The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, May 22, 2019

* The Boston Globe

There weren’t many bright spots for the Red Sox in this one

Nora Princiotti

Before the first pitch, Eduardo Rodriguez was 4-2 with a 4.89 ERA. He’d gotten 77 runs of support from the Red Sox in his nine starts. Marcus Stroman, who got the ball for the Blue Jays, was 1-6 with a 2.95 ERA. He’d gotten 22 runs of support in his 10 starts.

The polite way to put it would be to say that the law of averages was in effect Tuesday night. Stroman got plenty of run support, while Rodriguez had nowhere to hide in a 10-3 Blue Jays win in the second of a four- game series.

The Red Sox had seven hits and eight walks but were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. They loaded the bases with one out in the third and again with no outs in the seventh, but both times failed to score. Their only offense came via a trio of solo home runs, one from Mitch Moreland off Stroman in the sixth, and from Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the eighth off the Toronto bullpen. Bradley homered in the series opener on Monday, too, giving him home runs in back-to-back games for the fourth time in his career.

“We had a lot of traffic out there,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “[Stroman] made some pitches when he had to and he got the W.”

Cora couldn’t say the same for his starter, Rodriguez, who gave up three home runs as part of a five-inning outing in which he allowed six hits and six runs with three walks and five strikeouts. Rodriguez (4-3, 5.43) threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes. He had not allowed a home run in his previous five starts but wound up tying a season high with six earned runs allowed.

Toronto struck first in the fourth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2 for 5 with two runs and a strikeout) singled and Rodriguez gave up back-to-back homers to Rowdy Tellez and Randal Grichuk to make it 3-0.

“The last homer was supposed to be a slider down and away and I missed it in the middle, and the changeup on the first homer was right in the middle, too,” Rodriguez said.

After Grichuk’s home run, Cora took the unusual step of going to see Rodriguez on the mound. Typically, pitching coach Dana LeVangie would do that, and it looked like evidence of mounting frustration over Rodriguez’s performance on Cora’s part, but the manager said after the game he just had a piece of information he wanted to share with his pitcher.

“I wasn’t upset. It was something that I saw,” Cora said. “It’s not like body language or whatever.”

Cora said what he’d noticed was “baseball stuff” and something he’s talked to Rodriguez about before, but didn’t want to be more specific in case other opponents picked up on something to search for. Cora did note that the fourth-inning homer run by Tellez was not the first time this season Rodriguez has been burned by a changeup he’s failed to get down and in, and that the Red Sox are trying to solve some problems the lefthander seems to be having against lefty hitters.

“That’s your job, lefty-lefty, so it’s something that I’ve got to get in the bullpen and working on it and fix it,” said Rodriguez, who’s been dominant against lefthanded hitters in the past.

The fifth inning went much like the fourth for Rodriguez. Guerrero singled again, then Justin Smoak walked, and the lefthanded-hitting Tellez hit his second home run of the game to add another three runs. For Tellez, it was the first multi-home run game of his career.

Rodriguez was replaced by Tyler Thornburg in the sixth. Thornburg promptly gave up two walks and two singles, allowing another two runs. He got out of the inning and was replaced for the seventh by Colten Brewer, who gave up another two runs.

There weren’t many bright spots for the Red Sox, but Cora was still optimistic when it was over and said he didn’t feel like the team was scuffling again.

“We just didn’t make pitches today, and that’s it,” Cora said. “But we come here to win the series and we won one, we’ve got two games to go so you know, it hasn’t been actually that bad. Today, the home runs, we paid a price, but the whole week we’ve been playing good baseball.”

Red Sox’ Nathan Eovaldi encouraged by bullpen session

Nora Princiotti

Nathan Eovaldi threw a 35-pitch bullpen session Tuesday, a positive step in his recovery from surgery in late April to remove loose bodies in his elbow.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said the feedback from the session was “great,” but that the team has to make sure Eovaldi doesn’t rush back.

“This is a guy who, as everybody knows, we have to make sure that we slow him down because if it was up to him the progress would be very fast,” Cora said. “Stuff was really good. He was in a good mood in the training room after that.”

Eovaldi threw cutters, fastballs, and splits, the first time he’s thrown his secondary pitches since his surgery.

Cora said that the next step for Eovaldi would be another bullpen session, probably three days from now. Cora said he’ll wait to see how Eovaldi feels Wednesday before setting that as the timeline, though.

Eovaldi is a player who likes to push himself, which is a blessing and a curse.

“He’s full blast,” Cora said. “That’s the good thing about it, but at the same time we have to be careful. We know where he’s coming from and we need this guy to be healthy.”

He’s made progress, but Cora said Eovaldi isn’t ready to face hitters yet.

“I don’t think there’s too many hitters who want to face him from our guys,” the manager said.

On the surface In more than 2,200 all-time meetings, the Red Sox and Yankees have never played on artificial turf. That will change in June when the teams play two games at Olympic Stadium in London.

The venue, home to the Premier League’s West Ham United, has a grass field that needs to be covered. According to the Associated Press, Major League Baseball will have access to Olympic Stadium for 21 days leading up to the series on June 29-30 and for five days after, and did not feel that was enough time to install real grass on top of the soccer pitch.

Instead, a protective covering will go over the grass and the running track that was leftover from the 2012 Olympics. Starting June 6, a layer of gravel will go in on top of the covering. After that, artificial turf will be installed on top of the gravel.

The artificial turf — 141,913 square feet of FieldTurf Vertex — is being shipped more than 150 miles via truck from Auchel, France. Its journey will begin June 4.

The materials will get re-used when MLB — most likely the Cubs and Cardinals – goes back to England next year, one reason artificial materials were preferred. Had MLB used natural grass, it would have needed new grass for the games next season.

“This way we’ve got a synthetic turf system that’s got two games on it this year, two games on it next year, and then the commissioner can do what he wants to do with the system, whether he wants to have another event somewhere, sell it or donate it or whatever they want to do,” Murray Cook, MLB’s field coordinator and consultant, told the AP.

“It’s the first Yankees-Red Sox game out of the country, so why not a lot of firsts?” Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia told the AP. “I think it will be fine.”

On assignment Dustin Pedroia, Brock Holt, and Brian Johnson all made minor league rehab appearances on Tuesday. Pedroia started at second base and Holt at shortstop for Triple A Pawtucket, which was on the road against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Johnson made his second rehab start with Double A Portland.

Pedroia played three games in a row with Pawtucket from Friday-Sunday, playing second on Friday and DH-ing Saturday and Sunday. He went 2 for 11 with two strikeouts.

Cora said he’s less focused on results than he is on how Pedroia’s at-bats look from a mechanical standpoint. Cora said Pedroia has seen videos of himself over the last couple days and understands what he needs to do, and that he needs to take a patient approach.

“I’ve seen a lot of guys who go through rehab assignments and they don’t hit and then they come here and they hit,” Cora said. “But I think as far as mechanics and adjustments, that’s something he knows he has to do and we would like that, too, to happen.”

Both Pedroia and Holt played seven innings Tuesday night. Pedroia went 1 for 5 and Holt 1 for 5 with an RBI and a strikeout.

Johnson wasn’t supposed to pitch more than three innings and wound up only going 1⅔ , giving up three hits and three runs, all unearned, with a walk and four strikeouts. He told local media after the game that his mechanics are still off and he feels like he’ll need at least two more rehab starts before he’s ready to rejoin the big club.

Martinez ill J.D. Martinez was out of the lineup Tuesday night because of an illness. Cora said Martinez called him Tuesday morning saying he felt sick and that Cora told him immediately he wouldn’t start but would be available to pinch hit . . . Ryan Weber or Hector Velazquez will start on Thursday after Rick Porcello gets the ball Wednesday, Cora said.

Once again, Red Sox left wanting more from Eduardo Rodriguez

Pete Abraham

Eduardo Rodriguez was working on a two-hit shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth inning Tuesday night when he allowed back-to-back home runs by Rowdy Tellez and Randal Grichuk.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora — and not pitching coach Dana LeVangie — was quickly out of the dugout to have what appeared to be a stern conversation on the mound with Rodriguez.

The first home run slammed into a scoreboard hanging off the facade of the third deck in right field and knocked out a panel next to an advertisement that said, “What’s impossible today won’t be tomorrow.”

Rodriguez left the game after the fifth inning after allowing six runs in a game the Sox lost, 10-3.

Tellez, a rookie, hit another home run off Rodriguez in the fifth inning, a three-run shot.

“What’s impossible today won’t be tomorrow.” It sounds like something every manager and pitching coach he’s ever had would say about Rodriguez, a 26-year-old with undeniable talent who has never gotten over the top.

In what is now his fifth season in the majors, Rodriguez remains a No. 5 starter, the guy who gets dropped out of the rotation when the postseason starts.

The problem this season is lefthanded hitters. They’re 15 of 42 (.357) against Rodriguez with two doubles and five home runs. Lefthanders hit .234 against Rodriguez last season with three home runs.

Tellez, a lefthanded hitter, came into the game with a .212 career batting average against lefthanded pitchers and one home run. But he launched a first-pitch changeup and then a 2-and 2 slider.

A scoreless game turned into a 6-0 Toronto lead in a span of 10 batters with Tellez driving in five of the runs.

“We need to start getting lefties out. I think that’s the next step with him,” Cora said. “He wasn’t able to get Tellez out today. It’s been like that the whole season, even in spring training.”

Sometimes it’s poor execution of the right pitch and other times it’s the type of pitch.

Rodriguez’s favorite pitch is a changeup and throwing it down and in to lefthanded hitters is fine if it gets down and in. But the pitch to Tellez in the fourth inning was up and over the plate.

Tellez, who looks a bit like Samwell Tarly from “Game of Thrones,” didn’t miss it.

“[Rodriguez] was very dominant last year against lefties. We even used him like that in the playoffs to get lefties out,” Cora said. “But it hasn’t happened this year.”

Cora said the pitching coaches would take a look at the situation and ask David Price and Chris Sale what they think.

“I believe that he can do it,” Cora said.

As always, the question is if Rodriguez believes or whether he’s content to be a bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher.

“Just missing the location and throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time,” he said. “That’s what I think. It’s frustrating when you know you’re lefty-lefty. You’ve got an out.

“That’s your job. It’s something I’ve got to get in the bullpen and work on it and fix it.”

The Sox won the last six games Rodriguez had started with the lefthander going 4-0 with a 2.78 earned run average. It appeared he had found consistency after two rocky starts to open the season.

But Tuesday was a step back, especially coming against a team with one of the worst lineups in the American League.

Rodriguez played a prominent role in what was one of the worst games of the season for the Red Sox, but he had plenty of company.

The Sox were hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position, generating their offense on solo home runs by Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers, and Mitch Moreland.

The bullpen was a mess, too. Tyler Thornburg replaced Rodriguez to start the sixth inning and walked the first two hitters before allowing an RBI single by No. 8 hitter Dan Jansen and a run-scoring single by No. 9 hitter Brandon Drury.

Thornburg has pitched 18⅔ innings this season and allowed 21 hits, 10 walks, and 16 earned runs. The Sox have trusted Thornburg in high-leverage situations for only two batters all season.

Once Nathan Eovaldi and Brian Johnson are healthy, it will be hard to justify Thornburg still being on the roster.

Rodriguez now has four days to prepare for his next start, which comes in Houston on Sunday against Justin Verlander.

“You’re always going to have bad and good starts,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just going to go the next one. I’ll work on the hitters I’m going to face and attack them, too. Working on the location of my pitchers. I was doing it before and have to get to that point again.”

Can Jackie Bradley Jr. turn his season around again?

Alex Speier

It’s not Jackie Bradley Jr.’s first time at this rodeo.

Monday represented a landmark for the 29-year-old Red Sox outfielder, who stayed on an Elvis Luciano changeup and drilled it over the fence in left for his first homer of the year in a 12-2 romp over the Blue Jays. The timing — in the Red Sox’ 47th game of the season — was noteworthy given its similarity to his emergence from a funk one year earlier.

In May 2018, Bradley went through a couple of weeks in which he simply couldn’t hit fastballs.

There was no art to what opponents were doing; they just pounded the zone with four-seamers and watched Bradley whiff. The struggles were so pronounced that manager Alex Cora started scaling back his playing time, and it was fair to wonder whether a demotion was in his best interest.

But in his second at-bat May 20 — the 47th game of the season — Bradley ripped a fastball for a double. Though he owned a meager .165/.267/.252 line at the end of that game, from that point forward, Bradley started hitting the ball hard — initially with little to show for it.

Bradley hit .259/.332/.458 over the rest of the season, meaning that for those last four-plus months of the season, he was an above-average hitter (the league average slash line in 2018 was .248/.318/.409) who played superb defense. He was an above-average all-around player. The Red Sox stuck with him and were rewarded for doing so.

They were rewarded again Tuesday, albeit in a 10-3 loss in Toronto, as Bradley went 2 for 4 with a solo home run in the eighth.

However, it’s somewhat dangerous to assume that because Bradley figured out his offensive approach at roughly this point of 2018 that he’ll do the same in 2019. The degree of difficulty is somewhat greater given some fundamental swing adjustments he made during the offseason. Still, given the magnitude of last year’s turnaround, it’s worth asking whether Bradley came back from depths that were this extreme a year ago.

Bradley’s start to this season has been worse than in 2018. His average and OBP are somewhat lower, while his slugging percentage through 47 games (.200) was significantly lower in 2019.

Yet his swing-and-miss rate was virtually unchanged — which is to say, very bad — and his strikeout rate likewise was up (from 28.1 percent to 30.0) but only slightly.

In other words, he’s been making contact about as much as he was in 2018 — when he showed the ability to improve the frequency and quality of his contact considerably starting in late May.

Is there any evidence that Bradley, beyond his two homers, is showing improvement? Beyond his batting average, there seems to be a few signs pointing in the right general direction:

Bradley couldn’t hit a four-seam fastball in April. He swung-and-missed at roughly one out of every seven heaters he saw (14.3 percent). This month, he had cut his swing-and-miss rate against four-seamers to a more reasonable 8.1 percent — roughly one of every 12 he saw.

The adaptation with his new swing to breaking balls (curveballs and sliders) was particularly extreme in April, no surprise given his attempt to work with a new swing plane that would be most challenged by the depth of pitches.

He had no shot against curveballs in particular last month, going 0 for 10 with seven strikeouts while swinging and missing at more than one of every six. This month, he had swung and missed at roughly one of every 20 curveballs.

And though hitless against sliders this month, he’s shown an improved ability to get the bat on the ball, with a decreasing swing-and-miss rate against such offerings.

His swing-and-miss numbers were jumping in May against changeups — making his homer on Monday off that pitch particularly significant. Opponents are going to attack Bradley with changeups until he proves he can hit them. On Monday, he did just that.

Overall, his quality and frequency of contact has gone up considerably.

Statcast measures “expected weighted on-base average” (xwOBA) — a statistic that takes the exit velocity and launch angle of every ball put in play by a hitter to measure the likelihood that a ball hit in a similar fashion becomes an out, single, double, triple, or homer. Doing so strips out the luck associated with balls put in play — i.e. if a batter hit a rocket to a fielder.

Based on that metric, Bradley had been much better in May (his .326 xwOBA is just above the league average of .322) than he was in April (.249).

In short, Bradley has been showing the sort of in-season improvement that convinced Cora to stick with him through his early struggles in 2018.

That faith was rewarded over the duration of the regular season and particularly during the playoffs, when the center fielder delivered numerous game-changing hits.

If Bradley continues to show improvement this year, perhaps Cora’s commitment to the longer view will once again be rewarded.

* The Boston Herald

Red Sox bats pummel Blue Jays, 12-2

Michael Silverman

When the Red Sox lineup gets rolling with home runs by Michael Chavis and even Jackie Bradley Jr., when David Price is healthy, and when the bullpen is untouchable like it was Monday, few teams can stop them.

Especially the Blue Jays.

The 25-22 Red Sox ruined Victoria Day in Toronto by disposing of the Blue Jays, 12-2, in almost laughably easy fashion in the opener of a seven-game road trip. The Sox had 16 hits, including home runs by four different players. Five Sox drove in runs, and seven scored at least once.

Chavis’ third-inning home run, a two-run shot, was the Sox’ first long ball of the day, followed by Bradley in the sixth then Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers in the ninth. Bogaerts and Devers drove in three runs each.

For manager Alex Cora, seeing the good results appear with concerted effort after a tough weekend series against the Astros meant a great deal.

“I was happy we put in that effort. It was easy to come here after a game like that, a series like that, and have a letdown, a 1:00 game, just take things for granted, and that wasn’t the case,” Cora said. “We were good today. It was fun to watch, and we’ll just keep rolling now.”

Chavis now has nine home runs in only 26 games and 99 big league at-bats. The team is feeding off of his bat, and he is well aware of what it means to be another weapon in a formidable offense.

“That’s when things get really fun, you see a glimpse of what we’re capable of,” Chavis said. “I wouldn’t even say that we’re hot yet, but I think things are going the right way for sure. And being part of those innings is definitely something fun. You can see the vibe in the dugout. … Everybody is having a good time but still is focused on what we’re trying to do. Try not to let up. You’ve got them against the wall, you can’t let them walk back into the game, so you keep working at it.”

Price looked sharp in his first start since May 2 when he was afflicted with elbow tendinitis. In his five innings and 67 pitches, he allowed two runs (none earned) on three hits, one home run, with no walks and four strikeouts.

Four relievers — Brandon Workman, Heath Hembree, Ryan Brasier and Hector Velazquez — worked one hitless inning each.

“They’ve been doing an outstanding job. After the Saturday game (when Velazquez was knocked out after one inning), we were not sure, but we had to stay away from some guys,” Cora said. “It was good to see (Workman) going through the heart of the order, then (Hembree) using different pitches to get people out. Brasier, that was good. Hector, he bounced back.”

Bradley’s first home run of the season stretched the Red Sox’ lead to 8-2, a two-run opposite-field blast off reliever Elvis Luciano in the sixth inning.

The lead expanded to 10-2 an inning later, thanks to RBI by Devers and Steve Pearce.

The Red Sox took the lead for good in the third inning, which began with a walk by starter Edwin Jackson of Andrew Benintendi. A groundout and a Mitch Moreland double later, Bogaerts singled in two runs for a 4-2 lead, then came Chavis’ blast.

Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox fall fast and furiously to Blue Jays

Michael Silverman

When the Blue Jays were crushed by the Red Sox on Monday, they had their rookie phenom and franchise cornerstone Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the bench the whole game.

So what was the Red Sox’ excuse for losing 10-3 Tuesday night?

They did not have a good one, outside of poor pitching by starter Eduardo Rodriguez (six runs allowed in five innings) and a couple of relievers.

Three solo home runs — Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. — marked the high points of a lowlight type of night for the offense.

But it was Rodriguez’ poor results overall — especially the two home runs he gave up to left-handed hitter Rowdy Tellez in the fourth and fifth innings for five combined RBI — that scorched the Red Sox’ chances.

“We need to start getting lefties out. I think that’s the next step with him. He wasn’t able to get Tellez out today,” manager Alex Cora said of Rodriguez. “He hit a changeup for a home run, a slider for a home run, so I think we saw it in the last one, it’s been like that the whole season I think, even in spring training. We’ll take a look, see where we’re at and try to use his stuff in certain spots so he can start doing that.”

It didn’t help that Rodriguez was tipping his off-speed pitches once again, a problem that has cropped up a couple of times in his career. Cora came out of the dugout after Rodriguez threw another home run ball to Randal Grichuk right after the first Tellez home run in the fourth. But Rodriguez has more to work on than that.

“Just missing location and throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time, that’s what I think,” Rodriguez said. “It’s frustrating. When it’s lefty-lefty you know you have to get an out, that’s how it works, that’s my job. Lefty-lefty, something I’ve got to get into the bullpen and work on it and fix it.”

The Red Sox managed only one run off Toronto starter Marcus Stroman who, despite issuing six walks, held them to five singles in his six-plus innings. The Sox had their chances against Stroman and wasted both of them.

Their first shot came in the third, when they loaded the bases with one out, only to have Stroman strike out first Moreland and then Xander Bogaerts.

In the seventh, the Sox knocked out Stroman after Bradley reached on an infield hit and Steve Pearce walked. Another walk to Andrew Benintendi against reliever Tim Mayza loaded them again, but Mookie Betts and Moreland struck out, then Bogaerts again stranded the runners by grounding out against reliever Joe Biagini.

Each starting pitcher was sharp early, and even though Stroman was the first to show cracks, it was Rodriguez who faltered in the most serious manner.

His trouble began in the fourth inning, which started with an innocent bloop single to right field by Guerrero. Rodriguez retired the next batter, but when he started off Tellez with a changeup a few inches inside, the Jays designated hitter seemed ready for it, pulling a towering home run off the second-deck facing for a 2-0 lead. Rodriguez’ second pitch to the next batter, Grichuk, also was a changeup and also was crushed, making it 3-0.

Cora, instead of pitching coach Dana LeVangie, came out for a chat, which was followed by a walk before Rodriguez retired the final two batters of his long inning via strikeouts.

“I wasn’t upset,” Cora said. “Something that I saw. Not body language. It’s something like, ‘Hey, we’ve been talking about this.'”

The fifth inning also was a three-run affair. Rodriguez retired the first two batters he faced before allowing another single to Guerrero and then a walk. Rodriguez avoided throwing Tellez a changeup, but the first non-fastball thrown on the inner half to him, a slider, was launched for a three-run home run and a 6-0 lead.

Rodriguez was all done after five innings — six earned runs allowed on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 97 pitches — and was relieved by Tyler Thornburg, who did not wait four innings before allowing multiple runs.

Colten Brewer allowed two runs in his equally ineffectual seventh inning.

“We just didn’t make pitches today and that’s it,” Cora said. “”We came here to win the series, we have two to go, it hasn’t been that bad. Home runs, we paid the price, but the whole week we’ve been playing good baseball.”

Nathan Eovaldi throws, but Red Sox will stay cautious

Michael Silverman

Nathan Eovaldi threw his first bullpen session Tuesday since undergoing a procedure to remove foreign objects from his elbow on April 23.

It went very well, with Eovaldi throwing all of his secondary pitches for the first time. And, as is his wont whenever the topic of Eovaldi’s relentless approach to his rehab is brought up, manager Alex Cora smiled broadly as he spoke about it.

“He was good, the feedback was great, he threw cutters, fastballs and splits actually, 35 pitches,” Cora said. “This is a guy, as everybody knows, we have to make sure we slow him down, because if it was up to him, the progress would be very fast. His stuff was very good, he’s in a good mood in the training room after that, doing all the exercises, we’ll see how he feels (Wednesday) and then decide what’s the next step.”

Eovaldi likely believes he is ready to start.

“I think it’s how physical he is, what kind of athlete he is, he’s not going to half-ass it out there, he’s full blast,” Cora said. “That’s the good thing about it but at the same time we have to be careful. We know where he’s coming from and we need this guy to be healthy any time he steps onto the big-league diamond, and we’ll make sure that happens.”

Eovaldi likely will throw his next bullpen session Friday in Houston.

HARD FEELINGS

The Red Sox and Blue Jays, specifically starter Marcus Stroman, engaged in some low-key chirping and barking at each other in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s 10-3 loss.

The Sox dugout appeared a bit piqued about home plate umpire Alan Porter’s selective concept of calling time or not, in response to pressure from Stroman.

The catalyst seemed to be when Stroman likely quick-pitched Michael Chavis.

“In that one, I think Michael called time and as soon as Michael got in the box, he pitched right there. I don’t know what they said,” Cora said. “It’s people competing out there. He was pretty decent today, he went what, six innings. We had a lot of traffic out there, he made some pitches when he had to and he got a W.”

Cora went into some vague specifics.

“I was talking with Alan, if he’s going to get on our guys, get on him,” Cora said. “It’s the same thing with him every day, he competes in a certain way and people don’t like it, It seems like whenever there’s a game when I’m in, somebody screams at him, I don’t know, that’s the way he acts. He’s a good pitcher, he gets motivated in different ways. Some people like it, some people don’t, so whatever. It is what it is.”

ROAD STILL SMOOTH

With the loss, the Red Sox are 9-3 in their past dozen road games. … Jackie Bradley Jr. hit his second home run of the season and second in as many nights. … Mitch Moreland hit his 13th home run of the season. Three of his dingers have come against the Blue Jays. … Rafael Devers also homered, his fourth on the season.

Steve Pearce reached base in all three plate appearances: two walks and a single.

J.D. OUT AGAIN J.D. Martinez didn’t play Monday just to have a break during a long stretch without any days off for the team, but he needed another day off Tuesday because of illness.

“He texted me this morning, he wasn’t feeling great, he had a rough night, I don’t know if he was throwing up or whatever,” Cora said. “As soon as he texted me this morning, I was, ‘Well, you’re not playing today,’ so hopefully it’s only a 24-hour thing and he’ll be back tomorrow. Probably he’ll hit during the game, see how he feels, if necessary we’ll use him but it doesn’t make any sense to play him the way he feels right now.” …

Rick Porcello will pitch Wednesday, on his normal rest, meaning the Red Sox have a vacancy to fill for Thursday’s series finale. Depending on how Tuesday’s night start by Eduardo Rodriguez went, either Hector Velazquez or Ryan Weber will get the start.

Doesn’t sit well The nation of Canada was upset with Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo’s decision to rest rookie phenom Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Monday, the national holiday known as Victoria Day. Toronto GM Ross Atkins had to face many questions about it. Atkins backed his manager, but admitted perhaps he could have briefed Montoyo on the importance of the holiday, which might have changed Montoyo’s mind, although Atkins was not sure.

Cora was sympathetic with Montoyo’s decision.

“I saw it last night after the basketball game, there was a guy, he was very hard on Charlie about it, I was like, ‘Wow!’” Cora said. “Whatever. People don’t know what happens behind closed doors, what the program is and the plan. We respect the fans and we respect everything that goes outside of our doors, but there’s a reason he didn’t play yesterday.

“I get it. I understand. The kid is going to play a lot of games here and people are going to see him play. If the plan was for him to get an off day regardless of what it was, I understand. I respect all that stuff. But at the same time the organization, they have a pretty good idea what they’re doing. But going to the question, I haven’t had (having someone play because it was a holiday) happen yet.” …

Cora, a big basketball fan, wished the NBA schedule-makers had made Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between Toronto and Milwaukee be played Monday night in Toronto, after the Red Sox’ day game, so he could attend. Instead it was being played Tuesday evening.

“If I go to the game tonight it’s because I got thrown out,” Cora said.

Pedroia plugs away Dustin Pedroia is on another rehab assignment in the minor leagues, and Cora said the veteran has plenty of work left ahead before coming back to the team.

“I see the at-bats, there’s still some stuff that he has to work mechanically,” Cora said. “Actually I talked to him yesterday about it, he got some videos, some feedback today and he looked at it, and he was, ‘OK, I’m doing that,’ so hopefully he can make the adjustments throughout the process, throughout the at-bats and he can get better and better.

“Today is the first day he’s going to play second since Friday, supposed to play seven innings, he DH’d both days. Defensive part is not an issue, just a matter of build-up, and obviously the at-bats, something he wants keep working at, keep building, keep getting better, obviously that’s something we also want him to do.”

Pedroia very much wants to play at a high level upon his return.

“He understands, he understands, he doesn’t want to be just a guy, he wants to produce, which is the most important thing for him, he wants to be the guy, when he plays every day, if he plays when he comes back it’s to produce,” said Cora. “He doesn’t take that lightly and that’s why he’s working hard as far as making adjustments.”

* The Providence Journal

Blue Jays 10, Red Sox 3: Tellez, Toronto blast wasteful Boston

Bill Koch

It had been five starts since Eduardo Rodriguez allowed a home run, and the Blue Jays made up for lost time against the Red Sox left-hander on Tuesday.

Specifically, it was Rowdy Tellez doing the majority of the damage at Rogers Centre. Tellez took Rodriguez deep on two different occasions while Boston’s own hitters proved wasteful with men on base.

The result was a 10-3 Toronto win on a night where the Red Sox displayed some of the ills that have bugged them to this point in the season. Inconsistent starting pitching at times and the inability to produce with men on base have been familiar bugaboos that have yet to shake completely out of Boston’s system.

“We need to start getting lefties out,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I think that’s the next step with (Rodriguez). He was unable to get Tellez out today. The first at-bat he missed one, and then he hit a changeup for a home run and a slider for a home run.”

Brandon Lowe was the last batter to take Rodriguez deep, that coming on April 19 against the Rays. The Red Sox still recovered to win that game at Tropicana Field and each of the last seven started by Rodriguez prior to Tuesday. Tellez’s five RBI and first multi-homer game of his career were enough to down Boston all by himself.

“When you’re lefty-lefty you’ve got to get them out,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the job lefty-lefty. It’s something that I’ve got to get in the bullpen and get working on it and fix it.”

Left-handed batters entered Tuesday hammering Rodriguez to the tune of a 1.053 OPS. That’s well above his career mark of .788, and his signature changeup has failed to miss bats down and in. Cora cited a two- run homer hit down the line in right at Fenway Park by Baltimore’s Dwight Smith Jr. on April 12 as another example.

“It’s been like that the whole season I think – even in spring training,” Cora said. “We’ll take a look and see where we’re at and try using his stuff in different spots to see if we can start doing that.”

The Red Sox squandered two early chances to take the lead. Boston put the first two men on base in the second before Michael Chavis grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Christian Vazquez bounced to the pitcher. The Red Sox had the bases loaded with one out in the third when Mitch Moreland and Xander Bogaerts struck out, allowing Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman to wriggle out of danger.

″(Stroman) was pretty decent today,” Cora said. “He went six innings. I think we had a lot of traffic out there he made some pitches when he had to and he got the W.”

Toronto made it hurt in the fourth after nine of its first 10 men had gone down against Rodriguez. Tellez ran into a changeup off the plate inside and sent a majestic drive to right, making it 2-0. Randal Grichuk followed with a laser down the line in left, a solo shot that gave the Blue Jays a three-run cushion.

There was more to come in the fifth after Rodriguez retired the inning’s first two batters. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled through the left side, Justin Smoak drew a walk and Tellez lifted a towering shot to deep right center that doubled the cushion to 6-0.

Mitch Moreland’s leadoff homer to the opposite field in the sixth could have been the spark Boston required, and the Red Sox eventually put two men on with one out thanks to back-to-back walks. Vazquez ripped a one-hopper to second that made for an easy 4-6-3 double play, a rally killer that got Stroman off the hook yet again.

Boston relievers Tyler Thornburg and Colten Brewer each surrendered a pair of runs in the next two innings. RBI singles by Danny Jansen and Brandon Drury roughed up Thornburg in a 40-pitch sixth and Drury’s two-run double to left center muddied Brewer’s line in the seventh. It was 10-1 by the time Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. drove conciliatory solo homers in the eighth.

* MassLive.com

Dustin Pedroia rehab: Boston Red Sox second baseman goes 1-for-5 Tuesday, won’t be rushed back

Christopher Smith

Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt both went 1-for-5 in their rehab games for Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday.

Pedroia singled to center field. He flied out once and grounded out three times.

Manager Alex Cora told reporters in Toronto on Tuesday that Pedroia will have an extended rehab assignment. He won’t be rushed back to Boston.

Holt hit an RBI double to right field and scored a run. He also struck out, lined out, grounded out and popped out.

Pedroia played seven innings at second base and Holt played seven innings at shortstop.

This marked Pedroia’s first time playing the field on his latest rehab assignment. He’s 3-for-16 with two runs and two strikeouts. He was the DH on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Holt is 5-for-20 with a homer, two doubles, five runs, two RBIs, three walks and seven strikeouts.

Boston Red Sox go 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, lose to Blue Jays; Rowdy Tellez homers twice vs. Eduardo Rodriguez

Christopher Smith

The Red Sox went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. They lost 10-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. each hit solo home runs. But Boston failed to deliver the big hit with men on base. Bradley’s homer was his second in two games after he failed to homer in his first 38 games this season.

Devers also has homered in each of his past two games.

Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman walked six batters and allowed five hits. But the Red Sox scored only one run against him in 6-plus innings.

The Sox loaded the bases with one out in the third inning. But Moreland and Xander Bogaerts both struck out swinging. Double plays ended the second, fourth and sixth innings.

Boston also loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but Mookie Betts and Moreland struck out swinging, and Bogaerts grounded out.

Eduardo Rodriguez entered Tuesday 4-0 with a 3.46 ERA in his previous seven starts. Boston had won all seven games. But he allowed six runs, six hits (three homers) and three walks while striking out five in 5 innings.

Rowdy Tellez bashed two home runs against him.

Tellez and Randal Grichuk went back-to-back in the fourth inning. Tellez’s 399-foot two-run homer put the Blue Jays ahead 2-0. Grichuk followed with a 396-foot blast.

Rodriguez dropped to 4-3 with a 5.43 ERA.

Moreland bashes 13th homer

Mitch Moreland crushed his 13th homer. He took Stroman opposite field to left field to cut the Red Sox’s deficit to 6-1 in the sixth inning.

Moreland is just 10 home runs shy of his career high of 23 homers, which he did in both 2013 and ’15.

Ryan Weber a candidate to start for Boston Red Sox on Thursday vs. Blue Jays; Rick Porcello to pitch Wednesday

Christopher Smith

Ryan Weber is a candidate to start for the Boston Red Sox against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, manager Alex Cora told reporters in Toronto on Tuesday.

Rick Porcello will start Wednesday, then likely either Weber or Hector Velazquez will start Thursday.

Boston Red Sox's Ryan Weber has thrown five scoreless innings in two relief outings. He has allowed four hits and no walks while striking out six.

Velazquez struggled Saturday, giving up five runs in the first inning and recording just one out against the Astros. His ERA increased to 5.34 in 14 outings (seven starts). He has a 4.38 FIP and 1.40 WHIP.

Weber has allowed just one run in 8 innings (three outings) since the Red Sox promoted him May 6 from Triple-A Pawtucket. He has given up eight hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Chris Sale is expected to start Friday in Houston, David Price on Saturday and Eduardo Rodriguez on Sunday.

* The Portland Press Herald

Red Sox Farm Report: Just 19, power-hitting prospect growing up quickly

Kevin Thomas

Triston Casas pounded high school pitching last May, leading American Heritage of Plantation, Florida, deep into the state’s 6A playoffs.

Eleven months later, Casas was facing 96 mph fastballs and advanced curveballs. He was anything but dominant. The Boston Red Sox first-round draft pick in 2018 was swinging – and missing.

In his first April of professional baseball, Casas hit .208 with two home runs. In 77 at-bats with low Class A Greenville, he struck out 31 times.

“It’s been a really tough adjustment, to be honest,” Casas said recently by phone.

It is always a gamble to draft a high school slugger in the early rounds, let alone hand over $2.5 million in bonus money. But in Casas, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound left-handed power bat, Boston figured it had someone special.

And maybe they have.

This May, Casas, 19, is batting .333 (20 for 60), with a 1.041 OPS and four home runs. With only 11 strikeouts, his K-rate dropped from 40 percent in April to 18 percent in May. Overall, he is batting .263 with six homers and 32 RBI in 39 games.

“He’s made some nice adjustments as the season’s gone on and looks to be a formidable, power-hitting first baseman at this point,” said Greg Norton, the Red Sox minor league hitting coordinator. “Really works hard. Good attitude. Really good kid.”

Pushing a player to Class A, a year after high school, does not always work.

Last year, Boston promoted 2017 second-round draft pick Cole Brannen to Greenville. Brannen, then 19, batted .157 through mid-May and was demoted.

This year, Boston’s 2018 second-round pick Nick Decker, another high school slugger, is remaining in extended spring training until short-season Lowell begins play in June.

The Red Sox figured Casas was ready for Class A – even though he played only two games in the Gulf Coast League last summer before a thumb injury ended his season. He was someone who could handle the challenge.

“At a young age, I learned not to focus on results, but on the process,” Casas said, “whether be in baseball or anything.”

In baseball, Casas has turned it around.

“I knew this would be my biggest jump (from high school to pros). These pitchers are a big step up,” Casas said. “It was a struggle to find my timing and my swing.

“I started seeing the ball a little better; trying to relax, remembering what got me here. I cut down the strikeouts. That was a key for me – putting the barrel on the ball.”

Depending on Casas’ progress, a late-season promotion to advanced Class A Salem is a possibility.

JOSH OCKIMEY is still the biggest slugger in the Red Sox minor league system, with 11 home runs for Triple-A Pawtucket, including six in the past eight games. Ockimey, 23, who played in Portland last year, is batting .223.

But with 30 walks, he has an on-base percentage of .393. Add that to his .598 slugging average and his OPS is .991.

JARREN DURAN was featured in this space recently with speculation that the Salem outfielder could be in Portland by this summer. Maybe we should move up the timetable – end of May? – if Duran keeps raking. After recording a double and walk Monday night, Duran is batting .405, with a 1.121 OPS. He has 12 doubles, three triples, two home runs and 13 stolen bases in 39 games.

PITCHER KUTTER CRAWFORD may reach Hadlock Field before Duran. Crawford, 23, a 16th-round draft pick in 2017, out of Florida Gulf Coast University, is 3-2 with Salem, with a 2.72 ERA, and 52 strikeouts and 15 walks in 43 innings.

CHANDLER SHEPHERD was a pitching prospect on the rise when he recorded a 1.80 ERA in 22 relief appearances for the Sea Dogs in 2016, before a promotion to Triple-A. He never repeated that kind of performance in Pawtucket. Moved to a starter last season, he did have a 3.89 ERA, but was rocked this year in eight games (seven starts) with a 10.01 ERA.

Shepherd, 26, is now gone because Sandy Leon’s wife had a baby. Leon went on paternity leave last week and the Red Sox had to promote catcher Oscar Hernandez. To put Hernandez on the 40-man roster, Shepherd was designated for assignment. The Chicago Cubs grabbed him.

* RedSox.com

E-Rod surrenders 3 homers to end hot streak

Keegan Matheson

TORONTO -- Run support has flowed freely for Eduardo Rodriguez in 2019, but that script flipped on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre, as the Red Sox starter was hit hard in the middle innings with little to show from the lineup behind him.

Rodriguez matched the Blue Jays' Marcus Stroman stride for stride in the early innings, with both starters carrying shutouts into the fourth, but that's when Toronto's bats finally got to the left-hander for a series of big blows leading to a 10-3 Boston loss.

Rowdy Tellez got it started with a two-run shot to right field that thumped off the facing of a video board on the third deck, knocking out some of its lights. Two pitches later, Randal Grichuk turned on one and ripped a low liner over the wall in left field with an exit velocity of 106.8 mph.

"He was very dominant against lefties last year," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said regarding Rodriguez's performance against Tellez. "We were using him in the playoffs like that to get lefties out. It hasn't happened this year, so we'll take a look."

Each of the fourth-inning home runs came against Rodriguez's changeup. Only one of the four home runs he'd allowed entering play on Tuesday had come against that pitch, but neither Tellez nor Grichuk were fooled. Their home runs were the first allowed by Rodriguez in more than a month, dating back to his April 19 start in St. Petersburg against the Rays.

Rodriguez still hadn't see the last of Tellez, though. Toronto's big designated hitter launched his second home run of the night in the very next inning, a three-run shot to put the Blue Jays up 6-0.

"It's frustrating when you know you, with a lefty, you've got to get outs," Rodriguez said. "That's your work. That's your job, lefty on lefty. It's something that I've got to get in the bullpen, work on it and fix it."

There wasn't a great deal of hard contact against Rodriguez outside of the home runs, but those were more than enough to decide the outcome of the game. Rodriguez threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes, and while his control wasn't necessarily wild, he often found himself working deep into counts or falling behind. Cora suggested that the club and Rodriguez will look to strike a better combination of pitch selection and execution going forward.

"We'll take a look and see where he's at and try to use his stuff in certain spots so he can start doing that," Cora said.

Rodriguez's loss breaks a streak where the Red Sox were 7-0 over his last seven starts and he owned a 4-0 record in decisions.

Missed opportunity in the seventh

Boston's last crack at a comeback came in the seventh inning, when they had finally chased Stroman from the game and loaded the bases with no outs.

The Red Sox had the right man at the plate in Mookie Betts, but lefty reliever Tim Mayza struck Betts out swinging at a high fastball and then struck out Mitch Moreland, who went deep in the sixth, swinging at a slider that dropped below his bat and disappeared as it crossed the plate.

Xander Bogaerts grounded out to end the inning, marking a surprisingly quiet night for the Red Sox bats on the heels of Monday's 12-2 win in which Boston recorded 21 of the 23 hardest-hit balls in play.

Rafael Devers launched a 432-foot solo shot in the eighth to tack on Boston's second run, giving him home runs in back-to-back games. Jackie Bradley Jr. then did the same, sending a ball just over the wall in left field as he continues to show signs of breaking out of his slow start to 2019.

Disagreement between Chavis, Stroman

In the fourth inning, Stroman and the Red Sox's dugout exchanged words in what Stroman later defined as a disagreement between he and Michael Chavis. Cora believes the issue that started it was Stroman pitching quickly after Chavis stepped into the box following a called timeout.

"I was telling [home-plate umpire] Alan [Porter], if he's going to get on our guys, get on him," Cora said. "It's the same thing with him every day. He competes a certain way and people don't like it. It seems like whenever a team comes in, somebody screams at him. I don't know, that's the way he acts. He's a good pitcher. He gets motivated in different ways. Some people like it, some people don't, so whatever. It is what it is."

Positive signs from Eovaldi's bullpen session

Keegan Matheson

TORONTO -- Nathan Eovaldi threw a bullpen session on Tuesday as he works his way back from a procedure in late April to remove loose bodies from his right elbow.

Eovaldi threw 35 pitches, including his cutter and splitter for the first time, which left manager Alex Cora encouraged. Now, one of the club's challenges will be easing Eovaldi along at the right pace as the right- hander is very eager to get back on the mound.

"This is a guy that, as everybody knows, we've got to make sure that we slow him down," said Cora. "If it was up to him, the progress would be very fast. His stuff was really good. He was in a good mood in the training room after that."

Cora said on Monday that he expects Eovaldi to need another bullpen session, a decision they'll make when they see how his body reacts to Tuesday's action, but his return will be a welcome sign for the Red Sox's rotation. Over Eovaldi's first four starts of the season in April, he posted a 6.00 ERA and struggled with control, but his velocity numbers were still on par with 2018.

Martinez sideline by illness

J.D. Martinez was out of the Red Sox's lineup again on Tuesday night as he's dealing with an illness, making it back-to-back games that the slugger has missed after his scheduled day off on Monday.

Martinez was sick throughout the night leading into Tuesday morning, so Cora made the decision early in the day to leave Martinez out of the lineup.

"Hopefully it's only a 24-hour thing and he'll be back tomorrow," Cora said prior to the game. "He'll probably hit during the game and see how he feels. If necessary, we'll use him."

Martinez is well on his way to another strong season at the plate, hitting .308 with nine home runs and a .910 OPS through his first 44 games.

Pedroia, Holt continue rehab with Triple-A Pawtucket

Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt each made another rehab appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket in their 11-8 win on Tuesday night. Each played seven innings defensively, but the high-scoring game allowed them to get five plate appearances.

Holt started at shortstop and went 1-for-5 with a double and an RBI while Pedroia went 1-for-5 with a single. Prior to Tuesday's game, Cora noted that these reps would be particularly valuable to Pedroia.

"I think the defensive part is not an issue, it's just a matter of the build-up and, obviously, the at-bats," Cora said. "That's something that he wants to keep working at, keep building and keep getting better."

* WEEI.com

The Blue Jays get their revenge against Red Sox

Rob Bradford

TORONTO -- It really didn't seem a whole lot of emphasis was being put on Tuesday night's game in and around Rogers Centre.

Most of the talk pregame was almost exclusively regarding the Victoria Day controversy, leading Jays general manager Ross Atkins to devote virtually an entire press conference explaining why rookie sensation Vlad Guerrero Jr. didn't play on a national holiday. There was also the "Marcus Strognome" giveaway, and the Raptors' playoff game down the street to a focus on.

But considering the beating the Red Sox administered Monday afternoon against a talent-starved Jays club worrying about Eduardo Rodriguez's start didn't seem a worthwhile exercise.

Then came the game and suddenly the focus shifted, at least from the visitors' side of things. The Blue Jays somehow returned the favor thanks to a decisive, 10-3 rout of the Red Sox. (For a complete recap of the Sox loss, click here.)

Rodriguez's roller coaster of a season kept on dipping and diving, this time resulting in a five-inning, six- run start that saw the Red Sox' lefty surrender two home runs to the Blue Jays' Rowdy Tellez and one more to Randall Grichuk. Through 10 starts the pitcher carrying so much optimism into 2019 sits with a 5.43 ERA.

It was Tellez who continued to expose one of Rodriguez's biggest issues: an inability to get lefty hitters out. Left-handed batters are now batting .357 with a 1.166 OPS against the Sox starter.

"Same deal as the last one, we need to start getting lefties out, I think that’s the next step with him," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "He wasn’t able to get Tellez out today. Actually the first at-bat he missed one, he hit a change-up for a home run, a slider for a home run, so I think we saw it in the last one, it’s been like that the whole season I think, even in spring training. We’ll take a look, see where we’re at and try to use his stuff in certain spots so he can start doing that."

After giving up just one run over 13 innings in two straight starts, Rodriguez has now surrendered 11 runs in 11 frames over his most recent two appearances.

Not helping matters were a couple of more uncomfortable relief outings from Tyler Thornburg and Colten Brewer after Rodriguez's exit. Each reliever allowed a pair of runs, putting Thornburg's ERA at 7.71 with Brewer sitting at 6.38.

The lone three highlights for the Red Sox came via a trio of solo homers from Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr.. It was the 13th of the season for Moreland, with Devers -- who also homered in the series opener -- now claiming five. Bradley Jr. has also homered in each of the series' first two games.

Dustin Pedroia's priority now has to be production

Rob Bradford

TORONTO -- So much focus has rightfully been placed on Dustin Pedroia's injured knee.

But that is just a piece of this very uncertain puzzle.

While Pedroia seems optimistic regarding the health of his knee since returning to his minor-league rehab stint he continues to be presented with another reality: he has to start playing like his old self in order to make this whole thing work.

Working his way back to the majors, Pedroia has discovered the discomfort that comes with both not playing regularly in more than a year and trying to compensate for a new knee and all that goes with it.

"I results, I see the at-bats, there’s still some stuff that he has to work mechanically," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora prior to his team's game Tuesday at Rogers Centre. "Actually I talked to him yesterday about it. He got some videos, some feedback today and he looked at it, and he was ‘OK, I’m doing that,’ so hopefully he can make the adjustments throughout the process, throughout the at-bats and he can get better and better. ... The defensive part is not an issue, just a matter of build-up, and obviously, the at-bats, something he wants keep working at. Keep building, keep getting better. Obviously, that’s something we also want him to do."

While the image in the field has been similar to what we're used to with Pedroia, the at-bats have been off - - both in terms of execution and results.

Pedroia has had to adjust while learning what he physically is working with.

"It’s something we’ve been talking about, the whole team, not only me and Pedroia but (head trainer) Brad (Pearson) and Dave (Dombrowski) "Everybody’s on the same page for this. He understands, he understands. He doesn’t want to be just a guy. He wants to produce, which is the most important thing for him. He wants to be the guy. When he plays every day if he plays when he comes back it’s to produce. He doesn’t take that lightly and that’s why he’s working hard as far as making adjustments. ... As far as mechanics and adjustments, that’s something he knows he has to do and we would like that to happen."

Pedroia ripped a line-drive his fourth at-bat while playing second base for Triple-A Pawtucket Tuesday night, having been retired his first three times at-bat. He finished his night going 1-for-5. It marked Pedroia's 12th minor-league contest this season, and fourth with the PawSox.

In the past two seasons he has seen a total of 24 major league plate appearances, coming away with three singles and three walks.

Red Sox Farm Report: Brian Johnson trying to pace himself despite desire for quick return

Nick Friar

Brian Johnson made his second appearance for a Red Sox farm team as part of his rehab from left elbow inflammation that landed him on the 10-day injured list back on April 6. He came on in relief for Triple-A Pawtucket against the Columbus Clippers (Indians) in his first outing, and his numbers weren’t all that great: 1 2/3 innings, two runs, three hits, one walk, and one strikeout. On Tuesday, Johnson instead started for Double-A Portland, though he couldn’t get through his second inning of work, once again lasting 1 2/3 innings. This time he struck out four, but he gave up three runs (all unearned) on three hits and one walk against the Trenton Thunder (Yankees).

“My arm felt great,” Johnson told reporters. “When I reached back, when I wanted to, I knew my velocity was going to be fine. Especially (for my) second start.”

Johnson also expressed he put an emphasis on his splitter in Tuesday’s outing, in addition to incorporating his slider which he didn’t feature while with Pawtucket six days prior.

Johnson isn’t where he wants to be mechanically, he admits that. But like anyone else, he wants to get back to the big time right away, regardless of whether or not he’s ready. Portland pitching coach Paul Abbott helped him put this rehab in perspective to keep Johnson on the right track.

“He said it perfectly: ‘There’s no need to rush because if I rush it and get back and I’m not where I want to be, I’m only going to hurt the team (not) help the team.’ That’s part of the problem, for me,” Johnson said. “I want to just hurry up and get back. But ultimately I have to — after missing five (or) six weeks (this) is almost kind of like spring training, right now, for me. I’m trying to figure out my mechanics.”

Johnson is guaranteed to make one more rehab appearance. He expressed he could make a fourth.

Pedroia makes fourth-consecutive start

The PawSox got back to work on Tuesday to face the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees) following Monday’s built-in off-day. After playing all three games over the weekend, starting at designated hitter twice, Dustin Pedroia was back at second base for an eight-inning performance. Pedroia was able to make a few plays on Tuesday after going untested in his previous start at second (May 17). He fielded one grounder and turned a double play on a feed from third baseman Mike Miller in the first inning, then later fielded another throw at second from Miller to end the third frame. At the plate, Pedroia went 1-for-5.

Brock Holt was also in the lineup for the PawSox, playing shortstop. He too went 1-for-5, though he did knock in a run with his first-inning double and later scored on a Rusney Castillo sac fly after stealing third base. Holt fielded two grounders at short, both coming in the sixth inning.

* NBC Sports Boston

What Alex Cora asks of Matt Barnes is insane, and how Barnes has responded is even crazier

John Tomase

The life of a reliever is all about routine, or so we've been told. Know your inning, know your role, get out there and do the job.

Then there's Matt Barnes.

By far the best reliever on the Red Sox, and by every metric one of the best relievers in baseball, Barnes operates in a unique space. In the old days -- say, three years ago -- someone with Barnes' stuff and pedigree would've followed a natural career progression: seventh inning, eighth inning, closer, All-Star, multimillion dollar contract.

David Price continues historic dominance against Blue Jays But a game-wide reliance on late-inning relievers combined with Red Sox manager Alex Cora's aggressive targeting of matchups has made Barnes a singular weapon.

It's no accident that the team is 14-4 in his 18 appearances, which is easily the best winning percentage (.778) on the club. Name your closer, and Barnes's numbers are every bit as eye-popping, whether it's his 1.42 ERA, 16.6 strikeouts per nine innings, or 35-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The only reliever with similar numbers is San Diego's Kirby Yates, who leads baseball with 18 saves.

The fact that Barnes has only recorded three saves shows just how worthless that statistic actually is, because his value is immeasurable. If you're wondering why the Red Sox never showed any interest in re- signing closer Craig Kimbrel, Barnes is it.

Could Craig Kimbrel sign with the Tampa Bay Rays? Kimbrel put himself in a small box: ninth inning or later, save situation. Barnes has embraced the idea that the most important outs of a game might not technically merit an (S) in the box score.

"We saw this coming last year, the situations he pitched in," Cora said. "Obviously we had Craig, locking him in in the ninth inning. From the get-go from early (last) season whenever all those righties, the middle of the order guys, would come up in the seventh or the eighth it was Barnes and Joe (Kelly) had the lefties. He's been good. He's been good in the clubhouse with that group as far as preparation. His routine after games he learned a lot from Craig. So far, so good. He's been amazing for us."

Thirteen of Barnes' 18 appearances have come either in tied or one-run games, and he has pitched just twice with the Red Sox trailing. He has appeared four times in the seventh, seven in the eighth, and seven in the ninth.

His usage is actually straightforward, once you know the signals. When the heart of the order is due after the sixth inning of a tight game, Barnes gets the call, which makes his numbers even more impressive.

TOMASE: JBJ's first homer reminds us what he can be "Part of the order," Barnes said when asked what he prepares for. "I know it's going to be narrowed down to two, maybe three innings. It will be the seventh to the ninth, and more times than not, the eighth or the ninth. I just try and focus on a specific part of the lineup. I go through an entire scouting report on my own based on what I've done against them, what we've seen this year from them, and kind of go from there."

Barnes has faced 72 batters this season, and nearly 65 percent of them have come from the heart of the order. He has faced the No. 3 hitter 11 times, the cleanup man 14 times, the fifth spot 10 times, and the sixth spot 11 times. He has only drawn the No. 9 and leadoff hitters three times each.

Compare that to a closer pitching only the ninth, who could draw the 7-8-9 hitters on a nightly basis if he's lucky. Kimbrel, for example, had nearly as many plate appearances against the ninth spot (27) as the third (29) and fourth (30) last year. Out west, Yates has seen an almost perfect distribution of batters across the order, with 10 plate appearances against every spot except first (9), second (11), and third (8). Indomitable Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has faced the No. 9 hitter more than any other.

WATCH: Rookie Michael Chavis extends hot streak with another blast Barnes is afforded no such luxury, and it's too bad, because the bottom four spots are a combined 1-for-26 against him. His nights instead provide a steady diet of Khris Davis, Nolan Arenado, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Abreu, and Carlos Correa, to name a few, which makes his .149 batting average against even more ludicrous.

"It's easy now, because I've developed a routine in how I do it, what I'm looking for, and I've accumulated a lot of ABs against a lot of these guys now, so I know what works and what doesn't work," Barnes said. "Once you get into it, it's not terrible."

That's an understatement. The Red Sox have weaponized Barnes at the back of their bullpen, and the absolute best hitters in opposing lineups are paying the price.

Is Eduardo Rodriguez tipping pitches again? Red Sox LHP has other issues, too

John Tomase

If Eduardo Rodriguez has really turned a corner in his schizophrenic career, he'll shut down the Astros this weekend. That's not a bet I'd make with any confidence. E-Rod landed in Toronto on a nice roll, 4-0 with a 3.46 ERA in his previous seven starts, with 49 strikeouts and only 10 walks. He hadn't allowed a home run since April 19.Against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, however, he had nothing. He allowed three home runs, including two to burly rookie Rowdy Tellez. He missed his spots with regularity and was lifted after allowing six runs in five innings, with manager Alex Cora intimating to reporters that he was once again tipping pitches.

For those awaiting the drop of the other shoe, Rodriguez provided plenty of ammo. After allowing five runs in six-plus innings vs. the Rockies last week, Rodriguez has now surrendered 11 runs in his last 11 innings."Just missing in the zone, missing on pitches right where they wanted, those sorts of things are happening right now," Rodriguez told reporters in Canada. "Just missing location and throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time."Is he tipping again? That seemed like one possibility when Cora visited the mound after consecutive homers in the fourth, though the manager was circumspect."Stuff that I see in the game, just to make sure we make adjustments," Cora told reporters. "They're pretty good at paying attention to details, we are too, just to make sure. We cleaned a few things up. I wasn't upset. Something that I saw. Not body language. It's something, 'Hey, we've been talking about this.' It's not stuff, it's other stuff, baseball stuff….I don't want to say because people are going to start searching stuff."

Sounds like tipping from here, which has vexed Rodriguez throughout his career. But his struggles on Tuesday extended beyond the Jays possibly knowing when an off-speed pitch was coming. Rodriguez also badly missed his location with regularity, especially on Tellez's second homer, when a slider that was supposed to be well off the outside corner instead found the inside one. Tellez launched it into orbit.The homers by the left-handed hitting Tellez continued a troubling trend for Rodriguez, who was dynamite against lefties last year (.234 average), but is letting them hit over .360 this year."We need to start getting lefties out, I think that's the next step with him," Cora told reporters. "He wasn't able to get Tellez out today. Actually the first at-bat he missed one, he hit a changeup for a home run, a slider for a home run, so I think we saw it in the last one, it's been like that the whole season I think, even in spring training. We'll take a look, see where we're at and try to use his stuff in certain spots so he can start doing that."E-Rod's roller-coaster ride means we never quite what to make of him, which is why his next start is so important.Rodriguez will oppose Astros ace Justin Verlander in Houston on Sunday. He could very well be in the same position that Chris Sale found himself this past Sunday, starting the series finale vs. the rampaging Astros looking to avoid a sweep.

The pressure on Rodriguez would be legitimate, and that's a good thing. Let's see what he's made of.Cora is very strategic when it comes to motivation. He generally doesn't call his players out, unless they make an egregious mistake, but Rodriguez is an exception. Cora told Rodriguez to be accountable after he failed to cover first during Game 2 of the Division Series with the Yankees last October. Rodriguez claimed he had slipped, which was clearly false, and Cora let him know it."If you don't break right away, just be accountable," Cora said at the time. "That's all we ask."Cora continued goading the young left-hander during spring training. "It's time for him to step up," he said after a mediocre Grapefruit League start. Cora acknowledges that he pushes Rodriguez publicly because he wants to get the best out of him.He didn't take that approach on Tuesday, instead talking around the tipping and noting that E-Rod needs to improve against lefties. For a guy with so much promise, Rodriguez also owns a 5.43 ERA. Maybe that tells us all we need to know.

* Bostonsportsjournal.com

It’s time for the Red Sox to cut their losses with Tyler Thornburg

Sean McAdam

In the big picture, the fact that Tyler Thornburg allowed two runs in the sixth inning probably didn’t impact the outcome in Tuesday’s 10-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays had a healthy lead already, and the Red Sox had already squandered numerous opportunities in the early innings against starter Marcus Stroman. It was one of those nights.

But if Thornburg’s appearance for the Red Sox at SkyDome wasn’t his last in a Red Sox uniform, it should be.

Entering a game in which the Red Sox were already trailing, Thornburg, pitching for just the second time in the last 11 days, was enlisted to throw strikes and save the rest of the Boston bullpen. It’s the role of the low-leverage reliever — to take one for the team in games in which his team is either comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind.

Instead, Thornburg immediately issued two walks. Then came two run-scoring singles, pushing the Toronto lead to 8-1. Thornburg fanned two hitters, then hit a batter to load the bases before getting a called third strike against Rowdy Tellez.

The outing was the sixth time in Thornburg’s last seven appearances in which he’s allowed at least one run and ninth in his last 11 in which he’s been scored upon.

By the end of the inning, Thornburg’s ERA for the season stood at 7.71. He’s pitched just 18.2 innings this season, not enough to qualify among all pitchers, but if he were, he would be dead last among all major league pitchers.

In his 18.2 innings this season, Thornburg has allowed 21 hits and 10 walks. He’s allowed 16 earned runs. His WHIP is a bloated 1.69.

Even in situations — like the one Tuesday night — in which Thornburg is just trying to throw the ball over the plate and get quick outs in lopsided games, the results are painful.

His velocity is fine — his fastball frequently hit 95 mph — but because he has no command of his secondary stuff, opposing hitters lay off those offerings and wait for his fastball, which they then treat like something offered up in batting practice.

The hope was that this season would be different for Thornburg, that after a full winter of normal recovery, he would again be the standout reliever he was for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016, the one that enticed the Red Sox to deal for him in December of that year.

He missed all of 2017 with a shoulder injury, undergoing thoracic outlet surgery. He missed the first half of 2018, too, and when he returned, predictably, he was far from 100 percent. The Red Sox shut him down in early September to give him a head start on rest and recovery for the offseason.

Thornburg exuded optimism over the winter, noting that all the tests revealed his shoulder to again be as strong as it was before he was injured. When he was hit hard in Grapefruit League action, it was said that he was still fine-tuning his mechanics.

Twice in spring training, the Red Sox had chances to buy him out of his non-guaranteed deal and pay him either one-quarter or one-sixth of his $1.75 million salary. Both times, they passed, maintaining that Thornburg was heading in the right direction and could be of use to the 2019 Sox.

That has not proven to be the case, sadly. While pitchers almost automatically recover from Tommy John surgery, the same cannot be said for those who undergo thoracic outlet surgery. Ask Matt Harvey, who went from ace to journeyman in the span of a few years.

And so, Thornburg sits, mostly unused in the Red Sox bullpen, going days without so much as warming up. It’s clear that he’s not trusted in high-leverage spots, and as the numbers indicated, he’s not capable of performing in low-leverage spots, either.

In a perfect world, Thornburg could have given the Sox two competitive innings, and maybe even three, to get them through Tuesday night without having to get anybody else hot. Instead, he threw 40 (!) pitches to get three outs in the sixth, making it necessary for Colten Brewer to instead throw two innings of his own to close things out.

Perhaps Thornburg is still here because Dave Dombrowski, who traded for him, wants to have something to show for a deal in which Travis Shaw and three prospects were sent to the Brewers. But it’s long past face-saving time for Dombrowski. Some trades don’t work out; this is obviously one of them.

Thornburg has no trade value, of course, and releasing him will cost the Red Sox about $1.2 million. They missed their chance to write off three-quarters of his money when they didn’t buy him out in spring training. In the long run, even as the Red Sox carefully watch their payroll so as to stay under the third and final luxury tax threshold, the $1.2 million isn’t going to make much of a difference. It’s already sunken money.

Surely, there must be someone in Pawtucket who could better utilize that spot. Perhaps Thornburg’s release will have to wait until Brian Johnson, currently serving out a rehab assignment in the minors, is activated.

But either way, it should be soon. Perhaps Thornburg can find himself with another organization. But there’s little point in continuing to run him out there in a Red Sox uniform, even if it’s only in games that are already decided.

BSJ Game Report: Blue Jays 10, Red Sox 3 – Blue Jays tee off on Rodriguez

Sean McAdam

HEADLINES

Rodriguez rocked: After giving up six runs over the span of four starts, Eduardo Rodriguez suffered through his second poor start in a row. The lefty, who gave up five runs to the Rockies at Fenway last week, was smacked around for six runs over five innings, with all the damage coming on home runs. After tossing three shutout innings, Rodriguez threw a changeup down-and-in to Rowdy Tellez, who golfed it down the right-field line for a two-run shot. A solo shot by Randal Grichuk followed two pitches later. The two gopher balls got the attention of manager Alex Cora who made the unusual move of going out to the mound to give Rodriguez an apparent tongue-lashing with no reliever warming up. Then, in the next inning, with two aboard, Rodriguez again threw a pitch down-and-in to Tellez — this was a slider, but the location was the same — and got the same result. It’s precisely these sort of mental lapses which have prevented Rodriguez from maximizing his considerable potential.

Red Sox offense all-or-nothing: The Sox got all sorts of offense in the series opener Monday, with every member of the starting lineup contributing at least one hit. That was far from the case Tuesday night, with the Sox consistently failing to come up with the big hit when they needed it most. The Sox had Marcus Stroman on the ropes in the second and third innings, and came away with nothing. Every time they threatened against Stroman, he would use his two-seamer to induce a ground ball and get a double play to get out of trouble. The Sox helped him out with double plays in the second, third and sixth innings. For the night, the Sox stranded 10 baserunners and were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The only damage the Sox did was via the solo homer. Mitch Moreland hit one in the sixth, and in the eighth, both Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. chipped in with bases-empty blasts against the Blue Jays bullpen. But by then, the game had long been decided.

Signs of life for Bradley?: If there was a bright spot for the Red Sox, it came from Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley finally hit his first homer of the season on Monday, but in a postgame interview, wasn’t about to get cocky. Asked if the homer was the beginning of a turnaround for him, Bradley said: “We’ll see.” Tuesday offered evidence that it might be the start of something after all. After going 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats, he had an infield single in the seventh, then cranked a second solo homer, and like the one hit Monday, this one was also to the opposite field. Bradley’s entire career, of course, has been filled with streaks, both good and bad. The two-game outburst isn’t enough to declare that he’s figured everything out at the plate. But it suggests that Bradley has locked in his swing at least a bit and may be ready to go on one of his patented tears at the plate.

TURNING POINT

In the third inning, the Sox had the bases loaded with one out and their No. 3 and No. 4 hitters due. But Stroman fanned both Moreland and Xander Bogaerts, getting himself out of the jam, and the next inning, the Jays began teeing off on Rodriguez.

ONE UP

Steve Pearce: Like Bradley, Pearce is starting to stir at the plate. He had a walk, a sacrifice fly and a double Monday, and followed that up with two walks and a single Tuesday night.

TWO DOWN

Tyler Thornburg: Thornburg was belted around for two runs while issuing two walks in his only inning of work. It marked the sixth time in the last seven outings that he’d been scored upon.

Mookie Betts: Betts went 0-for-4 with a walk, including fanning with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.

QUOTE OF NOTE

“It was (about) missing my spots and throwing my pitches at the wrong time.” Eduardo Rodriguez.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

After failing to homer in his first 33 games, Devers now has five homers in his last 16 games. This marked the first time in the last eight starts by Rodriguez that the Sox lost. The six runs allowed by Rodriguez were the most allowed by a Red Sox starter this month. Mookie Betts saw his five-game hitting streak come to an end.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox and Blue Jays play the third game of a four-game series Wednesday night with a pitching matchup featuring RHP Rick Porcello (3-4, 4.80) vs. RHP Aaron Sanchez (3-4, 3.88)

* The Athletic

A shift in attitudes, and resources, made baseball’s youth movement possible

Peter Gammons

Allard Baird has been in baseball for 32 years, as a coach, general manager, scout, personnel director, and now a hybrid of all of the above as the assistant general manager of the Mets. He’s one of those baseball people who truly loves players, especially young players, be they the group of young players the Red Sox fielded at the majority of their positions Saturday night or the young men named Soto, Robles, Acuña, Albies, Riley, Conforto, Alonso or Hoskins who dominate the National League East.

“It is amazing how many young players across the game are impacting teams so early in their career,” says Baird. We see Cody Bellinger (23), Adalberto Mondesi (23), Fernando Tatis Jr. (20), Gleyber Torres (22), Rafael Devers (22) on our All-Star voting prep lists.

“There are a lot of reasons, but to me the biggest difference between where we are in 2019 and where we were 20 or 30 years ago is that today they’re accepted with open arms,” Baird says. “It used to be that they had to go through an acceptance curve, a kind of boot camp, and it came from the older teammates to managers and coaches and even general managers. But today, it’s completely different.”

The way foreign players are treated and developed from the time they sign has undergone a sophisticated overhaul. In the ’70s and often in the ’80s, around team hotels and facilities, Latino players usually hung out together and, behind their backs, were disgracefully profiled as “freakin’ Ricans.” I know; I spent 15 springs in the Holiday Inn in Winter Haven. Now, teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, Cubs, Diamondbacks and Mets send their young signees from their Dominican academies to get high school degrees as well as language orientation, then take many of their June draft signees and split their Instructional League time between the U.S. and the Dominican to better assimilate players of all cultures.

“The MVP Machine,” a brilliant new book by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchick, details how many teams today are combining technology, science, analytics and 21st-century teaching methodology to help young players improve in the development process. Some of the process can be mechanical. It can also be mental, as a young player learns how to think his way through issues, which is how a very bright person like Aaron Judge can come up at the end of the 2016 season, strike out 42 times with a .608 OPS in 95 plate appearances, then come back in 2017 and hit 52 homers and post a 1.049 OPS in 687 plate appearances.

And as club culture and teaching and individual programs help sculpt players’ games and self-awareness, there is another vital element that cannot be overlooked.

“Kids come up today and in most cases not only are they accepted, but veteran players, managers, coaches and members of the video, analytics and preparation staffs all make it clear they are working with and for the young players,” says Baird. “They’re not on their own.”

It’s true around the major leagues. As Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies came up and immediately performed for the Braves last season, Freddie Freeman told general manager Alex Anthopoulos, “if they can make us better, bring them on. And I’ll do anything I can to help them.” This March, watching fellow Padre Fernando Tatis Jr. hit, Manny Machado said, “you remember how J.J. Hardy helped me when I was a young kid. I want to help this kid like that. We have a chance to be really good, and I want to not only be a part of that, but I want to help the young players play to their talents.” You wonder why the White Sox want to re-sign José Abreu? Think Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada.

Think of any of the young players the Angels and Rockies bring in these days, and watch the open dialogues they can have with Mike Trout and Nolan Arenado … anytime, anywhere. Heck, in Ft. Myers this spring, Royce Lewis many mornings could be spotted sitting between Rod Carew and Tony Oliva, absorbing knowledge.

This past weekend, watching the last two World Series champions, the Astros and Red Sox, it was the continuation of regular and postseason showcases of All-Star level players who seem to think, like Alex Bregman, “every game between these teams in this park has the feel of October.” (The fact that the Red Sox drafted Bregman out of high school but didn’t sign him, and George Springer is a Connecticut-raised member of Red Sox Nation who actually used a Mookie Betts model bat for the three games, adds to the flavor). But beyond that, it was interesting to watch players interact.

Unfortunately, José Altuve was out, but people from the previous Astros administration watched him every day in spring training finish his work, then go across the Kissimmee fields to help the youngest Latino players in their acclimation. Springer is the alpha dog whom any player, young or old, can approach, “because that’s part of being a player,” as he puts it. Saturday, someone had a printout of the four two-seam fastballs Gerrit Cole threw in succession to rookie Michael Chavis for a strikeout in a scoreless game, with Xander Bogaerts in scoring position — all the balls on the pitching sheet stacked one on top of the other, right to the final swing-and-miss 99 mph pitch for the strikeout. The printout was left for Corbin Martin, Saturday night’s starter.

“There’s no question that the way young players are treated when they get to the major leagues today is completely different than the way they were 20 years ago,” said Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers. “There’s no comparison.”

Hyers didn’t have to mention the financial element. But players understand. Teams want return on the dollars they invest in signing high school, college and international players. They want them in the big leagues making $500,000 a year for three years, rather than paying veteran role players $3 million (or $10 million). Of course. And while there have been club executives who argued that the minimum salaries for first-, second- and third-year pre-arbitration players should be raised because of their contributions, that is unlikely to happen in the current management-union climate.

J.D. Martinez is one of many veterans who sees that. He’s smart. And in no way does he let that financial divide affect the way he treats young players.

When Martinez first came up with the Astros, he was subjected to the usual juvenile frat-boy hazing. “One time I was supposed to get beer for the whole bus for the ride back in spring training,” Martinez remembers. “So I had to walk to a place to get the beer and carry it all back by myself. My back was killing me. But that was the way they thought it should be.”

When he was a rookie, Martinez asked a highly-paid veteran slugger for some ideas and help with his swing. The veteran blew him off. Rather than acting the same way as he developed into a star himself, Martinez says, “I vowed I’d never be that way. I wanted to help anyone who wanted it because I know what it meant to be treated the way I was.”

One Astros coach observed that Chavis was hitting in the group with Martinez and Betts. Chavis was recalled on April 20 after 1,726 plate appearances working through the system, learning to be less pull- conscious. Hyers and fellow hitting coach Andy Barkett say Chavis “asks as many questions as anyone that’s come up in years.” He asked Martinez about the way he lets the ball travel and the way he drives it to right-center. He was immediately adopted.

Chavis’ bat speed and power are obvious. He has the five longest Red Sox homers of the season. Martinez and Betts asked for him to be in their hitting group; they take him into the cage for their sessions. Friday night, on the field, whenever Martinez or Betts was taking batting practice, Chavis was on one knee at the cage, studying. The night before in extra innings, he let a ball travel on him, and lined a single to center for a walkoff.

It’s the same with Taiwanese infielder Tzu-Wei Lin, who when healthy can be seen going deep inside the game with the two mentors.

“It’s about winning, it’s about being a teammate, it’s about sharing the love of the game,” says Betts. “Nothing special. It’s what happens here.”

“There’s a culture here that amazes me,” says Chavis. “I’d hardly played any second base (five games in his professional career). I get here and Dustin Pedroia sits next to me during the game giving me ideas about how to play certain guys, and what to do in terms of getting to the bag. And Xander is constantly helping me with our relationship around second.”

When some Red Sox players chose not to go to the White House and some did go, there was much said on the outskirts about what Donald Trump had done to the world champions. One MSNBC host said, “the Red Sox are completely divided.” Others essentially said the same thing.

But Alex Cora, who has strong feelings about this administration’s “disrespect” for his native Puerto Rico, mandated no decisions from players. “He knows better than to force choice on 25 other people,” said one veteran who, like several others, wanted to go to the Walter Reed Veterans Hospital to meet with wounded veterans.

Watching Martinez and Betts working side by side this weekend, then spending time comparing approaches with Chavis, was a reminder of what was at the core of the 2018 Red Sox: Mookie, J.D. and the respect they outwardly share with teammates, like Chavis, like Lin.

I hope Allard Baird is right, and the empathy and encouragement that men like Freddie Freeman, or Springer and Altuve, or Trout and Arenado, or Martinez and Betts offer any teammate — from the minimum to millions — is the wave of baseball in 2019.

At a critical time, the weary tune of hazing and intimidation has hopefully been muted because of its irrationality and counterproductivity, replaced by the reality that when it comes to a baseball locker room, all are, or should be, equal.

Stroman finally gets some run support as Blue Jays rout Red Sox

Ian Shantz

Ah, run support.

It’s a fickle thing. One game, you have it, then the next 10 you don’t.

Welcome to Marcus Stroman’s world.

Through 10 starts this season, the Blue Jays starter had been gifted a whopping 10 runs of support. Not exactly the kind of fireworks that win you ball games, even if you rock a tidy ERA like Stroman (2.81).

The Jays starter was hoping for something different on Tuesday night — the second of four games against the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox — and wouldn’t you know it, he finally got his wish.

“Up and down the lineup we put together really complete ABs,” Stroman said after the Blue Jays rocked the Red Sox 10-3 in front of 14,407 at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday night. “I told you all from the beginning, I knew guys would break out at some point. I’m not really worried about the run support. It’s a really long year.”

Back-to-back home runs from Rowdy Tellez and Randal Grichuk in the fourth inning cued a rare offensive outburst for Toronto and Tellez added his eighth homer run of the season for good measure one inning later to collect the first multi-home run game of his career.

The three-fourth inning runs represented the most his team has backed him with since April 19 at Oakland, seven starts ago. And when Tellez unleashed his second bomb of the night — a three-run shot on the heels of his two-run blast — Stroman could officially breathe.

When he came out of the game with an 8-1 lead after facing two batters in the seventh, it was a much- needed change of fortune for Toronto’s hard-luck starter, who has deserved a better fate most nights.

Stroman allowed just one run on five hits, striking out four and walking six, while battling through several threats early in the game.

“He minimized damage,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “He gave us a chance and I’m glad we scored runs for him today.” y contrast, Boston’s starter, lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, entered the game with 52 runs of support through 49.2 innings — the most runs-help for any MLB pitcher.

On this night, the tables could not have turned any more distinctly for the starters.

After being held to just one just one hit — a single — through the opening three frames, it looked like more of the same run-support woes were in store for Stroman. But a well-rested Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to open Toronto’s half of the fourth and then came a long-lasting fireworks show for the hosts.

First, Tellez cranked one that crashed off the third-deck scoreboard in right, then, one batter later, Grichuk connected for his eighth of the year, a deep smack over the left-field wall and, just like that, it was 3-0. The Jays ran away with it from that point on, with Tellez’ big blasts leading the hits parade.

“It feels really good, obviously. Probably the first meaningful home run I hit all year,” Tellez said. “Just a good feeling. Stroman threw really well. Just a good night all around for everyone.”

Toronto finished with 11 hits as Stroman picked up his second win of the season and first since April 26. Stroman allowed just one run on five hits, striking out four and walking six, while Rodriquez was rocked for six runs and lasted just five innings.

“I think we give him the least amount of run support for any pitcher in baseball, so for us as an offence it’s good to go out there and play well behind a good start from one of our top pitchers,” Tellez said. “For all of us, it was good.” Mitch Moreland blasted his 13th homer of the season, off Stroman, and Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. smacked homers in the seventh and eighth innings, off Joe Biagini and Sam Caviglio, respectively, to supply all Boston’s offence via the longball.

Brandon Drury went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

LIFE’S A PITCH

Another day, another pitching problem.

Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Jays announced right-handed pitcher Ryan Tepera has been placed on the 10- day injured list with right-elbow impingement.

“Obviously it’s less than ideal,” Jays general manager Ross Atkins said of the latest pitcher to be felled by injury. “He’s been trying to get back to that form and feels as though he’s just not getting there, so getting another look is what we’re going to do.”

Tepera, 0-2 this season with a 6.55 ERA and 1.64 WHIP, allowed three hits, including two home runs, in one inning against the Red Sox on Monday. He’s to meet with a specialist and manager Charlie Montoyo acknowledged spending more than 10 days on the shelf is a possibility.

In a corresponding move, the Jays recalled recently acquired righty Jimmy Cordero from the triple-A Buffalo Bisons and he was added to the 25-man roster. The 27-year-old Cordero was claimed off waivers by Toronto from the Washington Nationals on May 15.

The Jays’ pitching staff has been decimated by injuries this season, including the loss of starter Matt Shoemaker, Ryan Borucki, Clay Buchholz, David Phelps and closer Ken Giles.

EMPTYING THE BASES

Aaron Sanchez (3-4, 3.88 ERA) is slated to start on Wednesday despite leaving his most recent start with a right middle finger blister … Richard Clayton is expected to make his season debut on Thursday, coming back from a knee injury … Cal Quantrill, the 24-year-old Padres starter from Port Hope, Ont., and son of former Jays pitcher Paul Quantrill, will face the Jays for the first time on Saturday. Paul spent six seasons in Toronto as part of his 14-year MLB career … The Jays and Red Sox meet again June 21-23 at Boston, July 15-18 at Boston, don’t meet in August and then play once more Sept. 10-12 in Toronto.

* The Toronto Star

Rowdy Tellez powers Blue Jays past Red Sox with two home runs

Laura Armstrong

It was all about Rowdy Tellez at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday night.

The 24-year-old designated hitter cashed in half of the Blue Jays’ runs in the first multi-home run game of his career, a 10-3 win over the Boston Red Sox that tied this four-game series at one apiece.

Tellez was hitting .281 against left-handers heading into this series — happy with the way he was seeing their delivery and responding to a healthy dose of sliders. But he didn’t play Monday against southpaw David Price. A day later, he made the most of his opportunity against another Red Sox lefty starter, Eduardo Rodriguez.

Tellez looked threatening in an eight-pitch at-bat in the second inning ended that ended in a flyout to left field. When he came up with one out and one on in the fourth, Tellez saw just one pitch, an 83-miles-per- hour changeup that he sent flying into the wraparound video board at the base of the 300 level. A black mark temporarily marked where the ball made contact.

But it was his second homer, a three-run shot in the fifth, that gave the Jays some much-needed breathing room against the star-studded Boston lineup. Rodriguez had retired two batters before Vladimir Guerrero Jr., back in the lineup after a day off, singled down the left-field line. Justin Smoak walked before Tellez sent another no-doubter over wall in right-centre, but not before he worked Rodriguez for another five pitches.

Tellez had another opportunity to make a splash when he came up in the sixth with the bases loaded, but right-handed reliever Tyler Thornburg struck him out after a six-pitch at-bat.

“It feels really good, obviously,” said Tellez, who guessed the last time he’d hit two home runs off a lefty in one game was in high school. “This is probably the first meaningful home run I’ve hit all year. It’s just a good feeling.”

Tellez shares the team lead with eight home runs and is now hitting .314 against lefties.

Standing Strovation: Marcus Stroman finally got the run support his 2.81 ERA deserves, leaving the field to a standing ovation after giving up one run and five hits while lasting six innings plus two batters. It was only Stroman’s second win of the season.

That’s not all: Tellez wasn’t the only player to cash in a few runs. Brandon Drury hit an RBI single in the sixth off Thornburg and a two-RBI double in the seventh off Colton Brewer. Randal Grichuk was the second half of back-to-back homers in the fourth inning, following Tellez with his eighth homer of the season and his first since May 11. Danny Jansen collected an RBI single in the sixth, too, his fifth hit in four games after going hitless for six games.

Vlad watch: A day after Guerrero’s rest day sparked uproar, the third baseman returned to the lineup and went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles. He committed his fourth error in 19 games when he bobbled a playable ball by fellow rookie Michael Chavis in the third.

Catch of the day: Jays centre-fielder Jonathan Davis made a diving play on a liner by Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the sixth. The play came a batter after Stroman conceded a solo home run to Mitch Moreland and helped nip a potential rally by the visitors in the bud. Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. added inconsequential solo shots off Joe Biagini and Sam Gaviglio, respectively, in the eighth.

Up next: Aaron Sanchez, who left his last outing with a blister, will face Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

* Associated Press

Tellez has 2 HRs, 5 RBIs and Jays power past Red Sox 10-3

TORONTO -- It turns out Rowdy Tellez can hit left-handers, too.

Tellez went deep twice and collected a career-high five RBI, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 10-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

It was the first multihomer game for the 24-year-old rookie, who bats from the left side. Three of his eight homers this season have come against lefty pitching, including his two against Eduardo Rodriguez (3-4) on Tuesday night. He is batting .314 with 12 RBI against lefties.

"I'm just glad (manager) Charlie (Montoyo) gives me every opportunity to face (left-handers)," Tellez said. "I'm just trying to take advantage of it. It just does a lot for my confidence when he throws me in the lineup and lets me face them."

Tellez put Toronto ahead to stay in the fourth inning, belting a two-run shot off the third-deck facade above right field. Randal Grichuk followed with a drive to left for his eighth homer.

Tellez then made it 6-0 with a three-run shot to right-center in the fifth.

"For us as an offense, it's good to go out there and play well behind a good start from one of our top pitchers," Tellez said.

Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (2-6) issued a season-high six walks in six innings, but limited the Red Sox to one run and five hits.

Stroman has been hurt by poor run support this year, but he said he was never concerned.

"I knew guys would break out at some point," he said. "I'm not really worried about the run support. It's a really long year. I have a lot of faith in my guys each and every time out."

Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. connected for Boston, but the defending World Series champions were largely held in check after winning 12-2 in the series opener Monday.

Boston had won Rodriguez's last seven starts. He was charged with six runs and six hits in five innings.

He had gone five straight games without allowing a homer.

"Just missing location and throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time, that's what I think," Rodriguez said.

Manager Alex Cora said he was surprised to see Rodriguez struggle so much against lefties such. Before Tuesday's game he was giving up a .351 average to lefties in 2019, well above his career rate of .273.

"He was very dominant last year I think against lefties," Cora said. "We even used him like that in the playoffs to get lefties out. It hasn't happened this year so we'll take a look."

ON SECOND THOUGHT

Amid much controversy, the Blue Jays picked Monday's Victoria Day national holiday to give top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a scheduled rest day. It did not play out well, with rookie's absence taking on a life of its own in the Toronto media.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said Tuesday the team should have handled the situation better.

"The one thing that I regret in all of the things that we have talked about with Charlie, I had not talked to him about the importance of Victoria Day," he said. "There are a lot of things in Canadian culture and about this great country that I have talked to him about, but I did not share with him the importance of Victoria Day."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia (left knee) and INF Brock Holt (right knee) both played seven innings for Triple-A Pawtucket. ... LHP Brian Johnson made the second start of his rehab assignment for Double-A Portland, giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings. ... OF J.D. Martinez was sidelined by an illness. Cora said he was available to pinch-hit if necessary, but he likely would return to the lineup Wednesday. ... RHP Nathan Eovaldi (right elbow) successfully came through a 35-pitch bullpen session.

Blue Jays: RHP Ryan Tepera (right elbow) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will be meeting with a specialist. RHP Jimmy Cordero was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take his roster spot.

UP NEXT

Right-hander Rick Porcello (3-4, 4.80 ERA), who takes the mound Wednesday for the Red Sox, has struggled in his starts at Rogers Centre, with a 4-7 record and a 5.47 ERA. Toronto right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-4, 3.88 ERA) is 4-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 20 appearances against Boston.

Ex-Red Sox reliever Uehara, 44, retires in Japan

TOKYO -- Pitcher Koji Uehara, whose dominant season in relief helped the Boston Red Sox win the 2013 World Series, has retired with Japan's Yomiuri Giants -- the team that he first played for in Japan.

The 44-year-old Uehara announced his retirement at a news conference in Tokyo, saying it was time to step away after he was unable to perform well early in the season for the Giants' farm team.

Uehara joined the Baltimore Orioles in 2009, but he became a star in 2013 with the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals that year in the World Series. He was dominant in relief that season for the Red Sox and it was Uehara who threw the last pitch in the final game when Boston beat the Cardinals 6-1 to win the World Series.

Uehara was 22-26 in his nine-year career in MLB and pitched his final season in 2017 with the Chicago Cubs. He also pitched for the Texas Rangers.

Uehara started with the Yomiuri Giants in 1999 and pitched for 10 seasons in Japan before moving to MLB.

Red Sox, Yankees to face off on turf for 1st time

NEW YORK -- The traditional rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will take a radical twist when they meet in London next month: They will play on artificial turf for the first time in their rivalry, covering more than 2,200 games.

Major League Baseball has access to Olympic Stadium for 21 days before the games on June 29 and 30, the sport's first regular-season contests in Europe, and just five days after to clear out. The league concluded that there was not enough time to install real grass.

Starting June 6, gravel will be placed over the covering protecting West Ham's grass soccer pitch and the running track that is a legacy from the 2012 Olympics. The artificial turf baseball field, similar to modern surfaces used by a few big league clubs, will be installed atop that.

"It's the first Yankees-Red Sox game out of the country, so why not a lot of firsts?" New York pitcher CC Sabathia said. "I think it will be fine."

Starting June 4, 141,913 square feet of FieldTurf Vertex will be transported by truck from the company's plant in Auchel, France, a little more than 150 miles to a storage facility outside London, according to Murray Cook, the sport's field consultant.

Clay for the pitcher's mound and home plate area comes from DuraEdge in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Turface Athletics near Chicago provides the soil conditioner, while mound tamps, infield drags and nail drags are from Beacon Athletics in Middleton, Wisconsin. The U.S. materials, including 345 tons of dirt in 18 40-foot containers, left Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, during the third week of April and arrived on May 18 at Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk, about 95 miles from London. Fence padding was manufactured at Covermaster outside Toronto and shipped from Montreal.

"We looked really hard at doing a natural grass system," Cook said. "We're going with a synthetic system and it helps us a couple ways. It's a little more sustainable, because we're going back next year. If we went with a natural grass system, we'd have to bulldoze it all up, throw it away and then buy it again, build it all up, throw it away again."

Only three of the 30 major league teams play on artificial surfaces: Toronto, Tampa Bay and Arizona. Rogers Centre in Toronto and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, have never had grass. Arizona switched this season from grass to turf, as will Texas when its new ballpark opens next spring.

Olympic Stadium, like the regular ballparks, will have a full dirt infield rather than the square dirt patches popular during artificial turf's height -- there was a high of 10 synthetic fields in the major leagues from 1977 to '78 and again from 1982 to '94.

"I'm assuming it's like Toronto's or Tampa's, so it shouldn't be an issue," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Toronto has played on AstroTurf 3D Xtreme since 2016 and Tampa Bay on Shaw Sports Turf since 2017. Arizona switched from grass to Shaw Sports B1K this year, and Texas will use Shaw Sports Turf when it moves into new Globe Life Field next year.

"If we had never played on turf, it would be different, but we've played on turf," Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.

New York and Boston have played 2,196 times, with four more games at Yankee Stadium from May 30 to June 2. New York holds a 1,191-991 edge with 14 ties, plus a 12-11 advantage in postseason matchups.

Boston is the home team for both games in London, but the Yankees and Red Sox will both wear their white home uniforms. When the Yankees last played overseas, in a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome in 2004, New York wore home pinstripes and the Devil Rays road grays, even though Tampa Bay was the home team and batted last.

Foul poles, a batter's eye, a backstop and fencing will be erected, along with two dugouts -- the Red Sox on the first-base side and the Yankees on third. Temporary clubhouses will be built on the warm-up track under the stands -- the soccer locker rooms are too small -- along with batting cages. Because holes cannot be made in the running track, weights will secure the fences, similar to what was installed when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Diamondbacks played in 2014 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia.

Cook helped convert The Oval, a London cricket ground opened in 1845, for games between Boston and New York Mets minor leaguers in October 1993. The first of the two games was rained out.

Olympic Stadium also will be the site of major league games in 2020 -- a series between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals is the leading candidate.

"This way we've got a synthetic turf system that's got two games on this year, two games on it next year and then the commissioner can do what he wants to do with the system, whether he wants to have another event somewhere, sell it or donate it or whatever they want to do," Cook said.

Field dimensions will be 330 feet down each foul line, but just 385 feet to center with a 16-foot wall.

"We've done all the home run trajectory studies," Cook said. "We get comparable distances."

Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi figured the best way for Boston pitchers to keep the Yankees from hitting home runs.

"Just got to keep the ball on the ground, I guess," he said.