The Boston Red Sox Thursday, March 4, 2021 * The Boston Globe Hirokazu Sawamura ‘excited’ after making first bullpen appearance for Red Sox Peter Abraham FORT MYERS, Fla. — Under gloomy skies, Hirokazu Sawamura threw 23 pitches to Kevin Plawecki in the bullpen adjacent to the Red Sox clubhouse Wednesday morning. What would usually be an unremarkable event drew quite a crowd. A dozen or so teammates and coaches watched the newcomer from Japan, as did a similar number of journalists. “It was my first bullpen session ever in the US, and wearing this jersey, the Red Sox jersey,” Sawamura said via a translator. “So I was so excited. But at the same time, I was a little bit nervous.” Sawamura, who turns 33 in April, had a 2.77 earned run average over nine seasons in Japan. The Sox signed him to a two-year deal last month to bolster their bullpen. The baseballs used in Japan are slightly different than those made for Major League Baseball. The Japanese ball is tackier, and the seams are lower. Sawamura said he started throwing with the MLB baseball after last season in preparing for a move overseas. “Very likable guy,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I remember when we talked to him in the offseason … he was very honest about what he wanted to do, why he wanted to come here. “He asked questions, and Chaim [Bloom] got some answers. We talked about the bullpen and the city and everything involved to be part of this organization.” Cora joked that Sawamura owed him a bottle of wine because he interrupted a weekend away with his girlfriend to take a call from Japan. Sawamura is wearing No. 22 in spring training but could switch before the start of the season. Dalbec delivers Bobby Dalbec homered twice and drove in three runs in a 14-6 rout of the Twins Wednesday. Dalbec has homered three times in eight at-bats this spring, all to right-center and more than 400 feet at Hammond Stadium. Every Red Sox starter had at least one hit, and it was 12-1 after an eight-run fourth inning. Kiké Hernández doubled twice, walked, and drove in two runs. J.D. Martinez was 2 for 3 with a two-run double. “We have a good offensive team,” Cora said. “We believe we’re going to score runs this year.” Support for Boone Before taking questions after the game, Cora reacted to the news that Yankees manager Aaron Boone was going into surgery in Tampa to have a pacemaker installed. “My thoughts and prayers for everything that is going to go on,” Cora said. “He’s one of my best friends in baseball; we were teammates at ESPN. I know he’s going to be fine and we’re going to get back to competing again. Looking forward to seeing him in New York.” Where’s Verdugo? Alex Verdugo is healthy but not scheduled to play his first game until Friday. What gives? “Getting to know Alex, as far as the swing is, he feels he’s not ready for action although he’s been on the back fields facing a lot of guys,” Cora said. “I told him not to rush. I think Friday [and] Sunday is pretty good for him. “What I really want is him to go out there and play defense with everybody else. That’s the most important thing. As far as his swing and his health, he’s OK.” Verdugo is not behind. It’s more preparing in a way he feels most comfortable. “There’s a lot of stuff with Alex about how he feels about his swing,” Cora said. “He has his own routine as far as not hitting outside. He doesn’t want to get caught up hitting pull-side homers. His process is very interesting, and I enjoy talking to him. “It’s nothing about lack of preparation or other things. He’s building up and it’s part of his program. I’m comfortable with it.” Worcester home debut May 11 Triple-A Worcester will start its season May 4 with the first game at new Polar Park on May 11. The team also confirmed that the Red Sox would use Polar Park as its alternate site for reserve players in April. There will be no Triple A All-Star Game, and Worcester picked up home games on July 13 and 14 as a result. There also will be no playoffs, allowing the season to end Sept. 19. Mata sidelined Bryan Mata, the well-regarded 21-year-old righthander, has some soreness behind his biceps and didn’t pitch as scheduled Wednesday. He’s scheduled for an MRI Thursday. “Right now, as it is, there’s nothing serious,” Cora said. “We’re making sure we slow it down the right way.” … Franchy Cordero went through the intake process Tuesday and could be on the field by Thursday. “There’s some catch-up to do,” Cora said … Xander Bogaerts (right shoulder) remains in rehab mode, but the Sox believe he’ll have time to be ready for Opening Day … Jeisson Rosario left the game in the fifth inning when he pulled his left hamstring chasing a fly ball in right field. Wednesday’s Red Sox spring training report: An explosive fourth Peter Abraham Score: Red Sox 14, Twins 6 (seven innings) Record: 2-2 Breakdown: The Sox had 15 hits, nine for extra bases, including a pair of home runs by Bobby Dalbec. They scored eight runs in the fourth inning as the first nine batters reached base off Glenn Sparkman and Chandler Shepherd. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to end the inning with one out. Nick Pivetta allowed one run over two innings. Raynel Espinal struck out the side in the seventh. Next: The Sox play the Orioles in Sarasota on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. Matt Andriese gets the start against righthander Dean Kremer. WEEI-AM has the game. A swing flaw ruined J.D. Martinez in 2020. Here’s how he sought to correct it Alex Speier In the final days of the 2020 season, J.D. Martinez made no attempt to mask his horrendous disappointment. A self-made player who had become one of the most consistent middle-of-the-order producers in baseball from 2014-19 saw his offensive numbers plummet and his swing fall apart. Typically, the power of Martinez’s swing comes from the ground up, a carefully calibrated kinetic chain transferring strength from the feet to the hips and torso and into the upper body. But in 2020 — en route to a .213 average, .291 OBP, and .393 slugging mark in the compressed season — that broke down dramatically, with Martinez rushing out with his front side, opening his hips too quickly, then throwing his hands at the ball, resulting in hollow contact. “I don’t remember a day where, start to finish, he was happy,” said Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers. To achieve a reversal, Martinez was not simply going to rely on his track record. “The words when he left were, ‘I’m getting after this,’ ” Hyers said. When Martinez returned to South Florida, he did not ease into the offseason. A hitting mechanic got back into the garage. Martinez has made Team Sosa Baseball — a renowned South Florida facility run by Ricardo Sosa that is frequented by several big leaguers — his primary offseason base for several years. This year, he set up residence quickly. “In previous years, he’d like to go out on a boat — he’s a big fisherman — and have his off-days,” said Kevin Suarez of Team Sosa. “This year, he had no offdays, man. He was in there every single day, even on the weekends.” Suarez estimated he threw Martinez 200-300 pitches or flips per day in the morning (”My arm was hanging”), with Martinez continuing his work with others in the evening. Then he’d go home and continue his work until he felt that he’d locked in the precise movement he sought. “I think he’s insane,” Suarez joked. “He picks it apart all night. He’s got to have some time off from baseball, but he goes home and practices and makes it perfect.” Martinez wasn’t going to focus on one area to the exclusion of others. A player who rebuilt his swing completely in the 2013-14 offseason wanted once again to completely disassemble it and put it back together. Martinez would take a round of swings, then examine video of it before stepping to the plate for another round. He knew that he’d been sliding too far forward and opening up too quickly with his hips, but with his repetitions, he identified a root cause of that. Instead of remaining anchored on his right ankle at the start of his swing, he started his weight transfer too early, something that became pronounced in 2020. He believes the issue stemmed from an ankle injury in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series. Once he identified the back heel as the foundational problem, Martinez could work through his remaining sequence of moves. He was deliberate in that process, exacting in his standards for what qualified as comfort with each component of his swing. “He’d come in and say, ‘Kev, look at this, man — I figured it out. Look what I’m doing!’ ” Suarez said. “He was happy. He’s like a little kid at a candy store.” Martinez took his work from the cages of Sosa Baseball to the field at his alma mater, Nova Southeastern, typically in sessions that lasted a couple of hours at a time following hours of strength and conditioning work.