder/Outfielders (4): Ryan Fitzgerald, Niko Goodrum, Daniel Palka, Nick Sogard

(Picture of Matthew Lugo: Elsa/Getty Images)

Red Sox outfield prospect Wilyer Abreu strains left hamstring

Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu suffered a left hamstring strain in the seventh inning of Sunday’s 4-1 League win over the Marlins at JetBlue Park.

Abreu entered the game in the top of the seventh as a defensive replacement for starting right fielder Alex Verdugo. The left-handed hitter led off the bottom half of the frame with a line-drive single off Marlins reliever Devin Smeltzer, but he rounded the first base bag awkwardly and was in clear discomfort as a result.

After getting checked out by Red Sox manager Alex Cora and a member of the team’s training staff, Abreu was lifted for pinch-runner Stephen Scott. The 23-year-old finished his day going 1-for-1 with a base hit in his lone plate appearance.

“Right before he stepped on the bag, he felt it,” Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “He felt it. He stopped right away, so that’s good. But he’ll be out for a while.”

Abreu becomes the third member of the Red Sox to sustain some sort of hamstring injury within the last week, joining catcher Connor Wong (Thursday) and left-hander James Paxton (Friday). Both Wong and Paxton have since been diagnosed with low-grade strains. It’s likely that more information regarding the severity of Abreu’s strain will become available on Monday.

The Red Sox originally acquired Abreu (and fellow prospect Enmanuel Valdez) from the Astros in the trade that sent catcher Christian Vazquez to Houston last August. Abreu closed out the 2022 season with Double-A Portland and batted .242/.399/.375 with five doubles, four home runs, 19 RBIs, 25 runs scored, eight stolen bases, 36 walks, and 45 strikeouts across 40 games (168 plate appearances) with the Sea Dogs while seeing playing time at all three outfield positions.

After playing in the Arizona Fall League, Abreu was added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster in November in order to receive protection from the Rule 5 Draft. The native Venezuelan is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 22 prospect in Boston’s farm system.

Prior to getting injured on Sunday, Abreu had gotten his first spring with the Red Sox off to a solid start by going 4-for-12 (.333) with a triple, a home run, four runs driven in, five runs scored, two walks, and four strikeouts in seven Grapefruit League games. He crushed a grand slam in Thursday’s 15-3 rout of the Phillies.

As of now, it remains to be seen just how much time Abreu will miss because of this hamstring strain. Abreu, who turns 24 in June, only has 129 career games at the Double-A level under his belt and is expected to return to Portland for the start of the 2023 minor-league season. Because he is on the 40-man roster, though, any sort of absence could have an affect on Boston’s outfield depth in the upper-minors to begin the year.

(Picture of Wilyer Abreu: Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

David Hamilton’s two-run double propels Red Sox to 4-1 win over Marlins

Thanks to a four-run seventh inning against the Marlins on Sunday, the Red Sox remain unbeaten this spring. Boston improved to 6-0-3 in Grapefruit League play by defeating Miami by a final score of 4-1 at JetBlue Park.

Corey Kluber, making his second start of the spring for the Red Sox, scattered two hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 scoreless innings of work. After facing the Marlins in his 2023 debut last Tuesday, the veteran right-hander kicked off his afternoon by punching out Luis Arraez, Jorge Soler, and Garrett Cooper in the top of the first. He then put runners on first and second base with only one out in the second, but escaped that jam by getting Joey Wendle to ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

In the third, Kluber retired Miami’s No. 8 hitter, Jacob Stallings, before Jon Berti reached base on a fielding error committed by shortstop Christian Koss. He then fanned Soler for the second out of the inning, but followed that up by issuing a free pass to Cooper. Having already thrown 52 pitches to that point in the contest, Kluber was given the hook in favor of fellow righty Chase Shugart, who stranded the two runners he inherited by striking Jazz Chisholm Jr. out.

Richard Bleier, who the Red Sox acquired from the Marlins in January, took over for Shugart in the fourth and put up a zero by retiring the only three batters he faced. Fellow offseason trade acquisition Wyatt Mills was responsible for the fifth inning. Mills plunked Stallings to lead off the inning. The seasoned backstop then went from first to third on an Arraez single before scoring on a two-out RBI base hit from Cooper that gave Miami a 1-0 lead halfway through.

Kutter Crawford was called upon in the sixth and neutralized the Marlins lineup by racking up three strikeouts over three perfect frames of relief. While he was in the middle of that, the Red Sox offense came to life in their half of the seventh.

There, Devin Smeltzer gave up two singles while also beaning Justin Turner to fill the bases. The Marlins reliever then retired Niko Goodrum and Ryan Fitzgerald for the first two outs, but Narciso Crook kept the inning alive by drawing a bases-loaded walk to drive in the tying run from third. Ronaldo Hernandez did the same on the other side of a Miami pitching change and David Hamilton followed by plating both Ceddanne Rafaela and Crook by lacing a two-run ground-rule double into the Red Sox bullpen in right field.

That sequence put Boston up, 4-1, heading into the eighth. After Crawford — who was later credited with the the winning decision — capped his day off with another 1-2-3 frame, Kaleb Ort worked his way around a single and a walk in the ninth to pick up the save and secure the come-from-behind victory for the Red Sox.

Other notable numbers:

Sunday’s contest took two hours and 32 minutes to complete. In addition to going 2-for-2 with two RBIs, Hamilton also stole his first base of the spring in the sixth inning. Rafalea, a speedster himself, went 2-for-2 with a run scored off the bench.

Abreu strains left hamstring:

After leading off the seventh inning with a line-drive single, outfielder Wilyer Abreu was forced to exit with what was later diagnosed as a left hamstring strain. The 23-year-old will “be out for a while,” per Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

Next up: Sale Day

The Red Sox will conclude their homestand in Fort Myers by taking on the Tigers on Monday afternoon. Left-hander Chris Sale is slated to make his highly-anticipated spring debut for Boston while right-hander Matt Manning is scheduled to start for Detroit.

First pitch from JetBlue Park is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of David Hamilton: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ James Paxton diagnosed with Grade 1 hamstring strain

Red Sox left-hander James Paxton has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) on Saturday.

Paxton strained his right hamstring in the second inning of Friday’s 9-4 Grapefruit League win over the Twins in Fort Myers. The 34-year-old was scheduled to pitch two innings but had to come out of the game with a trainer after recording the first two outs of the second.

“It’s a strain. Not as bad, but probably similar to [Connor] Wong,” Cora said. “We’ll know how he’s reacting. If we need imaging, we’ll do it. But right now, we don’t feel that way.”

When speaking with reporters outside the Red Sox clubhouse on Friday, Paxton said he began feeling discomfort in his hamstring on his second-to-last pitch to Michael A. Taylor. He retired the outfielder with his next offering, but could be seen grabbing at and stretching out his right hamstring in an attempt to get loose.

At that point, Paxton received a visit on the mound from Cora and a member of the team’s training staff. The decision was then made that the lefty’s day would be over right then and there.

“My hamstring just grabbed on me a little bit just as I was kind of starting to find that firing pin to let the ball go a little bit harder,” said Paxton. “I wanted to step on it a little bit and the hamstring just grabbed.”

Before departing, Paxton proved to be effective against the Twins on Friday. He struck out Carlos Correa as part of a 1-2-3 first inning and then got the first two outs of the second. Twelve of the 19 pitches he threw went for strikes and he topped out at 94.7 mph with his four-seam fastball, per Baseball Savant.

As part of Saturday’s announcement, Cora revealed that Paxton will be shut down temporarily, which puts his status for Opening Day into question. If he falls behind in his progressions enough, Paxton could very well start the season on the injured list for the second year in a row.

“Obviously, he’s going to fall behind a little bit here,” Cora said. “It doesn’t look that bad. It sucks because he worked so hard to get to this point. We’ll be patient, just like he will be and he’ll be ready whenever he’s ready.”

Paxton originally signed a one-year, $6 million contract with Boston in December 2021 that came with a two-year club option and a one-year player option. At that time, the southpaw was about eight months removed from having undergone Tommy John surgery while still a member of the Mariners.

After his rehab from the procedure was initially delayed by posterior elbow soreness last May, Paxton was able to began a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League in August. Just two batters into his start for the FCL Red Sox, though, Paxton suffered a Grade 2 lat tear, which ended his 2022 season before it really even started.

In November, the Red Sox declined Paxton’s two-year, $26 million club option that would have covered the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Paxton, in turn, elected to remain in Boston by exercising his $4 million player option for the 2023 campaign.

“I’m comfortable here,” Paxton told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith last month. “They know me. I know them. And I’m trying to establish myself back in the big-leagues and I felt like this was the place for me to do it.”

Dating back to the start of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Paxton has been limited to just six starts spanning 21 1/3 innings. For his major-league career, which spans nine seasons, he has only surpassed the 150-inning plateau twice (2018, 2019) due to different injuries, most of which have been arm-related.

The Red Sox came into camp with seven starters (Paxton, Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Corey Kluber, Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck), competing for five rotation spots. Since workouts began though, Paxton has gone down with a hamstring injury, Bello was slowed by right forearm tightness, and Whitlock has yet to fully ramp up after undergoing hip surgery last September.

Since Boston is expected to exercise caution with all of its starters in camp, it’s certainly possible all three of Bello, Paxton, and Whitlock start the season on the 15-day injured list. If that is indeed the case, the Red Sox do have rotation depth to turn to in right-handers Kutter Crawford and Josh Winckowski. Beyond those two, prospects with starting experience in the minor-leagues — such as Bryan Mata, Chris Murphy, and Brandon Walter — are on the 40-man roster as well.

(Picture of James Paxton: Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)

Kenley Jansen works scoreless third inning in spring debut as Red Sox, Astros once again play to 4-4 tie

For the second time in four days, the Red Sox and Astros played to a 4-4 tie in Grapefruit League action. After it happened in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, a winner could once again not be determined in Saturday afternoon’s contest at JetBlue Park.

Nick Pivetta, making his first start of the spring for Boston, lasted just 1 1/3 innings against Houston. The right-hander came into camp still on the mend from a recent bout with COVID-19 and displayed his rustiness on Saturday by allowing three earned runs on five hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts.

After retiring the first two batters he faced in the top of the first, Pivetta gave up a groundball single to Jake Meyers and followed that up by serving up a two-run home run to Corey Julks. He got through the rest of the inning unscathed but ran into more trouble in the second by surrendering three straight singles to lead things off.

Pivetta struck out the next two batters to keep the bases loaded, but he then balked to bring in Rylan Bannon from third and issued a walk to Chas McCormick to refill the bases. Jake Faria came in for Pivetta and managed to escape any further damage by getting Jake Meyers to ground out to Rafael Devers at third.

Still, it was not a productive day for Pivetta, who needed 43 pitches to record five outs. That being said, the Red Sox lineup promptly came to life in their half of the second inning by putting up a three-spot against Astros starter Shawn Dubin.

Triston Casas led off with a single and Jorge Alfaro followed with a double. Jarren Duran then drew a walk to fill the bases for Rob Refsnyder, who plated Casas and moved Alfaro and Duran up an additional 90 feet with an RBI groundout. With one out and runners at second and third, Raimel Tapia came through with a game-tying, two-run double to left field that pulled Boston back even with Houston at three runs apiece.

The Red Sox and Astros then traded zeroes for the next five innings. Kenley Jansen made quick work of Houston in his spring debut by retiring the side in order in the top half of the third. The veteran closer did not commit a single pitch clock violation, either. Fellow free agent addition Chris Martin was responsible for the fourth inning. He worked his way around two walks and struck out one in a scoreless frame.

Josh Winckowski took over for Martin in the fifth and collected four strikeouts while scattering two hits and two walks to the 12 batters he faced across three more scoreless innings. Oddanier Mosqueda saw Boston’s run of five consecutive shutout frames come to an end when he surrendered a two-out RBI single to Zach Daniels in the top of the eighth.

Shortly after that go-ahead run crossed the plate for the Astros, though, the Red Sox quickly responded in their half of the inning. Niko Goodrum and Enmanuel Valdez each singled with one out to put runners on the corners for Daniel Palka. Palka, in turn, drove in the tying run (Goodrum) with a sacrifice fly to right field.

In the ninth inning of a 4-4 contest, Cam Booser faced the minimum in the top half for Boston and Cesar Gomez did the same for Houston in the bottom half. That is how the game, which ultimately took two hours and 36 minutes to complete, ended.

Other notable numbers:

Duran, who drew two walks and scored one run, was the only member of the Red Sox lineup to take ball four on Saturday.

By going 1-for-2 with that two-run double on Saturday, Tapia is now batting .357 (5-for-14) with four doubles in five Grapefruit League games this spring. He is currently tied for the team lead in doubles and is tied for third with nine total bases.

Next up: Kluber vs. Rogers

At 5-0-3, the Red Sox will close out the first weekend of March by hosting the Marlins in Fort Myers on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Corey Kluber is slated to start for Boston opposite Miami left-hander Trevor Rogers. This is the same pitching matchup we saw in Jupiter last Tuesday.

First pitch from JetBlue Park on Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Kenley Jansen: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ James Paxton leaves first start of spring early with hamstring injury

James Paxton was scheduled to pitch two innings in his first start of the spring for the Red Sox against the Twins on Friday afternoon. The left-hander unfortunately fell short of that goal due to a right hamstring injury.

After recording the first two outs of the second inning at Hammond Stadium, Paxton could be seen grabbing at and stretching out his right hamstring in an attempt to loosen it up. That prompted a visit from Red Sox manager Alex Cora and a member of the team’s training staff.

Paxton, who to that point had retired all five batters he faced while recording one strikeout over 1 2/3 scoreless innings of work, then left the field with a trainer and was pulled from the game in favor of fellow lefty Rio Gomez.

“We’ll know tomorrow,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) following Boston’s 9-4 win over Minnesota. “Obviously, not perfect. Hopefully it was just a cramp. I think obviously with him, we’ve got to be very careful. It’s a shame because he was throwing the [heck] out of the ball today. His location was great, velo was up. … And that happened. Hopefully it’s nothing and we can just continue to move on.”

Paxton himself said he first felt discomfort on his second-to-last pitch to Michael A. Taylor with one out in the second. He got the center fielder to fly out to left with his next offering, but was unable to continue after that despite only needing to get one more out.

“My hamstring just grabbed on me a little bit just as I was kind of starting to find that firing pin to let the ball go a little bit harder,” Paxton said. “I wanted to step on it a little bit and the hamstring just grabbed. We’ll see what we got. We don’t really know yet. But we’ll see how I come in feeling tomorrow and go from there.”

Of the 19 pitches Paxton threw on Friday, 12 went for strikes. He punched out Twins shortstop Carlos Correa as part of a 1-2-3 first inning and needed nine pitches to get the first two outs of the second. According to Baseball Savant, the 34-year-old southpaw topped out at 94.7 mph with his four-seam fastball.

“I think there’s positives and negatives,” Paxton said of his shortened outing. “I think that going out there and filling up the zone like I did felt good. Some good breaking balls, fastball felt pretty good. I felt like it was coming out of the hand well. But then this happens and now we’re gonna have to deal with this so that I can continue moving forward. I’ll do whatever I have to do to get back out there.”

Paxton has been with the Red Sox since signing with the club as a free agent in December 2021. At that time, the veteran hurler was about eight months removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery after making one start for the Mariners that season. He spent most of the 2022 campaign rehabbing before suffering a Grade 2 left lat tear in his first rehab outing in late August.

Given his recent injury history, Paxton elected to exercise his $4 million player option for 2023 and return to the Red Sox without any sort of limitations this spring. Even if this latest setback proves to be minor, Boston will undoubtedly exercise caution when it comes to Paxton’s health moving forward.

Paxton is one of seven candidates vying for five spots in the Red Sox’ Opening Day starting rotation alongside the likes of Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Corey Kluber, Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck. As noted by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, though, Bello, Whitlock, and now Paxton have all been slowed by different issues this spring, which could put someone like Kutter Crawford into the rotation mix early this season.

Paxton said that he is unsure if he strained his hamstring or simply experienced a cramp. Regardless, he is disappointed and frustrated by what transpired on Friday.

“This is not how I wanted this to go,” said Paxton. “I wanted to go through spring training clean. But I can’t control that. All I can control is going to work on this now and doing whatever I can to get back out there and pitch again.”

(Picture of James Paxton: Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)

Reese McGuire and Triston Casas both homer, James Paxton leaves first start of spring early as Red Sox defeat Twins, 9-4

The Red Sox remained unbeaten this spring after taking Game 2 of the 2023 Chairman’s Cup from the Twins on Friday afternoon. Boston defeated Minnesota, 9-4, at Hammond Stadium to improve to 5-0-2 in Grapefruit League play.

Matched up against Sonny Gray to begin things on Friday, the Red Sox lineup got off to a quick start by putting up a three-spot in the top half of the first inning. After reaching base on a one-out single and advancing 90 feet on a pickoff error, Alex Verdugo scored his side’s first run on an RBI single off the bat of Justin Turner.

Turner himself moved up to second on a Minnesota fielding error that allowed Triston Casas to reach base before scoring on a two-out single from Bobby Dalbec. Casas, who advanced to third on that play, then came in to score when Reese McGuire reached on yet another fielding error committed by the Twins.

That sequence gave Boston an early 3-0 lead right out of the gate, but Minnesota was able to get two of those runs back an inning later. James Paxton, who retired the side in order in his first inning of work this spring, recorded the first two outs of the second before exiting the game with a right hamstring injury. He was replaced by fellow left-hander Rio Gomez, who issued a five-pitch walk to Joey Gallo before serving up a two-run home run to Kyle Farmer.

Despite seeing their three-run advantage shrink to one-run, the Red Sox continued to capitalize on Twins mistakes in their half of the third. After Turner and Casas each reached with no outs and Dalbec loaded the bases with a one-out single, McGuire came through by crushing a 395-foot grand slam off reliever Emilio Pagan to make it a 7-2 contest in favor of Boston.

Again, though, Minnesota retaliated. John Schreiber took over for Gomez in the bottom of the third and filled the bases with one out before spiking a wild pitch that allowed Eliot Soto to come in from third. Michael A. Taylor then grounded out to to Enmanuel Valdez at second base, which gave old friend Christian Vazquez more than enough time to score from third and trim the Twins’ deficit down to three runs at 7-4.

Following a scoreless fourth inning from Ryan Sherriff, Casas picked up where he left off by leading off the fifth with a 400-foot solo blast to deep right field for his second home run of the spring. Brandon Walter then came out of the bullpen for Boston and struck out three over two scoreless frames of relief. Fellow southpaw Chris Murphy followed that up by stranding two base runners and punching out the side in the seventh.

In the eighth, former Twins catcher Caleb Hamilton took Brock Stewart 438 feet deep over the berm in left field for his first big fly in a Red Sox uniform. Taking a 9-4 lead into the latter half of the frame, Murphy got the first two outs before loading the bases on a single and back-to-back walks. Norwith Gudino came in and promptly escaped the jam by fanning Soto on three consecutive sliders.

With three more outs to get in the ninth, Gudino picked up two more punchouts to slam the door on the Twins and record the save in doing so.

More on Paxton’s start:

Prior to leaving the game with a trainer, Paxton had already retired the first five batters he had faced on Friday. The 34-year-old southpaw struck out one over 1 2/3 innings of work while throwing 20 pitches (12 strikes). His fastball topped out at 94.7 mph, per Baseball Savant.

Next up: Pivetta makes spring debut

The Red Sox will return to JetBlue Park to host the Astros on Saturday afternoon. Nick Pivetta, who came into camp still on the mend following a recent bout with COVID-19, will make his first start of the year for Boston. Fellow right-hander Shawn Dubin is slated to start for Houston.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Reese McGuire: Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)