Red Sox 2, Mets 3: Sox avoid getting no-hit

Henry Owens was....Henry Owens

It wasn’t a bad spring training debut for Henry Owens, although it wasn’t the greatest, either. In true Owens fashion, the lefty walked the first batter he faced. He followed it up with a strikeout and a single with a fielder’s choice allowing Juan Lagares to get the Mets out to the early lead. In his next frame, he left a pitch right in the middle of the zone to Gavin Cecchini who sent it out for a solo home run. That’s not the best look, as the brother of former Red Sox prospect Garin Cecchini doesn’t have much power with 24 career minor-league home runs over five seasons. Overall, Owens threw two innings and allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. On the plus side, he racked up four strikeouts. It wasn’t a horrible outing, but through one start one would imagine Brian Johnson has the early lead for the number seven starter on the depth chart. Roenis Elias will get his chance on Saturday.

The rest of the pitching was fine

Immediately following Owens was Kyle Kendrick. The former Phillies pitcher was brought in as a non-roster invitee and figures to play the Sean O’Sullivan role this year. That is, a veteran pitcher who you hope not to see much of in the majors. Although he did strike out three over two innings, he allowed two hits including a solo homer to Michael Conforto. After Kendrick, things got better. Fernando Abad and Noe Ramirez both pitched clean innings with two K’s apiece. Robby Scott and Brandon Workman both threw scoreless innings as well, although the lefty allowed two hits and Workman allowed one and also hit a batter. Kyle Martin finished things up with a one-two-three ninth that featured two strikeouts and a fly out. All of the above should be involved in the bottom of Boston’s bullpen.

The lineup struggled for most of the game

The Mets pitching had Boston’s lineup’s number for most of this one. Through the first six innings, the Red Sox had no hits with their only baserunners come via walks to Marco Hernandez, Andrew Benintendi and Jake DePew. That changed in the seventh inning, which was led off by an opposite-field double from Hanley Ramirez. Two batters later, Brian Bogusevic hit a two-run homer to bring the Red Sox within one. Bogusevic wasn’t a high-profile signing, or even a major-league one, but given the team’s lack of outfield depth he could be up with a strong spring and some injuries on the big-league roster. He’s off on the right foot. Those were the only two hits of the game, and they struck out eight times. I think it’s safe to say the sky is falling and they desperately miss David Ortiz.