The Boston Red Sox Friday, June 15, 2018

* The Boston Globe

David Price has been true to his word, and then some

Peter Abraham

SEATTLE — When David Price was medically cleared to rejoin the Red Sox rotation in mid-May after a two-day shutdown for wrist pain, he vowed to make every start the rest of the season.

Left unsaid, and completely uncertain at the time, was how good Price would be. He had a 5.11 earned run average and was pitching with poor command and low 90s velocity.

In the month since, Price has been one of the best pitchers in the majors. He was dominant again on Thursday night as the Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1.

The Red Sox have won the first four games on their 10-game road trip and nine of 12 overall. At 48-22, they are 26 games over .500 for the first time this season.

Seattle came into the series having won four straight and 11 of 13 to climb into first place in the American League West. But Price, Joe Kelly, and Craig Kimbrel held the Mariners to six hits before an enthusiastic crowd of 30,475 at Safeco Field.

Kimbrel had to earn his 22nd save. He walked leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger and then threw a wild pitch before walking Nelson Cruz.

Kimbrel then struck out an overmatched Kyle Seager before Ryon Healy bounced into a double play smartly turned by second baseman Eduardo Nunez.

Price continued what has been an impressive run by allowing one run on five hit, all singles, over seven innings. He struck out seven without a walk and hit 95 miles-per-hour with his fastball several times.

“Outstanding,” manager Alex Cora said. “A few breaking balls, changeups, fastballs up in the zone, in and out. He won some battles.”

Price has a 2.64 earned run average and 1.04 WHIP in his last seven starts with opponents hitting .205. His ERA for the season is down to 3.76.

“Lights out,” said Xander Bogaerts, whose solo home run off Felix Hernandez in the sixth inning was the difference in the game.

Hernandez was sharp, too. He gave up two runs on eight hits over seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts.

In his three previous starts against the Sox, Hernandez allowed 18 runs on 23 hits — six of them home runs — over 14 innings. He was back in King Felix mode for this game, but Price was better.

“That was good,” Price said. “We’ve won a couple of games in a row. They had won a couple of games in a row and a couple of them had been walk-off wins. For us to be able to do that and Craig finishing that game that way he did … that was good.”

Since Price learned his wrist discomfort was only a treatable case of carpal tunnel syndrome, the Sox have won all of his starts.

“He prepares for his outing as best he can; he makes adjustments. He’s doing an outstanding job for us,” Cora said.

Price said his increased velocity is a product of good health.

“Just feeling better,” he said. “Everything is starting to feel better and better day in and day out,” he said. “Stick with what we’ve been doing and hopefully it continues in that direction.”

In a 1-1 game, Bogaerts homered to center field with two outs in the sixth.

Bogaerts, who struck out swinging in his first two at-bats, drilled a two-strike fastball that Hernandez left over the plate.

To that point, Bogaerts had swung at nine of Hernandez’s pitches and missed six times, fouling off the others.

“My first [two] at-bats were horrendous,” Bogaerts said.

Cora certainly did not expect a home run.

“I was watching, and it seemed like he had no chance, honestly,” the manager said. “He was swinging and missing. I think it was tough for him to see the ball.”

Before the at-bat, J.D. Martinez told Bogaerts to look for a pitch up and lay off everything down in the strike zone.

“He left one where I could hit it, and I hit it pretty good,” Bogaerts said.

It was Bogaerts’ 10th home run in 209 at-bats this season. He had 10 in 572 at-bats in 2017.

Bogaerts made a creative defensive play to help Price in the bottom of the inning.

After Price hit Dee Gordon with a pitch, Jean Segura drove a two-seam fastball sharply up the middle on the ground. Bogaerts made a sliding stop of the ball, reached back to slap the bag with his glove and from his knees threw to first to complete an impressive double play.

Credit Nunez, too. He switched defensive coverage before the pitch to have Bogaerts cover the second base. Price also executed, changing his delivery to keep Gordon from getting a good jump.

“Oh man, that was huge,” Price said.

Said Bogaerts: “As soon as I caught it, I saw the bag right there, and I knew I had a good chance of turning two.”

The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Rafael Devers extended his hit streak to nine games with a double to the gap in right field. With two outs, Jackie Bradley Jr. lined a double down the line in right to score Devers.

Bradley came into the game with one hit in his previous 23 at-bats. But Cora gave no thought to taking his center fielder out of the lineup, pointing out that Bradley had been making hard contract without any reward.

Seager and Healy started the fifth inning with singles off Price. When Guillermo Heredia squared to bunt, Seager took off for third.

Catcher Christian Vazquez threw to second, and Seager continued on to third. Heredia then swung away and sent a sacrifice fly to left field.

That play was mishandled, too. Bradley, who has a much stronger arm, was lined up to catch the ball, and Andrew Benintendi called him off. His throw bounced into the infield, and Seager scored without a slide.

Price struck out Denard Span and Mike Zunino to end the inning.

Xander Bogaerts turned a pretty impressive double play Thursday

Matt Pepin

Shortstop Xander Bogaerts turned in one of the more spectacular defensive plays of this Red Sox season Thursday in Boston’s 2-1 victory over Seattle.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, just after he’d given the Red Sox a 2-1 lead on a solo home run, Bogaerts slid to stop a grounder hit by Jean Segura up the middle. Bogaerts then reached back and tagged second base with his glove to force out Dee Gordon, then threw from his knees to first to get Segura.

“As soon as I caught it, I saw the bag right there, and I knew I had a good chance of turning two,” Bogaerts said.

The impressive double was set up when second baseman Eduardo Nunez switched defensive coverage and had Bogaerts cover second base with Gordon running on the pitch.

Pitcher David Price also changed his delivery to keep Gordon from getting a good jump.

“Oh man, that was huge,” Price said.

Red Sox play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien was impressed.

“That’s one of the best plays we’ve seen him make,” O’Brien said during the game broadcast.

Here’s why the Red Sox think Jackie Bradley Jr. is worth the wait

Nick Cafardo

SEATTLE — So many people want me to denounce Jackie Bradley Jr. and say it’s time to cut ties, trade him, and all that jazz.

Anyone ever heard of defense?

Would you have said the same about Paul Blair — get rid of him because he couldn’t hit enough (career .250 batting average, with a lot of up-and-down offensive seasons), though his pitchers loved him and they’d revolt if he was let go? Well, that’s the way Bradley’s teammates feel about him.

Does everyone want him to hit? Of course. Is there a limit to how long the Red Sox will stay patient with him? Probably. To keep a player who’s struggling offensively like Bradley is, the team needs to have the rest of its lineup hitting. The bottom third of the Red Sox’ lineup is a little rough, with Christian Vazquez not having much more success than Bradley.

Lately, manager Alex Cora and others have noted an uptick in contact by Bradley. The center fielder entered Thursday’s series opener in an 0-for-17 rut, but Cora accentuated the positive (Bradley went 1 for 3 with an RBI in the Sox’ 2-1 win Thursday) when he pointed out that Bradley has been hitting into bad luck.

This is what managers and hitting coaches do when they try to prop up a struggling player. But if Cora hated what he saw, he would likely go with Andrew Benintendi in center and J.D. Martinez in left. He does that occasionally. He’s trying everything to get Bradley going because he’s a player worth saving.

Bradley was a career .294 hitter in the minors. Two years ago, he was an All-Star who hit .267 with 26 home runs and 87 RBIs. So it’s hard to figure out what happened to him.

Cora thinks numbers don’t always tell the true story, but Bradley’s have been telling. He started Monday hitting .181 with three homers and 14 RBIs. He had 32 hitless games after having 50 all of last season.

He had appeared in 60 games and recorded multiple hits in just five of them.

Researcher Bill Chuck points out that among the 198 major league batters who have had at least 50 plate appearances against lefthanders this season, Bradley’s .106 average (5 for 47) ranks last. He had one homer and two RBIs.

Here are some other lows:

When he’s in a pitcher’s count – 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, and 2-2 — he’s hitting .108. He’s 0 for 20 against changeups. He’s hitting .256 against fastballs. In innings 7-9, he’s hitting .119. The first time he faces a pitcher in a game he’s hitting .195 (25 for 128), the second time he’s hitting .160 (8 for 50), and the third time he’s hitting .133 (2 for 15). When the bases are empty, he’s hitting .202. With men on, he’s hitting .152. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting .140. With two runners on, he’s hitting .105.

“I’m working on hitting where they aren’t,” Bradley said. “That’s the whole point about hitting. You can hit it as hard as you want, but if it doesn’t fall in, where are you? It’s all about results.”

Bradley is trying to stay true to his personality. He’s even-keeled. He doesn’t let slumps get to him. He doesn’t want to press. He doesn’t even want to do interviews about his slump, but he does them graciously.

“It’s just my personality,” Bradley said. “I control what I can control.”

And he’s received a lot of advice from many well-meaning people, from coaches to teammates to outsiders to family. He soaks it all in. He’s never rude, never mad that too many people are offering advice on something he knows he has to solve himself.

He can certainly define what the problem is.

“I’m missing my pitches,” he said. “The difference is great hitters don’t miss their pitch. I’ve missed too many pitches in my zone that I should have done damage with. I’ll foul it off or whatever and that’s frustrating. I’ve been putting myself in bad counts. I shouldn’t be in a certain count and then I’m forced to battle and get back to a hitter’s count. If I wasn’t missing my pitch to begin with I wouldn’t be in that situation.”

The Sox’ hitting coaches and Cora have stressed a more aggressive style up and down the lineup. Sometimes it looks like Bradley should take more pitches and run the count a little bit deeper.

“I’ve always been that way,” he said about being aggressive. “I see a pitch that I think I can handle and I swing. I’m not one to want to wait around.”

He knows he’s hitting ball harder. He hit a long foul ball the other night that impressed Cora in that it looked like a swing of someone who was coming around, because Cora felt that a guy who was struggling wouldn’t have been able to hit it that far.

Cora has been amazingly patient when so much of the fan base isn’t. Bradley was once the cat’s meow with the fans. His struggles have changed that. Now it’s, “Send him back to Pawtucket,” and “Trade him for a relief pitcher.”

But Bradley’s defense is so top-shelf, why would you not want that in the lineup?

“It’s more about his swings for me,” Cora said. “It’s not like that stretch where he wasn’t making contact. Now he’s making contact. I know he’s had some strikeouts, but he’s also had competitive at-bats.

“He found his slot with his hands and he feels comfortable. He was in-between a toe tap and leg kick. So I asked him the other day, ‘Where are we?’ He’s going with the leg kick, where he’s able to glide to the ball with his hands close to the body. We feel he’s in a good spot. He’s hit the ball harder than anyone last couple of days. [Assistant hitting coach] Andy [Barkett] and [hitting coach] Tim [Hyers] are working with him. I do feel now if he stays with his hitting stance, he’ll continue to hit the ball.”

And as Bradley said when talking about being able to separate his offense from his defense, “If I’m not gonna get any hits, nobody else is gonna get any hits, either.”

Meet Justin Haley, who waited a long time to make his Red Sox debut

Peter Abraham

SEATTLE — It took six years and a winding path he didn’t know was possible, but Justin Haley finally pitched for the Red Sox on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old righthander threw two scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory against the Baltimore Orioles. Those 31 pitches were hard to come by.

“It felt great to finally pitch for this team,” Haley said before the Sox played the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.

The Red Sox drafted Haley out of Fresno State in 2012. The sixth-round pick was assigned to Single A Lowell and steadily made his way through the system, arriving at Triple A Pawtucket in 2016 and going 8- 6 with a 3.59 ERA.

The Sox liked Haley but not enough to protect him in the Rule 5 draft. They added lefthander Luis Ysla and righthander Kyle Martin to the 40-man roster instead. Both have since been designated for assignment.

Haley was the eighth pick of the Rule 5 draft by the Angels. Then came a whirlwind of trades.

The Twins sent their Rule 5 pick, righthander Miguel Diaz, to the Padres in a pre-arranged deal.

The Padres then purchased Haley from the Angels and traded him to the Twins for a prospect.

So within a few hours, Haley was a member of the Red Sox, Angels, Padres, and Twins.

The important part was that he had a chance to pitch in the majors for the Twins. He appeared in 10 games as a reliever and allowed 12 runs on 22 hits over 18 innings.

Under Rule 5 rules, Haley had to stay with the Twins or be offered back to the Red Sox. Minnesota put him on the disabled list in late May with what was said to be a sore shoulder.

Haley pitched in seven minor league rehabilitation games for the Twins. But Minnesota elected not to put him back on the active roster and the Red Sox accepted Haley back on July 24.

“I loved Minnesota. The people there were great to me,” Haley said. “Then I got hurt and when I came back, they didn’t have a roster spot. It was unfortunate.”

Haley again pitched well for Pawtucket but was not put on the 40-man roster. Haley was invited to spring training and had a 2.12 ERA over 17 innings but did not make the team, the Sox deciding instead to keep Hector Velazquez, Bobby Poyner, and Marcus Walden.

“What I saw in spring training was good,” Sox manager Alex Cora said.

Still, Haley was cut with three days left in camp and returned once again to Pawtucket.

The Sox finally called him up on June 8. Then, of course, he had to wait five days before getting in a game.

“I tried to stay ready as best I could,” he said. “It was great to finally pitch. My first game with the Sox was at Camden Yards and we won. That was pretty awesome.”

The 6-foot-5-inch Haley has a low-90s fastball that works because of a deceptive delivery and his willingness to throw it high in the strike zone. He also throws a curveball and changeup.

“There’s a hitch in his delivery. Hitters don’t see the ball well,” Cora said “You could see it [Wednesday]. There was only one hard-hit ball. It seems like the ball jumps at you.”

The Sox start a three-game series at Minnesota on Tuesday and Haley hopes he’s still around for it. He’s looking forward to connecting with his former teammates.

“I know a bunch of those guys. Matty Belisle, who they just re-signed, was great to me and really helpful,” Haley said. “It would be great to pitch at Target Field again. It would be really cool for me.”

Haley at one point hoped he’d never be back in Boston. But his second act is working out.

“Here I am,” he said. “It’s funny how things can work in this game.”

Workman rebounds

Brandon Workman has a 2013 World Series ring, something that has become rare among the Red Sox. The only other players from that postseason roster still with the organization are Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia.

Workman had a poor 2014 season then missed two years recovering from elbow surgery. He appeared in 33 games last season and pitched well, and is doing so again.

Since being called up from Pawtucket June 5, Workman has thrown 5⅓ scoreless innings and put only three runners on base while striking out five.

“This is a different pitcher compared to early in spring training,” Cora said. “He didn’t make the team, let’s put it that way. His velocity was down. His breaking ball wasn’t there. His tempo wasn’t good.”

Workman struggled initially at Pawtucket before improving his command and getting promoted.

Workman does not have the velocity he did in 2013, when he was a key reliever down the stretch and in the postseason. But he may be a better overall pitcher.

“At 91-92, that’s good enough,” Cora said. “His cutter is good and the breaking ball has been outstanding.”

Workman feels his success is a product of good health.

“This is as good as I’ve felt in a while,” he said. “My velocity has ticked up and I’m able to go after hitters again. It’s been great to able to contribute again.”

Draft picks signed The Sox signed first-round pick Triston Casas and assigned him to the Gulf Coast League.

Terms were not announced, but Casas agreed to a $2.55 million bonus, the assigned value to the 26th pick. The high school power hitter will start out at third base.

The Sox also confirmed the signings of righthander Durbin Feltman (third round), outfielder Devlin Granberg (sixth round), second baseman Jarren Duran (seventh round), lefthander Brian Brown (ninth round), second baseman Grant Williams (10th round), righthander Andrew Politi (15th round), and second baseman Jonathan Ortega (19th round).

All seven were drafted out of college and were assigned to Single A Lowell. The Spinners open their season on Friday at Connecticut.

Pomeranz tosses

Drew Pomeranz, who missed a few days with a stiff neck, played catch before the game. He is on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis . . . Remember Marco Hernandez? The infielder is at the team facility in Fort Myers, Fla., doing rehab work on his surgically repaired shoulder. But there has not been much progress. “It’s been a grind to say the least,” Cora said. “It’s been tough, a lot of bad days. We’ll see what happens there.” Hernandez appeared to be a promising hitter early last season prior to his surgery . . . The Mariners made a series of roster moves before the game. Righthanders Nick Rumbelow and Rob Whalen were recalled from Triple A Tacoma. Infielder Daniel Vogelbach was optioned to Tacoma and righthander Mike Morin was designated for assignment.

In this summer of baseball drama, Red Sox can’t afford to finish second

Christopher L. Gasper

More than 2,400 miles separated the Red Sox and Yankees Thursday, but the teams are never very far from each other’s thoughts. While there was a continent between them when they awoke with the Sox opening a series in Seattle against the Mariners and the Yankees hosting the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium, there was only a one-game gap in the American League East standings, in Boston’s favor.

It has been captivating to watch the top spot in the AL East toggle back and forth between these two titans. It’s only going to get better as their baseball blood feud serves as the soundtrack for summer in New England, debated in bars, beaches, backyards, and businesses.

Forty years after the Red Sox and Yankees gave us one of the most famous — or in these parts infamous — races in baseball history, we’re set up for another Amazing Race between the teams with the top two records and offenses in baseball.

The 2018 AL East chase is shaping up as one of those special and memorable Red Sox-Yankees dramas like 1949 and 1978, ones that brought tears and swears from Sox fans and taunting and chest-thumping from pinstripe partisans. The Sox hope to continue to flip the script in the 21st century.

This race is going to be like a total solar eclipse. You won’t be able to take your eyes off it. You’ll be checking the standings — and reacting to them — the way you do your bank balance.

You might be of the mind-set that in today’s bloated Major League Baseball postseason the Sox and Yankees can’t possibly have a division race as consequential as 1949 or 1978. Both of them are going to make the playoffs — one will win the division, the other will get one of the two wild cards. What’s the big deal?

Winning the division promises safe passage into the playoffs and a best-of-five Division Series. The second-place finisher has its October aspirations and expectations come down to the detestable wild-card game, in which fate or folly could short-circuit a World Series run before it ever gets off the ground. Cue the pitchforks.

Both the Red Sox, who sport the highest payroll in baseball at $234 million, and Yankees, who added 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton after falling a game shy of the World Series, have invested too much in their teams to risk exposing their championship hopes to such a capricious and unforgiving scenario.

The Red Sox have the added burden of a looming expiration date on the composition of their contender. The good-by date for their team is 2019. They’re smack in the middle of a three-year championship window that opened with the arrival of ace Chris Sale last season.

After this season, closer Craig Kimbrel and reliever Joe Kelly are free agents. David Price can opt out of his contract and the oppressive environs of the Boston Baseball Experience.

Following 2019, Sale, pitcher Rick Porcello, and shortstop Xander Bogaerts are eligible for free agency. Godsend slugger J.D. Martinez can opt out of the $110 million deal he signed. Oh, and the Sox will have to bring the Brink’s truck to Jersey Street for Mookie Betts, who can test the free agent waters after the 2020 season.

The Sox have to win now and pay whom they can later. Boasting one of the most fecund farm systems in baseball and armed with young stars in Aaron Judge and Luis Severino and rookie sensations in Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar, the Yankees have more runway to work with if they squander a postseason by bowing out in the one-game wild-card round.

The Sox and Yankees could actually meet in a 1978-style one-game playoff if they finished tied atop the AL East.

When MLB introduced the new 10-team playoff format in 2012, adding an extra wild card per league, it changed the tiebreaking rules so that if two playoff-bound teams are deadlocked in a divisional race after 162 games, they play a one-game playoff to determine the division winner. That means the Sox can’t do what they did in 2005, when the teams finished with identical 95-67 records. The Yankees were division champions by virtue of winning the season series, but the final standings on the Green Monster, arranged alphabetically, listed “Boston” atop “New York.”

The bar for dramatic Red Sox-Yankees races is a high one. The 1978 chase can be summed up thusly: epic collapse, epic finish, and epic injustice served up by the Wall and Bucky “Bleepin’ ” Dent. The Sox blew a 14-game lead and were overtaken by the Yanks in September. Boston won its final eight games to force the playoff. The rest is heartbreaking Hub history.

The 1949 race — immortalized by the book “Summer of’ ’49” — also had a difficult-to-swallow ending for Sox fans. The Sox surged to the lead in late September and entered the final two games of the season at Yankee Stadium needing one win to take the pennant. They dropped both games, including a 5-4 soul- crusher in the first game that saw the Yankees break a 4-4 deadlock on a two-out homer in the bottom of the eighth by Johnny Lindell.

Even when the Sox prevail over the Yankees in a tight pennant race, it doesn’t always work out. That happened in 1948. The Sox bested the Yankees, beating the Bronx Bombers in the final two games of the regular season. The problem was that it was a three-team race, and the Cleveland Indians and the Sox tied with identical 96-58 records. There was a one-game playoff at Fenway Park for the American League pennant. Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy controversially chose Denny Galehouse to start over Mel Parnell. The pennant and the chance to face the Braves in an all-Boston World Series was lost.

Seventy years later, the Sox don’t have to worry about a third team interjecting. It’s a clear duopoly on the diamond. Still, the loser in the struggle for AL East eminence could have the second-best record in baseball and end up done after one postseason game.

The Sox and Yankees have played six times this season and split, 3-3. The teams meet again in the Bronx June 29 to begin a three-game set. They’ve already produced some memorable games (Martinez squeaking a homer out of Yankee Stadium to help the Sox avoid a sweep), interesting subplots (Price’s Yankees- induced psychosomatic injuries), and genuine enmity (a fracas at Fenway after Kelly plunked Tyler Austin) this season.

Did the 2018 draft represent a concerted effort by the Red Sox to add power to the system?

Alex Speier

For the Red Sox, the 2018 draft came with a few unexpected wrinkles. The highest-profile players taken by the team represented something of a departure from many of the drafts of the past decade.

Foremost, the three players taken by the Sox who are set to receive the largest signing bonuses — first- rounder Triston Casas, second-rounder Nick Decker, and 11th-rounder Nick Northcut — were all high school bats who stand out for their power-hitting potential. All three project as corner players, with Casas looking like either a third or first baseman, Northcut set to start his career at third, and Decker likely to make an eventual move to right even though he’ll start his career in center.

For the Red Sox, the bat-first corner profile stands in contrast to their typical early-round high school picks in the past. For years, the team made a number of expensive bets on potential middle-of-the-field players while anticipating that elite athleticism would allow them to develop as hitters.

In one select instance — Mookie Betts, a 2011 fifth-rounder who played shortstop and center field in high school – that bet paid off handsomely. In several other cases, the Sox lost their wager on early-round high school picks who required sizable signing bonuses (catcher Jon Egan, shortstop Ryan Dent, shortstop Derrik Gibson, center fielder Pete Hissey, center fielder Rey Fuentes, second baseman Sean Coyle, center fielder Williams Jerez, catcher Jordan Weems, among others).

The additions of Casas, Decker, and Northcut thus raised a question: Did the 2018 draft represent a concerted effort by the Red Sox to add power to the system, prioritizing that tool over middle-of-the-field profiles?

“The draft is a funny thing. You line your board based on talent in the first few rounds. Prioritizing or targeting power bats was by no means the plan. It was just kind of the way things fell, but we’re very pleased they fell the way that they did,” said Red Sox VP of amateur scouting Mike Rikard. “If you’re going to take a high school kid, you should believe there’s big impact potential. There’s always extra attached risk with the high school player.

“Certainly those type picks come with extra attached risk, but in these cases, they’re all players we’ve known for quite a while and have scouted extensively against quality competition. Hopefully that minimizes some of the risk.”

That said, the Sox did appear to embrace the idea that a bet on big upside included a willingness to focus on players with present power, rather than dreaming on the possibility of seeing offensive ability develop from players who show a clear ability to play up the middle.

“We put an emphasis on someone being taken high being able to hit,” said Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “If you are going to play in the big leagues, you need to hit. That’s today’s game. Now, when you get further on in the draft, if guys play in the big leagues period, you’re thrilled with that. But the reality is that we’re looking for people who can swing the bat if we’re drafting people up high.”

The Red Sox departed from past drafts in a couple of additional ways. In most seasons this decade, the team has spent an early-round pick on a starting pitcher, and since 2011, the Red Sox have taken at least one high-upside high school pitcher with rotation potential in the early rounds of the draft.

This year, the team did neither. The first pitcher the team took was third-rounder Durbin Feltman, a college closer who has a chance to race to the big leagues in a bullpen role. Aside from fifth-rounder Thad Ward — a reliever for most of the season at the University of Central Florida whom the Sox will develop as a starter — the Sox took one potential bullpen arm after another.

Given the likelihood that players drafted — and paid — like potential starters will end up in the bullpen, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for a team to target relievers over starters in the draft, particularly after the first couple of picks. But the Sox say that their run on relievers was a coincidence rather than a strategic pivot.

“Let’s say there was a starting pitcher there who we really liked. By no means would we have said, ‘Let’s take the reliever over the starter,’ ” said Dombrowski, who noted that the Sox also feel as if they have a good inventory of starting pitching prospects in their system. “Other organizations took a lot of guys that could start in the big leagues, especially college starting pitchers. A lot of guys that fell were high school starting pitchers with big price tags that we didn’t feel comfortable spending those dollars where we were with our pool of money.”

The team did feel comfortable, however, with Feltman, who presented another interesting philosophical question for the Red Sox: Did the team assign greater value to a reliever based on the possibility that he could contribute in the big leagues this year?

In short, no. There are too many variables with a player’s adjustment to pro ball to anticipate that he will be able to contribute in the big leagues just months after he signs.

“There wasn’t that type of intention in the draft, like, OK, this guy can fill a void for us in the major leagues,” said Rikard. “We certainly did not select [Feltman] with the intention of pushing him to the big leagues. We took him as a good pitcher, knowing he’s a reliever, get him out there, and whatever happens organically happens.”

Feltman, whose signing is now official, will start his pro career in low Single A Lowell. But with a mid- to high-90s fastball and a wipeout slider, the Sox will let his performance dictate how quickly he’ll move up the ladder. Dombrowski — who promoted Andrew Miller to the big leagues as a reliever in 2006, the same year in which he was drafted — didn’t rule out the possibility of a pitcher reaching the big leagues in his first pro summer.

“I’m open to anything, really,” said Dombrowski. “We didn’t draft [Feltman] with the idea that he was going to be ready to pitch in the big leagues this year. I know everybody said that he could. That’s not why we took him. But we do think he can be a fast mover. But if he or anyone else was ready to play, I have no problem with that. Any time you have anybody that can help you, you take him. Sometimes guys make the jump from A-ball. That’s not that different than a four-year university.”

THREE UP

Brendan McGair of the Pawtucket Times described the special meaning of PawSox corner infielder Mike Olt’s recent homer: After missing three games last week to be with his mother, who underwent successful surgery after a brain aneurysm, Olt returned to the PawSox on Sunday and promised his mother that he would hit a homer for her. He delivered on it. Olt is hitting .232/.374/.451 with eight homers in 51 games.

In Double A Portland, righthander Mike Shawaryn continues his two-year run as one of the most consistent starters in the Red Sox system. In his last start, he allowed one run over seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. Though 2-5, he has a 3.41 ERA with 8.4 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine innings; he’s walked one or no batters in eight of his 11 starts this year. Shawaryn’s low-90s fastball and slider/cutter suggest at least a reliever profile, with the possibility that development of a third pitch could give him a future as a starter.

Some uncertainty greeted 20-year-old outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola following season-ending surgery to repair an ankle fracture last year, but he’s been excellent in his return to Single A Greenville. An 11-game hitting streak continued a strong, consistent campaign in which he’s hitting .325/.366/.430 while playing all three outfield spots, reestablishing his profile as a potentially valuable fourth outfielder. He is making a case for consideration to move up to high Single A Salem in the second half.

THREE DOWN

In Salem, 2017 first-rounder Tanner Houck continues to struggle in his first full pro season. In his most recent start last weekend, though he got a number of ground balls (a good sign for a pitcher who had an excellent sinker), he walked four and allowed a homer in five innings. For the year, his lack of control and command has resulted in a pitcher who has walked nearly as many batters (37) as he’s struck out (38) and who has allowed 1.4 homers per nine innings.

In Greenville, athletic switch-hitter Kervin Suarez entered Thursday amidst an 0-for-20 skid, with his season line dropping to .249/.296/.318. Two caveats: First, Suarez recently started a transition from second base to center field — a position where he shows the range to have considerable value. Moreover, the 19- year-old — a natural righthanded hitter who took up switch-hitting when he signed with the Sox — owns a .358/.382/.415 line against lefties, while his work from the left side remains a work in progress.

Righthander Hildemaro Requena emerged as an interesting sleeper prospect last year when he went 7-0 with a 0.59 ERA in eight starts for Greenville, but he’s followed that with a disastrous performance. After starting the year with a 7.90 ERA in Salem, he got demoted back to Greenville, where he has allowed 36 runs (17 earned) in 20 innings while allowing 10 homers. He’s moved away from his strength (a ground- ball-inducing two-seam fastball) while overemphasizing four-seamers that have made him susceptible to the long ball.

* The Boston Herald

Xander Bogaerts homers, David Price solid as Red Sox beat Mariners, 2-1

Jason Mastrodonato

He’s a veteran with six years of experience, but he’s only 25 years old, far from graduating from his major league education.

In one night, Bogaerts showed the kind of progress he’s made and the potential he has yet to tap.

A sliding stop at shortstop and a double play turned from his knees saved David Price’s seven brilliant innings on the mound, and a solo home run off Felix Hernandez, who made him look silly in the first two at-bats, was enough for Bogaerts to lead the Red Sox to a cleanly played 2-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.

“That was a pretty cool game,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

Few people have more confidence in Bogaerts than the skipper. And yet Cora had lost faith in Bogaerts by the time third at-bat against Hernandez came around.

Heck, even Bogaerts had lost faith in Bogaerts.

“I was looking horrendous man,” Bogaerts said. “I’m not going to lie. I was looking real bad.”

Hernandez at 32 years old is far less intimidating than he was at 22, but he’s still no easy task at the comfortable home of Safeco Field, where he has a 3.83 ERA this year (and a 7.71 ERA on the road). He was dealing against the Red Sox for five innings last night, and Bogaerts was making it easy for him.

Bogaerts saw seven pitches in his first at-bat, only one in the strike zone, and it was a pipe shot on a 2-0 count that, for some reason, Bogaerts didn’t swing at. He finally struck out swinging over a sinker.

Not a single fastball.

His next at-bat was brief. Four pitches, all of them low and away, none of them fastballs and again Bogaerts swung over a sinker to strike out.

“At a certain point I really didn’t think he was going to throw me any fastballs, so I was just trying to let the ball get deeper,” Bogaerts said. “I was going out, getting the ball. My first at-bats were horrendous."

Cora was shocked when Bogaerts finally made contact the next time up, in a 1-1 game in the sixth inning.

After falling behind 0-2, he caught on. He fouled off a tough changeup, laid off two pitches low and away to even the count, fouled off a low curve and finally got a pitch to hit, a juicy 90 mph fastball on the outer half.

Goodbye.

“It’s amazing what making adjustments and trying to make contact can do,” Cora said. “In that at-bat, I was watching, and it seemed like he had no chance, honestly. He was swinging and missing. I think it was tough for him to see the ball. They were throwing that changeup. I honestly think, and I haven’t talked to him, but I think he spread out and just tried to make contact. Kind of like, ‘I’m not going to strike out again.’"

Bogaerts hammered it over the center field fence, erasing his ugly start to the game and proving once again that he’s capable of being more than just a slap hitter.

In the past, that’s the kind of at-bat Bogaerts would have finished with an opposite-field single. Instead of taking advantage of mistake pitches with offensive swings, he took defensive swings and drove the ball to right field. He hit .320 in 2015 doing that. But only seven of his 196 hits left the park.

Cora wants more.

“It’s just the way he thinks about himself,” Cora said. “You’ve seen him the last two or three days just hitting the ball the other way. He can do that. J.D. (Martinez) takes off, and he shoots the ball the other way. But I do feel that he can drive the ball. And he needs to believe it. Now he has 10 homers I think. That's good. I think he understands."

It was the 10th homer of the season for Bogaerts, who has matched his season total from a year ago, but in 95 fewer games.

Price went seven strong innings, aided by a double play started by Bogaerts in which he fielded a ball on his knees at second base, dove for the bag and touched it with his glove, then threw it to first in the sixth inning.

It might be a stretch to call Bogaerts above-average at shortstop, but he certainly is capable of making those outstanding plays.

He’s capable of hitting quite a few homers, too. His career-high is 21 in 2016.

“I think I’ve hit for some power in the big leagues,” said Bogaerts, who is hitting a healthy .282 with 17 doubles. “That’s something I can do. It’s just a matter of not getting too caught up in hitting homers, then your average will be going down. You’ll be having a lot of bad nights, 0-fors, 0-for-5s, and it’s just going to drag on. So just trying to be a good hitter with some power at the same time.

“We’ll see how many I hit this year.”

Anytime a knuckleballer like Steven Wright pitches it’s must see TV

Steve Buckley

You’re in luck, Red Sox fans: Knuckleballer Steven Wright is on the mound tonight.

You’re in even more luck: The Red Sox are on the road, facing the Seattle Mariners in the second game of a four-game series at Safeco Field.

Before continuing, allow me to share my Golden Rule for starting pitchers:

If they throw hard, get to the yard.

If it knucks, going there sucks.

As Boston-themed rhymes go, it’ll never be up there with “One if by land, two if by sea.” Or “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” Or the weather reports delivered to us from the top of the old John Hancock Building: “Flashing blue, clouds due . . .” and so on.

Looking past the poetry, though, the advice is sound: Fenway Park is the place to be when the guy on the mound is electrifying the joint with a repertoire of fast, faster, fastest. If you were around in the days of Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez, you understand. Curt Schilling, too, provided that kind of bam-pow pitching for a couple of seasons before he retired from baseball and moved on to an exciting career in the video-game industry.

These days, Chris Sale heads the cast of Red Sox pitchers whose appearances at Fenway Park demand your presence.

Now it’s not like being in attendance to watch a knuckleballer is a bad thing. That’s not where we’re going here. Besides, I hear tell that Tim Wakefield, the preeminent knuckleballer in Red Sox history, is planning to come out of retirement to pitch an inning in the annual Oldtime Baseball Game on Thursday, Aug. 16, at St. Peter’s Field in Cambridge. (Disclaimer: I am one of the game’s organizers. Further disclaimer: I earned $88 million last year while simultaneously serving as a White House adviser.)

It’s just that watching a knuckleballer on television is mesmerizing, spectacular, eye-popping . . . fun. This was true 20 years ago and it’s even truer today for the simple reason we live in an age of flat screens and high def. Not only are the pictures clearer but we needn’t rely on the director sitting in the NESN truck if we want to replay a pitch, freeze the pitch or take us through it in super slo-mo. We get to play TV director while stretched out on the couch, remote control device in one hand, a bowl of Doritos in the other. (Life = good.)

“The knuckleball can be baffling, so we’re always prepared for it,” said Mike Narracci, the lead director for NESN’s Red Sox telecasts. “It’s not that we really do things much differently when a knuckleballer is pitching, but we do make sure that when we run super slo-mo of a knuckleball we show the grip of the ball just before it’s released.”

And, given the unpredictability of the knuckleball, Narracci always makes sure he has a couple of shots of the catcher lined up for any time a pitch lands in the dirt. He didn’t say this but I will: It can be fun watching catchers scramble for wayward knuckleballs.

My fascination with live telecasts of “Dancing with the Knuckleballers” is not new. I’ve preached about it often, going all the way back to the 1992 postseason when Wakefield was a 26-year-old rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He emerged with two complete-game victories over the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series, beating future Hall of Famer (and Billerica’s own) Tommy Glavine both times.

The ’92 NLCS was carried by CBS, which, naturally, had a camera placed behind home plate. What I remembered about watching Wakefield’s pitching in that series, and which has been confirmed via multiple revisits on YouTube, is that the director made frequent use of replays from behind the dish when Wake’s knuckleballs were doing their thing.

To watch Tim Wakefield knuckleballs from behind home plate, in slow motion, even through the lens of 1992 technology (which had improved vastly from the 1970s but was nowhere as crisp and clean as what we see today) is to watch magic. It almost doesn’t seem real.

No disrespect to the nice people behind the glass at the Fenway Park ticket office, but tonight’s NESN telecast from Safeco Field is as good a look at Steven Wright as you’re going to get all season. If you were watching Wright from Section 3 at Fenway Park you’d think it was Gov. Charlie Baker delivering a ceremonial first pitch.

Wright, you’ll recall, was submitting a Wakefield-like season in 2016 until he screwed up his shoulder while pinch-running during an interleague game at Dodger Stadium. He made only two more mound appearances that season, closing out at 13-6 with a 3.33 ERA in 24 starts. He made just five starts in 2017 before undergoing knee surgery and being lost for the season.

So far this season we are seeing flashes of the 2016 Steven Wright. In eight appearances, two of them starts, he’s 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA.

Head out to Fenway to see for yourself. Better yet, stay home and watch the game on TV.

Successful season of Red Sox made possible by better-than-expected relievers

Jason Mastrodonato

SEATTLE — Two years in a row the Red Sox went into the season with a suspect bullpen that looked like it might be in need of some serious upgrades before the trade deadline.

And two years in a row this group has done a lot to quiet those concerns.

During 2017, the Red Sox traded for Addison Reed, a key piece who fortified the ’pen down the stretch, though he was questionably not pursued in free agency.

With no new faces this year, the Red Sox already have lost Carson Smith to season-ending surgery and have yet to get Tyler Thornburg back from surgery he had to treat thoracic outlet syndrome.

Still, the Sox bullpen entered yesterday ranked third in the American League and sixth in MLB with a 2.98 ERA.

“We’re lucky just because it’s something that, all around we have good hitting and defense, good starting pitching and a good bullpen,” said Joe Kelly, who has a 2.70 ERA. “Looking around the league, not to knock other teams, but you see other teams and guys coming in from their bullpen and you’re like, ‘Wow, we are lucky to have so much talent on our team and in our bullpen.’

“There are good arms in our Triple-A system that can’t even get up here because we have so many good pitchers on our team. You see other teams and you’re like, ‘All these guys can pitch on other teams right now.’ It’s cool to see. It’s just how it was built and got put together. It’s one of those lucky draws.”

Just in the last two weeks, as the Red Sox were already without Smith and then put Drew Pomeranz on the disabled list, they called up Brandon Workman from Triple-A Pawtucket.

The 29-year-old had a 3.18 ERA last year, his first since recovering from Tommy John surgery, and was dominating for the PawSox with 30 strikeouts to just five walks in 28 innings.

“I told these guys in spring training, there are a lot of guys that are going to be here that didn’t start the season that are going to contribute,” said manager Alex Cora. “So far if you look at the guys who have contributed, Marcus Walden, Bobby Poyner, Workman — that’s part of the equation.

“I felt good coming into the season with our pitching staff, our relievers. I felt last year that was a strength of the team. Although they’re similar, they’re different.”

It made it easy to move knuckleballer Steven Wright from the ’pen to the rotation when Pomeranz got hurt knowing there was more depth behind him.

Workman has allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out five over 51⁄3 innings since being recalled.

“This is a different pitcher compared to early in spring training,” Cora said. “There’s a reason he didn’t make the team, let’s put it that way. His velocity was down, his breaking ball wasn’t there, his tempo wasn’t good. Now, even though he’s not throwing 94-95 mph, 91-92 mph is good enough. His cutter is good. The breaking ball has been outstanding. You saw it yesterday, he came in in an important situation for us and got those outs. We’re very pleased with the way he’s throwing the ball.”

Three months into the season, it’s looking as if the starting pitching will be the lifeblood of the Red Sox. But even as the rotation ERA has fallen from second in the majors in ERA early in the year to eighth (3.68 ERA as of yesterday), the bullpen has made up the difference.

Craig Kimbrel (2.48 ERA), Kelly and Matt Barnes (2.43 ERA) have been mostly dominant in the late innings while Hector Velazquez (1.93 ERA) has surprised in a versatile role.

Red Sox notebook: Alex Cora plans to keep lineup as-is

Jason Mastrodonato

SEATTLE — Even though Mookie Betts entered yesterday ranked sixth in the majors with 18 home runs, there were 33 players with more than his 38 RBI.

Such is life as the leadoff hitter.

It was determined quickly by manager Alex Cora that Betts would thrive in the leadoff spot. He has, as has the entire Red Sox offense, second to only the Yankees with 5.13 runs per game as of yesterday.

But Cora has made it clear that he isn’t going to move Betts from the leadoff spot just so he can have more runners on base while he’s hitting home runs. And yesterday, Cora said he wasn’t going to shuffle the bottom of the lineup either.

Christian Vazquez, whose .256 on-base percentage is fifth-lowest in the majors, hit ninth in the Red Sox’ 2- 1 win over the Seattle Mariners. And it appears that it’s going to stay that way.

“Can’t put (Andrew Benintendi) there,” Cora said with a smile. “No, we’ll stay with what we have. Christian, Sandy Leon, Jackie Bradley Jr., they’re better than what they’ve shown. You can see Christian the last 15 games. His on base percentage is a lot higher (from .227 to .256).

“Even Eduardo Nunez against righties. I looked at it today, he’s getting on base more often against them. They’re going to get on base for (Betts). We saw that in the last homestand without him. There was a lot of traffic out there. We’re fine with the way we are set up.”

The bottom third of the order can rise and fall with the success of Bradley, who has shown only fleeting moments of confidence at the plate this season. He entered the series 0-for-15 in his last four games, 4-for- 37 in the month of June and hitting .181 with a .561 OPS overall.

Cora is standing by Bradley, who hit a line-drive double last night to drive in the Red Sox’ first run off Felix Hernandez.

“Honestly, it’s more about the swings,” Cora said. “It’s not like that stretch when he didn’t make contact. Now he’s making contact. Yeah, I saw the strikeouts or whatever, but it’s a competitive at-bat now.

“We had a conversation two days ago and he kind of like found his slot with his hands, just feels comfortable with where he is now. It was like an in between for a while there between the toe tap and the leg kick. I asked him where we at, where are we comfortable, and that day, ‘this is what I’m going to try to do, no leg kick, kind of like wide to the ball, my hands are going to be closer to my body, and I feel I’m in a good position.’

“We do feel now that he’s in a good spot. And he hit the ball harder than anyone the last two days, but there’s no results.”

Solid seven from Price

It looks like all David Price needed was the confidence that his shoulder and elbow were in good health.

He threw seven scoreless innings for the win last night and has been on a roll of late.

Since being diagnosed with carpal tunnel in early May and getting a clean bill of health on his elbow and shoulder, the lefty has a 2.64 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in seven starts with 47 strikeouts in 44⅓ innings.

“Just feeling better,” Price said. “Everything is starting to feel better and better, day in and day out, so we’ll stick with what we’ve been doing and hopefully it continues in that direction.”

Working ‘vacation’

Rick Porcello enters tonight’s start with a 3.54 ERA, just the second time in the last seven years he’s entered June 15 with an ERA under 4.00.

He said the two days of extra rest provided by Cora last week made a big difference.

“Just took those extra days, throw an extra bullpen and continue to work on the things we always work on: staying sound mechanically, changing angles, executing pitches in different parts of the zone,” Porcello said.

Asked why he didn’t take the two days to rest, he said, “I felt pretty good and tried to get some more work on the mound.”

Patient with Pedey

The inflammation in Dustin Pedroia’s left knee is decreasing, Cora said. He’s still yet to participate in baseball activities since being placed back on the disabled list.

Asked if the inflammation is taking longer to subside than originally expected, Cora said, “We don’t know. It’s such a different surgery. We didn’t have any references as far as how it was going to react. When it happened, we were just going to be patient. We didn’t know if it was going to be a few days or if it was going to take more than that. We’ve just been patient.” …

The Red Sox signed their first-round draft pick, 18-year-old third baseman Triston Casas. They also reached deals with seven other selections and have now signed six of their top-10 draft choices.

* The Providence Journal

Eduardo Rodriguez getting the wins, but early exits a concern

Bill Koch

The notion of greed isn’t always a financial one when associated with professional sports.

How much more can be coaxed from a given player in terms of performance can dictate the difference between victory and defeat, championships and postseason disappointment. It’s why Red Sox manager Alex Cora stood in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards late Tuesday night and softly critiqued a pitcher who has lost just one of his 13 starts this season.

Eduardo Rodriguez turned in 5 2/3 innings in a 6-4 victory over the helpless Orioles, part of Boston’s three- game sweep to begin its three-city road swing. The left-hander’s usual mix of four-seam fastballs, changeups and cut-fastballs was more than enough to keep Baltimore at bay, the third victory Rodriguez has posted this season against the club who signed him out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old international free agent in 2010.

The end result was satisfactory. Dissecting exactly how it was achieved carried with it a different tone, as Rodriguez failed for the 11th time to throw a pitch in the seventh inning. Coming off a 2-0, 12-inning shutout of the Orioles the previous night, the Red Sox and their depleted bullpen were somewhat desperate for a greater contribution.

“I feel there’s more there,” Cora said. “There’s certain games we need our starters to go deeper, and today was one of them. He gave us what he gave, but I think the next step is for him to get through six, seven innings. And he can do that.”

“That’s not a really good feeling for a starting pitcher,” Rodriguez said of his latest early exit. “You just need to keep working. It’s going to come one day, but I’ve just got to keep working to try to get deep into games.”

Rodriguez is striking out a career-high 10.17 batters per nine innings and approaching a career low by walking just 2.89. The 96-mph four-seamer he turned loose on his 103rd pitch Tuesday suggests the 25- year-old is plenty strong, with his thick body and surgically-repaired right knee seemingly ideal to shoulder a starting pitcher’s workload long term. Hitters have swung and missed at 12 percent of all pitches thrown by Rodriguez this season, more than fellow Boston rotation mates David Price (9 percent) and Rick Porcello (9 percent).

“If he sees himself from the dugout, what we see, he’d be in awe,” Cora said. “As far as the stuff, you look up and it’s 95. Then 89. Then the slider — all of that.

“It’s not that he doesn’t believe in his stuff. It’s what we see is a lot better than what he probably thinks he has.”

What Cora and his coaching staff want is more of a ruthless streak from Rodriguez. Terminating at-bats quickly when he has opposing hitters in compromising counts can make the difference between enjoying an extra inning of work or not. There were three specific examples of plate appearances that drove up his pitch count on Tuesday, corrections Cora feels are within reach.

“He can go right away, 0-2, and use that good changeup,” Cora said. “He had a good one today, and he can bury guys. Then he can come in or use that fastball at 94 or 95 and just go after it.”

Adam Jones saw four more pitches after falling down 0-2 in the third inning, eventually grounding to short. Mark Trumbo was behind 0-2 on two different occasions in the fourth and sixth, and he chewed through seven additional pitches while popping to second and grounding to second. Those extra 11 pitches could well have been enough for Rodriguez to finish the sixth and take a chunk out of the seventh against the Orioles.

“I’ve been trying to do the best I can to go deeper into games,” Rodriguez said. “If there’s something I’ve got to change I will do it. I’m just going to keep trying to find it.”

Whether or not Rodriguez can take that next step remains to be seen. Working behind Price, Porcello and Chris Sale in the rotation suggests less immediate pressure to perform, and the Red Sox are bound to have plenty of patience with a player they have under club control until 2022.

“He should stay with his strengths, and we’ve been preaching that,” Cora said. “He can put people out right away. He doesn’t have to set people up.”

Red Sox sign eight draft picks, including first-rounder Triston Casas

Bill Koch

Eight of the 40 players selected by the Red Sox in this year’s Major League Baseball Draft are officially in the fold, including the organization’s top pick.

Boston announced its initial batch of signings Thursday, including first-round choice Triston Casas. The Florida high school product was convinced to break his college commitment with the University of Miami, inking a deal that contains a signing bonus of $2,552,800.

Casas, a hard-hitting corner infielder who played third base this season, prepped at the same American Heritage School that produced current San Diego first baseman Eric Hosmer. The dollar amount required to secure his signature represents full slot value for the No. 26 overall pick, a significant chunk of the overall bonus pool available to the Red Sox.

“It was kind of evident that I wanted to get drafted, and playing baseball is something that I want to do for a living,” Casas said on June 4, the first of the draft’s three days. “The quicker that I get it started, the better. I didn’t really tell scouts or anybody that I was leaning one way.”

College players made up Boston’s seven other signings, including four seniors who had exhausted their eligibility. Dallas Baptist outfielder Devlin Granberg (sixth round), North Carolina State left-handed pitcher Brian Brown (ninth), Kennesaw State second baseman Grant Williams (10th) and Seton Hall right- handed pitcher Andrew Politi (15th) will all continue their respective careers as professionals. Three juniors opted to forgo their final college seasons, with TCU right-handed pitcher Durbin Feltman (third), Long Beach State second baseman Jarren Duran (seventh) and Texas State second baseman Jonathan Ortega (19th) also signing Thursday.

Per MLB.com, the Red Sox held a bonus pool of $5,723,300 to allocate among their 40 selections. That makes the leverage held over college seniors significant, something Boston and other franchises are ready to use at will. Granberg signed for a reported $40,000, well below his suggested slot value of $241,600.

Eight of the top 15 players selected by the Red Sox could be playing college baseball next season, including second-round pick Nick Decker. The New Jersey high school outfielder and Maryland commit is likely to be among those offered something over slot value by Boston thanks to its savings elsewhere. Decker, Ohio high school pitcher/third baseman Nicholas Northcut and LSU outfielder Zach Watson, all rated in the pre-draft top 100 by MLB.com, are among the 32 remaining unsigned Red Sox picks.

* MassLive.com

Xander Bogaerts belts go-ahead homer, David Price dominates in Boston Red Sox's win over Mariners

Christopher Smith

Xander Bogaerts belted the go-ahead homer, then helped the Red Sox keep the lead with a terrific defensive play.

Bogaerts went 2-for-4. David Price allowed just one run in 7 innings. The Red Sox won 2-1 over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

Bogaerts broke a 1-1 tie in sixth inning with his 10th homer. His 105.5 mph solo blast to center field traveled 404 feet.

Bogaerts then turned a sensational double play in the bottom half of the sixth.

Speedy Dee Gordon reached to begin the inning when Price hit him with an 0-2 pitch. Gordon took off for second base. Bogaerts went to cover and the shortstop made a sliding grab on Jean Segura's 96.6 mph grounder up the middle. He reached for second, tagged the base and then threw to first baseman Mitch Moreland for the 6-3 double play.

Craig Kimbrel walked the first two batters to begin the ninth but he struck out Kyle Seager and got Ryon Healy to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.

JBJ breaks his 0-for-17

Jackie Bradley Jr. broke his 0-for-17 slump with an RBI double in his first at-bat during the second inning to put Boston ahead 1-0. He knocked in Rafael Devers who singled and stole second base.

Price dominates

Price went 7 innings, allowing just one run, five hits and no walks while striking out seven.

The lefty improved to 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA (13 earned runs, 44 1/3 innings) in his past seven starts. He has struck out 47 and walked 14 during the stretch.

He threw 37 two-seam fastballs, averaging 93.8 mph and topping out at 96.3 mph. He threw 24 four-seam fastballs, averaging 93.5 mph and topping out at 95.5 mph.

Boston Red Sox's Mike Brenly wants to catch one homer in cap, Joe Kelly 'plays defense' to prevent it

Christopher Smith

BOSTON -- Mike Brenly chucked his cap down to the ground after missing Xander Bogaerts' 105.6 mph opposite-field home run into the Red Sox bullpen June 5.

The Boston Red Sox's bullpen catcher remained determined to catch a home run with his cap.

He made another attempt on Andrew Benintendi's 103.6 mph rocket the next day. Setup man Joe Kelly snuck up behind him and "played defense" to try to prevent Brenly from catching it.

Another day, another miss.

His first try was spontaneous.

"When the first one went up, I just kind of got caught in a bad area and thought 'might as well go for it,'" Brenly said. "I think the second one, Joe was trying to play defense on me. After I missed the first one I was like, 'I've got to catch one. I've got to catch one.' And of course I missed one the next day."

Will we see Brenly continue to try to catch home runs with his cap during games at Fenway Park throughout the 2018 season?

Former Red Sox reliever Robbie Ross Jr. was the center of Boston's 2016 catch-homers-with-your-cap challenge. Ross' goal was to catch more than four.

"If I get a chance and I catch one, I'm done," Brenly said. "I'm retiring. I'm officially out."

Then Brenly added, "But it's a long year, who knows? We spend a lot of time together so it could turn into something."

Brenly got another chance this past Saturday.

"(Saturday) I obviously wanted no part of it," Brenly said.

The homer was hit by J.D. Martinez who absolutely crushes everything, even groundballs. Martinez has the second highest average exit velocity (94.7 mph) of any major league hitter behind only Yankees' Aaron Judge (96.0 mph), per Baseball Savant.

But Martinez's home run had a slower exit velocity (102.2 mph) than both the home runs hit by Bogaerts and Benintendi earlier in the week.

"I just kind of gave a half effort and luckily (Hector) Velazquez came with his glove and snagged it," Brenly said.

Brenly added about Martinez homers, "They're not really easy, high ones to catch. They're easier with a glove I'm sure."

Tyler Thornburg rehab: Boston Red Sox reliever reaches 96 mph, strikes out 2 in latest rehab outing for PawSox

Christopher Smith

Red Sox right-handed reliever Tyler Thornburg pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two for Triple-A Pawtucket in his latest rehab outing Thursday.

Thornburg underwent surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome last June.

Thornburg has a 1.93 ERA (9 1/3 innings, two earned runs), 1.29 WHIP and .167 opponent batting average in 11 appearances for Pawtucket over two rehab assignments. He also allowed two earned runs in 1 2/3 innings for Double-A Portland.

He recorded both strikeouts swinging. The other out came on a grounder back to the mound. One batter reached against him on an error by the shortstop.

He threw 20 pitches (11 strikes). He topped out at 96 mph and sat at 94-95 mph, per the PawSox.

Triston Casas, Boston Red Sox 2018 first-round pick, passes physical and will report to Gulf Coast League

Christopher Smith

The Red Sox announced first-round draft pick Triston Casas has passed his physical. He'll report to the Gulf Coast League Red Sox.

MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo reported Sunday that Casas received a bonus of $2,552,800, the slot value for the No. 26 overall pick.

The 18-year-old left-handed hitter went 30-for-78 (.385) with a .545 on-base percentage, .884 slugging percentage, seven home runs, six doubles, six triples and 35 RBIs in 29 games for American Heritage this spring.

Could Casas finish the 2018 season at Short Season Lowell?

Cole Brannen, a second-round draft pick in 2017, reported to the Gulf Coast League Red Sox after signing out of high school as an 18-year-old. He earned a late season promotion to Lowell where he played three games.

The Red Sox also announced the signings of seven others:

Durbin Feltman (3rd round), right handed pitcher Devlin Granberg (6th round), outfielder Jarren Duran (7th round), second baseman Brian Brown (9th round), left-handed pitcher Grant Williams (10th round), second baseman Andrew Politi (15th round), right-handed pitcher Jonathan Ortega (19th round), second baseman

Cotillo reported last night that Feltman signed for his full slot value ($559,600) and will report to Lowell.

Feltman, Duran, Brown, Williams, Politi and Ortega all will begin with Lowell.

Boston Red Sox shortstop prospect Santiago Espinal continues breakout season; Jalen Beeks K's 7 for PawSox

Christopher Smith

Red Sox shortstop prospect Santiago Espinal continued his breakout season for High-A Salem on Wednesday.

He went 3-for-4 with three singles out of the leadoff spot but Salem lost 6-1 to Potomac in the first game of a doubleheader.

Salem won the second game 5-3. Espinal didn't play in Game 2.

Espinal is batting .315 with a .371 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .871 OPS, seven homers, 13 doubles, three triples, 31 RBIs, 47 runs, 17 walks and 29 strikeouts in 55 games.

The Red Sox drafted Espinal in the 10th round in 2016 out of Miami-Dade College. SoxProspects.com has him ranked the No. 15 prospect in the system after he began the season at No. 29.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound right-handed hitter will be 23 years old for the entire 2018 season.

Brett Netzer batting .307

Brett Netzer is another Salem infielder to keep an eye on. The second baseman is batting .307 with a .360 on-base percentage, .387 slugging percentage, .747 OPS, 13 doubles, one triple, one homer, 30 RBIs, 21 runs, 19 walks and 49 strikeouts in 58 games.

The Red Sox drafted Netzer, who just turned 22, in the third round in 2017 out of Charlotte. He's a 6-foot, 195-pound left-handed batter.

Jalen Beeks strikes out 7

Jalen Beeks made his first start back at Triple-A Pawtucket on Wednesday after struggling last Thursday in his major league debut.

He allowed only one run in 7 innings in the PawSox's 5-1 win over Syracuse. He gave up six hits and no walks while striking out seven. He improved to 4-3 with a 2.42 ERA in 11 starts.

The lefty allowed six runs, all earned, seven hits (one homer), three walks and four strikeouts in his major league debut vs. the Tigers.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the start, "We're going to map out a plan and there's going to be some adjustments as far as his pitch usage at that level regardless of the results. It's very important for him to use the breaking ball more. And from there he can use the fastball up.

"He's been very successful down there in Triple A. The strikeouts and he's been dominant," Cora added. "But at the same time, there's another level. And he needs to do that."

* The Lawrence Eagle Tribune

Rafael Devers for Manny Machado? Let's pump the brakes

Chris Mason

BALTIMORE — A couple weeks back there was a spirited debate raging in the Red Sox clubhouse.

The argument was a simple one: Which free agent is going to get paid more this offseason, Bryce Harper or Manny Machado?

Sox players were firmly in both camps as they made the case for their superstar of choice. When the back- and-forth finally flamed out, there was no consensus other than the idea that both men will soon be very, very rich.

Machado is on a torpedoing Orioles team, so it's almost certain he'll be dealt by the trade deadline. Baltimore needs to get what they can for him before he walks away for nothing in free agency. Where he'll land is the question.

When listing four teams that could deal for his services, Ken Rosenthal — baseball's most plugged in reporter — included a shocker.

“Boston Red Sox. Yes, Boston," Rosenthal wrote in the Athletic. "The Red Sox rank 28th in OPS at third base, and a trade for Machado would be a vintage Dave Dombrowski stunner. Would the Sox give up say, five-plus years of third baseman Rafael Devers if the Orioles also included one of their potential free-agent relievers, Zach Britton or Brad Brach, and maybe a prospect?”

While Dombrowski certainly has a track record of making big splashes, it would be alarmingly shortsighted to bring Devers into the pool.

This can't be viewed through the prism of simply trading Rafael Devers for Manny Machado. This is trading five years of Rafael Devers for three months of Manny Machado.

Dealing the future of the franchise for a rental player makes little sense.

Devers is still just 21 and boasts massive potential. There have been flashes of it — his home run off Aroldis Chapman comes to mind — and with more time in the majors, there will be plenty more growth.

It's easy to forget that if Devers had started the season in Single-A Salem, he would have been the youngest player in the field.

As it stands, he and Andrew Benintendi are the only cost-controlled talents with team control through the foreseeable future.

These are scarce times on the farm. At the beginning of the season the Sox had two prospects in Baseball's Top 100 — Jay Groome and Michael Chavis — and neither is playing baseball right now. Groome needed Tommy John surgery and Chavis was popped for PEDs. Internal reinforcements won't be arriving anytime soon.

What if Machado isn't a rental player, you may ask?

When speaking about moving from third base to shortstop, Machado offered a particularly revealing quote earlier this year.

"I made the commitment to go to short. I think moving forward I would like to stay there," Machado said. "This is not just a move, like you guys like to say, for money purposes. I'm going to get mine. It's where your heart is, where my heart has always been. That's where I want to be."

Did you catch it buried in there?

"I'm going to get mine."

Machado is about to get paid and he knows it. The Red Sox don't have $300 million to shell out, and it's hard to imagine Machado would take a paycut for the team that threw near his head last season.

Remember what he said about Boston just over a year ago?

“What do you think? [Expletive]. [Expletive]. Coward stuff," Machado said. "I mean, that’s stuff that you don’t [expletive] do. But I mean, I’m not on that side. I’m not in that organization. They’re still thinking about that same slide that I did.

“There was no intention on hurting anybody and I’m still paying, I’m still trying to get hit at. Get thrown at on my [expletive] head. They’re [expletive] throwing everywhere. [expletive.] I’ve lost my respect for that organization, that coaching staff and everyone over there.”

For all the talk of clubhouse chemistry, Machado would be an interesting monkey wrench to throw in.

Still, they couldn't afford to sign him long term and retain any semblance of flexibility.

Owners of the highest payroll in baseball, the Sox have a grand total of three free agents that could be off the books at the end of the season: Craig Kimbrel, Joe Kelly and Drew Pomeranz. That isn't much salary relief.

Beyond that, they need to lock up their young core. Xander Bogaerts set to be a free agent in 2019 and Mookie Betts in 2020. Both men will need hefty raises to stick around. Chris Sale is up after next season, too.

From a payroll perspective, dealing for Machado doesn't add up.

Would the All Star make the Red Sox a better team in 2018?

Of course.

Would they be the no-bones-about-it World Series favorites?

Probably not. The Yankees are also stacked and the Astros are still the Astros. The American League is going to be a crapshoot whether or not Machado lands in Boston.

At the end of the day, it's starting pitching that has felled the Red Sox in the last two postseasons.

That will be the X-factor again in 2018. It's going to be on Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello to carry their weight.

Manny Machado can't change that, and it would be foolish to part with Rafael Devers to see him try.

* The Pawtucket Times

Red Sox reliever Tyler Thorburg gave removed rib to parents

Brendan McGair

PAWTUCKET – In the living room of Mike and Dottye Thornburg’s house in Florida, a jar sits with a piece of their son’s rib inside it.

“When my mom saw it, she went ‘ew,’ Tyler Thornburg shared while sitting in the Pawtucket Red Sox dugout recently.

All the suggestions of how to go about preserving the surgically removed rib that treated thoracic outlet syndrome in Thornburg’s right shoulder were explained.

The relief pitcher saw a picture of a girl who decided to make earrings out of the rib. He read an article about a minor-league pitcher who opted to form a necklace that doubles as his good luck charm.

Those quirky - yet personal touches - didn’t suit Thornburg. The rib may no longer be a part of him, but this wasn’t going to be a case of gone and forgotten. It wasn’t going to end up in the trash bin.

Through his days of Little League, high school, and college ball, Thornburg racked up his fair-share of trophies. All of them are in his parents’ possession. Sticking with that train of thought, the rib that had provided him with far too much discomfort on the mound deserved to be awarded to mom and dad.

As Thornburg explained, the underlying reason why a piece of him is on display in his parent’s house “is that my parents are fighting along with me.” This coming Saturday, June 16, marks the one-year anniversary of a procedure that’s been accompanied by promise and frustration. Through everything, Mike and Dottye Thornburg have been bedrocks of encouragement.

“(The rib) wasn’t a gift or anything like that. It’s just one of those things where my family is very close and my parents were there during the surgery. They’ve been there for me throughout my career,” Thornburg said. “It’s something we share together.

“It’s interesting to keep. It’s kind of like a scar,” he added. “Sometimes people keep things as reminders … the journey, the process, the struggles, the ups, and the downs. It reminds me of how difficult this has been and how hard it is to fight back from something like this.”

Tyler was recently on the phone with Dottye when the subject of him being almost a year out from surgery was mentioned. Sometimes Tyler wonders in amazement at how far he’s come in the rehab process. He knows exactly where the credit lies – two parents who never missed a baseball game all the way through Tyler’s three-year college career at Charleston Southern University.

Mr. and Mrs. Thornburg were there in St. Louis when a piece of their son’s rib was removed from his shoulder by Dr. Robert Thompson. From what Tyler remembers, the exact date of the surgery was still hazy after he flew out to St. Louis for a consultation with Dr. Thompson.

“The doctor didn’t have an opening, then all of a sudden he did,” Thornburg said.

Two days after flying from St. Louis to Boston, Thornburg hopped back on a plane for the city known as the gateway to the west. This time, he would have company upon returning to St. Louis.

“It was a little chaotic trying to make hotel reservations at the last minute,” Thornburg said.

When he had to stay an additional 3-4 nights at the at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital, his parents were there. After he was discharged, he checked into a St. Louis hotel. With limited mobility in his right shoulder, Thornburg was in need of assistance. Again, Mike and Dottye were by his side.

“I had to have someone stay with me,” Thornburg said.

When Tyler visited his parents last offseason, he saw the rib for the first time since handing it over.

“I wasn’t going to carry it along everywhere I went. My parents see it every day and think about me,” Thornburg said. “They know how much I’ve been fighting through this. This is just a reminder.”

Hopefully sometime soon, Thornburg’s comeback will be complete and he’ll finally take the mound for the Red Sox, the team that acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers two off-seasons ago. Until that day comes, the motivation to keep on forging ahead and not look back figures to keep on coming from parents, who don’t have to look far for a reminder of what Tyler has endured.

“Anytime I talk to them on the phone, they’re supportive and always say they know how hard I work. If anybody can come back from this, it’s you. All the supportive things that parents say including that everything happens for a reason. I do believe that. I’ve been struggling with this for a while,” he said. “Once we can get everything settled and strong again, hopefully I can be better than before regarding not having certain flair-ups or things that hindered me before the surgery.”

* RedSox.com

Price sharp, Xander excels as Sox beat Seattle

Ian Browne

SEATTLE -- With a combination of power and command, David Price was marvelous on Thursday night at Safeco Field, leading the Red Sox to a 2-1 victory over the sizzling Seattle Mariners in the opener of a four- game series.

Price topped out at 96.3 mph and averaged 93.8 mph with his two seamer over seven brilliant innings, besting Felix Hernandez in a duel of former Cy Young Award winners.

Boston's veteran lefty scattered five hits and didn't walk anyone while allowing one run and striking out seven.

"Velocity-wise, yeah. Command, it was there, and then it wasn't, and then it was there again," said Price. "Whenever I really needed to make pitches tonight, I did, and that was good."

In his last seven starts, Price is 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA.

"I'm just feeling better," said Price. "Everything is starting to feel better and better day in and day out, so we'll stick with what we've been doing and hopefully it continues in that direction."

Helping make the win possible was a strong, two-way performance from Xander Bogaerts. The shortstop smashed his 10th homer of the season -- matching the total he had in 2017 -- to snap a 1-1 tie with two outs in the sixth.

The shortstop also started two tremendous double plays, the latter of which ended the game, rescuing closer Craig Kimbrel from trouble and helping the flame-throwing righty pick up his 22nd save.

Jackie Bradley Jr. staked Price to a 1-0 lead when he smoked an RBI double into the right-field corner in the second. The Mariners got that run back on a sacrifice fly by Guillermo Heredia in the fifth.

After Bogaerts put Boston ahead, Price and the bullpen took it from there. The Red Sox are 4-0 on this 10- game road trip, and have a 48-22 record, putting them two percentage points behind the Yankees in the American League East. Seattle entered this series riding a four-game winning streak and a 15-5 mark in the last 20 games.

"It was good," said Price. "We've won a couple games in a row, they've won a couple games in a row and a couple of them have been walk-off wins. For us to be able to do that and Craig finishing that game the way that he did with first and second and nobody out, that was good."

The way Price has picked it up of late can only mean good things for the Red Sox.

"Outstanding," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "A few breaking balls, changeups, fastballs up in the zone, in and out. He won some battles. We've very pleased with the way he's throwing the ball. You see the velocity. He went seven. So, he's right where we want him to be."

MOMENT THAT MATTERED Kimbrel weaves out of trouble: The Mariners have been the masters of the late-inning win of late, and looked like they were up to their old tricks again when Mitch Haniger and Nelson Cruz drew walks to open the ninth against Kimbrel. But Kimbrel made a nice recovery, striking out Kyle Seager on three pitches for the first out, capped by a 96.9 mph heater. Then he got the grounder he needed from Ryon Healy, and Bogaerts did the rest.

"He used that fastball up. This is a team that we feel we can exploit a few things. We can expand. We can go up and down. And he had Seager swinging up and away, kind of got him back in the groove," said Cora. "He didn't give in to Nelson. We were OK with it. The situation we're in, man at second, no outs, you can't let Nelson swing the bat there. It's either a strikeout or a walk, so it's a walk, and he made some good pitches to Seager and then we turn a good double play."

SOUND SMART Price's streak of eight consecutive starts of at least seven innings pitched against the Mariners is the longest active streak in the Majors, surpassing teammate Chris Sale. Price has thrived against Seattle in his career, going 4-1 with a 2.47 ERA in those eight starts.

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS Bogaerts starts and finishes DP: In the top of the sixth, Bogaerts gave the Red Sox the lead with his homer. In the bottom of the inning, Jean Segura spun a grounder toward the middle that Bogaerts made a sliding play on. In one motion, he tagged the bag with his glove for the force and then, from his knees, fired a strike to first for the double play.

"They made an adjustment with Segura," said Cora. "They switched coverage, him and [second baseman Eduardo] Nunez. He was in the spot, he got to it, and had the presence of mind just to get to the bag, get the lead runner first, and for him to be able to turn it -- that's a fast runner -- it was a great play."

HE SAID IT "I was looking horrendous, man. I'm not going to lie. I was looking real bad. Fouled off some tough pitches, but no one thought I was going to hit it out. I don't even think I did. I was just trying to hit the ball in play, get on base." -- Bogaerts, on rallying back from 0-2 to hit his game-deciding home run

UP NEXT Despite taking a loss in his last start, Rick Porcello was solid, allowing five hits and two earned runs to the White Sox. Overall, Porcello has been strong this season, holding opponents to a .239 average. Lifetime at Safeco Field, the righty is 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA in four starts. He'll face James Paxton at 10:10 p.m. ET on Friday.

Xander's letter-perfect night drops M's

Ian Browne

SEATTLE -- When Xander Bogaerts belted a go-ahead homer that wound up as the deciding hit in a tense, 2-1 victory over the Mariners on Thursday night at Safeco Field, it seemed that would be his signature moment.

But the shortstop would also display some brilliance with the glove, turning in one of the most athletic double plays imaginable to help make that slight lead stand up.

The homer -- No. 10 on the season -- and the jaw-dropping double play both happened in an eventful sixth inning.

In a riveting pitcher's duel between David Price and Felix Hernandez in a game featuring two of the top teams in the American League, Bogaerts proved to be the difference.

With two outs in that top of the sixth, Bogaerts was down in the count, 0-2, and kept himself alive with some defensive swings on foul balls. He eventually got to 2-2, and belted one high and deep to left-center to equal his home run total from last season.

"I was looking horrendous," said Bogaerts. "I'm not going to lie. I was looking real bad. Fouled off some tough pitches, but no one thought I was going to hit it out. I don't even think I did. I was just trying to hit the ball in play, get on base. I wasn't looking for a home run right there. Just trying to stay in the middle of the field but reminding myself to let the ball up."

Then came the brilliance with the glove in the bottom of the inning. Price was frustrated after grazing the speedy Dee Gordon with an 0-2 changeup to open the inning. Jean Segura then worked an 11-pitch at-bat, and stung one toward the middle that Bogaerts made a sliding stop on.

In one motion, he tagged the bag with his glove for the force and then, from his knees, fired a strike to first for the double play.

"They made an adjustment with Segura," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "They switched coverage, him and [second baseman Eduardo] Nunez. He was in the spot, he got to it, and had the presence of mind just to get to the bag, get the lead runner first, and for him to be able to turn it -- that's a fast runner -- it was a great play."

Though Bogaerts is known more for his bat, the play was a reminder of what he is capable of with the glove.

"Give a lot of credit to Nunez right there for flipping the coverage, because he's normally the guy who has to cover there, but he felt strongly about me covering the base on that particular pitch and it worked out fine," said Bogaerts. "I mean, as soon as I caught it, I saw the bag right there and I knew I had a good chance of turning two. It's just a matter of me catching it first before touching the base."

But how did he make such a strong throw from his knees?

"In Spring Training, on ground balls, you joke around with other infielders. But in the game, that was a pretty good one," said Bogaerts. "That point in the game, it would've been first and third with no outs and that wouldn't have been real nice."

There would be more slick glove work to come from Bogaerts. With one out in the ninth, Ryon Healy hit a sharp grounder to Bogaerts' right. He lunged, falling to his knees as he gloved the ball, then threw to second, where Nunez relayed it on to first to clinch the victory.

"He's doing an outstanding job defensively," said Cora. "People haven't noticed that. I think he's buying into what we're trying to do defensively. It seems like he's in the spot. He's been getting a lot of ground balls lately in that spot. So, we're very pleased with the way he's playing."

And also pleased with the way he's hitting.

The 10 homers by Bogaerts have come in 210 at-bats. Last year, he hit that many in 571 at-bats.

"I do feel that he can drive the ball," said Cora. "And he needs to believe it. I think he understands. The other day we had a conversation -- and this is weird because you used to talk about average and RBIs -- I pulled him aside and we talked about OPS. I was like, 'You're right there with the good ones, you know.' And he was kind of like, 'Yes, I am."'

Bogaerts joins teammates J.D. Martinez (22), Mookie Betts (18), Andrew Benintendi (12), Mitch Moreland (10) and Rafael Devers (10) to give the Red Sox a Major League-high of six players with 10 homers or more on the season.

The home run was the 28th hit of the season for Bogaerts with two strikes. Fifteen of those two-strike hits have been for extra bases. Bogaerts has 276 two-strike hits since 2015, 16 more than any other hitter over that span.

Red Sox sign first-round Draft pick Casas

Ian Browne

Triston Casas, the big left-handed slugger the Red Sox selected with the 26th overall pick in the Draft earlier this month, can now get to work.

Boston on Thursday finalized a contract with Casas to a full-slot deal worth $2,552,800.

The night that Casas was selected by the Red Sox, he expressed excitement for what kind of fit it will be.

"I'm glad the way the board fell and I feel like Boston's a great fit for me, and I couldn't be happier with the way turned out, to be honest," said Casas.

The South Florida native became intrigued by Boston when the Red Sox had him in for a pre-Draft visit.

"It was a great experience, going to Boston. It was my first time in Boston and in Massachusetts, so I really enjoyed my time there," said Casas. "I really loved the city and I love the build of it and I love the way that Fenway fit right in the middle of it, just like another building."

Known for his opposite-field stroke, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Casas could one day be a beast playing his home games at Fenway Park.

"The one thing that has always stuck out in Triston's case is his opposite-field power," said Red Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Rikard. "He can hit the ball to left-center as far as many other right- handed hitters can when they pull the ball. That's always been a big thing in scouting him. He's got a very professional approach. Although he is a power hitter, he does have a nice plan at the plate and he was able to make adjustments and just as important, he can use he can use the whole field very well for a young hitter."

Casas played third base during his stellar career at American Heritage (Fla.) High School, and is expected to start his professional career as a third baseman. He could move to first at some point, or go back and forth between the corners to increase his versatility.

The Red Sox also reached agreements with seven additional Draft selections: right-handed pitcher Durbin Feltman (third round, $559,600), outfielder Devlin Granberg (sixth round, $40,000), second baseman Jarren Duran (seventh round), left-handed pitcher Brian Brown (ninth round, $2,500), second baseman Grant Williams (10th round), right-handed pitcher Andrew Politi (15th round), and second baseman Jonathan Ortega (19th round).

* WEEI.com

Alex Cora is right, David Price is right where he needs to be

Rob Bradford

It was just one sentence at the end of his postgame evaluation of David Price. But the statement summed up everything you need to know when it comes to the Red Sox and their starting pitcher.

"He's right where we want him to be," Cora told reporters after his team's 2-1 win over the Mariners Thursday night. (For a complete recap, click here.)

Cora is right.

What Price offered both in results and image in the series opener carried a lot of weight when it comes to the pitcher's lot in life. Against one of the best hitting teams in the American League, the lefty set the tone for the four-game set with seven innings of one-run ball. He was in complete command. No worries about delivery alterations, elbows, fingers or toes. Just dominance.

The Red Sox have won Price's last seven starts, with the lefty going 6-0 with a 2.24 ERA during the stretch. In those seven outings, he hasn't allowed more than five hits in any of them.

"Just feeling better," Price told reporters. "Everything is starting to feel better and better day in and day out so we’ll stick with what we’ve been doing and hopefully it continues in that direction."

For Price, it's not only about the statistics. It's also about how he's doing it.

The suggestion that this might be a legitimate No. 1-ish starter has re-entered the building in large part because of how he's throwing the ball. While we were left having to remember the days when Price's Seattle counterpart, Felix Hernandez, lived with a lethal, mid-to-high 90's fastball, the Red Sox starter was still delivering the kind of heater the team signed up for. Against the Mariners, both of the starter's fastballs averaged 94.1 mph, maxing out at 96.8 mph.

And while there are still some pleading for a few more changeups (he threw 16) and curveballs (5), there is clearly a reason Price's fastball/cutter-heavy strategy hasn't been altered.

According to Inside Edge, this is a real thing ...

There may be another awkward press conference along the way or a rough outing against the Yankees. But what we've seen from Price is the kind of dominance left behind in those relief outings against Houston during last season's American League Division Series. And, admit it, after Price's rough stretch through April and early May, you really thought that might be a thing of the past.

We still don't know what the future holds for this guy. Maybe this elbow is sound enough to convince Price that opting out after this season is a feasible choice. No matter. Because right now this is exactly what the Red Sox need, a pitcher who can go up against the league's best and walk off having sent the kind of two steps-forward message the player and his team desperately need.

"My confidence level is always high," Price told reporters. "It doesn’t matter if I’m struggling or throwing the ball well. I expect to win every fifth day and we’ve been doing that."

Xander Bogaerts had the biggest hit of the night for the Red Sox, breaking a 1-1 tie with his game-winning solo homer in the sixth inning. Of his 58 hits, 28 have come with two strikes, including the latest homer.

Last year's Red Sox first-round pick Tanner Houck pitches 6 no-hit innings

Rob Bradford

Things may be starting to turn around for last year's Red Sox first-round pick Tanner Houck.

Having struggled through the majority of his first full professional season, the righty starter turned in six no-hit innings for Single-A Salem Thursday night. The performance almost led to a combined no-hitter for Salem against Lynchburg, but reliever Joan Martinez allowed a single with two outs in the ninth inning to Luke Wakamatsu (son of former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu) to spoil the line.

Houck has been attempting to alter his approach throughout this season, with the organization attempting to get the righty to become more of a four-seam, power pitcher instead of one who relies heavily on his slider. The University of Missouri product has also implemented a curveball for the first time. (Assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister spoke at length about Houck's progression when recently appearing on the Bradfo Sho podcast. To listen, click here.)

Houck's ERA still stands at 5.50, having come off an outing in which he allowed six runs over 3 2/3 innings.

Houck made an impression during spring training when striking out both J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts in a minor-league game. (For more on that moment, click here.)

Red Sox sign first-round pick Triston Casas, 7 others

Vincent Gallo

The Red Sox have signed eight of their 40 selections in the 2018 MLB Draft.

The team agreed to terms with first round pick Triston Casas, along with right-handed pitcher Durbin Feltman (third round), outfielder Devlin Granberg (sixth round), second baseman Jarren Duran (seventh round), left-handed pitcher Brian Brown (ninth round), second baseman Grant Williams (10th round), right-handed pitcher Andrew Politi (15th round), and second baseman Jonathan Ortega (19th round).

Casas, the top pick, is an 18-year-old third baseman out of American Heritage High School in Plantation, Florida. The corner infielder was the 26th overall pick in the draft and will report to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox in Fort Myers. The other seven signed players will report to Short-A Lowell.

Casas was ranked the No. 25 prospect of this year’s draft by Baseball America. He hit .385/.545/.884 in 29 games for American Heritage, and registered seven home runs, 35 RBIs, six doubles, and six triples. The 18-year-old was a three-time gold medalist for USA Baseball, and earned the program’s 2017 Richard W. “Dick” Case Award, an annual honor presented to the team’s top player.

Four of the Red Sox' top 10 picks remain officially unsigned.

As trade deadline rumors start, remember Dave Dombrowski hasn't steered Red Sox wrong yet

Alex Reimer

It’s chic in baseball circles to chide Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for gutting his teams' farm systems. That’s why, whenever the trade deadline starts to approach, panicked diehards make snarky jokes about Dombrowski dealing away Jay Groome or another future All-Star for that summer’s rental reliever de jour.

There’s little doubt the Red Sox will be at the center of trade deadline speculation over the next six weeks. They have the most wins in baseball and it should be a buyer’s market, since an ungodly number of teams decided to punt on the season long before the first pitch was thrown. Plus, Dombrowski is a dealmaker. Much like Danny Ainge, there’s always the assumption he’ll be up to something.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal threw out the possibility Thursday of the Red Sox acquiring Manny Machado. Citing the Sox’ 28th-ranked OPS at third base, Rosenthal said poaching Machado would be the “vintage Dombrowski summer.” In return, Rosenthal theorized the Red Sox would give up Rafael Devers and his five-plus-years of team control.

The Machado speculation is unfounded, says WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. Still, it’s a reminder that Red Sox fans will once again be faced with the possibility of Dombrowski mortgaging the farm. His track record says they shouldn’t fret.

Ever since Dombrowski took over the Red Sox’ baseball operations department in August 2015, he’s traded away six prospects who were ranked in the organization’s top-10. None of them have made any impact in the Major Leagues.

Manuel Margot (OF) and Javy Guerra (shortstop) to Padres for Craig Kimbrel

Kimbrel has been one of the most dominant closers in baseball over the last three seasons. Margot, meanwhile, was an average big leaguer in 2017, slashing .263/.313/.409 with 13 home runs and 17 doubles in 126 games. This season, he’s slashing .223/.386/.330 with just one home runs in 54 contests.

Plus, Margot plays outfield. There’s no room for him here.

Guerra has only plated two games with the Padres this season. He has .616 OPS in Triple-A.

Verdict: Not missed

Anderson Espinoza (SP) to Padres for Drew Pomeranz

This might be the most controversy trade of Dombrowski’s tenure. He gave up a brilliant young pitching prospect, Espinoza, for Pomeranz, who had just 1.5 years of good pitching under his belt at the time. Pomeranz was solid last season, posting 17 wins and 3.32 ERA. This year, he’s been lousy, and is currently on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis.

But that's nothing compared to Espinoza, who's been on the DL since the end of 2016, when he underwent Tommy John surgery. Espinoza went 1-3 with a 4.73 ERA in Single-A with the Padres after the trade in 2016.

Verdict: Not missed

Mauricio Dubon (IF) and Travis Shaw to Brewers for Tyler Thornburg

Thornburg is more of a myth than actual pitcher at this point. He hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Red Sox since they acquired him in December 2016.

Shaw, who was largely viewed as a part-time player at the time, has come into his own in Milwaukee. He had an .862 OPS with 31 home runs last year and has an .847 OPS with 14 home runs this season. The Red Sox could use his bat.

Dubon, the top-10-ranked prospect, is still in the minor leagues. But he has a .922 OPS in Triple-A, so his call up may be imminent.

Verdict: Shaw is missed, Dubon is not.

Yoan Moncada (INF) and Michael Kopech (SP) to White Sox for Chris Sale

It seemed like Dombrowski paid an ample price to acquire Sale, who’s been predictably awesome in Boston. But so far, neither Moncada nor Kopech have panned out for the moribund White Sox.

Moncada, who inked a $31.5 million signing bonus with the Red Sox out of Cuba, is hitting .230/.318/.413 in 112 games with the White Sox. He’s shown some pop –– 17 home runs in 489 plate appearances –– and strikes out a ton (166 whiffs).

The flamethrower Kopech is still at Triple-A, where he has a 4.70 ERA.

There’s still lots of time for Moncada and Kopech to turn it around. But so far, they haven’t been the impactful young studs they were projected to be.

Verdict: Not missed … yet

Conclusion

The Red Sox are much thinner at the minor league level than when Dombrowski first took over. They don’t have a lot room for error. But if the Red Sox are rumored to be involved in another high-profile chase this summer, just remember that Dombrowski has mostly given up the right guys so far. When Shaw is your only blunder, you're doing pretty well.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

BSJ Game Report: Red Sox 2, Mariners 1 – Bogaerts the difference at the plate and in the field

Sean McAdam

HEADLINES

Price continues to build on a great stretch: Ever since Price returned from his carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis, he’s arguably the best the most consistent starter in the Red Sox rotation. Thursday night marked the seventh-straight start in which he allowed three runs or fewer and the seven innings he provided represented the second-longest outing during this run. Price relief heavily on his fastball and cutter, and cut back on both his changeup and curveball. Whatever he was using for a pitch mix, it worked. He yielded just five hits — all singles — in his seven innings of work and allowed just one baserunner to reach scoring position — all against a formidable lineup and a hot team. He didn’t issue a single walk and struck out seven. “He was rock-solid,” said Xander Bogaerts.

Bogaerts matches last year’s homer total — in mid-June: Last season was, in many ways, a forgettable year for the Red Sox shortstop. A hand injury in the first week of July spoiled his second half of the season and he posted his worst offensive year since becoming a regular. This year, healthy and with a newly aggressive approach at the plate, Bogaerts has been a different hitter. He appeared to be overmatched against Seattle starter Felix Hernandez in his first two at-bats Thursday night, striking out both times. But in the top of the sixth, after falling behind 0-and-2 quickly, he battled back, forced the count full against King Felix, then unleashed an almost effortless swing that sent a Hernandez fastball over the wall in straightaway center. “The more pitches he was throwing me, the better I was seeing him,” said Bogaerts. It was his 10th homer in the Red Sox’ 70th game– and his 53rd — covering 209 at-bats; a year ago, he hit 10 in 148 games played over some 571 at-bats. That wasn’t his only impressive at-bat, either — he later perfectly executed a nice hit-and-run with J.D. Martinez on first, poking the ball into right and sending Martinez to third.

Defense helped carry the day: Naturally, in a low-scoring pitcher’s duel, every out gets magnified and it’s important to convert balls into outs. The Sox did that Thursday, led by a superb double play from Bogaerts in the sixth. Three innings later, Bogaerts went down to one knee to handle a hot smash from Ryon Healy and start a game-ending 6-4-3 double play with the potential tying run on second and the potential winning run on first. “He’s doing an outstanding job defensively,” gushed Alex Cora. “People haven’t noticed that.” Throw in an impressive play by catcher Christian Vazquez — who temporarily lost sight of a pop-up behind the plate in the seventh, thanks to a dusk sky, only to recover in time and for the first out in the seventh — and it was an efficient and effective night all around for the Red Sox in the field.

TURNING POINT

The Mariners were threatening after the Sox had gone ahead in the top of the sixth, with the leadoff man on when Jean Segura hit a ball right up the middle. Xander Bogaerts, moved over toward second on the shift, gloved the ball as he went sprawling, reached back to tag second for the forceout on Dee Gordon, then made a strong throw from his knees to first to nab Segura. That cut off any momentum the Mariners may have been building.

TWO UP

Christian Vazquez: The Sox catcher is contributing more at the plate, collecting two hits in four at-bats, lifting his average to .217, a jump of about 40 points from where he was less than a month ago.

Rafael Devers: Devers extended his hitting streak to nine-straight games with a second-inning single and a fourth-inning double. He also scored the game’s first run after improbably stealing second.

ONE DOWN

Eduardo Nunez: Nunez was 0-for-4 at the plate and failed to make a play on a catchable foul ball down the right-field line.

QUOTE OF NOTE

“He’s right where we want him to be.” — Alex Cora on David Price.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING:

The Red Sox became the first team in baseball to have six players reach double figures in homers. The Sox have now won each of David Price’s last seven starts. Eight of the last 13 games between the Sox and Mariners in Seattle have been decided by a single run. Boston improved to 11-7 against the A.L. West With Vazquez as their starting catcher, the Sox have won their last 13 games.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox and Mariners continue their four-game series Friday night at 10:10 with a pitching matchup pitting LHP Rick Porcello (8-3, 3.54) vs LHP James Paxton (6-1, 3.02).

Final: Red Sox 2, Mariners 1 – Kimbrel hangs on

Sean McAdam

David Price became the third member of the Red Sox rotation to win his eighth game, limiting the Seattle Mariners to a single run over seven innings in a 2-1 Boston victory.

Xander Bogaerts snapped a 1-1 tie with solo homer in the sixth off Seattle starter Felix Hernandez. The Sox had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled home Rafael Devers from second.

The only run off Boston pitching came in the fifth when the Mariners used two singles, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly from Guillermo Heredia.

Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel finished up for the Sox, who won their fourth straight.

WHO: Red Sox vs. Seattle Mariners WHEN: 10:10 p.m. WHERE: Safeco Field WHAT’S UP: The Red Sox begin their second series of a three-city trip, having swept the Orioles on their first stop. Overall, the Sox have won eight of their last 11 and 19 of their last 27. This is the first meeting of the year between the two teams (with another series scheduled next weekend at Fenway). Boston owns nearly as good a road mark (23-11) as home record (24-11). The Mariners ate the surprise team of the American League to date, having overtaken the world champion Houston Astros for first place in the A.L. West. The Mariners are on a 19-5 roll and just swept division rival Los Angeles at home. STARTING PITCHERS: LHP David Price (7-4, 4.00) vs. RHP Felix Hernandez (6-5, 5.70) TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

11:48 Can’t say that I saw that one coming –– Xander Bogaerts had been overmatched in his previous two at-bats against Hernandez and then fell behind 0-and-2 in that at-bat, too. But after extending the at-bat, Bogaerts took a nice, easy swing on a 90 mph fastball from Hernandez and hit it out to the deepest part of Safeco. That was his 10th homer of the season, equaling his total from a year ago.

11:31 Maybe not the best idea for Vazquez to throw down on that play. It looked like Kyle Seager may have been trying to draw a throw from the Sox’ catcher to he could break for third — which is what happened.

11:21 Impressive at-bat from Christian Vazquez, who battles Hernandez through eight pitches, fouling off a number of pitches before fighting off a two-seam fastball and lining it into right for a single.

10:36 On Wednesday, Alex Cora said he told Jackie Bradley Jr. “Don’t change a thing.” That seemed a curious bit of advice for someone who is in the middle of an 0-for-17 skid, but Cora’s point was that Bradley hat, at least in the series finale with the Orioles, had some bad luck. Indeed, Bradley hit the ball very hard twice — once right at the first baseman and once right at the right fielder. Bradley’s first at-bat tonight? A ringing double to right, scoring Rafael Devers from second.

10:16 This is not the same Felix Hernandez of even a few years ago. The velocity on the fastball is off 5-6 mph and the command isn’t as sharp. The Mariners have gone so long without making the playoffs (2001) that, incredibly, Hernandez has gone his entire career without pitching in the playoffs.

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Betts RF Benintendi LF Martinez DH Moreland 1B Bogaerts SS Devers 3B Nunez 2B Bradley CF Vazquez C

MARINERS

Gordon 2B Segura SS Haniger RF Cruz DH Seager 3B Healy 1B Heredia CF Span LF Zunino C

Three Red Sox thoughts on a Thursday

Sean McAdam

One city down, two to go for the Red Sox, on their last 10-game road trip of the season:

Some thoughts:

1. Machado unlikely deadline target

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic speculated Thursday that the Red Sox could be a darkhorse contender for All-Star third baseman Manny Machado, who is eligible for free agency after this season and is almost certain to be dealt off in the next few weeks by the lowly Orioles.

Rosenthal notes the Red Sox president of baseball operations often seeks to make big deals and likes to obtain stars. And adding Machado, even for just a few months, would enhance the Red Sox’ chances of winning the World Series at a time when Dave Dombrowski is clearly charged with such a task, following two successive quick exits in the last two postseasons.

But the Orioles’ asking price for Machado will, understandably, be sky high and Rosenthal notes that it could cost the Sox Rafael Devers as part of the package. From the Orioles standpoint, they would be obtaining a talented power-hitting 21-year-old infielder, whom they would then control through 2023.

From the Red Sox’ perspective, however, the deal makes little sense — even if Dombrowski is in full riverboat gambler mode. It would be one thing to sacrifice the next five and a half seasons of Devers if, say, the Sox were getting Machado for this season and next. That would give them two cracks at winning a title with Machado in the lineup, joining fellow MVP candidates Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez.

But for a two- or three-and-a-half month rental? It makes little sense.

First, third base is not exactly currently a black hole for the Sox. Yes, Devers has struggled with 13 errors and, after a terrific start to the season, has been maddeningly inconsistent at times at the plate. But he does have 10 homers. Moreover, for all his streakiness, Devers hasn’t held back a Red Sox offense which ranks first in runs scored and second in OPS in all of MLB.

Would Machado, returning to third base, represent an upgrade, both offensively and defensively, compared to Devers? Of course. But is it an upgrade the Red Sox desperately need? No.

Most of all, the loss of Devers would violate the Sox’ philosophy of trying to win both now and maintain a winning roster for the future. It would assume that Michael Chavis, currently serving an 80-game suspension for a PED violation, could handle that position going forward, a gambit all the more risky in the wake of his positive test.

2. The going is about to get tough.

The Red Sox had a cakewalk with their schedule over the last couple of weeks, fed a steady diet of non- contenders, with consecutive series against the Tigers, White Sox and Orioles, a stretch that saw the Sox go 6-3.

Now, the schedule turns far more challenging, beginning Thursday night with the first of four against the streaking (19-5) Seattle Mariners, currently battling Houston for supremacy in the A.L. West.

After four at Safeco Field, the opposition eases up somewhat with the underachieving Minnesota Twins. But then, the Sox return home for another three with Seattle, followed by a visit from the Los Angeles Angels, leading up to a road trip that begins with series against the Yankees and Nationals.

In short, 16 of the Red Sox’ next 19 games will come against teams expected to be playoff contenders for the remainder of the season. By the time the Red Sox arrive at a day off on July 5 and shift into a far easier stretch that has them closing out the first half with 10 straight against losing teams (Kansas City, Texas and Toronto), we’ll know a lot more about where they stand and what their needs are.

3. Bullpen doing just fine

The loss of Carson Smith — who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery Wednesday in New York — seemed like a significant blow last month. When Smith blew out his shoulder in frustration in the dugout last month, it appeared as though the Sox had lost a big piece of their late-inning, high leverage weaponry.

Instead, Smith’s absence has hardly registered. The Red Sox have the third-best bullpen ERA (2.98) n the American League, just a tick behind No. 1 Houston (2.94) and second-ranked New York (2.96). Opposing hitters are batting just .217 against Red Sox relievers, ranking them second behind the Yankees (.201) in that category.

It’s likely that Dombrowski will search for reinforcements at the deadline; rare is the contender which doesn’t at least effort to improve their bullpen at the deadline.

The Sox should be somewhat wary of the workload being placed on both Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes as the principal high-leverage options. Perhaps in the next few weeks, Heath Hembree, who, since May 13, has made 13 appearances with a 1.46 ERA and a 20/5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the last 12.1 innings, can continue to gain Alex Cora’s trust, and Brandon Workman can further emerge.

For now, there’s no present need to do anything with the bullpen.

*The Athletic

Eduardo Nunez opens up about an injury that has long hindered him

Chad Jennings

SEATTLE – The Red Sox have three second basemen with four good knees among them, and Brock Holt’s hogging two of the good ones all to himself.

Dustin Pedroia’s still dealing with the effects of cartilage restoration surgery on his left knee, and Eduardo Nunez has spent the better part of eight months recovering from a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right.

“I feel for Pedroia, too,” Nunez said. “Because his injury was worse than mine. So, I can’t imagine what he’s going through with his injury, because it’s not easy. The knee supports all your body. If your knee is hurt, you don’t have power. You don’t have anything.”

About time, then, that Nunez is showing something.

He’s still not 100 percent, but Nunez is running a little more on the bases, he’s moving a little more easily in the field, and he’s getting hits at the plate. He is still waiting for the power to return, but Nunez has hit .299 since late May, and he’s attempted three stolen bases in the past two weeks after attempting just three in the previous two months.

Four months ago, Nunez arrived in spring training honestly believing he would be back to his old self within a few weeks. It had been a long winter, he said, but his knee had healed, he’d ramped up his workouts after the new year, and he’d passed all the medical examinations. Just a few days of batting practice and he’d be game ready.

That what he said in February.

Today, he knows better.

“I believed that,” Nunez said. “I didn’t know it was that tough to be 100 percent with that injury, because when I started running, I was feeling good. But then, the next day, I was no good. When I go to the weight room, I like to go heavy weight, but I can’t any more. I have to fall off.… Sometimes, a low pitch, I have to go drive the ball, and I just hit ground balls. I can’t go down.”

Pedroia’s played just three games this season, and Holt’s been needed at shortstop and right field, which has left most of the second base playing time to Nunez. He’s been active all season, but he hasn’t been himself. He’s an offense-first player, but he hit just .235 in his first 166 at-bats. He once stole 40 bases in a season, but he attempted just one in the month of May.

“Early on, he was kind of peeling out of his legs because he was unstable, which is natural,” hitting coach Tim Hyers said. “Now that he’s able to stay in his legs and do things like that, it’s fun to watch.”

Nunez never thought it would take this long. He first hurt himself last September, but he rushed back to play in the division series, only to aggravate the injury in his first at-bat. He had no idea the injury would linger.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” he said. “I was just thinking two months, three months, and I would be normal. But it was a really long process to improve the little things on the field like diving, stealing bases, cutting, swinging, driving the ball.”

That last “little thing” is vital.

Driving the ball is key to Nunez’s offensive game. He doesn’t draw many walks, and he’s not a pure home run hitter. He relies on an ability to make good, hard contact, but with a bad knee, he’s been vulnerable, especially on pitches down in the zone.

Below are heat maps. The first one represents Nunez’s career. The second shows his performance this season.

Red Sox rewind: How Joe Kelly preserved Monday’s win in Baltimore

Jen McCaffrey

Each week, The Athletic uses the game film to break down a key moment from a recent Red Sox game:

The game situation: The Red Sox and Orioles took a scoreless tie into the seventh inning on Monday in Baltimore. The Orioles scratched out four hits and three walks through 6 2/3 innings against Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright. In the top of the seventh, Wright got Trey Mancini to strike out swinging and Chris Davis to ground out before hitting Chance Sisco with a pitch. No. 9 hitter Jace Peterson followed with a bunt single to third and leadoff hitter Joey Rickard walked, loading the bases for Orioles outfielder Adam Jones. Red Sox manager Alex Cora lifted Wright in favor of right-hander Joe Kelly.

Kelly, pitching coach Dana LeVangie and catcher Christian Vazquez spoke in detail about how they attacked the at-bat.

Pitch No. 1: 96.9 mph four-seam fastball Result: ball Count: 1-0

Kelly: “Obviously Jones is a guy who doesn’t walk much and we went really, really fastball heavy. I think it’s just kind of how the game played out. Last time we squared off, it was a long at-bat, we ended up getting him on a changeup to strike him out.”

LeVangie: “I think the one key advantage is you’ve got a guy throwing close to 100 mph versus a guy who just left the game throwing a max at 85 and typically probably 75-78 mph, so we thought there was a big difference-maker in the two, but we sort of have an approach against Jonesy and it’s just about executing pitches.”

Vazquez: “Every series we go through everybody on the scouting report and I think with Jones, he’s a free- swinger who doesn’t walk a lot. So in that situation, bases loaded, you know he’s swinging.”

Pitch No. 2: 96.8 mph four-seam fastball Result: swinging strike Count: 1-1

Kelly: “I was on the same page with Vazquez and he kept calling fastball and it’s one of those things where I kept shaking the fastball in that situation because in the back of (Jones’) head last time we faced off we went all off-speed pitches so attacking guys different all the time.”

Pitch No. 3: 97.4 mph four-seam fastball Result: swinging strike Count: 1-2

Kelly: “Especially in a situation like that, because we were in a 0-0 game, an 0-2 breaker that goes the wrong way could be a run so it’s something I have faith in my fastball and good command of it.”

Vazquez: “They saw Wright, knuckleball moving everywhere and to see 99 after that I think it’s hard to adjust right away.”

Pitch No. 4: 97.8 mph four-seam fastball Result: foul Count: 1-2

Kelly: “Usually relievers come in throwing heavy breaking balls with guys in scoring position, which I do obviously sometimes too, but just mix it up a little bit with all those shakes hopefully in the back of (Jones’) mind he thought an off-speed pitch was coming and I wanted to shake until the fastball.”

Pitch No. 5: 97.1 mph two-seam fastball Result: swinging strike Count: 1-3

Kelly: “Command was there and it’s something I know I won’t be bouncing for a wild pitch so it’s just how it played out. If it happens again, it might be a curveball or slider.”

Vazquez: “We attacked and went up in the zone twice and we got the strikeout. With 99 upstairs it’s hard to square that ball so that’s why we did that.”

LeVangie: “A lot of stressful pitches that night.”

* Associated Press

Bogaerts' HR sends Boston past Mariners, 2-1

SEATTLE -- When shortstop Xander Bogaerts is cranking out home runs, and crawling around to save runs, the Boston Red Sox know they are in good hands.

Bogaerts hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning, and the Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Thursday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

David Price (8-4) pitched seven inning of four-hit ball to earn his sixth victory over his past seven appearances. He gave up a run and struck out seven. Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth to lock down his 22nd save, pitching around two inning-opening walks by striking out Kyle Seager and getting Ryon Healy to ground into a double play.

It was Boston's major-league leading 48th win of the season, and snapped Seattle's four-game winning streak.

"That was a pretty cool game, 2-1," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "That is a good team over there."

Bogaerts certainly had a crucial impact. He homered with two outs in the sixt, hitting a 2-2 fastall from Felix Hernandez over the left-center field wall to give Boston a 2-1 lead. It was Bogaerts' 10th home run of the season, matching his total from 2017.

It was an at-bat that certainly impressed his manager, given that Bogaerts had struck out against Hernandez in his first two at-bats.

"It seemed like he had no chance, honestly," Cora said. "He was swinging and missing. I think it was tough for him to see that ball when (Hernandez) was throwing the changeup.

"But he spread out and was trying to make contact. ... And he gets a fastball, was short to it and he drilled it."

Price was fantastic in outdueling Hernandez, who gave up both runs in seven innings, striking out six.

And after a slow first month, he has taken off. The zip has returned on his fastball, too, reaching 96 mph on Thursday.

"Velocity-wise, yeah (it was my best outing)," Price said. "Command (wise), it was there, and then it wasn't -- and then it was there again. Whenever I really needed to make pitches tonight, I did."

Price got a key out in the sixth inning in Seatte's Jean Segura, the AL's second-leading hitter at .347. The 11-pitch at-bat ended when Segura grounded a ball up the middle, but right to Bogaerts, who took it from his knees and crawled over to touch second base before throwing over to complete a double play.

"They made (big plays) tonight, and we didn't," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "We had to somehow come up with a big hit and we just didn't get it."

The Mariners tied it at 1-all in the bottom of the fifth on Guillermo Heredia's sacrifice fly to left field. Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead on Jackie Bradley Jr.'s RBI double off Hernandez (6-6) in the second.

MARINERS PROSPECT FINISHES COMEBACK

Nearly a year ago, Seattle right-handed pitcher Rob Whalen walked away from baseball.

After a July 5 start for Triple-A Tacoma, Whalen left the team, citing issues with depression. Placed on the team's restricted list, he didn't return the rest of the season.

However, after rediscovering joy in life, which included his passion for baseball, Whalen nearly made the big-league ballclub out of spring training.

"I just wanted to come in and have fun, enjoy life and what I get to do for a living," Whalen said.

It showed his his minor-league numbers. Whalen was 7-3 with a 4.50 ERA pitching for Tacoma, and was promoted Thursday by the Mariners to pitch in long relief.

BRADLEY SHOWING SIGNS

Boston's Jackie Bradley Jr. came into the game in an 0-for-15 slump over his last four games, and just 1 for 23 over the previous week.

Cora said no hitter in the final two games at Baltimore hit the baseball harder than Bradley. He just did not have a hit to show for it. He did drive in the game's first run Thursday with a sharp double to right field.

"We do feel now he is in a great spot," Cora said.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia (left knee inflammation) is still not doing any baseball activity, although he did work out in the visiting clubhouse gym Thursday. ... LHP Drew Pomeranz (left biceps tendinitis) played catch and is feeling better, Cora said. ... RHP Tyler Thornburg (right shoulder) was scheduled to make a start Thursday for Triple-A Pawtucket as he makes his way back from thoracic outlet surgery.

Mariners: RHP Nick Vincent (strained right groin) continues to play catch every day, as he did before the game Thursday. It is uncertain when he will get back on the mound for a bullpen session. Servais said he is hopeful Vincent and RHP Juan Nicasio (right knee) will be able to return from the 10-day disabled list early in the team's upcoming road trip, starting Tuesday in New York.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (8-3, 3.54 ERA), the AL's reigning Cy Young Award winner, has gone six innings and given up two earned runs in each of his past three starts (two wins). This will be his 13th career start against the Mariners, and he is 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA at Safeco Field.

Mariners: LHP James Paxton (6-1, 3.02 ERA) is 5-0 with a 1.87 ERA since early May. Paxton is 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA against Boston, having given up just one earned run in 23 innings. He beat the Red Sox last July with seven scoreless innings.

* The Seattle Times

Mariners waste solid start by Felix Hernandez in loss to Red Sox

Ryan Divish

With apologies to Meat Loaf’s longtime songwriter, Jimmy Steinman, when it comes to the productive outings of Felix Hernandez, maybe “two out of three ain’t bad.”

For the second time in his last three starts, Hernandez pitched at least seven innings while allowing just two runs while giving his team a chance at a win. In what has been a frustrating season for the Mariners’ longtime ace, that’s progress and it’s needed for the Mariners going forward.

It didn’t mean victory for Seattle. No, the Mariners lost 2-1 to the Red Sox on Thursday night at Safeco Field despite the good outing from Hernandez. Boston starter David Price was even better, and the Mariners’ late push against closer Craig Kimbrel fell short.

Kimbrel walked Mitch Haniger on four pitches to put the tying run on, and walked Nelson Cruz to put the winning run on first. But he came back to strike out Kyle Seager and got Ryon Healy to ground into a game-ending double play for his 22nd save of the season.

“They have a very experienced closer,” M’s manager Scott Servais said. “He was a little off kilter early on and we got a couple of base runners on. But he made pitches. In a game like that, you are going to need a break or two to go your way, but it just didn’t happen.”

The loss hurt. Hernandez’s start helped alleviate some of the sting in the hopes that it will lead to similar outings in the future.

“I thought Felix threw the ball great,” Servais said. “The intensity level and the energy level he brought tonight. That’s how he needs to pitch. If he does that, he’ll have outings like he had tonight. It was great to see.”

But that moral victory meant nothing in the American League West and wild-card standings. Seattle fell to 44-25 and out of first place in the division. Houston, which won earlier in the day, leads the division by a half-game.

While the standards for what is a productive outing for Hernandez has been lowered, this showing was something that he could build off.

“We’ll take as many of those outings as we can out of Felix,” Servais said. “Two out of the last three now have been good.”

Hernandez pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

It looked as if the Red Sox might not let him out of the seventh. Jackie Bradley Jr. worked a walk and Christian Vazquez blooped a single into right field, bringing Mookie Betts, who came into the game with an AL-leading .352 batting average, to the plate.

A first-pitch changeup got Betts to roll over into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

“Fastball command was the big thing for me,” he said. “It’s a big thing for me every game. And the emotions, I just have to go out there and be me. Be aggressive and do whatever possible to keep us in the game.”

It was just the second time this season that Hernandez had gone at least seven innings. The other came two starts ago on June 3 when he pitched eight innings, allowing one run vs. the Rays at Safeco Field.

The first run charged to Hernandez probably shouldn’t have occurred, and it probably should have been an unearned run. With one out in the second, Rafael Devers hit a sinking line drive to right field. Haniger stumbled initially and had the ball hit off the bottom of his glove as he tried to make the running catch. It was ruled a single. It’s a play that Haniger usually makes. Devers stole second and scored on Bradley’s two-out double to right field.

The Red Sox took the lead for good in the sixth. With two outs and a 2-2 count, Hernandez made the mistake he avoided most of night — leaving a fastball over the middle of the plate. Xander Bogaerts crushed the gift pitch over the wall in deep left-center for a solo homer.

“It was a fastball away, and it came back to the plate,” Hernandez said. “I threw three four-seam fastballs and that was one of them.”

After scoring 19 runs and hitting .360 with a 1.110 on-base plus slugging percentage, six doubles and 10 homers against the Angels in the previous three-game series, the Mariners faced a slightly elevated level of talent in pitching vs. the Red Sox.

Price pitched seven innings, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. He pounded the inside of the strike zone on the Mariners’ right-handed hitters, sending fastballs and cutters just under their hands.

Price’s only run allowed came in the fifth inning because of a quick reaction by Seager.

Seager led off the fifth with a single and moved to second on Healy’s single. With Guillermo Heredia trying to bunt, the Red Sox tried to pick off Seager at second base. Seager didn’t even attempt to go back to the base. He broke for third base immediately and was able to advance without drawing a throw. He scored moments later on Heredia’s fly ball to left field to tie the game at 1-1.

“Yeah, we’ve been working on that play,” Servais said. “That’s the bunt through, get picked off at second and if you know you are going to be out by 20 feet, you just take off for third and put your head down and wish. It worked out great. But it actually was a pretty instinctive play by Kyle. He knew he was going to be out there and took off. It worked out great.”