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Home , American League East, Ben Mondor, Ceremonial first pitch, Chad Pinder, Ellis Burks, Faithful (book)

The Wednesday, May 12, 2021

* The Boston Globe

Red Sox bats perplexed for second straight game, dropping to Athletics at Fenway

Julian Benbow

The Red Sox have been in sole possession of the best record in — surprising the league, if not themselves. But when they got back to on Tuesday (in front of a crowd expanded to 25 percent capacity) after taking three of four from the , they were staring at a true test from an Oakland team only a few rungs down the ladder.

A’s starter was dominant over his seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits with 10 , and the Red Sox lost for a second straight night, 3-2.

The Sox managed just four hits for the second straight game — they’re averaging nine per game during their 22-15 start. went 2 for 3, Alex Verdugo singled as the second batter of the game, and homered to the shelf above the in the seventh, pulling the Sox back within a .

Sox starter Nate Eovaldi breezed through six innings, giving up just one run on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

“They were both phenomenal,” Sox said. “Bassitt has done the last few years. His ball is going out everywhere. Good sinker, good four-seamer, good breaking ball. Had us off balance, then he was able to finish us off with fastballs up.”

“Nate was solid. He was really good. He gave us six innings, did a good job with using his fastball a little bit more. It was a good baseball game.”

The Sox ran into a buzzsaw for the second straight night, but while their 4-1 loss Monday came via arguably Baltimore’s Jorge Lopez’s best start in an up-and-down season, Bassitt has been a known threat despite being slowed down by John surgery in 2016 and a leg injury in 2019.

Cora had no concerns that the Sox offense, leading the majors in runs scored, was hitting a wall.

“Those two guys the last two days, they’ve been really good,” Cora said. “You’re going to run into this. Lopez, yesterday, was throwing 97 [mph] sinker balls and a big changeup. And this guy here, he’s been one of the best the last few years. You’re going to go through stretches.”

Eovaldi appreciated the duel and tipped his cap.

“Bassitt threw the ball well tonight,” he said. “Any time you can do that against our offense, you know you’ve got all your pitches working. . . . They did a great job. They pitched really well. Our offense is the best in the league. For them to go out there and shut us down, that’s good for them. We’ve got two more games coming in, so we’ll go out there and get them tomorrow.”

Eovaldi was able to pitch with an early lead when J.D. Martinez drove in Verdugo with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and didn’t give up a until the fourth. He walked to start that inning, then gave up a RBI single two batters that tied it at 1. But he used his fastball to get to ground into a play.

Eovaldi hasn’t given up a homer in 58 innings, dating to last Sept. 12. His 45-inning streak to start this season is the third-longest run to start a year by a Red Sox the last 25 years, behind only (88⅓ innings, 2002) and Pedro Martinez (55 innings, 2001).

The A’s got new life, however, when Darwinzon Hernandez came out of the Sox bullpen for the seventh.

Hernandez threw 4⅓ innings with nine strikeouts, no earned runs, and just two walks in his previous five appearances, but when he issued a leadoff free pass to Olson, he gave the A’s the sliver of light they had been looking for all night.

A single by Lowrie made it first and third and prompted a mound visit. It didn’t help, as Hernandez promptly gave up an RBI single on a 2-0 fastball to that gave the A’s a 2-1 lead.

“It was a good pocket for him, he just didn’t get the job done,” Cora said. “He was wild today. He wasn’t able to command the fastball and he put himself in a tough spot.”

After a groundout advanced the runners, Cora dipped into the bullpen again for right- hander Adam Ottavino.

Walking into a second-and-third situation with one out, Ottavino escaped some trouble when Devers scooped a ground ball from and fired to the plate to keep Lowrie from scoring. But singled to right to push the lead to 3-1.

Devers made it a one-run game in the seventh with his first-pitch solo homer off Bassitt, but the Sox couldn’t capitalize on a one-out, first-and-second situation in the ninth after two walks, Devers grounding out and Christian Vázquez fouling out.

“We had the tying run on third, the winning run on first on a night that we didn’t get too much offensively,” Cora said. “So we’ll take that and get ready for tomorrow.”

‘He’s relentless at what he does.’ is thriving in first dugout job with Red Sox

Julian Benbow

As a player, Jason Varitek knew that embracing baseball’s movement toward analytics would only help him in the long run.

He was a heady catcher by nature, but he approached preparation with added attention, burying himself in the data no matter what else was going on.

“I saw him first-hand as a player on trips,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who played three-plus seasons alongside Varitek. “David [Ortiz] was playing cards and Jason was part of the card game, and while he was losing money playing cards, he had his scouting report at the same time.”

In his first year as a full-time member of the coaching staff, Cora said Varitek has brought the same attention to detail that he did as a player.

“He’s relentless at what he does,” Cora said before Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Oakland. “One of the best catchers I ever played with. And for him to be part of the day-in, day-out process that we have, it’s been a plus.”

The Sox created the title of game planning coordinator for Varitek this past offseason. Previously a special assistant to the , Varitek’s focus has been on and catchers, but he’s added insight across the board.

“He can talk hitting, he can talk defense, he can talk pitching,” Cora said. “We’re here to help each other out. That’s what good coaching staffs do. Obviously, he’s on top of pitch sequences and communicating with Christian [Vázquez] and Kevin [Plawecki]. That’s very important. But I think as a person, as the captain, he’s doing the things that he used to do, but in a different way. More vocal, more outspoken, which is great.”

Varitek is also armed with information, using data to point players in the right direction. For instance, he sifted through the metrics on the advantages of the one-knee catching stance and convinced Vazquez and Plawecki it would be beneficial.

“Any information in anything in this game — whether it be from a pro scout or an analytics department — and you’re not open-minded enough to engage and learn or maybe learn something that you didn’t know or add pieces to things that you didn’t know, you’re not doing yourself a favors,” he said. “This is a game about the players and it’s about them performing, and whatever pieces we can allow them to perform at their height — it shouldn’t be analytic department, staff members, and players, it should be one cohesive, one big group. And I think that’s, that’s why this team’s had some success.”

Varitek acknowledged he eventually would like an opportunity to become a manager, but his role with the Sox is his primary focus.

“Of course,” Varitek said. “But that’s not the focus right now. The focus right now is what you can do to make this team the best that can. We have an unbelievable leader around us, so it’s a great working environment to work with.”

Mitch more than the averaging returning Red Sox

Mitch Moreland returned to Fenway for the first time since being traded last August, receiving a warm ovation when he came to bat in the second inning, and it brought back some fond memories for Cora.

“Mitch is a good player, man, and a great person,” Cora said. “What he brought to the equation in the clubhouse was kind of like, a sense of calmness. The way he operates, he takes care of himself. Sometimes it’s a grind physically, but he wants to post every day and I think that that helps the people around him.

“They see Mitch play and they’re like, ‘You know what, I better play too. Let me get ready for this one.’ He did an excellent job for us in both years, and he did an excellent job last year for the Red Sox.”

Moreland spent three seasons with he Sox, winning a in 2018. After being traded to San Diego last summer, he signed with Oakland as a free agent. He went 1 for 4 as the on Tuesday, raising his average to .220 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in 28 games.

“He’s been fantastic here, and not just in the role that we’ve used him,” said A’s manager . “Obviously we’ve been able to play him a little bit at first base, too. He’s got a Gold Glove. He’s picking up the DH thing. He knows how to pinch-hit. He’s just a professional hitter who rubs off not just necessarily on our young guys.

“Whether it’s he or Jed [Lowrie], when they speak in the cage and they talk about certain things, guys are focused on it,” continued Melvin, referencing another former Red Sox. “It’s great to have another resource like him, who has won a world championship as well, and has some of the things that our guys want to have, too. He’s been great here. He’s fit in really well here, and the guys really respect him.”

Checking in on sick bay

Kiké Hernández and Christian Arroyo are expected to be able to return when eligible, Cora said. Hernández has been on the since May 7 with a right hamstring strain. Arroyo has been listed since May 9 (retroactive to May 7) with a left hand contusion . . . In Worcester, -A catcher Connor Wong pulled up lame at second base with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury, slightly souring an 8-5 win over Syracuse to christen Polar Park. WooSox manager Billy McMillon suggested Wong — the only catcher in the minors on Boston’s 40-man roster — would be sidelined for at least a couple of days. Wong will be re- evaluated, but McMillon said that at first glance, the injury wasn’t expected to sideline him for long.

After a lights-out April, the Red Sox bullpen is stuck searching for answers

Alex Speier

A leak has sprung.

The Red Sox bullpen increasingly looks like a unit in need of repair. Though has delivered steady ninth-inning dominance, it’s increasingly unclear how to create a reliable bridge between starters and the closer.

Last month, manager Alex Cora envisioned entrusting the final three innings to Darwinzon Hernandez and Adam Ottavino in front of Barnes. He no longer feels secure with that plan — and, in particular, he seems increasingly anxious to see either Hernandez or fellow lefty Josh Taylor offer some measure of reliability to stabilize the last third of a game.

“We’re searching,” said manager Alex Cora. “You’ve seen it.”

The search came no closer to a conclusion on Tuesday night, when the enigmatic Hernandez ― entrusted with the seventh inning in a 1-1 contest against the A’s ― immediately faceplanted in a 3-2 Red Sox loss at Fenway.

Hernandez faced four batters, walking the first and then permitting three straight rockets — back-to-back singles, the second of the run-scoring variety, before a hard groundout by Mitch Moreland ended Hernandez’s night. Righthander Ottavino then permitted a soft, two-out, RBI single to Elvis Andrus, providing Oakland with an insurance run that proved decisive.

The Sox bullpen was solid through April, forging a 3.09 ERA (7th best in the majors) while striking out 29.1 percent of hitters (fourth) and allowing just seven homers (fifth fewest). With two runs allowed in three innings on Tuesday, the Sox bullpen saw its record fall to 1-5 in May, but actually lowered its May ERA from 6.39 to 6.35.

The group has missed fewer bats — a 23.6 percent rate ranks 14th this month — while giving up more hard contact (six homers, tied for fifth-most entering Tuesday).

It would be one thing if those numbers reflected the struggles of one or two relievers. Instead, the shortcomings have been widespread of late, creating imperfect options in front of Barnes.

Hernandez has proven particularly inconsistent. After he had three dominant outings in , striking out eight of 11 batters faced, he has permitted five of 13 hitters to reach — with three walks and one strikeout — in his last three appearances. He’s blown a save and been charged with a loss in that span.

“I just wasn’t able to locate [Tuesday]. That’s really the issue,” said Hernandez. “There’s going to be some days where that’s going to happen.”

There have been a lot of those days in Hernandez’s career, making it difficult to rely too heavily on him. If the Sox could harness his electrifying stuff, they’d have a devastating late-innings option. Instead, his outings swing between overpowering and self-destructive, with the fragility of his control (an 18.6 percent walk rate, third-highest in the ) making it difficult to entrust Hernandez with high- leverage situations.

“We hate traffic,” Cora said of Hernandez’s penchant for walks. “You don’t need to hit rockets or hit home runs when there’s traffic around. You put the ball in play and good things happen. That’s what [the A’s] did today.”

Taylor, saddled with a 6.39 ERA for the year, has been better of late, logging 3⅓ scoreless innings over five May appearances. But his control remains tenuous; he’s thrown just 51 percent of his pitches for strikes this month.

While Cora remains committed to Ottavino based on his ability to dominate righties and avoid hard contact, the righthander has a 16.2 percent walk rate — also one of the highest rates in the AL.

Looking elsewhere for a solution? Garrett Whitlock has come back to Earth (4 runs, 8 hits, 1 strikeout in 4 May innings) after his dazzling April. And even at his best, as adapts to the bullpen, he remains an occasional option rather than a late-innings workhorse.

Matt Andriese, who had a terrific start to the year as a jack-of-all-trades, has crashed in May, with hitters tagging him for a .458/.519/.875 line.

Perhaps the team will give a longer look to Hirokazu Sawamura, who looked “amazing” (per Cora) on Tuesday against the A’s, striking out four batters in two innings. The righthander has struck out 44.4 percent of batters he’s faced without a walk in his last seven outings and nine innings — though he has permitted three homers in that time.

For now, the rough patch represents a concern rather than a crisis, the sort of stretch that unavoidably emerges at some point in a season.

“As you know, bullpens, they go up and down,” said Cora. “Sometimes they’re great for three weeks and then struggle for three days, then we get it back.”

That, at least, is the hope. But how confident should the Red Sox be in their current group to correct course?

There’s a reason why Brandon Workman saw a potential opportunity to re-establish himself as a late- innings contributor by signing a minor league deal, and why there is excitement throughout the organization about the early performance of righthander Durbin Feltman in Double-A Portland (4 innings, 9 strikeouts).

Even as they sit in first place in the , after all, the Red Sox are searching.

Former Red Sox players , , and lead frank discussion on race in baseball

Khari Thompson

The story goes that when Ellis Burks was called up to the majors by the Red Sox in 1987, future Hall-of- Famer Jim Rice, who was at the tail end of his amazing Boston career, told a clubhouse manager to put Burks’s locker next to his.

The reason: they were the only two Black players on the Red Sox, and Rice wanted to take him under his wing.

“Here’s a guy I want to be like,” Burks said Monday of Rice in a Red Sox pre-game segment on NESN. “When I came up to the clubhouse, we had a long conversation about all kinds of stuff. He told me the ins- and-outs: what to say, what to do, how to do it…it carried me throughout my major league career.”

The legendary Boston retired in 1989, leaving Burks alone once again as the only Black player on the team — “he wasn’t ready to go, I wasn’t ready for him to go.” But soon enough, he got a chance to pay his mentor’s lessons forward to a young Mo Vaughn in 1991.

“It was so critical to have Ellis there to help me take on some of the issues,” Vaughn said of Burks.

Decades later, the three generations of Black Red Sox stars came together once more to talk about a problem that has only gotten worse since they’ve left the league: the lack of African American players in .

Rice, Burks, and Vaughn spoke at length about their experiences as Black players in baseball and about the diversity and inclusion challenges the sport faces during the Monday show before Boston’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.

At present, only 7.6 percent of all players identify as Black according to league statistics. That number has not exceeded 10 percent since 2004.

The Red Sox began the year as one of the three teams in baseball without a Black player on their roster, though there are multiple players of Hispanic/Latino descent on the team alongside Puerto Rican manager Alex Cora.

That’s a far cry from the peak of African-American players in the majors back in 1981 when Rice was still playing, despite MLB’s stated interest in promoting diversity and inclusion both on the field and in front offices.

The conversation also focused on their time with the Red Sox, which was the last major league team to integrate in 1959 with the arrival of Elijah “Pumpsie” Green — 15 years before Rice played his first game in Boston.

As is the experience for several Black players in baseball today, Rice was the only Black player on the Red Sox at the time and reportedly didn’t believe management cared to add more through free agency. Furthermore, the city has long had a reputation for not being welcoming to people of color — something the Hall-of-Famer said he had plenty of experience with.

“[People] were talking about ‘How do you survive in Boston with the segregation and everything?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m [from] South Carolina,’” Rice said, delving into his upbringing in the then-segregated South.

“They took me out of my high school [through redistricting], had my sister go to the Black school and I had to go to the white school. And my dad said, ‘Make the best of it.’ So when I got to Boston, it was the same thing: ‘Make the best of it,’” he added, noting the importance of Celtics great Bill Russell in setting a blueprint for how to thrive in the city.

Rice later passed on those lessons to Burks, who in turn passed them to Vaughn, and so on. But their descendants, including former Red Sox star , still see Major League Baseball as a “lonely” place for Black players, especially after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake.

“I couldn’t look to my right or my left—just a look! Because you can look at another Black person in that situation, and just look each other in the eyes, and you know immediately how it feels,” said Betts in an interview with GQ earlier this year. “That part was lonely, that nobody else really understood how it felt.”

Now, as then, the issue is not whether Black players are good enough to play in the majors; there is decades of evidence that they are.

Rather, how can baseball convince young Black athletes to head to the diamond instead of pursuing the NFL and NBA — both of which usually require much less time in minor leagues and have significantly higher levels of Black players?

Burks admitted he doesn’t have all the answers, but he did pass along one point he spoke about with the late Hall-of-Famer — another Black ballplayer.

“Why don’t we implement academies in the United States in warm states like Florida, California, Arizona? Get some of these kids to come to these different academies and develop their skills and everything else just like you do in the Dominican [Republic], just like you do elsewhere. I think that’s needed right now,” he said.

Dominance of pitching alters how Red Sox assess and develop their young hitters

Julian McWilliams

When J.D. Martinez made his debut in 2011 with the , the average fastball velocity in the major leagues was 91.5 m.p.h. It was more of a horizontal game, with pitchers attempting to exploit hitters from corner to corner.

But with Martinez in the midst of his 11th big league season, average fastball velocity is 93.3 m.p.h. Pitchers try to exploit the top of the strike zone with their fastballs and the bottom with off-speed and breaking stuff.

The game has changed. This is giving hitters a headache, and it is a topic of discussion around the sport. As of Monday, the cumulative batting average across the majors was just .234, with a .391 . The strikeout percentage is up to 24.1 percent, and the .311 on-base percentage is the lowest since 1968.

“I think what people don’t understand is that this is a stuff-over-command league nowadays,” Martinez said. “It’s guys that throw 100 miles per hour. You see it every day, every team.”

The suffocating pitching at the big league level has led to pitching empires at the amateur level. Vanderbilt, for instance, has starters Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker projected as top-five picks in this year’s draft. Leiter is projected to go No. 1, while Rocker could fall to the Red Sox at No. 4. Both can hit the upper 90s, but beyond that, they have data at their disposal in a way that hitters do not.

Outside of college, Driveline Baseball, TreadAthletics, and others focus on pitching development. These outlets for pitchers — and the results that follow — are why many talent evaluators have restructured their expectations. Many scouts now look at an amateur hitter’s process more than results, including the Red Sox’.

“Don’t get me wrong, seeing present results is a way of mitigating risk to a certain extent,” said Paul Toboni, Red Sox director of amateur scouting. “But if all the attributes are there without the results, as long as you have a narrative to point to [and] we think it’s crackable, then we’re OK with it.

“But that’s really hard. I think it’s human nature when you see a player not performing, I think it’s really hard to jump in with both feet.”

There isn’t one clear, defined way to hit. The Red Sox try to develop their minor leaguers in a space where they can take multiple approaches to beat this dominant pitching era.

“Hitting is so much more reactive, to where I think it’s hard to get too fixated on one particular plan,” said chief baseball officer . “We have to make sure these guys are equipped to handle whatever the league is going to throw at them.”

The talk up and down the Red Sox system has steered toward a more balanced approach, which includes shortening the swing and making contact on high-velocity pitchers. That’s what the Sox preach to their minor leaguers.

In the same breath, Toboni and Bloom want velocity from their pitchers, too. The margin for error, Toboni explained, is greater when you throw harder. Nonetheless, pitchability matters, as do projections.

“We want to identify the attributes that player development has a really tough time improving,” Toboni said. “Scouts draft those players that have those qualities.

“If we think there’s a capacity to improve velocity, as an example, then we don’t necessarily need to gamble on present velocity, if we think it’s coming down. I think teams are getting better and better at figuring out what those things are.”

Depth may be tested

Since Bloom arrived in Boston following the 2019 season, he has preached sustainability and flexibility, which is why he views the recent injury to WooSox righthander (sore right flexor muscle) as a tough blow.

“You’ve heard me say since I got here how important pitching depth is and how, despite the fact that our depth is dramatically improved from 2020, it’s still not where it needs to be,” Bloom said. “This is an area where you really can’t ever have enough.

“But however much you do have, you know that the season is going to test it. And this bump in the road for Tanner is just the latest example.”

The Red Sox view this as a short-term issue with Houck, who essentially serves as the sixth man in their rotation. That leaves Daniel Gossett, Stephen Gonsalves, Kyle Hart, and Raynel Espinal as potential options for the big-league club, if need be. Bloom wouldn’t say specifically which of the four could fit that role.

“I don’t think it’d be fair for us to anoint someone right now,” said Bloom. “We have a number of guys there who are going to get the ball and are going to get plenty of opportunities to show what they can do. We’re going to be keeping an eye on them very closely.”

High hopes for young man

Second baseman Nick Yorke, the Red Sox’ 2020 first-round pick, is just a year removed from high school. He’s still just 19 years old and is playing in Low A Salem.

“Getting to know Nick a little bit better in major league camp and seeing what we saw of him, both there and then minor league , just reinforced how we feel about him,” Bloom said.

The Red Sox believe Yorke has an advanced hit tool well beyond his years, which makes them feel the adjustment won’t be too much for him.

“It’s a tough assignment for a player his age,” Bloom said. “At the end of the day, you want to put players where they can succeed but where they’re also going to be challenged, and everybody felt strongly that this is the right spot for him.”

Baseball returns to Worcester in grand fashion and with a WooSox win

Michael Silverman

WORCESTER -- While 92-year-old Bob Cousy delightfully milked his two-word “Play Ball!” script into a three-plus-minute stand-up routine that poked fun at himself and anyone old enough to know who he was, baseball’s return to Worcester had to wait a little longer.

Worcester Red Sox starter Raynel Espinal paced semi-patiently in circles behind the mound, tossing the ball in and out of his glove.

Syracuse Mets leadoff hitter Johneshy Fargas, bat in hand, sprinted up and down the third-base line to keep fresh.

Finally, Cousy, a Worcester resident the last 75 years, passed off the mic , grabbed his cane and walked slowly off the field.

And at 3:09 p.m., four minutes later than scheduled, Espinal threw a 93-mph heater to Fargas for a called strike, the first pitch in Polar Park history and the first pitch thrown by a player in Worcester in 96 years.

For what turned into a glorious mid-May day of baseball, especially for the home team, the wait felt worth it.

With four -- count ‘em -- no-doubt home runs, two jacked by top outfield prospect Jarren Duran, the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate minted its new $118 million digs with an 8-5 victory that punctuated pre-game ceremonies with enough major- and minor-league flourishes to delight the 2,377 (at least) fans.

“There was a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement here. It was really cool to open up the stadium for the WooSox and to get a W,” said manager Billy McMillon.

The hour-plus pre-game ceremony began over the loud-speaker with Tom Hanks singing the theme song to “Polar Express” and it was all aboard after that, with longtime Fenway Park maestro and now WooSox president Dr. Charles Steinberg orchestrating the proceedings.

After introductions of the teams, a presentation of the colors concluded with a moment of silence for victims of the pandemic as well as a call for an end to the country’s divided state. The PA announcer intoned, “Let us come together through baseball, our national pastime, the game that reminds us that we are and must always be united.”

On the guitar, James Taylor and his son, Henry, sang the national anthem followed by a parade of local and state leaders, sponsors and team leaders, including chairman and principal owner -- “the man who chose Worcester” -- carried a ceremonial red ribbon that stretched across the outfield before being cut by stadium architect Janet Marie Smith.

The action then moved to the diamond where Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty mingled with Red Sox legends Jim Rice, Pedro Martinez, , Jim Longborg and as hugs were exchanged and first pitches were thrown and dropped.

The WooSox fell behind, 3-1, before tying the game in the fifth and then going ahead in the seventh on Josh Ockimey and Duran back-to-back home runs.

The first WooSox (and hit) came in the second inning, courtesy of Marcus Wilson. As the ball sailed out and ignited the crowd for the first time during the game, Rice, watching in a suite with Tiant, Harper and Martinez, teased Tiant.

“That’s how I used to hit off of you, Louie,” he said.

To which Tiant uttered a profanity and said, “When (Rice) saw me, he cried -- he hit .182 against me, 14 strikeouts.”

Tiant was closer -- in 21 at-bats, Rice never homered against Tiant and hit .190, with six strikeouts -- to the truth, as the trash talk merely intensified in a feel-good way, with Rice, 68, lifting the heel of 80-year-old Tiant to say there would be too many tree rings to measure if someone sawed into it.

After Lucchino sat down next to Martinez and explained the many challenges posed by the creation and construction of his fifth ballpark, he looked as if he would float to the ceiling when Martinez told him emphatically, “This is a major-league ballpark.”

Worcester’s gain Tuesday is also the tale of Pawtucket, Rhode Island’s loss, as the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate moved out after Sept. 2, 2019, to end a long saga in search of a new home.

That journey ended shortly after Cousy finally got to yell “Play Ball.”

Before he got there, with the homer-friendly wind whipping his white, wispy shoulder-length hair, Cousy said, “I’ve never seen an event electrify a city like this event has.”

The lights are on at Polar Park, and the WooSox are home.

* The Boston Herald

Red Sox bullpen blows another one in 3-2 loss to Oakland A’s

Jason Mastrodonato

The game close, the starter done after five or six innings, who are the Red Sox to go to?

It was Matt Andriese on Monday, and that backfired.

It was Darwinzon Hernandez on Tuesday, and that didn’t work, either.

The Red Sox bullpen is slowly starting to unravel.

With the game tied in the seventh inning Tuesday, Hernandez wildly coughed up two decisive runs as the Oakland A’s took a 3-2 win in the series opener.

“We’re searching,” manager Alex Cora said of his bullpen. “We do feel very comfortable with some of the guys back there. We still have to get these kids going. They’re very important. Stuff-wise, we know what they can do. We’ve seen it before. But we need them to be more consistent. When that happens, then structure is going to be a lot easier.”

It’s an important series for the Sox, who have started to feel good about themselves and haven’t been afraid to say so. Cora recently suggested in a joking manner that the Sox are the No. 1 team in the nation. It’s a group that isn’t afraid to talk about how good they are.

But the A’s are good, too. And after winning the first game, both teams are now 22-15. And it’s the , at 22-14, that now have MLB’s best record.

The Sox are unquestionably talented, but the bullpen is starting to look like a concern.

Nathan Eovaldi pitched a two-hit gem but was removed from a 1-1 game after six innings and 102 pitches.

Cora called on Hernandez, the hard-throwing lefty who has settled into a late-game role. But Hernandez is prone to losing his cool on the mound, and it happened again on Tuesday. He couldn’t find the strike zone against Matt Olson and issued a leadoff walk. Hernandez thought he had Olson on an outside fastball that was quite clearly not a strike, but Hernandez got emotional about the call and didn’t seem to recover.

“I felt good out there, just trying to control my body and slow it down a bit,” Hernandez said through a translator. “I felt like my first couple pitches, I was going too fast. I just wasn’t able to locate today. That’s the issue here. That’s going to happen.”

After the leadoff walk, Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman each singled to drive in Olson for the go-ahead run.

“He was wild today,” Cora said of Hernandez. “He wasn’t able to command the fastball. He put himself in a tough spot.”

Hernandez then retired Mitch Moreland before Cora called on Adam Ottavino, who allowed Chapman to score on a single by Elvis Andrus.

One night earlier, Andriese couldn’t keep the game tied in the sixth inning after being called on to relieve starter Martin Perez.

The Red Sox bullpen held it together for the month of April, but, other than Matt Barnes, has been a total mess in the month of May.

Since May 1, relievers not named Barnes have a 1-5 record while allowing 24 earned runs in 30 innings for a 7.20 ERA.

Cora hasn’t had any reliable late-inning options to bridge the gap to Barnes.

Hernandez and Ottavino have been shaky, Andriese has been totally unreliable, Garrett Whitlock has come back down to Earth and there isn’t anywhere for Cora to go.

“As you know, bullpens, they go up and down,” Cora said. “Sometimes they’re great for three weeks and then struggle for three days, then we get it back. Hopefully it’s just something that happened today with Darwinzon and he’ll be back again.”

Three more takeaways:

1. Eovaldi looked great and he needed this one. He’d allowed 16 earned runs in 21 2/3 innings over his previous four starts and Cora thought he needed to switch up his pitch mix. But Eovaldi used just about the same mix he has all year as he handled a very good A’s lineup over six innings of work. He allowed just two hits, two walks and one run, striking out four.

2. Chris Bassit pitched one of the best games anyone has thrown against the Red Sox this year. Using a deceptive delivery and mid-90s fastball, he struck out 10 in seven innings on just 86 pitches. It was just the fourth time in 37 games that a starter has completed seven innings against the Red Sox this year. There’s yet to be a starter to take the mound in the eighth.

3. Bassitt might’ve finished the game if it wasn’t for Rafael Devers’ excellent swing on a hanging two- seamer in the seventh inning. Bassitt left the 92-mph pitch over the middle of the plate and Devers lifted it to the opposite field over the Green Monster for his ninth of the year. Devers had a chance to walk off in the bottom of the ninth, when he stepped up with two on and one out, but he went fishing after some bad pitches and hit into a fielder’s choice.

Red Sox Notebook: Jason Varitek earning high praise as future big league manager

Jason Mastrodonato

During a game last season, Matt Barnes came off the mound and walked into the Red Sox dugout, where he was greeted by Jason Varitek, the former captain and longtime catcher.

Varitek had a suggestion: Barnes should speed up the pace a little bit and stop shaking the catcher so much.

“I took it to heart,” Barnes said recently.

He’s been almost unhittable since. Since taking over the closer role on Aug. 21 of last year, Barnes leads the American League with 17 saves, second-most in the majors behind Mark Melancon (18).

It’s usually manager Alex Cora getting all the praise from his players, but this year, Varitek is getting a lot of credit for players’ turnarounds.

Nick Pivetta mentioned Varitek as one reason for his breakout season. Kevin Plawecki credited Varitek for assisting him in transitioning to a new crouching stance on one knee. Franchy Cordero said it was Varitek who gave him a tip that led to Cordero’s three-hit game last week.

“It’s not that much different from what I’ve been doing,” said Varitek, who is in his first year in a new title, game-planning coordinator, after serving as a catching instructor in recent years. “It’s great to have your hands on people, day in and day out, in all avenues. It’s not just getting people out. It’s not just defensive. It’s offensive. It’s positioning. It’s being a part of everything.”

Cora said Varitek plays a big role in communicating with the catchers and planning pitch sequencing. Because of the respect Varitek commands, people seem to listen.

It’s why Cora thinks Varitek will be a big league manager one day.

“Yeah, 100%,” Cora said. “I said that in spring training and I’ll say it again today and I’ll say it tomorrow. He can run a team and he can impact a team. I’m glad that he’s still with us here. Obviously I know he has his goals. We talked about it last year a little bit. For him to become a big league manager was something that he really wants to do, but at the same time right now, he wants to help this organization win a World Series.”

Varitek said he still hopes to be a manager, “but that’s not the focus right now.”

Johnny Damon impressions

Having been on some of the best Red Sox teams ever, Varitek was asked to compare this year’s lineup to those in the past.

“It’s hard, because it’s early,” Varitek said. “A lot of those stood the test of time. …”

He added, “Some people haven’t quite gotten into their strides (this season).”

The former Red Sox captain did mention how impressed he was with J.D. Martinez’s turnaround, and compared and Rafael Devers to because of the way they can hit bad pitches with great success.

“I think you can’t take away athleticism from a baseball mechanic,” he said. “Those two both have athleticism, kind of like Johnny Damon, they can athletically do something that doesn’t show up in the same square. That creates diversity in your lineup.”

Moreland returns

With the Oakland A’s in town, the Red Sox are getting their first look at Mitch Moreland since trading him to the Padres late last season.

The 35-year-old was signed by the A’s for $2.25 million to be their primary designated hitter, where he won’t have to play first base and the A’s hope they can keep him healthy.

Moreland entered the series hitting just .218 with a .697 OPS and four homers in 27 games.

“Mitch is a good player, man, and a great person,” Cora said. “What he brought to the equation in the clubhouse was kind of like a sense of calmness. The way he operates, he takes care of himself, sometimes it’s a grind physically, but he wants to post every day. That helps the people around him. They see Mitch play and you’re like, ‘you know what, I’d better play, too, let me get ready for this one.’

“One of my favorites, to be honest with you. I’m glad that he’s still playing and making a difference over there. I’m very happy for him. He’s a guy that, in ’18, we talk about all those guys, but he probably was one of the most important players we had.”

Odds and ends …

Kiké Hernandez (hamstring) and Christian Arroyo (hand) are both expected to return when they’re eligible to come off the 10-day injured list on May 17.

Nathan Eovaldi entered Tuesday’s start having not allowed a home run in his last 52 innings, MLB’s longest active homerless streak.

Red Sox starters have thrown five innings or more in 29 games this season, tied with the A’s for most five- inning starts in the league. They’re 19-10 when getting five innings from their starter, but 9-1 when their starter goes six.

Bob Cousy, Pedro Martinez help WooSox open Polar Park in style on historic day in Worcester

Steve Hewitt

WORCESTER — As the pregame ceremonies finished up and the moments approached on the first pitch in Polar Park history, the had one more special surprise.

From the home dugout, the greatest Worcester sports legend emerged: Holy Cross basketball and Celtics icon Bob Cousy. And he had some things to say.

“As you’ve just been told, my name is Bob Cousy,” he said to the crowd of 2,377, who obviously knew who the 92-year-old was.

“If that is even vaguely familiar to any of you, that probably means you’ve been receiving your Social Security check for 20 years now,” Cousy cracked.

“Time flies when you’re having fun.”

There was certainly fun being had Tuesday at Polar Park, where the WooSox opened their new ballpark for their first home game with plenty of style. Top outfield prospect Jarren Duran homered twice to lead an 8-5 WooSox victory over the Syracuse Mets on a historic, electric and perfect weather day in Worcester.

Fans lined the gates outside Polar Park hours before first pitch in high anticipation for a game that was years in the making. James Horner’s “The Cornfield,” the iconic song from the movie “,” played as the pregame ceremonies began, a fitting touch as Worcester’s dreams were fully realized, before a group of fans unfurled a “Welcome to Worcester” banner above the right field scoreboard.

Gov. Charlie Baker was on hand to help WooSox owner Larry Lucchino with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to officially open Polar Park to lead off a star-studded pregame lineup.

The festivities featured included music legend James Taylor and his son Henry singing the national anthem, former Yankees manager in attendance, and some Red Sox legends throwing out the ceremonial first pitch: Worcester native and WooSox hitting coach , Luis Tiant, , Jim Rice, and Pedro Martinez, who expectedly received the loudest ovation before pitching a strike to Tanner Houck.

Lucchino was thrilled to finally open the park, though he pointed out that it wasn’t yet a finished product.

“It’s been long and arduous, that’s for sure,” Lucchino said of the process it took to get to Tuesday. “But the final result, although we don’t have the final result yet, but we’re pretty close and I think we can see it’s a beautiful ballpark that people seem to like a lot and feel that it’s a great asset for the city of Worcester. It’ll take a few years to see how well it plays and see how much development occurs, but we’re off to a very good start today. …

“(It) reflects Worcester in a very positive way. So I hope people, no matter where they live in Massachusetts, neighboring states, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, come here and see the ballpark for themselves. It’s something different than they’ve seen around here in a long time.”

On the field, there was plenty of excitement as the WooSox hit four homers. Marcus Wilson hit the first WooSox homer in Polar Park history before Josh Ockimey and Duran hit back-to-back jacks in the seventh and Brandon Workman returned to escape a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, all in front of Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who made the trip to Worcester for the historic occasion.

“This is a historic day for Worcester and a great day for the Red Sox,” Bloom said. “Our affiliates and their communities aren’t just places to play; they’re where our young players grow up. Now they’ll have a beautiful new park in the heart of as the last step of their minor league journey. That’s a wonderful thing.”

And it was the first step of many more special days and nights at Polar Park, where the first home game in WooSox history couldn’t have gone much better.

“I’ve never seen an event electrify a city the way this event has and hopefully it will have long legs,” Cousy said, before proclaiming, “Play ball!” The historic first of many.

* The Providence Journal

What could have been: Shiny-new Polar Park opens in Worcester

Bill Koch

WORCESTER, Mass. — Tuesday brought with it a sense of finality.

It’s not closure. Some folks in Rhode Island won’t ever arrive at that point after losing the , and with good reason. Three generations of memories aren’t so easily wiped away by a simple franchise relocation.

It is a next chapter. For baseball in Worcester, certainly, and for this Canal District section of the city. Polar Park is as much a stadium as an active construction site, with cranes and earthmovers present just beyond the outfield walls.

Raynel Espinal fired in his first pitch for a strike at 3:09 p.m. The Worcester Red Sox hosted the Syracuse Mets under brilliant sunshine, a scene we’ve enjoyed so many times before at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. This opening 8-5 victory is something we’re unlikely to witness there again. Only the omnipresent geese patrolled the outfield at the former home of Boston’s Triple-A club.

The future was on display at this nine-figure ballpark instead, the anchor point for future projects in this area that will be under construction until at least 2023. The commitment made by the city itself and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — the genuine willingness to communicate and consummate a lasting partnership — ultimately won out over petty political squabbling.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito were among those throwing out first pitches. Red Sox royalty was summoned from near and far, with Jim Lonborg, Luis Tiant, Jim Rice, Pedro Martinez and Worcester native Rich Gedman — the club’s hitting coach — on the field for pregame ceremonies. James Taylor and his son, Henry, performed a pitch-perfect acoustic version of the national anthem. Ninety-two- year-old Bob Cousy, the NBA and Celtics great who is a long-time Worcester resident, called out "Play Ball!" to get things started.

The park itself has all the makings of a gem, and that’s no surprise considering the drivers of the project. Larry Lucchino is no stranger to presiding over premier stadium construction. Janet Marie Smith, his architect extraordinaire and the visionary who gave us Camden Yards and among others, should eventually be a candidate for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a special contributor.

Suites ring the seating bowl behind home plate and stretch just beyond the dugouts on each side. An open bar area on the field level is topped by an indoor lounge area on the second floor. There are no cement pillars protecting an aging roof to obstruct the view.

Two fan terraces flank each foul pole, allowing for outdoor gathering and a perch above the bullpens. The Worcester Wall in right field is topped by the Triple-A version of the Monster Seats — they check in about 15 feet lower than the Lansdowne Street equivalent in Boston. A brisk wind whipped across the field in that direction on Tuesday, helping a total of six home runs clear the fences.

Marcus Wilson popped the first home round-tripper in Worcester history, a solo shot to right in the bottom of the second. Jarren Duran was the afternoon’s star, belting a pair of homers to deep right. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was in attendance — you'd have to imagine he was intrigued by this performance from one of his top prospects.

There isn’t an 8-year-old kid anywhere who would be able to tell you about the pros and cons of public funding for stadiums. What they’ll appreciate is whether or not they can have a night out with their parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends. What they’ll remember is the day they saw Duran — should he become a future star in Boston — go deep twice to christen a new ballpark.

It’s that simple sentiment that was too easily dismissed by Rhode Island politicians and a strident segment of its electorate. Gov. Gina Raimondo was unable to summon the boldness that pushed through general pension reform. Nicholas Mattiello cared more about clinging to his position as Speaker of the House and dean of District 15 than tending to the whole of the state.

In a sad touch of irony lost on no one: Raimondo and Mattiello no longer serve the state’s voters. One has moved on to Washington as the new Secretary of Commerce, the other was defeated in the November elections two years after barely surviving in 2018. The impact of their decisions regarding the PawSox will far outlive their respective political legacies — it will be a permanent stain on each of them.

This type of occasion is no longer ours in Rhode Island. Being confronted with that reality 617 days after the PawSox last took the field makes it no easier to stomach.

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox tally 4 hits in 3-2 loss to Athletics; Nathan Eovaldi bounces back with 6 strong innings

Chris Cotillo

BOSTON -- The league-leading Red Sox offense was no match for Athletics starter Chris Bassitt on Tuesday night at Fenway Park, mustering -- for the second straight night -- just four hits in a loss.

Bassitt struck out 10 batters in seven innings and allowed three hits as the A’s beat Boston, 3-2, in the opener of a three-game set. Boston wasted a strong bounce-back outing from starter Nathan Eovaldi, who allowed a single run on two hits in six frames.

Boston drew first in the first inning, when Alex Verdugo singled, took two bases on Bassitt wild pitches and came around to score on a J.D. Martinez sacrifice fly. Once Eovaldi departed, Darwinzon Hernandez continued his home struggles with a rough seventh inning, walking the leadoff batter before allowing a go- ahead RBI single to Matt Chapman. Elvis Andrus then made it 3-1 with an RBI single of his own off Adam Ottavino.

Rafael Devers brought the Red Sox back within a run with a seventh-inning blast -- his ninth of the year but just his second at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had baserunners in each of the last two innings but were unable to tie things up against Oakland relievers and Jake Diekman. In the ninth, Diekman walked Verdugo and Bogaerts but Christian Vázquez popped with runners on the corners for the final out.

Boston fell to 22-15 with the loss and holds just a two-game lead in the American League East.

Moreland receives warm ovation

Former Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland, making his first appearance at Fenway Park since being traded last August, received a nice ovation from crowd of 9,264 -- the first time the ballpark was at 25% capacity all season. Moreland twice tipped his helmet to the fans as Vázquez called time and walked halfway to the mound before turning and applauding Moreland himself.

Moreland was 1-for-4 in Oakland’s win.

E-Rod starts Wednesday

Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez will start Wednesday night’s game opposite righty with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Boston will try get its offense going and snap a two-game losing streak.

Boston Red Sox’s Darwinzon Hernandez has 10.80 ERA at home this year; Alex Cora admits club still ‘searching’ for perfect bullpen structure

Chris Cotillo

BOSTON -- Darwinzon Hernandez’s up-and-down start to the season continued Wednesday night as the Red Sox reliever let a winnable game get away from Boston with a wild seventh inning.

Replacing Nathan Eovaldi with the game tied, 1-1, Hernandez walked Matt Olson to lead off the seventh and then allowed back-to-back singles to Jed Lowrie and Matt Chapman. Chapman’s knock gave Oakland a 2-1 lead; Elvis Andrus later drove in Chapman with an RBI single off Adam Ottavino for Hernandez’s second earned run of the night. The A’s went on to win, 3-2.

The outing continued a string of brutal appearances at Fenway Park for Hernandez, who has surrendered eight runs (six earned), seven hits and nine walks (10.80 ERA) in five home innings this season. Conversely, he has been nearly perfect on the road, striking out 10 in 6 ⅔ scoreless innings.

Neither Hernandez nor manager Alex Cora had an explanation for the discrepancy.

“That’s not something I really focus on,” Hernandez said (through translator Bryan Almonte). “Obviously, I’m just trying to do my job whenever Alex hands me the ball. That’s all I’m thinking about, not whether my splits are different at home or on the road.”

Hernandez, a third-year reliever who has been brilliant at times since debuting in 2019, has had the chance to seize the seventh-inning role ahead of Ottavino and closer Matt Barnes so far this season but has been too inconsistent to claim it outright. Since a brutal four-run outing against the Mariners on April 22, Hernandez had been solid, going five appearances without allowing an earned run and striking out nine in 4 ⅓ innings.

For Cora, the struggles of his two young lefties -- Hernandez and Josh Taylor -- have made it difficult to set up a fixed bullpen structure.

“We’re searching. You’ve seen it,” Cora said. “Obviously, we do feel very comfortable with some of the guys back there. We still have to get these kids going. I think they’re very important. Stuff-wise, we know what they can do. We’ve seen it before. But we need them to be more consistent. When that happens, the structure is going to be a lot easier.”

With two lefties, a switch-hitter and a righty due up as the first four batters of the inning for the A’s, Cora felt that it was a “good pocket” to use Hernandez. The southpaw’s wildness -- fueled by a lack of fastball command -- cost him, especially in the form of the. leadoff walk

“You don’t have to hit rockets or hit home runs when there’s traffic around,” Cora said. “You put the ball in play and good things happen. That’s what they did today.”

Hernandez said his mechanics felt good and that he tried to slow down his tempo after feeling like he rushed the first couple pitches of his outing. He chalked up his struggles to an inability to locate.

“That’s really the issue here,” he said. “There are going to be some days where that’s going to happen.”

In 2019, Cora’s last year as manager, both Hernandez and Taylor served as key bridge relievers to Barnes and Brandon Workman at the end of games. Two years later, both of them have struggled enough to shake up the entire relief hierarchy.

“We need to get the job done in those innings,” Cora said. “(Hernandez and Taylor), they have to do the job.”

Red Sox-Athletics lineups: Mitch Moreland batting 7th for Oakland in return to Fenway Park; Michael Chavis starts at first base for Boston

Chris Cotillo

BOSTON -- Former Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland is batting seventh as the designated hitter for the Athletics against the Red Sox on Tuesday night in his first game at Fenway Park since Boston traded him in August.

Moreland, who signed a one-year deal with Oakland in February, is one of two former Red Sox in the lineup for the A’s, along with Jed Lowrie, who is batting fifth and starting at second base. The teams are playing the first game of a three-game series beginning at 7:10 p.m.

“Mitch is a good player and a great person,” said manager Alex Cora. “What he brought to the equation in the clubhouse was kind of like a sense of calmness. The way he operates, he takes care of himself. Sometimes it’s a grind physically but he wants to post every day. I think that helps the people around him. They see Mitch play and you’re like, ‘You know what, I better play, too. Let me get ready for this one.’

“One of my favorites, to be honest with you,” Cora added. “I’m glad he’s still playing and making a difference over there. I’m very happy for him.”

Marwin Gonzalez is leading off and playing second base for the Red Sox and Michael Chavis is starting at first and batting ninth. From left to right, Boston’s starting are Franchy Cordero, Alex Verdugo and Hunter Renfroe against Oakland pitcher Chris Bassitt.

Righty Nathan Eovaldi is on the mound for the Red Sox as he looks to bounce back from his worst start of the season on Thursday against the Tigers. Fenway Park will be at 25% capacity for the first time this season.

Oakland Athletics (21-15) vs. Boston Red Sox (22-14) · Fenway Park · Boston, MA

FIRST PITCH: 7:10 p.m. ET

TV CHANNEL: NESN

LIVE STREAM: NESN | fuboTV - If you have cable and live in the New England TV market, you can use your login credentials to watch via NESN on mobile and WiFi-enabled devices. If you don’t have cable, you can watch the game via fuboTV, in New England | MLB.tv (subscription required)

RADIO: WEEI 93.7 FM

PITCHING PROBABLES: RHP Chris Bassitt (2-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 4.62 ERA)

RED SOX LINEUP:

1. 2B Marwin Gonzalez

2. CF Alex Verdugo

3. DH J.D. Martinez

4. SS Xander Bogaerts

5. 3B Rafael Devers

6. C Christian Vázquez

7. RF Hunter Renfroe

8. LF Franchy Cordero

9. 1B Michael Chavis

ATHLETICS LINEUP:

1. LF

2. RF Seth Brown

3. CF Ramón Laureano

4. 1B Matt Olson

5. 2B Jed Lowrie

6. 3B Matt Chapman

7. DH Mitch Moreland

8. C Sean Murphy

9. SS Elvis Andrus

Boston Red Sox vs. preview: TV schedule, pitching probables, key stories (May 11-13)

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox are at back home after four days in Baltimore and they’ll welcome the Oakland Athletics for a three-game series starting Tuesday night. Here’s a preview:

Oakland Athletics (21-15) vs. Boston Red Sox (22-14) · Fenway Park · Boston, MA SERIES SCHEDULE (and TV information):

Tue. May 11, 7:10 p.m. ET -- NESN

Wed. May 12, 7:10 p.m. ET -- NESN

Thu. May 13, 7:10 p.m. ET -- NESN / MLB Network (out of market)

HOW TO WATCH:

Tue. May 11, 7:10 p.m. ET -- NESN (Channel finder: Comcast Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish, AT&T U verse, fuboTV and Sling) · Live stream: fuboTV, MLB.tv (out of market)

Wed. May 12, 7:10 p.m. ET -- NESN (Channel finder: Comcast Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish, AT&T U verse, fuboTV and Sling) · Live stream: fuboTV, MLB.tv (out of market)

Thu. May 13, 1:10 p.m. ET -- NESN / MLB Network (Channel finder: Comcast Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish, AT&T U verse, fuboTV and Sling) · Live stream: fuboTV, MLB.tv (out of market)

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT:

The Athletics enter the series leading the by 2 ½ games over the Astros and the Mariners and have won 21 of 30 since starting the season with six consecutive losses. Oakland is 5-5 in its last 10 games but just took two of three from the Rays over the weekend at home.

The A’s won the West with a 36-24 record in 2020 and advanced to the ALDS before losing to the Astros in four games in a best-of-five series. They made a series of significant moves over the winter, adding free agents Mitch Moreland, and while making a major trade ( to the Rangers for Elvis Andrus). Liam Hendriks, Marcus Semien, Mike Minor, Robbie Grossman, Joakim Soria, Tommy La Stella and Jake Lamb all departed the A’s in free agency; pitchers and Yusmeiro Petit re-signed with the club.

Offensively, Oakland has not been one of baseball’s best teams so far this year. The Athletics rank tied for 16th in runs (150), 17th in OPS (.696) and 26th in average (.219). Their pitching has also been middling, as the staff is 16th in baseball in strikeouts (308), 17th in ERA (4.16) and 25th in opponent average (.250).

The Athletics’ pitching staff has been hit by injuries, as Fiers (elbow strain), Jesús Luzardo (hand fracture), A.J. Puk (biceps strain), Rosenthal (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery) and J.B. Wendelken (oblique strain) are all on the IL. Rosenthal underwent surgery in early April and is not expected back until sometime this summer.

PITCHING PROBABLES:

Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. -- RHP Chris Bassitt (2-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 4.62 ERA)

Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. -- TBD vs. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-0, 3.82 ERA)

Thursday, 7:10 p.m. -- TBD vs. RHP Garrett Richards (2-2, 4.54 ERA)

THREE SOX TO WATCH:

Nathan Eovaldi

Eovaldi hasn’t been particularly sharp in two of his last three starts and owns a 7.04 ERA in that span (15 ⅓ innings) after allowing six earned runs in 4 ⅓ innings Thursday afternoon against the Tigers. He has a 4.28 ERA in seven career starts against the Athletics.

Bobby Dalbec

Dalbec had a big home run for the Red Sox in Friday’s win in Baltimore and was 4-for-15, with a homer, double, five RBIs and two runs in the series. After an 0-for-27 stretch, he showed signs of life at the plate for the first time in a while.

Michael Chavis

Chavis, who was called up from Triple-A Worcester on Friday when Kiké Hernández went on the injured list, was 1-for-6 against the O’s but made his hit one hit count, homering on Saturday. He’ll start at first base in Tuesday’s series opener against the A’s.

SERIES NOTES:

The Red Sox own sole possession of MLB’s best record (22-14, .611). Since getting swept by the Orioles on opening weekend, they are 22-11 (.667) in games and 6-1-3 in series.

This is the first time since July 2013 the Red Sox and A’s are facing each other when leading their respective divisions. The Sox are 12-3 in their last 15 home games vs. OAK, having won each of the last four.

Boston last faced Oakland in 2019, going 4-3 in those games. The Sox and A’s will face each other again in Oakland from July 2-4.

The Red Sox are one of two teams (the other is the Angels) with three qualified players with an OPS of at least .900: J.D. Martinez (1.073), Xander Bogaerts (.990), and Rafael Devers (.926). Fifteen teams have no players with a .900+ OPS.

The Red Sox have received 5+ innings from their starters in 14 of the last 15 games. In that time, starters have a 3.76 ERA with 0.54 HR/9.0 IP (83.2 IP, 35 ER, 5 HR). Boston is 10-6 at home since getting swept by Baltimore to begin the season. They have won three of their last four games at Fenway Park.

UP NEXT:

The Red Sox will continue their homestand against another American League West team this weekend when the Angels come to town for a three-game set. Boston will then travel to Dunedin, Florida (to face the Blue Jays) and Philadelphia on its next road trip from May 18-24.

Fri. 5/14 - Sun. 5/16: vs. Angels (3)

Mon. 5/17: OFF DAY

Tue. 5/18 - Thu. 5/20: at Blue Jays (3) -- in Dunedin, Fla.

Fri. 5/21 - Sun. 5/23: at Phillies (3)

Mon. 5/24: OFF DAY

How rebuilding Boston Red Sox might approach trade deadline, other situations while competing for 2021 AL East title under Chaim Bloom, Brian O’Halloran

Christopher Smith

BOSTON — The Red Sox are in the midst of rebuilding their farm system and have added plenty of young talent since ownership named Chaim Bloom chief baseball officer and Brian O’Halloran GM in October 2019.

Thirteen players on Baseball America’s Red Sox top 30 prospect list have entered the organization since Bloom’s arrival. That number is expected to increase when Boston acquires two players to be named later from the Royals and one player to be named later from the Mets as part of the three-team trade. Boston also owns the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft and will select near the top of each round.

As Bloom and O’Halloran continue to look to restock the farm system and acquire as much minor league depth as possible, the 2021 Boston Red Sox simultaneously sit in first place in the AL East with a 22-15 record.

It should be fascinating to see how Bloom and O’Halloran improve the roster at the trade deadline while also executing their longterm plan.

“Keep one eye on the present, one eye on the future — you’re always doing that,” O’Halloran said. “How it plays out really depends on a lot of circumstances and where you are in the moment in terms of your competitiveness short-term and longterm, what your prospect inventory looks like, what your major league team looks like. There’s a lot of things to consider. And I do think there certainly can be different challenges in big markets, but I think the mindset is the same from our end. We kind of have to tune out as much as we can the noise around the team. Not to say that we don’t care. But our task is to build a winner now and sustain it over time.”

Did the Red Sox expect to win so early in their organizational rebuild plan?

Baseball Prospectus’ 2021 PECOTA Standings projected Boston to win 82.7 games. Fangraphs.com gave the Red Sox 37.9% odds to make the postseason entering this season.

“Did we expect it?” O’Halloran said. “We expected to be a competitive team, and I would say this has been on the upper-range of how we hoped things would go.”

O’Halloran cautioned that the 2021 season is only a little more than five weeks old.

“You’re always a five-game winning streak or a five-game losing streak away from things looking a little bit different,” O’Halloran said. “We’re mindful of that. We need to continue to improve.”

Building a sustainable winner

The Red Sox built a sustainable winner under former GM Theo Epstein, averaging 93.2 wins per season and World Series titles during his nine years (2003-11). Boston has won two World Series since Epstein’s departure. But it also has finished dead last in the AL East four times.

That’s where Bloom — who has a vast background in player development — enters the picture after 15 seasons with the .

“What they (the Rays) have done over the last 15 years or so has been amazing,” O’Halloran said. “He (Bloom) had his hand in just about everything over there. Certainly on the player development side but on the major league side as well. So he’s brought great, new thoughts and ideas and approach and energy to the table to really complement our group well and to lead our group.”

O’Halloran — who joined the Red Sox front office back in 2002 — stressed the goal is to use every method possible to build the pipeline of talent.

“To do it with the draft, international signings, trades, waiver claims, free agent signings, Rule 5, you name it,” O’Halloran said. “In terms of our acquisitions, we’re always looking at the both the present and the future. We’re trying to figure out how to make moves that help us right now ... but also give us a chance to build it to be sustainable over time and win in the future as well.”

Almost every move Boston has made the past two years is focused on both the present and future — even the Adam Ottavino trade. Ottavino is only signed through 2021. But the Red Sox took on most of his contract from the Yankees, allowing them to acquire a pitching prospect (Franklin German) in the deal. German is with Double-A Portland.

Might the Red Sox trade a prospect at the deadline? Possibly. But they unlikely would trade a prospect for a two-month rental. Boston is looking for controllable players to help beyond 2021.

It’s not exactly easy to win at the major league level and also maintain a stacked, top-ranked farm system. Baseball America ranked the Cubs’ farm system No. 4 in 2014 and No. 1 in 2015 after Epstein’s methodical rebuild process.

But Chicago — which won the — dropped to 20th in Baseball America’s 2016 organizational rankings, 16th in 2017, 28th in 2018, 29th in 2019, 22nd in 2020 and 17th in 2021.

The Dodgers somehow made three out of the past four World Series while also keeping most of their top prospects.

With president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in charge, the Dodgers have had a top 10 ranked farm system every year since 2015.

“The Dodgers have done an incredible job with it,” O’Halloran said. “But it is not easy. You always have decisions and choices to make. But it goes back to having that pipeline of talent coming into the organization through every method. The more you can get and the more depth you can build allows you to make difficult decisions to trade a prospect for a major league need to put you over the top. But it is a tough task.”

O’Halloran said the Red Sox certainly have the resources to contend every year.

“It’s our job in baseball operations to convert those dollars into wins and do it on a sustainable basis,” he added.

Is there more pressure in a big market to mortgage the future to win now?

“Generally speaking, I think the task is the same whether you’re in a small market or a big market,” O’Halloran said. “And really, I think most of the time, a good decision in one organization might be a good decision in another in a similar circumstance. But circumstances are never identical.”

Winning right now

The Red Sox have traded for young players under team control longterm. Alex Verdugo is under contract through the 2024 season.

Nick Pivetta — who is 7-0 with a 2.89 ERA (46 ⅔ innings, 15 earned runs) in nine starts since Boston acquired him last August from the Phillies — also is under team control through 2024.

Franchy Cordero, who was part of the Benintendi trade, has struggled with the Red Sox so far. But he’s under control through 2023.

The Red Sox also have hit on some waiver claims including former first-round draft pick Christian Arroyo and reliever Phillips Valdez who has a 3.30 ERA in 43 ⅔ innings in 2020-21 combined.

“You’re not going to hit on every draft pick,” O’Halloran said. “You’re not going to hit on every international signing. The hit rate on those are generally low overall as a group.

“You’ve got to find some other guys like the DFAs, the waiver claims, the small trades, the things that go unnoticed,” O’Halloran added. “I think some of the best successes over the years go kind of under the radar. Smaller trades. A random example but when we traded for Steven Wright at the deadline (in 2012). He contributed a lot for us. You’ve got to hit on some of those. And in order to hit on them, you’re going to have to take some chances on a bunch of them because they’re obviously not all going to hit. So it’s just a matter of playing the odds ... You’ve got to try everything you can to identify talent and guys with upside that you can help get to reach that talent.”

The Red Sox identified Pivetta as one of those talents struggling elsewhere who might benefit from a change of scenery. He had a 5.50 ERA in 92 outings (71 starts) for Philadelphia from 2017-20.

Boston also identified Garrett Whitlock, a pitcher who had never played above Double A and missed 2020 while rehabbing from surgery. The 24-year-old pick has a 1.56 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 17 ⅔ innings of relief. Whitlock arguably has emerged as Boston’s top starting pitching prospect because of the development of his changeup into an elite pitch combined with excellent command and a two-seam fastball that has averaged 95.4 mph.

“I think you need to be getting talent from every which way,” O’Halloran said. “Every method. Look under every rock. And use every avenue you have. That includes guys that for whatever reason haven’t performed to maybe their capability. Maybe they’ve been injured. Maybe they just haven’t had opportunity. Maybe it just hasn’t happened for whatever reason. Sometimes you take chances and give opportunities to those guys in a change-of-scenery situation and they can rise to the occasion. So you have to take some chances. You’ve got to be able to give a player some runway, some opportunity to do that”

The Rays have been so successful in finding players who have struggled or haven’t reached their full potential elsewhere. Examples include Carlos Pena, Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Farnsworth, Ji-Man Choi and Nick Anderson. Fernando Rodney had a 4.46 ERA in 216 innings with the Tigers and Angels from 2008- 11. Rodney then went to Tampa where he finished fifth for the 2012 AL , posting a 0.60 ERA and 48 saves in 74 ⅔ innings.

Don’t forget, , the best Red Sox player during 21st century, was non-tendered by the Twins.

“All those things are important just like the Rule 5,” O’Halloran said. “Last year we were able to get (Jonathan) Araúz. We liked him as a prospect and we were able to get him here in the Rule 5. ... We think he’s a good player and that’s a way to get talent. Obviously Whitlock has done really well so far. That’s exciting.”

Developing pitching

Developing starting pitching is the most important piece to sustaining success.

“As great as Tampa is, I don’t think it’s necessarily any secret sauce that Chaim brought over,” O’Halloran said. “But it’s more just the way he thinks through things. The mindset. How he attacks problems. How he thinks about developing players. How he thinks about how we can get better.

“I think the one thing that we know is that baseball is changing and evolving at a more rapid pace than it ever has with all the technology, with all the information,” O’Halloran added. “And so if you’re a really good player development operation or scouting operation or whatever it might be right now — let’s say you’re one of the better ones in baseball — if you stand still and keep doing what you’re doing, other teams are going to catch up and pass you. You always have to be working to improve and identifying new methods of helping players. Players are changing; their training methods, their use of data, all that stuff. So we have to evolve. And Chaim brings a great mindset and leadership for that.

“Chaim brings a lot to the table in that regard with just different ways to attack the task of improving pitchers. But just generally, it’s a mindset. It’s a way of thinking. A really thoughtful, purposeful way of going about everything, but it really applies to player development.”

* The Worcester Telegram

From Aruba to Polar Park: field of dreams comes true for WooSox president

Joe McDonald

WORCESTER – WooSox team President Charles Steinberg spends his winters on the beaches of Aruba. With pad and pencil in hand, a mind full of ideas, and maybe a libation or two, it is where he began to create the inaugural Opening Day ceremony in team history.

It finally occurred May 11 at Polar Park in front of 2,377 fans, many of whom had a major role in bringing the Boston Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate to Worcester. Of course, the ribbon cutting and ceremony did not disappoint.

Steinberg started participating in the design of Opening Day ceremonies when he worked for the Baltimore Orioles 45 years ago. In fact, he’s attended an Opening Day every season since he was in fourth grade.

“I love opening days and it’s one of the great honors to get to design them or orchestrate them because you get to be the child you always have been one more time,” Steinberg said.

Since that day on the beach in Aruba, Steinberg has written seven different drafts of the Opening Day ceremony, which he admits is on the low side for him. He’s been preparing the WooSox game-day staff for months and it was all hands on deck for this one.

“Creating a ceremony, you want to step inside those minds and step inside that psyche,” Steinberg said. “But no matter how early you start thinking about the ceremony, just like in school, it comes down to pulling an all-nighter the night before.”

It was especially important to get it right since it was aired on NESN. Terry Cashman’s “Opening Day” played as the color guard took its place on the field. A “Welcome” montage was played on the video board in left field.

“The Cornfield” by James Horner from the movie “Field of Dreams” played as the city of Worcester’s seal banner dropped from the batter’s eye in center field. A “Welcome to Worcester” banner dropped over the Worcester Wall in right field.

After the Syracuse Mets were introduced along the third-base line, the WooSox had its time in the spotlight for the first official time at Polar Park. A moment of silence was observed, James Taylor, along with his son, Henry, sang the national anthem, before a flyover occurred.

Principal owner Larry Lucchino and baseball architect Janet Marie Smith, who is the WooSox ballpark consultant, cut the ribbon and officially declared Polar Park open. Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” played as the field was cleared.

The WooSox took the field while Gov. Charlie Baker, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr., Mayor Joseph Petty, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Lucchino, Pedro Martinez and Jim Rice threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The ceremonial game ball was then delivered to the mound by Ava Roy, daughter of fallen Worcester firefighter Christopher Roy, along with firefighters Mike Davies and Jon Davies, Jr.

Local sports legend Bob Cousy, 92, had the honor to proclaim, “Play ball!” Fellow Worcester native, baseball legend and WooSox hitting coach Rich Gedman walked over for a pregame chat with the Celtics great.

Cousy grabbed the mic and had more than two words to say.

“My name is Bob Cousy,” he said as the fans cheered. “Those who know me have been collecting your Social Security checks for about 20 years. Time flies when you’re having fun. I was so pleased a couple of weeks ago to get the call from Larry to participate in today’s event.

“I’ve been part of this wonderful community for 75 years now and it’s literally been a love affair. Worcester has given my family and I privacy, love and respect. It’s home base for me.”

Fans began to scream: “We love you, Cous.”

He replied: “Thank you.”

Originally, the WooSox wanted Cousy to throw out the first pitch, but he jokingly said he would roll it. Instead, he was given a different task.

“I’ve been practicing for a week . . . oh, God . . . this is what a senior moment looks like,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve never seen an event electrify a city the way this event has and hopefully it will have long legs. With that said: Play ball!”

The Opening Day ceremony was a success. It was a long time coming and the WooSox delivered on every promise – so far. Lucchino and Steinberg wanted the ballpark to look, smell and taste like Worcester and the ceremony had an authentic feel.

“You want to travel to a place where the geography doesn’t matter but the place in your mind matters,” Steinberg said. “You want to be someone who has lived this city and loved this city for generations and you want to feel how they would feel.

“You always want to be the 10-year-old whose eyes are full of wonder, or whose big moment might be seeing Smiley Ball and you want to give them that moment.”

While it was a special day on the local front, it’s hard not to recognize how Rhode Island missed out when the team relocated. Politics aside, the WooSox still have open arms for PawSox fans and even had mascots and Sox on hand for the ceremony.

“You want to be a PawSox fan and recognize that there are a lot of emotion today, and maybe it brings you a little bit of comfort that Paws and Sox made the trip up here and you think, ‘Yeah, maybe I can make the trip up here, too.’ It’s not very far, it’s just an emotional journey,” Steinberg said. “You try to think through the eyes of various people who have been looking forward to this day and who have been feeling the emotion that go with the longing for baseball.”

Since COVID-19 is still among us, capacity limit is 25% at Polar Park. It didn’t matter how many fans were at the ballpark - there was an incredible buzz that this place is finally open to the public and there was a sense of normalcy for the first time in a long time.

“There’s an entirely additionally perspective: You take a look at what it means for people to honor the second line of baseball’s most famous song. You say ‘Take me out to ballgame, take me out with the crowd.’ Look at how long it’s been for all of us to engage in a social event communally, and even though it’s a limited capacity – baseball is back,” Steinberg said.

Approximately three hours before the first pitch, Mike Tamburro, the longtime PawSox team president and current co-owner of the WooSox, sat in the stands at Polar Park by himself, soaking in the atmosphere. No doubt he had to be conflicted after the team relocated to Worcester after 50 years in Pawtucket, but he is thrilled to see how the project has come to fruition.

“The place is magnificent,” he said. “That’s the joy. To see this thing shape up and become the magnificent facility that it’s become, it just makes my heart warm. We came to a place that wanted us and they wanted us pretty badly. It’s good to be wanted. It’s good to call Polar Park home.”

For those who couldn’t make it to the historic Opening Day, no need to fret because the WooSox will have another Opening Day ceremony once full capacity is allowed. The hope is for the Fourth of July.

“That one will have a different texture, because there will be a different preface to it,” Steinberg said. “You can’t pretend on May 11 that you’re going to know how you’re going to feel late June or early July. This is very much the emotional part. It’s not based on logic. It’s based on emotion.”

It was an emotional day for the city of Worcester, the WooSox and their fans Tuesday at Polar Park.

6-year-old collects first home run at Polar Park, hit over Worcester Wall by Marcus Wilson

Joe McDonald

WORCESTER - Sean Majoy and his son, Hayden, were enjoying the first-ever WooSox game at Polar Park Tuesday afternoon when they made history themselves.

Sitting in the second row of the Worcester Wall seats in right field, 6-year-old Hayden collected the first home run hit here by WooSox’ Marcus Wilson. The Worcester outfielder drilled a 0-2 pitch and deposited it 368 feet from home plate and into the hands of the Majoys.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Majoy, who witnessed the WooSox finish with an 8-5 victory over the Syracuse Mets for the first win at Polar Park. “I’m more excited than Hayden, of course. It didn’t look like it was going to get this far and then it got closer and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It bounced and Hayden grabbed it.”

Majoy, 48, of Worcester, a veterinarian at Tufts University Medical School who helps run the ER for cats and dogs, returned last month from a tour of duty in Afghanistan as an Army veterinarian. He’s worked with military working dogs for 15 years.

When WooSox tickets finally went on sale, Majoy purchased half-season tickets and he was in the right spot at right time Tuesday.

“It’s a beautiful park. They’ve done an amazing job here and great seats. I just can’t believe we were in a position to get the first home run ball,” he said.

Since it was an historic moment, WooSox personnel were on hand to kindly ask Majoy for a trade. He handed over the home-run ball in exchange for a bat, another ball and future tickets.

“Understandable,” Majoy said of making the trade. “I’m excited about it.”

Overall, it was an enjoyable atmosphere for the inaugural game at Polar Park. It was evident the fans have been waiting for this for a long time and to see it all come together was a special moment, especially for the local father and son.

“This is something Worcester’s needed for decades,” Majoy said. “This will have a lasting impact for sure.”

Polar Park scores with VIP guests, baseball legends, Worcester officials

Bill Ballou

WORCESTER — No wonder there were so many recognizable faces in the crowd at Polar Park Tuesday.

It was a VIBP day — Very Important BallPark.

Where to begin with the list of notables the Worcester Red Sox attracted for the home opener, the inaugural game at Polar Park?

How about Joe Torre, great player and manager, now a special assistant to the ?

“It’s a beautiful ballpark,” he said. “I was walking in with Peter Woodfork, who works for MLB in the minor league systems, and I said this is a far cry from Eau Claire (Wisconsin) when I played there in 1960. We had a nail on the wall — you’ve heard that story a million times. I mean, you couldn’t stand up straight when you got dressed. Minor league parks are so first-class now.”

Torre had a brief Triple A career with Louisville of the American Association.

“We played at the exposition hall,” he recalled, “and like, when they were getting ready for the rodeo, you’d have all the animals under the stands.”

Times have changed.

Edward M. Augustus Jr. Worcester City Manager

“It's really better than I expected. The most rewarding thing is when people come inside, then they see it, and watching their faces and watching their reactions. That’s worth everything…the sense of pride. They can’t believe what it looks like. They can’t believe how beautiful it is. When you’re in a job like mine, the gift you can give to people is pride in their city — this is my town. This is my city.”

Donna Zabinski The widow of Gene Zabinski, whose postcard campaign dating back to 2015 helped fuel the move of the Pawtucket Red Sox to Worcester, she was at the game with other family members.

“I think Gene would have been overwhelmed. It’s just amazing. I absolutely cannot believe how beautiful it is. In fact, I looked at the site before they started and said to myself, ‘They’re not gonna be able to fit it in there' — and here it is!”

It was a bittersweet day, though, without her husband.

“We’re all here with tears in (our) eyes,” she said, with a nod to a companion who added, “There’s no crying in baseball, but we’ve been crying all day.”

Joseph M. Petty Worcester Mayor

“It’s a great day for the city of Worcester, a grand slam. The park is absolutely beautiful and I think people are really going to enjoy being here.”

Petty was on hand for the ceremonial groundbreaking among the , cracked asphalt and gravel, and things finally make sense.

“It took me a while to figure out where the left-field foul pole was going to be, and I figured this is going to be home plate, things like that, but everything got turned around from what I thought.”

Petty liked the result.

Jim Kaat Southpaw with 283 Major League wins

“It’s a beautiful ballpark. I’m good friends with the Crowley family and they’ve been telling me about the ballpark for quite a while. For the last six years before the pandemic I’ve been (broadcasting) Triple A championship games so I’ve seen some other Triple A parks like Durham and Charlotte, and yes, this is a great atmosphere.”

Tommy Quirk Worcester native and architect

Quirk worked on the ballpark design with his company, DAIQ Architects Inc.

“In its basic outline, the ballpark looked exactly like it looked in my head when we got to the final design, and that’s really the thrill of being an architect. It was hard getting there, but by and large when we started doing the construction drawings this is exactly what we thought it was going to look like.

“I was thrilled when I came in and saw it because I’ve been sick and I hadn’t seen it. The guys from my office, Tom Martinez who was running the show, they did such a wonderful job with the contractor to get it to how it looks today.”

Sam Kennedy President of the Boston Red Sox

“It’s a home run, pun intended. It’s great for the city and for the Red Sox to be so close. We have such a focus on scouting and player development so it’s great to be able to just drive a few minutes down the Mass Pike and see the Triple A club.

“To be able to be here with a brand-new facility, state-of-the-art clubhouse, workout facilities. It’s great, and to have it as the alternate site this year during COVID is a blessing as well.

“I’ll be coming out here just to keep an eye on (Larry) Lucchino,” Kennedy said, adding, “Larry Lucchino and Janet Marie Smith are in a category of their own in terms of ballpark design and vision. What they did at Camden Yards, out in San Diego, at Fenway Park and now here…it’s really something to be a part of that.”

* The Pawtucket Times

Regarding the PawSox, it's time to move on and get busy writing a new chapter

Brendan McGair

For nearly three years, we were told this day was coming. Rest assured it didn’t sneak up on us.

Now, the day has officially arrived. On Tuesday, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox – the one that was intertwined with Pawtucket and McCoy Stadium for the longest of times – begins a new chapter in a brand-new ballpark in a different city.

In this particular neck of the woods, a recent development springs to mind that you might say is totally applicable to what’s on tap in W-W-W ….

Just like Bill and Melinda Gates, the marriage has dissolved. The time has come for them to draw a line in the sand and for both parties to head their separate ways.

In other words, it’s over.

The PawSox that we came to know and love (not to mention covered for 13 seasons) are D-E-A-D. They aren’t coming back. Cling hard to those memories – 50 years’ worth of them. Take comfort that they weren’t packed and loaded into the moving .

Conversely, those holding baseball-related positions of power in the Massachusetts city that begins with “W” need to put a lid on the notion that the Blackstone Valley – stretching from the state where the team is currently located to the state where it used to play its home games – is one big happy family.

“In our desire, we remain one.”

That quote appeared in a front-page, above-the-fold article of the Sept. 25, 2018 edition of the Pawtucket Times – the former paper of record for all PawSox-related matters. Those words were spoken by Dr. Charles Steinberg, president of the W-W-W …

Sorry, Dr. Charles. Back in 2018, we had a hard time subscribing to the “out of sight but not out of mind” belief. Like a pitch changing its trajectory while traveling from the mound to the plate, no amount of spin is going to change the mind of this particular scribe.

The more you think about it, the concept of the WooSox – there, I finally said it! – maintaining some sort of presence in Rhode Island shouldn’t even enter the subconscious. For starters, the WooSox – there, I said it again! – should be more preoccupied with further immersing themselves in a market that bent over backwards to make them feel welcomed and comfortable enough with the decision to leave behind an entrenched fan base.

By hitching its wagons to a recognizable brand, Worcester – that’s the name of that dang city! – is betting on a new ballpark serving as a catalyst for additional development. All involved parties should be working around the clock to make sure the day never comes when the vultures are afforded the opportunity to swirl over Polar Park and refer to it as Polar Plunge, aka Massachusetts’ answer to 38 Studios.

The WooSox need to focus on Worcester and the surrounding demographic, not focus on how many cars with Rhode Island license plates are going to heed the “come one, come all” message by electing to travel up Route 146. You can’t keep one foot in one state and the other foot in the neighboring state.

Memo to the WooSox: Keep both feet firmly in Massachusetts. Go take care of your new client and fan base. Don’t feed us, the people of Rhode Island, the rhetoric that all we did was move from one end of the Blackstone Valley to the other.

Quick aside if you’re a PawSox follower, the idea of making a trip to Polar Park to view all the bells and whistles has the equivalent feeling of checking in on your ex and seeing that they’re doing outstanding. Come to find out, your ex is now dating a super model. Talk about pure torture.

For the foreseeable future, the WooSox figure to remain a tender subject in Pawtucket. Off Columbus Ave., you’ll find an empty ballpark that’s wondering when the next time the lights will be turned on.

Let’s not lose the power switch to McCoy. Let’s not watch another Pawtucket landmark suffer the same fate as the Apex department store – a reminder of what once was that now sits dormant. Along those lines, we have an idea to make McCoy once again part of the R.I. sporting scene that will be fleshed out in a future column.

Part of the divorce proceedings includes picking up the pieces and moving on. You go your way. I go mine. In the case of the WooSox and Pawtucket, the link has been broken, the ties officially severed.

Know what that means? Time to get busy writing a new chapter.

* RedSox.com

Red Sox's search for path to closer continues

Jordan Horrobin

The Red Sox don’t find themselves in many pitchers’ duels these days, boasting the highest-scoring offense in the Majors. But on Tuesday, for the second time in as many nights, runs were at quite the premium with Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Bassitt on the mound.

Eovaldi kept Boston in the fight, tossing six innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 loss to Oakland on Tuesday night at Fenway Park. He also extended his MLB-best homerless streak to 58 innings, dating back to last year, and claimed the third-longest homerless streak to begin a season (45 innings) in the past quarter- century of Red Sox history.

For the second straight night, though, Boston’s offense and bullpen couldn’t match its starter’s efforts.

On Monday in Baltimore, the Red Sox turned to their bullpen in a 1-1 game, and reliever Matt Andriese immediately allowed the eventual winning run. This time, Darwinzon Hernandez entered a 1-1 game in relief of Eovaldi -- who threw a season-high 102 pitches -- and coughed up a pair of runs to the first three batters.

The left-handed Hernandez, pitching for the first time since blowing a save last Thursday, entered to face Oakland’s 4-5-6 hitters. Red Sox manager Alex Cora called it a “good pocket” for Hernandez, though, because two of the first four batters he was set to face were left-handed (plus a switch hitter).

“He was wild today,” Cora said of Hernandez. “He put himself in a tough spot.”

Indeed, Hernandez lacked control with his fastball, and it got him in trouble. He walked Matt Olson on five pitches and allowed a 1-2 single to Jed Lowrie in the next at-bat.

If not for the three-batter minimum rule, that might’ve been the end of his night. Instead, Hernandez had to stay in to face righty Matt Chapman, who singled in Olson to give the A’s the lead.

In some small-sample weirdness, Hernandez has struggled at home this season -- eight runs, six earned, in five innings -- while tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings on the road. Cora didn’t know what to make of that when he found out.

“We’ve gotta use him in spots, regardless if it’s on the road or at home,” he said. “[I’ll] probably talk to the player and see what’s going on.”

For what it’s worth, Hernandez had no theories on the matter.

“It’s never something that’s on my mind,” he said.

With two games left in this series, the Red Sox and A’s now share the lead in the American League standings. On most nights, Boston’s high-octane offense does enough to help the team win. Sometimes, the rotation carries the load. The bullpen, on the other hand, is lagging behind.

In the past 10 games, Boston’s relievers have pitched to a 6.35 ERA (24 earned runs in 24 innings), with six home runs allowed. In the past week, they’ve taken three losses and blown a save.

Closer Matt Barnes is eight-for-eight in save situations and has allowed just one hit versus 12 strikeouts over his past seven outings. But the path to get to him, once the starter is finished, has never been murkier.

“We’re searching,” Cora said in regard to figuring out the late innings. “You’ve seen it. Obviously, we do feel very comfortable with some of the guys back there … But we need [others] to be more consistent. When that happens, the structure is gonna be a lot easier.”

Despite a lapse from the bullpen, Boston nearly pulled off a win with some ninth-inning drama. The Red Sox walked twice against A’s reliever Jake Diekman, but they stranded runners on the corners with a game- ending popout from Christian Vázquez.

So here’s the silver lining: Despite a hapless night at the plate, Boston was in it, right to the end. The bullpen struggles, though, must be extinguished soon.

“As you guys know, bullpens go up and down,” Cora said. “Sometimes they’re great for three weeks, and then they struggle for three days, you know? And then we get it back.”

Varitek's effect: 'He can impact a team'

Jordan Horrobin

Jason Varitek doesn’t care where it comes from. If there’s any piece of information or data point that can help his players succeed, he’s interested in learning about it. That’s nothing new for the longtime player- turned-coach, who back in his playing days was studious, even in his downtime.

“While he was losing money playing cards [on road trips], he had his scouting report at the same time,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who played with Varitek in Boston from 2005-08. “He’s relentless in what he does. One of the best catchers I [have] ever played with, and for him to be part of the day-in, day- out process that we have has been a plus.”

Varitek has been part of the Red Sox's organization since his first game in 1997. In 2012, after retiring as a player, Varitek began working as a special assistant with the team. Last season, he was also the catching coach, but in 2021, he has taken on a formal role on the coaching staff for the first time as a game planning coordinator.

Primarily, this role entails working with catchers to prepare for individual hitters and strategize adjustments when needed. His work is conducted in concert with Cora, pitching coach , bullpen coach Kevin Walker, catching coordinator Chad Epperson and more.

In other words, it takes a village to process data and observations, and then disseminate that to the players on the field. Varitek is just one piece of Boston’s strategic puzzle, but he’s proving to be an important one.

An example of Varitek’s influence is the one-knee stance that catchers Christian Vazquez and Kevin Plawecki have deployed. Varitek spent time “going through the metrics” to determine its efficacy before he and Epperson introduced the technique last spring.

“Not [as] a mandate, but something that [if] you’re interested in it, we’ll work in all capacities and all stances, and find out what works best for you,” Varitek said. “It’s not the same for everybody. Not every hitting mechanism works for every hitter. You morph it and see guys’ strengths and stuff, but there’s some attributes of [the one-knee approach] that take a little pressure off that position.”

Varitek’s blend of game experience and analytical acumen make him a valued member of Boston’s staff. Someday, it might help him fulfill his goal of becoming a manager, too.

“I said that in Spring Training. I’ll say it again today, and I’ll say it tomorrow,” Cora said. “He can run a team. He can run a team, and he can impact a team. I’m glad that he’s still with us here. Obviously, I know he has his goals. We talked about it last year a little bit. And for him to become a big league manager, he really wants to.

“But at the same time right now, he wants this organization to win a World Series … He’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Woo fans bid Sox hello

Sam Dykstra

WORCESTER, Mass. -- I bowled candlepin once a week in high school and averaged in the 80s because an alley game with a smaller ball and narrower pins is hard. Growing up, my Dad and I (and sometimes my sister) would have breakfast every Sunday at Friendly’s. I drop the occasional “wicked” instead of “very.” I lived off Exit 8 on the Pike until they recently changed the exit numbers to match up with mile markers. I’ll still call it Exit 8 for the rest of my days, I think.

My Dunkin’ order is medium regular when I’m home. Medium, milk and sugar everywhere else. I’m like Leo’s character in The Departed in that way.

Most importantly, for the purposes of today’s gathering -- the first game played by Triple-A Worcester in the history of the newly opened Polar Park -- my sister was born in Worcester. (I’m a Springfield baby.) She graduated from Worcester State College in the spring of 2014. She met my brother-in-law there. She works now at UMass Memorial Medical Center at the Memorial Campus, right off 290. That same hospital is where my nephew and niece were born. Worcester is also where we shuffled back and forth to for much of December during a family emergency -- one with a blessedly happy ending.

Worcester has long been my family’s backyard. Now, it’s a backyard with freshly cut grass, a jewel of a diamond in the center and a big wall in right.

I’ve covered since 2012. In that time, teams have been added in far-flung places like Amarillo, Biloxi, Columbia, Fayetteville, Fredericksburg, Pensacola and Wichita to name but a few. Nearby, a new team took hold in Hartford -- where my Mom lived for some time as a kid -- but this is different. Minor League Baseball has arrived at my home.

And this is Opening Day.

Pregame

Worcester is a city of many nicknames. Wormtown. City of Seven Hills. The Woo. Or as it would most like to be known, the Heart of the Commonwealth. Worcester is 55 miles from Boston Harbor and 97 miles from the border in West Stockbridge. This isn’t Jersey, where there’s a debate. There is a Central Massachusetts -- the land beyond 495, you might say -- and Worcester is the center of that center.

The most clogged artery? Well, that’s Kelley Square, located just down Madison Street from Polar Park. Before a recent redesign, Kelley Square wasn’t at all a square. More like a spot where eight (yes, eight) streets intersected with a small island in the center to make the driving extra interesting. If you’re picturing a lot of Bay State drivers closing their eyes and gunning it, you’re not far off. The Kelley Square redesign looks more like a peanut -- a bigger island that lowers the risk of cutting your fellow human off, and instead channels everyone into more of a flow. Things are changing. Kelley Square is noticeably survivable.

Polar Park’s main entrance itself is right there on Madison Street, and it makes no mistake about making visitors know this is a Red Sox affiliate. Giant rings from the Major League club’s World Series wins line the way to the front gate -- an on-the-nose reminder of the standard set by the organization and the expectation of the fans in the region.

The fans on this day are still awestruck by the concept of Opening Day. They wear the typical Pedroia and Ortiz jerseys, but they also have new ones with Worcester 6 on the back, in honor of the firefighters that died in The Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire of December 1999. They wear Wepa jerseys in celebration of the club’s new Copa identity. They wear shirts with smiley faces on them to acknowledge the alleged birthplace of that symbol. A sampling of what’s overheard from those entering the confines around noon, three hours before scheduled first pitch.

“So exciting, huh?”

“This is Triple-A baseball, and I walked here.”

But what sticks with me most are those that make this feel like the new town square.

“Good to see you.”

“Hey, how’ve you been?”

Worcester has a population of roughly 185,000 -- making it New England’s second-biggest city. Only 2,377 have been allowed in for Opening Day due to Massachusetts’ COVID-19 restrictions, but to walk around early on and take in the masked masses pointing, bumping fists and elbows is to feel like Worcester is also New England’s biggest small town.

That feeling extends to the opening ceremonies as designed by former Red Sox executive and current WooSox president Dr. Charles Steinberg.

A welcome ribbon was draped in the outfield, extending from left all the way to right. With the “Field of Dreams” theme playing over the loudspeakers, the city’s seal -- a heart surrounded by laurels -- was unfurled over the batter’s eye in center. Twenty-five seconds later, another banner dropped over the Worcester Wall in right. “Welcome to Worcester,” it read. Almost like it was carrying a message for baseball itself. The fans knew where they were. They had been waiting for this since 1925, the last time the Worcester Panthers (a Boston Braves farm club) played as an affiliated team in this city. The manager on that club: .

More recent New England legends gathered on the field before first pitch. James Taylor -- writer of the line “From Stockbridge to Boston” -- sang the national anthem, guitar in tow, with his son Henry. Jim Lonborg (1967 AL Cy Young winner) seemed to genuinely surprise Gov. Charlie Baker on the mound. Luis Tiant, he of the wiggly delivery and cult status in Boston, was announced to as was Hall of Famer Jim Rice. The biggest cheers came from fellow Cooperstowner Pedro Martinez, whose last season in Boston was the famed 2004 campaign.

Celtics legend Bob Cousy grabbed the mic for what was meant to be two words but became a lot more.

“I’ve never seen an event electrify a city the way this event has,” the former Holy Cross star said. “Play ball.”

First inning

That first delivery came at 3:09 p.m. from WooSox right-handed starter Raynel Espinal. Right down the middle, 92 mph, strike one.

I immediately think back to a conversation I had on Monday with hitting coach Rich Gedman. Gedman grew up in Worcester, went to the same high school as Denis Leary (saw him in a play he can’t remember), signed with the Red Sox as a prep player, was the 1981 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up as ’s replacement and was the catcher on the 1986 team that came so close to a World Series title. After a few years spent as an indy ball manager and the hitting coach at Pawtucket, Gedman’s circle back to affiliated ball in his hometown has been a large one, but upon that first pitch, it’s officially been completed.

“I'm proud of the fact that I grew up in the city of Worcester and that they're able to do something like this,” he said Monday. “That first pitch will probably bring a little melancholy. It's probably not going to be given its justice, because of the smallness of the crowd. But I'm sure the people that are there to get to see this are going to be really happy and enjoy a wonderful opening ceremony. Then, it's business as usual.”

Right, business as usual. This is about a game. The seventh of the young 2021 season for both Worcester (2-4) and Syracuse (1-5), and it opens with some fireworks. Mets leadoff hitter Johneshwy Fargas lined a 1- 2 pitch to left. Marcus Wilson chased down the ball at the track and fired it in toward shortstop Jeter Downs, who completed the 7-6-5 relay with a perfect throw to third to nail an overexuberant Fargas going for the triple. The Mets got two runs in the inning on four more singles off Espinal, but the early excitement was not subdued.

Second inning

As John Updike wrote, “It was in the books while it was still in the sky.”

Marcus Wilson gave the WooSox their first hit and run in the history of Polar Park, taking an 0-2, 88 mph pitch from Syracuse starter Jesus Reyes the opposite way and into the second row of the Worcester Wall -- a 22-feet blue cousin of Boston’s Green Monster with similar seating on top.

“At the alternate site, there have been some home runs there that you think are actually majestic,” Gedman said. “The way they travel out of there with this big right-field wall and just look like they disappeared into the day or night, it can be great to watch.”

This would prove to be prophetic.

Third inning

As the game settled in, it was a time to take in the actual sights of Polar Park in Worcester’s Canal District.

The Worcester Wall, of course, loomed large and was reminiscent of something similar in Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park. While there has been a movement to make copies of Fenway Park in places like Portland, Greenville and Fort Myers with green replicas of the Monster, it was a bit of a comfort to see Polar Park take on its own flavor with blue coloring and placement in right, instead of left. Worcester can be in Boston’s shadow in almost every other way. It can have its own color and spot on the field in this case.

Other standouts are the twin spires of Union Station poking through the skyline in left-center and the actual railroad line still in use that runs near parallel near to the left-field wall. It’s reminiscent of the tall tale about hitting a ball in San Diego that landed in Los Angeles. It got there by rail. Maybe Hartford or Springfield can be goals for future Triple-A East right-handed sluggers.

Bottom line: this feels like a piece of the Canal District, not lording over it. It’s no surprise this came as the result of the work of Worcester chairman Larry Lucchino and architect Janet Marie Smith, who worked together on Baltimore’s Camden Yards -- the blueprint for all modern ballparks. Perhaps Madison really is the new Eutaw.

Fourth inning

Neither Espinal nor Reyes is perfect through three innings, but it’s always something I remember to check at this point of any ballgame. On Aug. 10, 2003, I thought it was a good sign Bronson Arroyo, pitching for Pawtucket, had made it through the Buffalo lineup once without allowing a runner. He would eventually complete the fourth perfect game in the history of the . That is why anything is possible anytime you’re at the ballpark.

A few quick words about Pawtucket and, specifically, McCoy Stadium.

If Fenway Park is a cathedral, McCoy was the local church. It wasn’t awe-inspiring. It didn’t leave you frozen in your tracks upon first sight. But it felt closer to home, a place to reconnect with the game we all love in the first place. It’s where I had a middle school birthday party. It’s where we actually got on a videoboard for the first time. It’s where I saw Bronson Arroyo throw a perfect game and rehab during his brief Red Sox tenure. McCoy was famous for many things -- a 33-inning game between Pawtucket and Rochester in April 1981 chief among them -- but it might be remembered best for its raised bowl wrapped around the infield. Dugouts were at actual ground level with fans seated above, leading kids of all ages to drop buckets of balls, mini-bats and other pieces of memorabilia attached with string, fishing line or whatever they had handy down to players below. While autograph seeking is widespread, this method felt unique to McCoy.

And if there’s anything New England loves, it’s claiming something as unique to itself.

It’s enough to make you wonder what Polar Park will lay claim to in the weeks, months and years ahead. Is it the Worcester Wall? Is it the placement in the city? What will reveal itself about this place in the same way McCoy did in its 50 years?

Fifth inning through seventh inning

The other question on everyone’s lips -- how will Polar Park play?

As Gedman alluded to, the Red Sox held their alternate training site workouts, sim games and scrimmages in Worcester, giving the stadium an unofficial opening that hopefully won’t be seen again beyond 2021. But even a month’s worth of those are too small a sample. Tuesday’s Opening Day provided yet another data point -- an offensive one.

Polar Park measures in at 330 feet down the left-field line and 320 to right. Center extends out to 403. There is no Fenway triangle here; instead there are acres of space in left- and right-center at around 399. However, on Tuesday, the wind gusted from left to right, allowing batters to take advantage of the short porch.

Never was that more evident than in innings five through seven. With two outs in the fifth, No. 97 overall prospect Jarren Duran golfed a down-and-in slider from Reyes that went two rows deeper among the Wall seats than Wilson’s initial shot to tie the game, 3-3.

An inning later, Syracuse designated hitter Deivy Grullón -- a right-handed hitter unlike Duran -- went way out to right-center for a shot that Trackman measured at 475 feet, the longest of the day.

In the seventh, WooSox first baseman Josh Ockimey got in on the homer parade with his own 445-foot blast to right-center off Mets left-hander Stephen Tarpley. Three pitches later, Duran connected on a solo shot in almost the same spot as his first homer. It’s his first career multi-homer game. That’s notable considering the Red Sox No. 3 prospect made developing pop a priority at last year’s alternate training site.

Duran’s long ball is the sixth of the day between the two sides -- four for Worcester, two for Syracuse.

“We never witnessed the wind blowing out to right-center at the alternate site like it was today,” said Worcester manager Billy McMillon. “I'm hoping that was an anomaly, but a lot of those home runs were well-struck and probably would have been home runs anywhere. The more we play here, we'll get a better sense of how the field actually plays.”

At least for one day, Polar Park played like an extreme hitter’s park. We’ll see which way the wind blows Wednesday and beyond.

Eighth and ninth inning

From a baseball perspective, the final two frames kept the new local faithful on the edge of their seats. Recently cut by the Cubs and making his Red Sox return, Brandon Workman escaped a bases-loaded jam with one out in the eighth with only one earned run allowed, though he needed 29 pitches (only 13 of which were strikes) to get through his only frame. The WooSox got two insurance runs in the bottom of the frame to make it 8-5, and reliever Kaleb Ort kept it that way by facing the minimum in the ninth to earn the first save in Polar Park history.

But I’d be lying if I said that’s where my attention was entirely in the final few pitches and hacks.

McMillon said in his postgame press conference that the crowd felt a lot bigger than the allotted 25 percent capacity, and in some ways, I suppose that was true. But in these days when we’re still not at 100 percent capacity in most ballparks across the country, it was almost impossible to think about who wasn’t there either.

I thought about my parents, how they were the ones who always said yes to bringing me around New England for ballgames but couldn’t this time due to the COVID-19 restrictions and other health-related issues. What Bay State comforts await them when they are able to see a game here?

I thought about my sister and her kids. My nearly-four-year-old nephew already owns a WooSox shirt and hat, ready to root for what will become his local nine. What memories will he have of Polar Park? What level of inspiration will he get from a majestic Duran blast into the Worcester night?

I thought of friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, anyone I’ve crossed paths with who would have loved to be a little closer to Minor League Baseball in the past. I think of those in Amarillo and Biloxi who understand that feeling and smile at what's ahead for those in Central and Western Mass.

Worcester 8, Syracuse 5. "The Woo" by Pop Smoke blared over the speakers. Two-thousand-plus headed back out the gates, ready to crowd the peanut of Kelley Square with smiles on their faces and their shirts.

For the first time since September 2019, affiliated baseball is back in southern New England. For the first time since 1925, affiliated baseball is back in the Heart of the Commonwealth. Baseball is back in the backyard. Baseball is back.

Wicked cool.

Duran homers twice to open new stadium

William Boor

Jarren Duran appears to feel right at home at Polar Park, home of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.

Boston’s third-ranked prospect helped ring in Polar Park with a pair of homers in the Red Sox 8-5 win over Syracuse. On the same day the club opened a new stadium, Duran put his stamp on the game, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

The outfielder took a while to get going this season as he began the year with an 0-for-11 skid, but once he broke through in the hit column, it’s been nearly impossible to get him out. Duran is 8-for-17 over his past four games and has multiple hits in three of those contests. And Tuesday's performance followed a similar script.

After going hitless in his first two at-bats, the 24-year-old outfielder hit a two-run blast to right-center field in the fifth for his second homer of the season.

In his next trip to the plate, MLB Pipeline’s No. 97 overall prospect flexed his muscle again with a solo blast in the seventh before striking out in his final at-bat of the evening.

"His work, his approach, if he's consistent and he gets pitches to hit, he's gonna hit home runs no matter where he plays," WooSox manager Billy McMillon said. "So as far as how Polar Park fits his swing, I think the jury's still out. But I think he is developing into a pretty good hitter, and I think a lot of ballparks are going to have trouble keeping him in if he's right."

The two-homer game was the first of Duran’s career as the 2018 seventh-round pick is typically known for his plus-plus speed. Duran, who stole 70 in 2018 and 2019, began the season with just eight career homers.

While power hasn’t been a huge part of his game, Duran has hit consistently since entering pro ball. He hit .357 in his 2018 professional debut and followed that up with a .303 average over 132 games in 2019.

He then continued to make strides during the 2020 season while working out at Boston's alternate training site and carried that momentum into the Puerto Rican Winter League, when he won the MVP award in the with a .400/.500/.640 slash line in the Caribbean Series.

While Duran -- and the opening of a new stadium -- garnered the headlines, the Red Sox weren’t short on power Tuesday as Marcus Wilson and Josh Ockimey also homered in the victory.

* WEEI.com

The Red Sox have found their first real problem

Rob Bradford

The issues come and go.

There was the concern over the bottom of the Red Sox' batting order. And the on-base percentage from the leadoff spot was less than ideal. We also had that April stretch where starters weren't supplying more than a few innings.

This, however, seems different.

The Red Sox seem to have their first true roadblock to prolonged success and it is coming in the form of finding consistent routes from the starters to closer Matt Barnes.

The issue surfaced once again in the Red Sox' 3-2 loss to the A's Tuesday night.

With the Sox' starter -- in this case Nathan Eovaldi -- once again doing his job through the first six innings, keeping the game tied at 1-1, Alex Cora brought on what would have seemed to be a logical option, Darwinzon Hernandez.

It didn't work out.

Hernandez couldn't find the plate, resulting in two hits and a walk while getting just one out. And when Adam Ottavino came on and allowed one of the lefty reliever's baserunners to score via a base-hit, the Sox found themselves in a hole they couldn't dig out from.

"We’re searching," Cora said of the Red Sox' set-up men conundrum. "You’ve seen it. We do feel very comfortable with some of the guys back there. We still have to get these kids going. They’re very important. Stuff-wise, we know what they can do, we’ve seen it before. But we need them to be more consistent. When that happens, then structure is going to be a lot easier. For the negative, there was a positive, right? (Hirokazu) Sawawurma was amazing tonight. Hopefully he can keep building from that. As you know, bullpens, they go up and down. Sometimes they’re great for three weeks and then struggle for three days, then we get it back. Hopefully it’s just something that happened today with Darwinzon and he’ll be back again and maybe he’ll get the same guys again and he’ll do what he did in Texas."

As was evident earlier in the season, there are pieces that can serve as part of the solution. Sawamura's two innings Tuesday night offered that reminder. But the trend that has shown itself throughout May is hard to overlook.

Since May 1, the Red Sox relievers have totaled a 1-5 record with a 6.35 ERA, allowing 42 hits and 14 walks in 34 innings. That's just more than 11 hits per nine innings. They have also allowed seven of their 15 inherited runners to score.

It's a far cry from the totals April left us with. That month the Sox' bullpen hits-per-nine-innings was just about six, with an ERA of 3.00, while allowing just 11 of its 33 inherited runners to score.

The problem is finding the lock-down, no-doubt-about-it answers in specific roles for Cora. Right now, the Red Sox simply haven't been afforded that sort of consistency in key seventh and eighth innings.

They certainly might be getting some help in the coming weeks with the return of , who is throwing off a mound after dealing with a torn calf muscle. And Worcester has a few interesting options in familiar face Marcus Walden (who has been pitching well thought spring training and early on in the Triple-A season) and newcomer Eduard Bazardo.

And what a perfect world it would be for the Red Sox if Brandon Workman could just return to form. (His Worcester debut didn't go well Tuesday, with the righty giving up a run on a hit and two walks.)

But this certainly feels like a path that will lead to some sort of trade deadline prioritizing.

The good news for Chaim Bloom is that there are certainly more difficult holes to fill. did it in back-to-back years with Brad Ziegler and Addison Reed. And, who knows, maybe the likes of Sawamura and/or Garrett Whitlock continue to emerge, with Hernandez and/or Josh Taylor figuring it out from the left side.

Let the fixing begin.

Here comes the return of Mitch Moreland

Rob Bradford

Mitch Moreland was always part of the solution. It's a reality the Oakland A's have gotten a chance to realize this season.

Moreland makes his return to Fenway Park Tuesday night when his first-place A's take on the Red Sox in a three-game series.

Moreland, who signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with Oakland this past offseason, has primarily manned the DH spot for the A's, playing just five games at first base. He comes into the series hitting .218 with a .697 OPS and four homers.

Twenty of Moreland's 27 appearances have come in Oakland, with all four homers being hit at the Coliseum. For his career, the lefty hitter has 19 home runs at the home of the A's, carrying an .853 OPS.

Still, Fenway Park has always been Moreland's safe haven with the veteran managing a career .860 OPS at his former home park.

While the overall numbers haven't been what Moreland most likely was looking for, he has come through when it has counted, managing a .353 batting average and .988 OPS with runners in scoring position.

The Red Sox did show interest in bringing Moreland back into the fold, but opted for the more versatile Marwin Gonzalez.

One of the prospects coming back from San Diego in the trade deadline deal for Moreland last year, Jeisson Rosario, has gotten off to a solid start with Double-A Portland. The outfielder has six hits in his first 16 at- bats (.375).

Mitch Moreland gets rousing standing ovation at Fenway Park

Rob Bradford

It's no secret how much Mitch Moreland meant to the Red Sox. But in case he needed a reminder, the Fenway Park crowd fans gave him one during the designated hitter's first at-bat Tuesday night.

Moreland is, of course, in town with his new team, the A's, having signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with the Oakland prior to the 2021 season.

Prior to the series opener between the Red Sox and Oakland, Sox manager Alex Cora spoke glowingly of his former first baseman.

"Mitch is a good player, man, and a great person," Cora said. "What he brought to the equation in the clubhouse was kind of like a sense of calmness. The way he operates, he takes care of himself, sometimes it's a grind physically, but he wants to post every day. That helps the people around hm. They see Mitch play and you're like, you know what, I'd better play, too, let me get ready for this one. He did an excellent job for us in both years and he did an excellent job last year for the Red Sox. I know '18 was a grind in the playoffs, but whenever he played, he made a difference. He was really good. I still remember against the Astros, he didn't play in the beginning, then he gets a start against Verlander, he was good, and then obviously the big swing against the Dodgers. That ball almost landed in Pasadena. He crushed that pitch. Good defensively. Early in the season, he was hitting the ball the other way. One of my favorites, to be honest with you. I'm glad that he's still playing and making a difference over there. I'm very happy for him. He's a guy that, in '18, we talk about all those guys, but he probably was one of the most important players we had."

Why the Red Sox are still catching on one knee

Rob Bradford

The good? The Red Sox carry the best record in baseball with a starting pitching staff that has more wins than any rotation.

The bad? Well, that's up for interpretation.

The Red Sox' strategy of introducing the option for their catchers to receive the ball while setting up on one knee has been a conversation going back to spring training. At first, every catcher participated in the exercise with the exception of Christian Vazquez. Now Vazquez has joined the group.

But, heading into their series against the A's, some of the surface-level numbers suggest there hasn't been a big payoff. Most notably, the Red Sox caught-stealing percentage is the fifth-worst in the majors (16.7).

According to the chief proponent of the implementation, Jason Varitek, however, such numbers aren't telling the whole story.

"There is a lot that goes into the buy-in of it," Varitek explained Tuesday. "I've spent a lot of time over the previous year going through the metrics and different things that came out of this catchers con. Both (Chad Epperson) Eppy and myself, we started introducing it last spring, not as a mandate but as something if you're interested in we'll work in all capacities and all stances and find out what works best for you. I've had the advantage of manually being able to collect data for what it means to me and what it can mean to different people, besides just the metrics part of it. It became a complete buy-in for me at that point. But it's not the same for everybody. Not every start hitting mechanism works for every hitter. You morph it, see guys strength and stuff. But there are some attributes from it that take a little pressure off that position."

When it comes to pitch framing, according to StatCast, Vazquez is consistent with what he has produced the previous two seasons. Backup Kevin Plawecki, however, is below league average after excelling in 2019.

As for controlling the running game, it is element that the Red Sox will have to improve on considering teams' propensity to start running on them. Since May 2, the Sox have allowed 10 stolen bases -- the second-most in the majors during that span -- while throwing out two runners.

“I think it’s an ongoing process. We have to be better as an entire unit," Varitek explained. "There’s times that we’ve made throws that should have gotten some people. There’s quite a few times there’s been no chance and we have to get better on the other end. It’s about minimizing run and damage and stuff, and continue to grow in the newness of their throwing mechanics and what they’re doing in a different setup.”

It's getting more difficult to pump the brakes on Jarren Duran

Rob Bradford

The pomp and circumstance that encompassed the first-ever Worcester Red Sox game at Polar Park is what most will remember from Tuesday afternoon.

But when the dignitaries left, and the bunting came down, we were left with something that isn't going anywhere -- more Jarren Duran hype.

The Red Sox' outfield prospect continued his early-season tear, launching a pair of home runs in Worcester's 11-5 win over Syracuse.

Duran is now 8-for-17 over his last four games after going hitless in his first 11 at-bats of the season.

"His work, his approach, if he's consistent and he gets pitches to hit, he's gonna hit home runs no matter where he plays," WooSox manager Billy McMillon said. "So as far as how Polar Park fits his swing, I think the jury's still out. But I think he is developing into a pretty good hitter, and I think a lot of ballparks are going to have trouble keeping him in if he's right."

While Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom recently noted that Duran's development would dictate how quickly the call to the big leagues would come, watching him first-hand in Worcester had to get the wheels spinning a bit faster.

The likelihood is that Duran still sees plenty of more at-bats in Triple-A before a true conversation regarding his promotion takes place, especially considering this is the 24-year-old's first foray at this level.

If the Red Sox were to make a move involving struggling outfielder Franchy Cordero, it would most likely involve veteran Danny Santana, who just recently joined Worcester after beginning his rehab with Single-A Greenville.

* NBC Sports Boston

10 WooSox worth watching as Red Sox Triple-A affiliate opens Polar Park

John Tomase

After 50 years in Pawtucket, the Red Sox will officially christen Worcester's Polar Park as their new Triple- A home on Tuesday.

The WooSox open their home schedule with a six-game set vs. the Syracuse Mets and the games are definitely worth scrutinizing, because multiple players on the current roster will find their way to Boston this summer.

So as a public service, here are 10 players -- a mix of prospects and veterans -- worth watching as the minor-league season heats up.

Danny Santana, IF/OF 1 / 10 The switch-hitting jack-of-all-trades (sound familiar?) is only two seasons removed from slamming 28 home runs for the and playing every position except pitcher and catcher. He's recovering from a toe infection that sidelined him late in spring training, and is joining Worcester after a rehab stint at Single-A Greenville.

With Franchy Cordero mired in a hellacious slump, it would seem that a starting outfield job in Boston could be Santana's to lose, provided he's healthy.

Brandon Workman, RHP 2 / 10 Yup, that Brandon Workman. The Red Sox closer was historically unhittable in 2019 and then thudded back to earth in 2020, especially after being traded to the for right-hander Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold in an absolute fleecing.

He joined the this season on a $1 million deal but lasted just eight innings -- allowing nine runs on 12 hits and seven walks -- before designated for assignment last week. He needs to regain his fastball command, but no team knows him better than Boston, and the Red Sox bullpen is already showing some cracks.

Jarren Duran, OF 3 / 10 Welcome to the first glimpse of the future. While Red Sox fans have been clamoring for Duran since he lit up the Puerto Rican winter league World Series and then followed with a strong spring training, the reality is he has barely played above Double A and remains more toolsy than polished.

He has typically struggled when exposed to a new level, and even though he's already got one tape-measure home run, he has also struck out nine times in 23 at-bats. He needs more seasoning before he's a viable big league option.

Tanner Houck, RHP 4 / 10 Can you say, "Gulp?" The news that Houck will be shut down while dealing with a minor flexor strain in his elbow is certainly worrisome, though Red Sox manager Alex Cora insists the team is not overly concerned.

If Houck is healthy, he's the first man up should the Red Sox need a starter. He's 3-2 with a 1.98 ERA in his brief big league career, and the Red Sox can only hope his injury is indeed minor. After watching top pitching prospect Bryan Mata undergo Tommy John surgery, however, we'll keep our fingers crossed on Houck.

Jeter Downs, 2B 5 / 10 MLB.com's No. 40 overall prospect, Downs got off to a slow start on Worcester's opening road trip, going 0 for 10 in his first three games before rebounding with two hits apiece on Friday and Sunday.

Downs has played more shortstop than second base so far, but the latter is considered his likely home in the majors. He's hitting .217 with 10 strikeouts in 23 at-bats, and he's also looked a little shaky in the field, but the expectation is that he'll settle down.

Connor Seabold, RHP 6 / 10 As with Houck, Seabold gave Red Sox fans a reason to feel antsy when elbow inflammation delayed the start of his season. The team doesn't expect him to miss a lot of time, but Mata is once again a cautionary tale as just the latest example of a pitcher being shut down briefly before undergoing surgery. '

In any event, we're not there yet, and a healthy Seabold is a candidate to contribute to the Red Sox rotation in 2021. He had an eye-opening spring, hitting 97 mph while maintaining the overall mix that made him a prospect.

Eduard Bazardo, RHP 7 / 10 Bazardo has already gotten one look at the big leagues. He was summoned as the 27th man for an April in Minnesota and ended up throwing a scoreless inning, walking two and striking out one.

Bazardo transformed himself from nondescript prospect to member of the 40-man roster by showing increased velocity last fall. The bespectacled right-hander features a mid-90s fastball and good curve. He could easily rejoin Red Sox at some point this summer.

Connor Wong, C 8 / 10 The last player in the Mookie Betts trade is turning into more than a throw-in. Wong impressed in limited at-bats during spring training, launching a tape-measure home run to right-center over the 420-foot sign in JetBlue Park.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder is a converted infielder and extremely athletic, but the Red Sox love his communication and receiving skills behind the plate, and he brings surprising pop to a nontraditional catcher's frame. He has yet to appear in the big leagues, but he has spent time working out with the parent club as part of the taxi squad.

Michael Gettys, OF 9 / 10 A former second-round pick of the Padres, Gettys joined the Red Sox this winter because he's neighbors with hitting coach and wanted a fresh start.

He possesses explosive power and the potential for plus defense in center, but contact has always been his biggest challenge, with over 900 strikeouts in just under 700 minor league games. Gettys slammed 31 homers in the hitter-happy in 2019, but he's off to a 1-for-20 start in Worcester.

Yairo Munoz, OF 10 / 10 Given Chaim Bloom's emphasis on versatility, it should come as little surprise that he snatched up Munoz after St. Louis cut him in March of 2020. In two season with the Cardinals, Munoz played second, third, short, and all three outfield positions. He was one of the few bright spots for the Red Sox last year, hitting .333 in a dozen games.

He's somewhat of a forgotten man on the depth chart and in the outfield mix, but he shouldn't be. The right- handed hitter is off to a .381 start with Worcester.

* The Athletic

In matchup of surprise contenders, walks again cast doubt on suspect Red Sox bullpen

Chad Jennings

At 25 percent capacity with 9,264 in attendance, it’s harder than usual to tell when Fenway Park is about to let loose. The place doesn’t generate the same swell of shouts and cheers and whistles. Big home runs still bring the crowd to its collective feet, but more subtle moments lack a sense of inevitable eruption.

And so, when former Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland stepped to the plate in the second inning on Tuesday, it was as if he didn’t know quite what was happening or what to do. He definitely was getting a standing ovation while wearing an Oakland A’s uniform, but it wasn’t the deafening roar befitting a returning World Series champion. He took his time, nodded slightly toward Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, then started to settle into the box, before stepping back and tipping his helmet just a bit. That’s when Christian Vázquez decided the moment wasn’t big enough.

The Red Sox catcher took off his mask, walked onto the field, and stood right in between the mound and home plate. He turned to face Moreland and began emphatically pounding his bare hand into his mitt. Standing on top of second base, Xander Bogaerts did the same. The crowd followed their lead and the cheers grew louder. Moreland stepped out again, gestured toward the Red Sox bench and grabbed the bill of his helmet in appreciation.

“I wish there was 30,000 here,” said on the NESN broadcast. “Because he’d really get it. He deserves it. He really does”

Such a moment felt right in the first game of this series, because if two teams can appreciate one another this season, it’s surely the Red Sox and A’s. They’ve been the most surprising teams in the American League. Both looked awful out of the gate, then won a bunch of games in a row, and have remained relatively steady ever since. This series is the greatest test either team has faced in nearly a month, and by the time it ends on Thursday, nearly a quarter of the season will be over. The longer they play well, the more sustainable they seem.

And because Tuesday’s series opener felt like a showdown between legitimate contenders, a 3-2 Red Sox loss seemed to validate not their place in the standings but a lingering concern in their bullpen: do they have the right late-inning relievers to bridge the gap between their solid rotation and their dominant closer?

With the game tied in the seventh — after six strong innings and a season-high 102 pitches from Eovaldi — lefty setup man Darwinzon Hernandez walked the first batter he faced. Granted, it was Matt Olson, a dangerous hitter with considerable home run power, but Hernandez had the left-on-left advantage, and he threw a first-pitch strike before letting Olson work the count full and eventually take the free base.

Back-to-back singles off Hernandez drove in the go-ahead run, and then a weakly hit bloop single off Adam Ottavino brought in the insurance run that ultimately made the difference. The Red Sox had the pitchers they wanted, but not the result.

“I just wasn’t able to locate today,” Hernandez said. “That’s really the issue. There’s going to be some days where that’s going to happen.”

For Hernandez, there have been too many of those. Most pitchers would be satisfied to be issuing around 3 walks per nine innings. Hernandez has walked 8.5 batters per nine. Ottavino, the other go-to setup option, has walked 6.8 per nine. Josh Taylor, the other young lefty, has walked 5 per nine. And it’s not like these are purely early-season, small-sample issues for the Red Sox relievers: Hernandez walked 8.6 batters per nine last season, and Ottavino has had seasons of 6.6 and 5.4 walks per nine in his career.

By comparison, the A’s don’t have a single regular reliever who’s walked more than 4.8 per nine, and their five most-used relievers in front of closer have each walked fewer than 4 per nine.

“It was a good pocket for (Hernandez),” Cora said. “He just didn’t get the job done. The leadoff walk, (then he) had Jed (Lowrie) with two strikes, didn’t finish him off. … He wasn’t able to command the fastball. He put himself in a tough spot.”

The Red Sox are basically built to survive on the mound — few dominant arms, but a bunch of solid pitchers who can keep the game close — while trusting their league-leading offense to do damage eventually. The fact that they’ve had just four hits in each of the past two games, Cora said, was a product of good pitching on the other side, including A’s ace Chris Bassitt, who on Tuesday pitched seven good innings with 10 strikeouts. Rafael Devers did homer off Bassitt in the seventh to pull within one, and the Red Sox got the tying run to third base in the ninth, but those runners Hernandez put on base loomed large. Hirokazu Sawamura pitched well in the eighth and ninth, giving the Red Sox two scoreless innings with no walks and four strikeouts, but Cora has said he thinks his ideal bullpen has Hernandez and Ottavino as the go-to options in the seventh and eighth innings. He had that lined up against another division-leading team on Tuesday, and it cost him. How many other good teams could exploit that same leadoff walk, and eventually get a bloop single that stands as a game-winner?

“We’re searching,” Cora said. “You’ve seen it. We do feel very comfortable with some of the guys back there. We still have to get these kids (Hernandez and Taylor) going. They’re very important. Stuff-wise, we know what they can do. we’ve seen it before. But we need them to be more consistent. When that happens, then (bullpen) structure is going to be a lot easier.”

*

Bassitt pitches A’s past Red Sox 3-2 at Fenway

BOSTON (AP) — Chris Bassitt struck out a season-high 10 over seven innings and the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Tuesday night in a matchup of American League division leaders.

Matt Chapman and Elvis Andrus hit RBI singles for the A’s in the seventh inning as Oakland broke a 1-all tie with two runs. Matt Olson also had an RBI single for the A’s, who opened six-game road trip with a victory.

Yusmeiro Petit pitched a scoreless eighth and Jake Diekman got his fourth save despite walking two batters in the ninth.

Rafael Devers homered for Boston, which has lost two straight since winning four in a row.

Bassitt (3-2), whose previous high this season was nine strikeouts on April 29 at Tampa Bay, allowed just three hits and two runs. He hurt himself in the first with a pair of wild pitches that helped Boston take a 1-0 lead. But he settled down nicely after J.D. Martinez’s sacrifice fly, retiring 14 straight batters before Michael Chavis singled in the sixth.

“My nerves were way more than normal in the first inning,” said Bassitt, who was making his first appearance at Fenway Park. “After that, I just kind of started pitching again and I was kind of normal. But yeah, I would say in the first inning, Fenway got the best of me.”

Boston led 1-0 until the fourth, when Olson singled to drive in Seth Brown.

Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi lasted six innings, holding Oakland to one run on two hits and two walks. He struck out four before Darwinzon Hernandez took over in the seventh. After Olson drew a leadoff walk, Jed Lowrie and Chapman followed with back-to-back singles as Oakland took its first lead.

“You’ve got to find a way to push those runs across any way you can. That’s what good teams do,” Olson said.

Hernandez (0-2) was replaced by Adam Ottavino with one out and runners at second and third. Boston caught a break when Sean Murphy hit a hard grounder to third and Devers came right home to catcher Christian Vázquez, who had Lowrie in a rundown and tagged him for the second out. Chapman scored on Elvis Andrus’ bloop single for a 3-1 lead.

“That was huge. He’s gotten some big hits for us,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “That ended up being as big an at-bat as we had during the game.”

Devers’ homer in the bottom of the seventh, his ninth of the season, pulled Boston back within a run. Fans booed when the crew circled for a replay review, but the cheering resumed when replays showed the ball cleared the Green Monster before a fan touched it.

SMALL BALL

The A’s outhit the Red Sox 7-4 and Boston batters were 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position.

“You don’t need to hit rockets or hit home runs when there’s traffic around. You put the ball in play and good things happen. That’s what they did today,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “We had the tying run at third and the winning run at first on a night where we didn’t do too much offensively. We’ll take that and get ready for tomorrow.”

THROWING 100

Melvin said it was important for the A’s to put some pressure on Eovaldi early. Melvin said Eovaldi can throw hard and has five different pitches that he can throw for strikes.

Although Eovaldi pitched six innings, he threw 102 pitches before Hernandez replaced him in the seventh.

“He can be tough to navigate,” Melvin said. “It was good that we made him work and get him out of the game.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: C Aramís García (viral enteritis) is traveling with the club and could return to the roster this week, Melvin said. … OF (sprained left knee) continued a rehab assignment with Triple-A Las Vegas, where he played shortstop on Monday. Melvin said the A’s can play Pinder in the outfield or infield whenever he’s ready to return. “We’re going to play him in different positions like we always do and then once he gets here, we’ll figure out what we think the best complement is,” Melvin said.

Red Sox: INF Kiké Hernández (right hamstring strain) and INF Christian Arroyo (bruised left hand) could be activated from the 10-day injured list by next week, Cora said.

UP NEXT

Athletics: RHP James Kaprielian gets his first start in the majors Wednesday.

Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodríguez (5-0, 3.82 ERA) is unbeaten through six starts and has gone at least five innings in his last 34 starts.

*

The PawSox Moved, but Pawtucket Has Yet to Move On

Dan Barry

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — The man entrusted with the key approached a dull-gray door flecked with rust. A turn of the wrist threw the lock to reveal a ballpark in suspension, its outfield far from true-hop ready, its billboards fading, its thousands of empty seats the hard-plastic playground of pigeons.

Maybe Pawtucket should charge the birds admission, said the employee, Chris Crawley, who is the maintenance manager for the Rhode Island city of 71,000. His joke was of the coping kind.

It was a sunny and mild Tuesday, perfect for the home opener of the spanking new Worcester Red Sox in a spanking new ballpark 40 miles to the north, in Massachusetts. That is all well and good and hooray for baseball, but — for a half-century and up until very recently — the Worcester Red Sox were known as the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Their home was here: in McCoy Stadium, in Pawtucket, in Rhode Island, until a change in ownership and some shortsightedness on this side of the state border gave Worcester the opening to lure the franchise away. The team long known as the PawSox are now called the WooSox, a nickname that may never roll easily off the Rhode Island tongue, if at all.

Chris Crawley is the maintenance manager of Pawtucket. The city is maintaining McCoy Stadium. All of which means that on this opening day at McCoy, in an old mill city that could use a break, all that could be heard were the coos of feathered gate-crashers.

“Hearing the birds and hearing no baseball,” said Crawley, who is 52. “It’s a weird feeling.”

The story of the Pawtucket Red Sox carries the familiar moral that in the end, baseball is a business. But it is also the story of a piece of identity lost. This minor league team was as much a part of Rhode Island as quahogs, or Del’s Lemonade, or hoary stories of having once bumped into so-and-so the mobster at such- and-such a joint.

The team began as a Double-A team in 1970, playing its games here at McCoy, a Works Progress Administration project built on a swamp 80 years ago. Local lore holds that oceans of cement were needed to solidify the mushy ground, to the benefit of connected contractors.

The team moved up to the Triple-A level in 1973, where the franchise struggled to survive until a wealthy entrepreneur named took over in 1977. What he didn’t know about the game he made up for with his business acumen. A Pawtucket Red Sox game became an affordable family event, with reasonably priced tickets, cheap concessions and — here was his genius — free parking.

The experience came packaged with the thrill of seeing ballplayers striving to play for the major league Boston Red Sox, whose home field, Fenway Park, was an hour and one Dunkin’ cup of coffee away. You might be seeing the next Yaz, the next — dare we say it — Teddy Ballgame.

Rhode Island embraced the team. It became tradition to see the Saturday night fireworks, or to return batting-practice balls for tickets, or to fish for autographs by dangling plastic milk bottles containing and pens in front of the dugouts tucked beneath the stands. But nothing is static.

Mondor died in 2010, and his widow, Madeleine, sold the team in 2015 to a group led by Larry Lucchino, then the president and chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox and a baseball veteran who had overseen the building of major league stadiums in other cities. It was clear that Lucchino was impervious to McCoy’s scrappy charms, and that change was coming.

“In all honesty, it was a combination of factors,” the mayor of Pawtucket, Donald R. Grebien, said as he stood near the home team dugout, its green seat cushions frayed by the elements. His voice carried notes of disappointment and what-could-have-been.

The team’s new owners introduced themselves to Pawtucket by saying they wanted to leave. They announced a proposal to move to a stadium that would be built, largely at taxpayer expense, in Providence — an egregious overreach, and a profound misread of the current Rhode Island mood.

The plan died a quiet death, but still. “It ripped the heart out of us,” Grebien, 53, said.

A feasibility study determined that a proper renovation of McCoy would cost nearly $70 million, so Grebien worked with the team on another proposal: to build an $83 million ballpark in downtown Pawtucket, along the Blackstone River. The team would pay more than half the cost, with the state and the city covering the rest.

“They wanted new,” the mayor said. “To keep them, we needed new.”

After months of hearings, negotiations and obstruction by the then-speaker of the house, a reworked financing arrangement was rejected in 2018 by the team, which could barely contain itself in announcing a relocation to Worcester — to a minor-league ballpark that, at $157 million, is said by the Worcester Business Journal to be the most expensive in history.

The move left Pawtucket “to figure out how to pick up the pieces,” Mayor Grebien said.

The divorce between this old couple of city and team has been awkward. After the pandemic robbed the PawSox of a farewell 2020 season, the team invited fans to “Dining on the Diamond” events at which they could eat ballpark food on picnic tables planted on the field. Nice, but not the same.

And the city, now solely responsible for an aging, empty McCoy, has sued the team on the grounds that it had failed to maintain and repair the stadium properly — a charge the team rejects. The city is paying a contractor $6,500 a month to keep McCoy locked and secured.

In a few hours on this Tuesday, baseball would be played in a new ballpark 40 miles to the north, filling the coffers with money, the parking lots with cars and the fans with memories of a WooSox victory over Syracuse. Here at McCoy, the pigeons would settle in and the parking lot would continue to be used for a coronavirus testing site. And tomorrow, vaccinations will be offered, and the old PawSox gift shop will be used as an observation room.

For now, though, about the only movement in McCoy came from the two Pawtucket employees, their footsteps echoing through the concrete corridors. Crawley, the maintenance manager, grew up nearby and worked here for 10 years as a groundskeeper. Grebien, the mayor, used to come here as a boy with his father and grandfather, both Teamster truck drivers, both baseball aficionados.

They walked past the mementos that the team had chosen to neither take nor sell. A wall tribute to the longest game in professional baseball history — 33 innings — played here in 1981. A sepia-tinted photo of the future Hall of Famer Jim Rice, celebrating his 1974 win of the International League triple crown. A price list for souvenirs (PawSox pencil — $0.50; PawSox magnet — $2.50; PawSox #1 foam finger — $5.00).

The mayor had to leave. Among other things, he is now focused on a $300 million redevelopment plan for downtown that would include hundreds of residential units, assorted retail and commercial space, and an 11,000-seat soccer stadium. A better deal for the city, he said.

But the Pawtucket Red Sox? “It’s part of our soul,” he said.

The two men walked down the concrete stairs, sidestepping large deposits of bird droppings. They walked out the dull-gray door, the maintenance manager first, the mayor following.

“Chris, you want the top locked too?” the mayor called out.

No need, the man with the key said. The place is locked up.

Dan Barry, a domestic correspondent, is the author of “Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball’s Longest Game,’’ in which the Pawtucket Red Sox, eventually, beat the in 1981.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and 2 Yankees Coaches Test Positive for Coronavirus

James Wagner

Even as the number of coronavirus vaccinations among Major League Baseball personnel slowly ticked upward, two teams announced on Tuesday that they were dealing with new virus cases. Three were rare breakthrough cases, in which a people tested positive despite being fully vaccinated.

Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego’s superstar shortstop, tested positive and was asymptomatic, Padres Manager told reporters on Tuesday ahead of the team’s game in Colorado. As a result, Tatis was placed on the injured list, and so were two teammates who have been in close contact with him, Jorge Mateo and Jurickson Profar.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., ahead of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees announced that third base coach Phil Nevin, who was fully vaccinated, had tested positive and was in isolation in Tampa. “He’s doing OK,” Yankees Manager said.

After the Yankees’ 3-1 win, Boone said that tests had confirmed a second case — an unnamed support staff member — and that the team was still planning to play as scheduled on Wednesday night. A team spokesman later said that the Yankees first base coach, Reggie Willits, was the team’s third case, and that Willits and the support staff member were both also fully vaccinated.

Early in the day, Boone said that Nevin’s positive test emerged on Sunday, when the team flew to Tampa after playing in New York, and that the Yankees had been undergoing a range of virus tests, from polymerase chain reaction to rapid, over the past 24 to 36 hours. If not for the Yankees’ high vaccination rate, Boone said, the team’s situation would have been handled differently.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breakthrough cases are expected despite the effectiveness of vaccines.

“Even though a small percentage of fully vaccinated people will get sick, vaccination will protect most people from getting sick,” the C.D.C.’s website said. “There also is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick.”

Some news media reports earlier in the day indicated that there had been at least five positive tests among the Yankees coaching staff, but Boone said before the game that test results for a few other coaches and staff members were still pending. He also said that people who weren’t necessarily close contacts of Nevin’s but who fell into a gray area had been sent home out of an abundance of caution.

No players were affected, but Boone said the Yankees were operating with “a bit of a skeleton staff.”

Boone said that Carlos Mendoza, the team’s bench coach, had been asked to cover Nevin’s duties at third base, and that Mario Garza, who works in the Yankees’ minor league system, had been brought up to the major leagues to coach first base in place of Willits.

Although Boone declined to detail all of the Yankees’ absences before the game, the bullpen coach, , made a visit to the mound during the game instead of the pitching coach, .

Nevin’s case was the first for the Yankees during the 2020 and 2021 regular seasons; they also had none in the postseason last year. A few players, like closer Aroldis Chapman, infielder D.J. LeMahieu and relievers Luis Cessa and Zack Britton, tested positive in the off-season or during the lead-up to the 2020 regular season.

“We’ve all learned that playing through a pandemic and going back to last year, nothing kind of surprises you,” Boone said. “But still, it does catch you off guard a little bit when you do get that news.”

Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ star pitcher and a top players’ union official, said that the team had met as a whole and heard from doctors and that everyone was OK with playing on Tuesday. Cole, who had returned to wearing a mask during his video interview with reporters on Tuesday, said the team was being tested “like crazy” — at least twice a day.

“As a whole, we’re looking to press on,” he said. “Different levels of comfortability across the club, so we’re just trying accommodate that and stick together as a group, and make sure everybody is in a good spot to perform tonight, which we felt confident as a group that we could do.”

Even though several players and key staff members across M.L.B. have been reluctant to get vaccinated, the Yankees had been enjoying relaxed health and safety protocols under rules negotiated by M.L.B. and the players’ union for reaching the 85 percent fully vaccinated threshold.

The rewards included, among other things, masks no longer being required in the dugout or bullpen, indoor dining being permitted and visitors being allowed at the team hotel. Boone and Nevin, 50, received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine during spring training, and the Yankees offered a vaccine en masse to their players and staff last month. Still, Boone and others returned to wearing masks during Tuesday’s game.

M.L.B. and the players’ union said last week that more than 83 percent of all players and key staff members were considered partially or fully vaccinated. They also said that five of the 30 teams had already reached the threshold for loosened virus rules, and that seven others would join them once they reached the two-week mark to be considered fully vaccinated.

Before Tuesday’s game, Boone said he hoped that Nevin’s case would not deter people from being vaccinated.

“The fact that we’re vaccinated in pretty large mass hopefully is something that will blunt this and allow a number of us to not get anything and keep the symptoms at a minimum if it does get through,” he said.

* The New York Post

Yankees can’t ignore surprising first-place Red Sox

Mike Vaccaro

And there they are.

It is not possible for them to stay invisible, not even after last year, not even as other teams have leap- frogged them into positions of prominence among Yankees fans. It is not possible to simply forget them, or overlook them, or ignore them.

The Red Sox?

Nope. Even if they were as bad as everyone believed they would be, they would still be the Red Sox. Even if they were as bad as they looked like they were going to be when the Orioles swept them the first three games of the season, they would still be headquartered at Fenway Park, 4 Jersey Street, Boston, MA, 02215.

They would still be anchored in Yankees history.

They would still be the Red Sox.

Still, here we are, second week in May, a month into the baseball season, and what did we see Tuesday afternoon as the Yankees and Rays prepared for the third of their six-part chapter of a seasonal series? We saw the Red Sox in first place in the AL East.

We saw the Red Sox at 22-14, .611.

That’s the highest winning percentage in baseball. That’s one more win than anyone else in baseball. That’s one less loss than anyone in baseball besides the Mets, who have played seven fewer games (and got swept a pair by the Sox two weeks ago).

Before the Yankees and Rays prepared to play each other in a three-game series at St. Petersburg’s starting Tuesday night, Aaron Boone had said, “We know them and they know us, and we know we’ll be thinking about and playing each other all season long.”

Those are the kind of things Yankees managers used to routinely say about the Red Sox. Those are things that were exclusively reserved for the Red Sox when they were the only other satellite in the Yankees universe — before the Rays became rivals, before the Astros occupied so much of their attention, before even the Mets slid into a spot on their radar thanks mostly to location, location, location.

And, yes, those three games against Houston last week were terribly satisfying and gratifying … at least until Jose Altuve took a mighty hack at that fastball in his eyes Thursday afternoon.

And, yes, these three games against the Rays this week at The Trop will surely be fascinating, both as an acid test for the Yankees (they will be able to figure out a way to beat these guys one of these days, right?) and also as a test for the team’s collective stomach acid because the Yankees and Rays don’t like each other even a little bit, and so there is always the possibility of a brouhaha brewing at any minute.

But it’s the Sox who are better than any of them right now.

It’s the Sox who have taken to the return of the Baseball Whisperer, Alex Cora, like a runaway dog reunited with a beloved family, and have played smart, exciting baseball across the first 36 games of their season.

It’s been oddly easy to shunt aside the Sox if you are the Yankees, partly because the Sox were so wretched last year (24-36, nine the Yanks, 16 behind the Rays, a record that translates to 65-97 across the full 162), partly because the teams haven’t collided yet (and won’t until June 4; they don’t make their first trip to Fenway until June 25), partly because … well, the Rays are their more bitter rivals right now.

The Rays are the daily tinderbox, whenever they face them.

The Sox? The Sox don’t have Mookie anymore, and they don’t have JBJ anymore, or Benintendi (who always seemed to find the short porch), and they don’t have regular Yankees punching bag anymore, and hasn’t pitched an inning yet. It still seems like a typo looking at the Sox’s record.

It isn’t a typo. It’ll soon be a quarter of a season in the books. And there they are, where they always seem to be. The Yankees have some business to tend to before then. But the Sox are a part of their lives again. And maybe a little more than that.

Nice.