It wasn’t on TV, but the Red Sox did play on Monday, and lost to the Blue Jays. It’s spring training, so whatever, but also losing to the Blue Jays always sucks. Ah, well.
Steven Wright solid in 2017 debut
The big story for the Red Sox in this game was getting Steven Wright back onto the mound for some game action. He had a slow start to camp as his shoulder was still sore from the Managerial Decision That Shall Not Be Spoken Of. Things appeared to be fine on Monday, though. Wright only tossed two innings in this one, as he’s still getting his arm strength back up, but he retired six of the seven batters he faced. It would have been six up and six down if not for an error from Brock Holt. Despite the fact that he struck nobody out, this is a good sign from Steven Wright. If he can be anything close to the guy he was in the first half last year, it’ll be a huge boost for the back of Boston’s rotation.
Hector Velazquez struggles highlight the bullpen performance
So, just this morning I wrote a whole post about how solid Velazquez has looked this spring and how he’s the most exciting of the potential rotation depth pieces. Unfortunately, I forgot to knock on wood. The righty didn’t have his best outing on Monday, coming in for two innings of work after Wright finished his outing. Velazquez allowed three runs on three hits with two walks and no strikeouts. It wasn’t all singles this time around, either, as Darwin Barney had a two-RBI double in the fourth. The good news is all the damage was done in that one frame, with Velazquez’ first being a one-two-three inning with two groundouts. There’s no reason to be overly discouraged by this outing, although it did make it that much more likely that Kyle Kendrick remains at the top of the depth chart. Following Velazquez was Austin Maddox. He allowed a solo homer to Kendrys Morales in the fifth, along with a single and a walk over two innings. Edgar Olmos once again looked pretty impressive, allowing just one double in 1 2⁄3 innings of work with four strikeouts. Unfortunately, he also hurt his hamstring covering first base. Jamie Callahan came in for the final out to finish off the game.
Mitch Moreland leads quiet day for the offense
It was Boston’s less exciting spring training lineup playing in this one, with Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland as the only projected regulars in the game. Benintendi went 1-3 with a single, a walk and a strikeout. Moreland had two hits, one of which was a solo home run off Jason Grilli in the seventh. It was his first dinger of the spring. Rusney Castillo also went deep, with his solo shot coming off Mat Latos. Brock Holt and Mike Miller were the only other two Red Sox with hits in this one, and both of theirs were singles.