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The Boston Red Sox Friday, May 28, 2021 * The Boston Globe Red Sox option struggling outfielder Franchy Cordero to Triple A Worcester Julian McWilliams The Red Sox announced Thursday that they have optioned outfielder Franchy Cordero to Triple A Worcester. Cordero, who was acquired from the Royals as part of the Andrew Benintendi trade in the offseason, came to the Red Sox as a glowing talent with untapped potential. When he made his debut with the Padres in 2017, he was viewed as one of the best prospects in baseball, but injuries and underwhelming play diminished that status. Cordero stayed healthy with the Red Sox, but the subpar play continued. He hit just .179 with one home run in 102 plate appearances and struck out a whopping 36.3 percent of the time. The Red Sox believed they could unlock Cordero’s ability, but for now he has run out of runway with the big league club. Some Triple A time might be good for Cordero, providing him an opportunity to hone his swing and not look so overmatched. Reps at the plate are important, and Cordero doesn’t have many — just 229 plate appearances combined (minors and majors) since the start of 2019. He has struggled mightily to find his swing path, often finding his barrel beneath the baseball. Cordero added to the Red Sox’ organizational depth, but with utility player Danny Santana now on the big league roster and outfielder Jarren Duran lurking at Triple A, it will be up to him to make the adjustments needed so he doesn’t become an afterthought. Marlins in town The Marlins (24-26) come into Fenway Park Friday following a four-game split with the Phillies. The Red Sox will face righthander Cody Poteet in the opener. Poteet has a 1.06 ERA in three starts (17 innings), striking out 13. Poteet, who made his major league debut this year, normally sits between 91 and 94 miles per hour with his fastball, topping out at 96. While his fastball isn’t overpowering, he’s had success with it this season, as opponents are hitting just .185 on his four-seamer. Poteet also features a changeup, curveball, and slider, but the changeup is his go-to secondary pitch and he’s yet to yield a hit on it. The Marlins were an intriguing team last year, punching a ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2003. This year, they have been inconsistent, which can be typical for a young squad. As of Thursday, they were fourth in the NL East. Nevertheless, their talent is evident, with rookie Jazz Chisholm getting a lot of the headlines. The 23-year-old is hitting .286 with five homers and a .350 on-base percentage. The Red Sox have Martín Pérez on the mound Friday. Pérez has been solid, with a 3.55 ERA in nine starts, striking out 44 in 45⅔ innings. Pérez has pitched at least five innings in each of his last five starts. Home-field advantage? The Red Sox (30-20) are second in the AL East but just 13-13 at home. Yet they have won five of their last seven games overall and have won their last four series. The Sox have 18 come-from-behind wins and are 27-3 record when they score at least four runs. When hitters started to figure Garrett Whitlock out, he started making some necessary adjustments Julian McWilliams Garrett Whitlock sat in the Fenway stands behind the home dugout on Wednesday afternoon, drenched in sweat. The righthander had just finished a typical throwing progression a day after a relief appearance in which Whitlock had tossed two scoreless against the Braves. The scene around the ballpark was calm. Fans had yet to trickle in. The sun glimmered off the seats that fill what is considered a baseball sanctuary. It’s easy to appreciate the Fenway Park experience. Easy to become entrenched with a fan base that showers its players with praise in their success, and condemnation in their failure. Whitlock knows what the bottom feels like. To be plagued by Tommy John surgery, erased from the memory of an organization that doesn’t view you as a part of its future. Whitlock’s focus, instead, is seen through the lens of staying in the big leagues and the adjustments needed to do so. Whitlock’s story is well-documented: a pitcher shrewdly plucked by the Red Sox from the Yankees during last offseason’s Rule 5 draft. He hadn’t pitched above Double A. The success this season was well-detailed, too: Whitlock went his first 13⅓ innings without yielding a run. He struck out 18 in that span and walked just two. Whitlock’s 6-foot-5-inch wiry and flexible frame lends itself to elite extension on the mound. The extension, then the arm-side run on his sinker and changeup, coupled with his upper-90s heater, make it hard for hitters to pick up. His arm slot can be likened to a dart thrower, making it even more of a headache for opponents. But success in the big leagues has a lifespan, of course. Whitlock saw his early-season brilliance end May 2 when he allowed a leadoff homer to the Rangers’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the seventh inning, putting a close to his scoreless streak. He then allowed three runs (two earned) vs. the Tigers in his next appearance. Despite that, though, manager Alex Cora and the Sox wanted to reassure Whitlock of one thing: They like him and see him as a part of the team’s future. “I feel worse when things don’t go right than anything else,” Whitlock said Wednesday. “And so, when [Cora] tells me that, when [Jason] Varitek tells me that, it builds confidence. It means the world because it’s like, they trust me to go out there and do my job.” Whitlock has come to understand that faith, something he leans on heavily, isn’t always a beautiful day at the ballpark, but more a fight in a back alley. The Red Sox have seen enough of Whitlock to know that they want to be in that fight with him. “There’s a lot of positive reinforcement with Garrett, and really with anybody on our staff,” said pitching coach Dave Bush. “In Garrett’s case, when you’re a Rule 5 guy, first time in the big leagues, there’s an amount of doubt and insecurity, about whether you’re good enough and whether you can continue to be good enough. Whether you belong there.” There’s the occasional look into the dugout, searching for your manager’s reaction. There’s the doubt, thinking that the league, perhaps, has figured you out, that makes you question if this is the bottom again. But the Red Sox and Whitlock understand that you can’t dwell in failure. The big leagues are too good. It’ll swallow you up if you do. So, they go back to the drawing board, infusing confidence and adjusting game plans. For Whitlock, while his changeup-sinker-four-seamer mix is impressive, in order for him to take that next leap they know he will need another pitch. Despite working at different speeds, his changeup and sinker have the same arm-side run. As a result, big league hitters can sit on a location but still adjust to velocity. So, Whitlock has been working on a slider, just to give hitters a different look on a pitch that, ideally, runs in an opposite direction. In addition to direction, Whitlock is trying to adjust the speed of his slider. “Before surgery my changeup was only like 86-88 miles per hour. And then my breaking ball was like 79- 81,” Whitlock said. “My new changeup is anywhere from 80-85. If my breaking ball was right around that, too, then the hitters only have to try and adjust to different speeds. So, we’re trying to make the slider a little bit harder so that we have three different ranges that hitters have to adjust for.” That’s easier said than done, of course. It’s a work in progress. “I don’t know what his slider is going to look like quite yet,” Bush said. “At times, he’s thrown a little bit bigger version. Like a baby curveball. And then the other night it was 88. A nice short, hard slider. So, he’s trying different things. He’s been trying some different grips, and he’s working on finger pressure and the intent behind it.” Whitlock hasn’t been scored upon in his last two outings. He pitched with precise command in Tuesday’s two-inning performance against the Braves, dotting the corners and remaining aggressive in the strike zone. Tinkering aside, the intent is for Whitlock to be here for a while. By definition, he’s a Rule 5 pitcher, but he’s everything but that to the Sox. The league adjusted to him. He’s now adjusting back, with the Sox fueling his growth and confidence. “It’s a day-by-day thing,” Whitlcok said. “That’s part of it. It’s the cat-and-mouse game. You work on it.” It’s time for Fenway Park, TD Garden, and Gillette Stadium to go full capacity. Here’s how it’s going to work Michael Silverman Nothing says a pandemic is easing in New England quite like the “snip-snip” chorus of more than 25,000 zip ties being cut off Fenway Park’s seats.

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