Red Sox 5, Braves 0: 181-0 is still on the table

The Red Sox just keep winning spring training games, which is obviously not super important but is still — stop me if you’ve heard this before — better than the alternative. They got a shutout in this latest win over the Braves on Monday, taking that one 4-0. This one wasn’t televised, so we’re just going to go with a few quick notes from the box score for today’s game.

• Michael Wacha made his Red Sox debut in this one, getting the start and going a full three innings. The bad news is that he gave up four hits in his three innings of work while also issuing a walk. The good news is that all four of those hits were singles, and he did a good job of getting ground balls to work out of trouble. Each of his first two innings of work included big double plays. Wacha doesn’t have a huge ceiling, but the Red Sox are looking for these kind of workman-like performances over five innings or so out of him on a regular basis in the back-end of their rotation.

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• For the second day in a row, Ryan Fitzgerald left the yard with a solo home run. This one wasn’t the game-decider, but it’s still nice to see some power from a perhaps not super well known player in the Red Sox farm system. Fitzgerald probably has the ceiling of a utility player, but his defense gives him a decent chance of hitting that ceiling. And if this power carries over? He’ll be a name to watch this season.
• Jarren Duran got the start for this one in left field before eventually moving over to center, and had a nice day at the plate. He got on base twice, with a single and a double. That said, he also got picked off for the second time this spring. Alex Cora wants him to rely more on his legs this season, which is great, but he needs to be mindful as well and avoid these kinds of mistakes. This is what spring training is for, though, of course.
• Other pitchers appearing in this game were: Darwinzon Hernandez, who is being pushed by some new left-handed additions to the bullpen and looked good here, striking out all three batters he faced; Michael Feliz, minor-league depth with major-league experience who tossed a scoreless inning on a walk and a strikeout; John Schreiber, another veteran pitcher to serve as depth who tossed two scoreless innings, allowing a single and issuing a walk while striking out four; Silvino Bracho, a recent minor-league signing who tossed a perfect inning; and Kaleb Ort, who allowed a single but also struck out two in a scoreless inning of work.
• Also getting hits in this game were: Enrique Hernández, who made his first appearance of the spring getting the start in center field and went 1-2 with a single; Rafael Devers, who went 1-3 with a single and a strikeout; Christian Vázquez, who went 1-2 with a double and a strikeout; Yolmer Sánchez, who got the start at second base and went 1-2 with a single and a strikeout; Rob Refsnyder, who came off the bench and played both corner outfield spots and went 1-3 with a double; and Jonathan Araúz, who came off the bench and played both shortstop and third base and went 1-2.

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