Tag: jose peraza

Kevin Pillar, Jose Peraza Shine in Debuts as Red Sox Open 2020 Season With 13-2 Rout of Orioles

The Red Sox are undefeated in the Chaim Bloom/Ron Roenicke era, as the club picked up their first win in their first game of the 2020 season in a 13-2 whopping of the Orioles at a fanless Fenway Park on Friday night.

Nathan Eovaldi, making his first career Opening Day start, got the nod for Boston in this one, and as he had done during spring training and Summer Camp, impressed once more to kick off his second full season with the Sox.

Working six one-run innings on Friday, the right-hander scattered five hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts on the evening.

That lone Baltimore tally surrendered by Eovaldi came in his final frame of work, when Renato Nunez drove in Anthony Santander on a two-out, RBI double with two outs in the sixth.

Other than that one blip though, Eovaldi looked solid, accidentally wore a No. 7 jerseyfor an inning, worked at a consistent pace, and ended his outing by fanning Chris Davis on an 0-2, 89 MPH cutter at the top of the zone.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 89, 67 of which were strikes, the 30-year-old hurler relied on his four-seam fastball nearly 40% of the time he was on the mound Friday, inducing one swing and miss and topping out at 100 MPH with the pitch.

Able to start the truncated season 1-0, Eovaldi will look to pick up from where he left off in his next time out, which should come against the Mets in Queens next Wednesday.

In relief of Eovaldi, right-hander Austin Brice made his Red Sox debut by coming on for the seventh inning, and he served up a solo homer to Rio Ruiz on a 94 MPH fastball in his lone frame of work.

From there, Phillips Valdez, another slender righty making his team debut for Boston, plunked two Orioles and struck out two more over a scoreless top of the eighth and ninth to ultimately secure the 13-2 victory for his side.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup, with J.D. Martinez batting out of the two-hole, was matched up against Orioles veteran left-hander Tommy Milone to start things out in their first game of the season.

Perhaps they needed to shake some rust off during their first go around, but after going down quietly in the first and second innings, the Sox offense was jump-started by Jackie Bradley Jr. and newcomer Jose Peraza in the bottom half of the third.

Bradley Jr. led the frame off by ripping a leadoff double off Milone to the left field corner. Peraza followed a few moments later with a two-bagger of his own to plate Bradley Jr. and give the Sox the early one-run lead.

As it turned out, doubles would be the theme of the night for the Boston bats, as J.D. Martinez drove in Peraza by pulling a one-out RBI double to left field once more, and Kevin Pillar plated both Martinez and Rafael Devers on another two-base hit to make it a four-run contest before it was even a third of the way over.

In the fourth, the Sox lineup took advantage of Orioles reliever Cody Carroll, who seemingly couldn’t find the strike zone, by loading the bases on two walks and a single and scoring yet another run on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Andrew Benintendi.

With the bases still full and no outs recorded, Martinez nearly lifted a grand slam to right field off new O’s reliever and old friend Travis Lakins, but he settled for a two-run ground rule double instead to increase his side’s advantage to seven runs.

A Rafael Devers groundout to third was good for the first out of the inning, but three consecutive one-out, run-scoring knocks off the bats of Xander Bogaerts, Pillar, and Christian Vazquez put the Sox ahead 10-0.

Fast forward to the sixth, and the Sox’ No. 8 and No. 9 hitters were at it again, as Bradley Jr. and Peraza all but put this one to bed with back-to-back, run-producing doubles off David Hess, which in turn made it a 13-1 contest.

As previously mentioned, Baltimore would tack on a run of their own a half inning later, but the Red Sox pretty much sailed to their first win of the 2020 season in a 13-2 rout of the lowly Orioles.

Long story short, the Sox doubled the O’s to death.

Some notes and observations from this win:

Kevin Pillar’s Red Sox debut got off to a great start right away in this one.

From MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith:

From MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo:

From MLB Stats:

—

Starting a season 1-0 for the first time since 2017, the Red Sox will look for win No. 2 against the O’s back at Fenway on Saturday afternoon.

Left-hander Martin Perez will be making his first career start in a Red Sox uniform in the middle game of this weekend series, while familiar foe Alex Cobb will be taking the mound for Baltimore.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI.

Red Sox Opening Day Lineup: Let the 2020 Season Begin

At long last, Opening Day for the 2020 Boston Red Sox has arrived. The Sox will be hosting the Orioles in a three-game weekend series beginning Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

According to team chairman Tom Werner, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, Boston mayor Marty Walsh, and one other special guest “who’s very important to our community” will be throwing out a ceremonial first pitch prior to the actual first pitch.

As for the game itself, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will be matched up against left-hander Tommy Milone for Baltimore. Here’s how the rest of the Sox will be lined up behind thier first-time Opening Day starter:

One notable thing to notice here is the fact that J.D. Martinez is batting out of the two-hole, something manager Ron Roenicke experimented with during this week’s exhibition games against the Blue Jays.

Entering his third season with Boston, Martinez has never hit in the two-spot as a member of the Red Sox. He last did it in 2016 as a member of the Detroit Tigers.

Because the Sox are facing a southpaw, Roenicke likely wanted to move Martinez up in the order to break up the left-handed bats of Andrew Benintendi, who is batting leadoff, and Rafael Devers, who is batting third.

Speaking of pitching matchups, Kevin Pillar is starting over Alex Verdugo in right field, and Michael Chavis is starting at first base over Mitch Moreland. Chavis, Jackie Bradley Jr., and newcomer Jose Peraza round out the Sox’ lineup in this one.

Again, first pitch for the first of 60 games this season is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. It’s time.

Red Sox Manager Ron Roenicke Views Jose Peraza, Kevin Pillar as Potential Options to Lead off Against Left-Handed Pitching

Although the Red Sox roster is just about set for the start of the 2020 season, manager Ron Roenicke still has some decisions to make in terms of who will be hitting where in the team’s lineup.

More specifically in this case, Roenicke is looking for other candidates not named Andrew Benintendi who could potentially lead off against a left-handed starter. Two players he has in mind for that role are Jose Peraza and Kevin Pillar.

Peraza has been someone the Red Sox have been impressed with since the team regrouped for Summer Camp at Fenway Park earlier this month. Roenicke even said two weeks ago that he’s been “so impressed” with what the 26-year has been doing offensively.

Prior to signing a one-year deal with Boston back in December, Peraza batted out of the leadoff spot in 98 games for the Reds going back to the start of the 2016 season.

Over those 98 games, the Venezuela native accrued 120 plate appearances against left-handed pitching and posted a decent .318/.361/.400 slash line to go along with a 5.8% walk rate, a 7.5% strikeout rate, and a wRC+ of 102. In terms of counting stats, Peraza collected seven doubles, one triple, and four RBI while scoring 15 times.

Pillar, meanwhile, has accrued 387 career plate appearances out of the leadoff spot over seven big-league seasons between the Blue Jays and Giants. 118 of those plate appearances have come against left-handed pitching.

In that relatively small sample size, the now-31-year-old, who also signed a one-year deal with the Sox in February, slashed .303/.339/.541 while walking 5.1% of the time, striking out 12.7% of the time, and posting a 131 wRC+. He hit three homers and collected 14 RBI over that same time frame as well.

β€œI know Pillar can do it. I feel good with him up there against the left-handers,” Roenicke said of the veteran outfielder batting leadoff against southpaws. “And then we’ll just kind of see.”

The reason why Roenicke is pondering using a different leadoff hitter besides Benintendi is mainly because he is wary of deploying two left-handed hitters — Benintendi and Rafael Devers — at the top of the lineup against left-handed starters.

“I think we have some options. But right off the bat, I may go with the two left-handers and give those guys a chance to do it,” added the Sox skipper. “And I know we’ve talked about the short season, how we need to get off to a good start. But I still know that if those two guys are hitting well, Andrew and Devers like we’ve seen so far β€” they’re hitting left-handers and right-handers right now β€” so I feel pretty comfortable with both of them.”

Following the same criteria used for Peraza and Pillar, Benintendi owns a career .752 OPS and 103 wRC+ in 91 plate appearances against left-handed pitching while batting out of the leadoff spot since making his major-league debut in August 2016.

As you may already be aware, this all comes as the Red Sox prepare for their Opening Day opponent: Orioles left-hander John Means, who really had his way with the Boston bats during his rookie year last season, posting a 2.89 ERA over five starts and 28 innings of work in 2019.

Red Sox’ Jose Peraza ‘Excited’ to Begin New Chapter of Career, Play at Fenway Park

Going into this past offseason, Jose Peraza was looking forward to what was supposed to be his fourth full season with the Cincinnati Reds and his first as an arbitration-eligible player.

Instead, the Reds did not feel the need to pay Peraza the $3.6 million he was projected to make in arbitration, and subsequently non-tendered him in early December.

When speaking with reporters at Fenway Park via Zoom on Tuesday, the Venezuela native said through team interpreter Bryan Almonte that he “was surprised” to be non-tendered by Cincinnati.

Granted, the 2019 season was not a great one for Peraza, as he slashed an underwhelming .239/.285/.346 with six homers and 33 RBI over 141 games played. But considering how he experienced some moderate success the year before, it had to have come as a shock to be let loose so quickly.

Just over a week after getting cut by the Reds, Peraza inked a one-year deal with Boston, where he now has the chance to be a part of the team’s infield picture for years to come seeing how he is under team control through the 2022 season.

With the addition of Peraza also comes the addition of more positional versatility, something teams can never seem to get enough of these days. The 26-year-old said that much on Tuesday, stating that he’d be willing to play “second base, shortstop, third base, whatever [Red Sox manager] Ron Roenicke” asks him to do. Not to mention he is capable of playing a little bit of outfield as well.

Prior to joining the Sox over the winter, Peraza had never had the chance to play inside Fenway Park. He now has the chance to do that on a regular basis, and he even said that Fenway will be “a good ballpark for [me] to hit in” and he’s “excited to be playing there.”

Upon signing with Boston, Peraza probably expected to make his Red Sox debut back in March. He has instead had to wait for that to happen due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the league-wide shutdown did allow him to work out at home in Miami and “make a few adjustments” with his swing.

“The thing I really focused on in the offseason in Miami was just my leg kick,” Peraza added. β€œOne of the changes that I made was altering that. … I’m a little bit more confident. I’m seeing the pitches better as well. At first, when we first got back, I was just trying to get my rhythm going. But now I have the confidence where I’m going out there, (and) I just feel good about where I stand right now in terms of my hitting.”

Because of those adjustments made during the layoff, Peraza now says, on top of “feeling great physically and mentally,” he also feels “more confident” at Summer Camp in Boston than he did at spring training in Fort Myers.

Roenicke echoed that same sentiment last week, saying he’s “so impressed with what [Peraza’s] doing,” when asked about the infielder’s offensive approach at camp.

A former international signee of the Braves ten years ago, Peraza will earn approximately $1.11 million with the Red Sox in 2020 when taking this season’s prorated salaries into account.

MLB.Com Says Red Sox Have Ninth-Best Lineup in Baseball

Even without Mookie Betts leading things off in 2020, the Red Sox still project to have one of the best lineups in baseball for this truncated, 60-game season.

While listing off the 10 best lineups in the league on Monday, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince ranked the Sox at No. 9, right in front of the Los Angeles Angels and right behind the Chicago Cubs.

Using a projected lineup of Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Alex Verdugo, Christian Vazquez, Mitch Moreland, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Jose Peraza, Castrovince gives the following reasoning for listing the Red Sox where he did:

Hey, the gang’s… not all here. But the departure of Betts doesn’t stop the Boston bunch from posing a threat because of the nucleus of Martinez (142 projected wRC+,Β via Steamer), Devers (129) and Bogaerts (123). Devers and Bogaerts both ranked in the top four in the Majors in extra-base hits last season. VΓ‘zquez emerged as one of MLB’s more productive catchers.

That’s not to say there aren’t questions elsewhere. To ultimately justify this spot on the list, the Red Sox will need to get positive production from Verdugo (projected for a 119 wRC+). He arrived while recovering from a stress fracture in his back but is operational now.

Coming off a 2019 campaign in which they plated 901 runs (4th in A.L.), crushed a franchise-record 245 home runs (6th in A.L.), had a team on-base percentage of .340 (2nd in A.L.), slugged .466 as a team (4th in A.L.), and were worth 28.5 fWAR (5th in A.L.), the Red Sox’ offense certainly wasn’t the main concern despite a lackluster 84-win season.

One year later, and it looks like that much will hold true for Boston once more; where the club scores plenty of runs but gives up their fair share as well.

As previously mentioned, the loss of Betts, one of the best offensive players in baseball, certainly does not help the Red Sox’ cause in 2020. That being said though, the core of Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and J.D. Martinez is still intact, and those three combined to account for more than 39% of the team’s 857 RBI last year.

A healthy Alex Verdugo, as well as a bounce-back season from Andrew Benintendi, are all in play, too. Not to mention that Christian Vazquez is coming off a career year, Mitch Moreland is coming off a season in which he averaged 15.7 at-bats per home run, Jackie Bradley Jr. is swinging the ball well at Summer Camp, and Jose Peraza is less than two years removed from a 182-hit season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2018.

All that considered, and we haven’t even mentioned, Kevin Pillar, Tzu-Wei Lin, Bobby Dalbec, Michael Chavis, and Jonathan Arauz yet, it’s certainly understandable to expect decent run production from the Red Sox offense this season.

Red Sox Manager Ron Roenicke on Jose Peraza: ‘I’m So Impressed With What He’s Doing’

Jose Peraza has not gotten a whole lot of attention since signing with the Red Sox back in December, but manager Ron Roenicke has been impressed with what he has seen from the 26-year-old since Summer Camp broke at Fenway Park last week.

“Everyday I watch him, and I’m so impressed with what he’s doing,” Roenicke told reporters via Zoom on Wednesday in regards to Peraza and his swing.

The Sox inked Peraza to a one-year deal for the 2020 season worth $3 million plus more in incentives on December 12th, less than two weeks after the Venezuela native was non-tendered by the Reds.

Because he was cut loose by Cincinnati prior to his first season of arbitration eligibility, Pereza could be under team control with the Red Sox through the end of the 2022 campaign if all goes according to plan.

A once touted prospect in the Braves and Dodgers’ organizations, Peraza has struggled to consistently find his footing in the majors to this point in time.

Since the start of the 2017 season, the right-handed hitter has posted fWARs of -0.3, 2.6, and -0.6 respectively while with the Reds.

Despite those inconsistent tendencies, upside is certainly there with Peraza, who is capable of playing both middle infield positions and even some outfield if need be.

With Boston, the former 2010 international signee figures to split time with Michael Chavis at second while also providing some insurance for Xander Bogaerts if the All-Star shortstop needs time off for whatever season.

Prior to the pandemic-induced layoff that began in March, Peraza slashed .233/.233/.300 with two doubles, one RBI, and one stolen base for the Red Sox in 12 Grapefruit League games.

Eduardo Rodriguez Continues to Impress With 10 Strikeouts Over Four Scoreless Innings as Red Sox Top Rays to Win Fourth Straight

After pitching came through in a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday, the Red Sox extended their winning streak to four and improved to 9-10-2 in Grapefruit League play on Wednesday following a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte.

Making his third start of the spring for Boston in this one was Eduardo Rodriguez, who appears to be in line to get the Opening Day nod from interim manager Ron Roenicke despite no official announcement being made yet.

Tossing four full innings for the second time in a row, the left-hander impressed by keeping the Rays off the scoreboard despite scattering six hits and one walk. 10 of the 12 outs he recorded came by way of the strikeout.

As those numbers suggest, Rodriguez did deal with his fair share of traffic on the base paths on Wednesday, but the majority of the trouble he faced came with two outs in an inning, so he was able to work his way around it.

The 26-year-old capped off his night by fanning the last two Rays he faced in the fourth to finish with a final pitch count of exactly 80. His next outing should come on Monday against the Pirates.

In relief of Rodriguez, Ryan Brasier got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen in the fifth, and he tossed a perfect frame in his fourth appearance of the spring.

From there, Heath Hembree put together his first scoreless appearance of the spring in the sixth, Austin Brice worked his way around a leadoff single in an otherwise clean seventh, Domingo Tapia served up a solo home run to Brian O’Grady in the eighth, and Kevin Lenik allowed the go-ahead run to come to the plate on a two-out walk and single before escaping the jam to secure the 3-1 win for his side.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox starting lineup that featured Kevin Pillar, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Michael Chavis, Jackie Bradley Jr., Jonathan Lucroy, Jose Peraza, Tzu-Wei Lin, and Rusney Castillo was matched up against Rays left-handed pitching prospect Shane McClanahan to begin things on Wednesday.

Nothing came against McClanahan in his 1 1/3 innings of work, and it was not until the top half of the third when the Boston bats livened up.

There, three straight two-out hits from the 3-4-5 hitters off of Dylan Covey resulted in the Sox driving in their first run of the night, with Bradley Jr. plating Bogaerts from second on an RBI single up the middle.

Lucroy followed suit a few moments later with an RBI base hit of his own, with this one scoring Chavis from second to make it a 2-0 contest early.

Fast forward to the fifth, and it was Bradley Jr. getting the job done with two outs once more, as he drove in Chavis from second on an RBI double to left off new Rays reliever Anthony Banda.

That two-base hit put the Red Sox up 3-0, and after Tampa Bay pushed across a run of their own in the eighth, 3-1 would go on to be Wednesday’s final score at Charlotte Sports Park.

Some observations from this win:

The Red Sox have won four straight Grapefruit League contests. They have a run differential of +5 over that span.

Austin Brice has yet to give up a run this spring and appears to be a lock to make the Opening Day roster as a bullpen option.

Jose Peraza played left field.

Jonathan Lucroy on Wednesday: 2-for-2 with one walk and one RBI.

Kevin Plawecki, off the bench, on Wednesday: 1-for-2 with a double.

Xander Bogaerts recorded his first hit of the spring on a third-inning single.

Jackie Bradley Jr. owns an OPS of 1.141 through 31 plate appearances this spring.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s their first off day of the spring on Thursday before taking on this same Rays club back at JetBlue Park on Friday afternoon.

Left-hander Martin Perez is slated to start for Boston, while Tampa Bay has yet to name a starter.

Perez put together his best outing of the spring in his last time out against the Twins this past Sunday as he punched out seven over four scoreless frames of work.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT. This game will not be televised.

MartΓ­n PΓ©rez Punches out Seven Over Four Scoreless Innings as Red Sox Hold on to Defeat Twins

After splitting a split-squad doubleheader on Saturday, the Red Sox improved to 6-10-2 in Grapefruit League play on Sunday following a tight 7-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins at JetBlue Park.

Making his third start of the spring for Boston was Martin Perez, coming off just 2/3 of an inning of work in his last time out against the Yankees this past Tuesday.

Tossing four full innings this time around, the left-hander experienced much better results as he kept his former team off the scoreboard while scattering four hits and one walk to go along with seven strikeouts on the afternoon.

Despite dealing with a fair share of traffic on the base paths, Perez was able to avoid any real damage with the help of ground ball and strikeout-inducing pitches.

The most impressive takeaways, for me at least, were how Perez worked his way around a leadoff walk in the second by inducing a 4-6-3 double play before striking out the side in order in the third. He retired three of the final five hitters he faced in the fourth.

Finishing with a rather high final pitch count of 84, Perez’s next start should come sometime next weekend depending on if he gets four or five days of rest in between outings.

In relief of Perez, Ryan Brasier got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen in the fifth for his third appearance of the spring, and he retired the only three Twins he faced in order.

From there, Heath Hembree surrendered the first run of the contest on two hits in the sixth, left-hander Matt Hall yielded another pair of runs on three hits and one walk in the seventh, Chris Mazza maneuvered his way around a one-out double in an otherwise clean eighth before being charged with three runs on three hits while only being able to record the first two outs of the ninth, and pitching prospect Durbin Feltman allowed one of his inherited runners to score before closing things out to secure the 7-6 win for his side.

All in all, Sox pitching combined to give up six earned runs on 14 hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts over nine innings in a contest that turned out to be much closer than initially anticipated.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox starting lineup that featured Kevin Pillar, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Mitch Moreland, Michael Chavis, Christian Vazquez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Jose Peraza was matched up against a familiar foe in Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda to begin things on Sunday.

Nothing came against Maeda, who like Perez also tossed four scoreless innings, but Martinez did eventually get the Sox on the board in the bottom half of the sixth.

There, matched up against Twins reliever Matt Wisler, the slugger drove in Pillar from second on a two-out RBI single laced down the left field line that knotted things up at one run apiece.

https://twitter.com/brendan_camp/status/1236739155092267009?s=20

In the seventh, after falling behind by two runs, Worcester native John Andreoli cut that deficit in half by driving in fellow Massachusetts native Nick Longhi in from third on a run-scoring single to left off of Cory Gearrin.

One groundout and walk later, Jonathan Lucroy stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded, and he came through with arguably his biggest hit of the spring to this point, a two-run double blistered off the wall in left field to plate Jantzen Witte and John Andreoli.

https://twitter.com/brendan_camp/status/1236753860917694465?s=20

Tyler Esplin followed with a run-scoring groundout that brought in Johan Mieses from third, and just like that, the Red Sox had themselves a 5-3 advantage.

What would turn out to be much-needed insurance was added on to that two-run lead an inning later, with Witte and Andreoli both reaching on two-out singles off of Sam Clay and Chad De La Guerra driving in the pair on a two-run triple to the opposite field.

That three-base hit put the Red Sox up 7-3, and after the Twins stormed back with three runs of their own in their half of the ninth, 7-6 would go on to be Sunday’s final score.

Some observations from this win:

Martin Perez has a solid cutter.

Xander Bogaerts is 0-for-his-first-9 this spring.

Jonathan Lucroy, off the bench, on Sunday: 1-for-2 with one double and two RBI. Kevin Plawecki did not play.

Heath Hembree, Matt Hall, and Chris Mazza all had far from impressive showings on Sunday. Ryan Brasier, on the other hand, looked sharp.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll once again head to North Port for their first night game of the spring against the Atlanta Braves on Monday.

Right-hander Ryan Weber will get the start for Boston, while fellow righty Felix Hernandez will do the same for Atlanta.

Through his first two outings of the spring, Weber has surrendered one unearned run over his first five innings pitched. He appears to have a strong grip on a spot in the Sox’ starting rotation to begin the new season.

First pitch Monday is scheduled for 6:05 PM EDT on NESN.

 

Eduardo Rodriguez Fans Four Over Four Innings as Red Sox Drop Fourth Straight

After getting shut out by the Astros on Thursday, the Red Sox were able to muster some offense against the Atlanta Braves on Friday, but still saw their losing streak grow to four games following a 9-7 defeat. They are now 4-9-2 in Grapefruit League play.

Making his second start of the spring for Boston was Eduardo Rodriguez, coming off an impressive debut in which he struck out six Yankees over three scoreless frames last Saturday.

Working the first four innings this time around, the left-hander surrendered two runs, both of which were earned, on three hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts on the afternoon.

The first of those two Braves tallies came right away in the bottom half of the first on a two-out pop fly of an RBI single from Marcell Ozuna that probably should have been caught, but instead fell between Jose Peraza and Jarren Duran in shallow left-center field.

A pair of shutdown innings in the second and third preceded more two-out trouble for Rodriguez in the fourth when he served up a solo shot to Austin Riley that knotted things up at two runs apiece.

Riley would wind up being the penultimate hitter Rodriguez faced Friday, as he got the next man he faced in Dansby Swanson to ground out to third to retire the side in the fourth.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 59, the 26-year-old’s next outing should come sometime late next week.

In relief of Rodriguez, Matt Barnes got the first call out of the Sox bullpen, and he yielded some hard contact while keeping the Braves off the scoreboard in the fifth before walking two of the first three hitters he faced in the sixth, making way for Colten Brewe to come on for him.

Brewer cleaned up Barnes’ mess with the help of an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, and he also allowed one run on two hits in the seventh.

From there, minor-leaguer R.J. Alvarez entered in the middle of the eighth with his side having just taken a 4-3 lead, and he saw that one-run advantage turn into a three-run deficit following a four-run, four-hit effort from the Braves before Hunter Haworth came on for Alvarez to end the inning on a strikeout.

Over eight total innings of work, Red Sox pitching combined to give up seven earned runs on 10 hits, five walks, and seven strikeouts.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox starting lineup that featured Duran, Peraza, Michael Chavis, Kevin Plawecki, Bobby Dalbec, Chad De La Guerra, John Andreoli, Nick Longhi, and Roldani Baldwin was matched up against Braves top pitching prospect Kyle Wright to begin things on Friday.

Longhi got the scoring started for Boston in the top half of the third, as he led off with a single, advanced to third on a one-out hit from Duran, and came in to score from third on a throwing error while Duran stole second and also advanced to third.

Duran scored himself on an RBI groundout off the bat of Peraza, and just like that, the Red Sox had jumped out to a 2-1 edge over the Braves.

Fast forward all the way to the eighth, after Atlanta had claimed their second one-run lead of the afternoon, the Sox bats answered right back, with Jonathan Arauz driving in a pair on a two-out, two-run single to right field off Braves reliever Chris Nunn.

That put the Sox ahead by one run once more at 4-3, but a four-run rally from the Braves in their half of the inning made it a 7-4 contest.

Still, they at least made things interesting in the ninth, as Rusney Castillo plated one and put the tying run on base with a one-out RBI single off Tucker Davidson. 7-5.

Jantzen Witte followed by drawing a walk to put the go-ahead run at first, but neither Joey Meneses or Johan Mieses could do anything with that, as the former grounded into a force out and the latter struck out to end this one with a final score of 7-5 in favor of the Braves.

Some observations from this loss:

Matt Barnes walked three of the eight hitters he faced on Friday.

Kevin Plawecki went 1-for-1 with two walks and a stolen base while starting behind the plate on Friday. Through 16 plate appearances this spring, he has an OPS of 1.230. Jonathan Lucroy did not play.

Jarren Duran also stole a base on Friday. He is very fast.

This game was on ESPN and both Plawecki and Michael Chavis were mic’d up.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s some split-squad action against the Phillies and Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.

One group of players, headlined by top pitching prospect Tanner Houck, will travel to Clearwater to take on the Phils, while another group, headlined by right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, will stay behind at JetBlue Park to host the Jays.

Eovaldi has thoroughly impressed through his first two starts of the spring, as he has yet to surrender a run while fanning eight over his first five innings of work.

Houck, meanwhile, also owns an ERA of 0.00 through his first two appearances (one start) of the spring. The 23-year-old right-hander has struck out four over five scoreless frames so far.

First pitch for both contests is scheduled for 1:05 PM EST. The game against Toronto will be on NESN, while the game against Philadelphia will be on MLB.TV.

Eduardo Rodriguez Impresses in Spring Debut for Red Sox

After managing to score just one run in a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Friday, the Red Sox fell to 3-5-1 in Grapefruit League action on Saturday following a 5-2 defeat at the hands ofΒ  a split Yankees squad on a sunny afternoon at JetBlue Park.

Making his first start of the spring for Boston for Eduardo Rodriguez, whose 2020 debut was pushed back to Saturday after he slipped and twisted his left knee in a bullpen session two Wednesdays ago.

Tossing the first three innings of this one, the left-hander impressed by holding the Yankees off the scoreboard while scattering two hits and zero walks to go along with six strikeouts on the afternoon.

Two of those three frames were perfect for Rodriguez. The only real trouble he ran into came in the second, when he allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach base on a double and single, but he worked his way through that with the help of an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play and proceeded to strike out the side in the third.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 52, the 26-year-old’s next outing should come against the Astros on Thursday.

In relief of Rodriguez, Ryan Brasier made his spring debut out of the Red Sox bullpen, and he yielded the first run of the day on three hits and a strikeout in the top of the fourth.

Heath Hembree also debuted in the fifth, and he filled the bases with two outs before getting Clint Frazier to hit into what looked to be an inning-ending infield pop fly.

Instead, Christian Vazquez lost the ball in the sun, the ball landed in fair territory, and two runs crossed the plate as a result.

A pitching change that saw Mike Shawaryn take over for Hembree didn’t fare any better for the Sox, as the right-hander walked another and brought in another Yankees run on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 contest.

From there, Shawaryn finished the fifth, left-hander Jeffrey Springs punched out the side in the sixth, Yoan Aybar surrendered one run on two hits and a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Brian Johnson closed things out with two perfect frames of relief in the eighth and ninth.

In total, Boston pitching combined to give up five runs (two earned) on eight hits and three walks to go along with 12 total strikeouts.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox starting lineup that featured Kevin Pillar, Jackie Bradley Jr., Vazquez, Mitch Moreland, Jose Peraza, Jonathan Lucroy, Bobby Dalbec, C.J. Chatham, and Marcus Wilson was matched up against Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery to begin things on Saturday.

Montgomery held his own in his two innings of work, and it wasn’t until the bottom half of the fourth when the Boston bats made some noise.

There, a two-out walk drawn by Mitch Moreland followed with a double off the bat of Jose Peraza and another walk drawn by Jonathan Lucroy filled the bases for top prospect Bobby Dalbec.

Up against new Yankees reliever Daniel Alvarez, Dalbec first contributed to the cause without even swinging his bat, as a balk from Alvarez brought in the pinch-running Tommy Joseph from third.

A few moments later, Dalbec did contribute with his bat, as the 24-year-old powered an RBI single to shallow left field, plating Peraza from third and giving his side their first lead of the afternoon at 2-1.

Fast forward all the way to the ninth, after New York had jumped out to a 5-2 edge, and three straight walks drawn by Jarren Duran, Jeter Downs, and Marco Hernandez to lead off the frame filled the bases and brought the winning run to the plate with no outs.

Alas, nothing came of a golden opportunity, as reliever Domingo Acevedo settled down and stranded the bases loaded by retiring the final three Red Sox he faced in order, thus ending this contest with a final score of 5-2.

Some observations from this loss:

It looked like Juan Centeno rolled his right ankle in the eighth inning while running to first and ducking an errant throw. He had to leave the game, but he was able to walk off under his own power and was later diagnosed with a sprained ankle.

Jose Peraza went 2-for-2 with a double and run scored.

Tzu-Wei Lin went 2-for-3 off the bench while playing center field.

Jonathan Lucroy went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts while serving as designated hitter Saturday. Kevin Plawecki did not play.

It’s still early, but not great first impressions on the year from Heath Hembree nor Ryan Brasier.

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Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll host the Atlanta Braves at JetBlue Park Sunday afternoon.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will get the start for Boston, while fellow righty Mike Foltynewicz will do the same for Atlanta.

Eovaldi is coming off a fine outing in his last time out against the Twins where he fanned four over two scoreless innings of work last Monday.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EST on NESN.