The Saturday, March 30, 2019

* The Boston Globe

Mitch Moreland saves Red Sox after Nathan Eovaldi takes his lumps

Peter Abraham

SEATTLE — The job of a comes down to one essential truth: put your players in the best position to succeed. Everything else is filler.

Alex Cora had that in mind in the ninth inning on Friday night when he sent to the plate as a pinch hitter against the .

The Sox had cut a five-run deficit down to two and had two runners on base against righthander Scott Strickland.

It was a similar situation to Game 4 of the World Series last fall when Moreland was sent up in the seventh inning with two runners on and the Sox trailing the by four runs.

Moreland homered deep to right field off righthander Ryan Madson to get the Sox back in the game and they went on to beat the Dodgers and won the Series the next night.

Five months later, Moreland did it again. His to right field gave the Sox a satisfying 7-6 victory.

The second game of the season isn’t the World Series. But Moreland, who has always hit righthanders well, had been in that spot before and knew what he needed to do.

“The more experience you’ve got with it the better you can prepare,” Moreland said. “Obviously it was a little bit different but, still, all the same. You’re trying to go up there and do your job.” Cora was just waiting for the right moment.

“We wanted Mitch to hit with men on,” he said. “From the seventh inning on he was preparing. We don’t stop playing. They understand their roles and that was a big swing by Mitch.”

Moreland got ahead in the count when Strickland missed with two sliders. Moreland told himself to be ready for a fastball, knowing Strickland would want to throw a strike.

It was a fastball and Moreland lined it over the fence. The shot was measured at 114 miles-per-hour off the bat, a sign of how ready he was for it.

“Yeah, I hit it pretty good,” Moreland said.

Once the Sox had the lead, Cora turned to Matt Barnes to protect it. The righthander got three outs on 12 pitches, striking out Domingo Santana and to end the game.

It was the third career save for Barnes, the first since 2017.

“I was locked in trying to do my job and get this team a win,” Barnes said. Colten Brewer, Brandon Workman, Brian Johnson and Barnes fired four no-hit innings. The final 10 Mariners went in order, six by .

That the first save situation of the season went to Barnes doesn’t mean all of them will. He has not been named the closer.

“We’ll stay with the plan,” Cora said. “We were watching the game and the game dictated for Barnes to be in the ninth. He already knows what it’s all about. I’ll give you that one. I talked to him a month ago about how we’re going to use him.”

Barnes is fine with that.

“If it’s not me in the ninth inning on a given night, then we have 100-percent faith in the other guy that’s going to take the ball and close the game out” he said.

After losing the first game of the season, 12-4, on Thursday the Sox fell behind, 6-1, after four innings on Friday as Nate Eovaldi was hit hard. He gave up six runs on eight hits — three of home runs — over five innings.

Mallex Smith, who had seven home runs in 930 career at-bats, led off the bottom of the first inning with a blast deep to right field.

Domingo Santana then homered to left field when Eovaldi grooved a slider into his bat path. Omar Narvaez homered with one out in the second inning.

The Mariners did not have a home run in the fourth inning but hammered a steady stream of pitches over the heart of the plate.

Tim Beckham led off with a double to right field. Navaez followed with a single and Rhon Healy with an RBI double that thumped off the wall in center.

Dee Gordon’s sacrifice fly scored Navaez and moved Healy to third. Smith then sent a high fastball deep to left center. Bradley made a leaping catch against the wall but Healy trotted in.

The Sox have allowed 18 runs on 20 hits — eight of them home runs — in two games.

“I’ve got to do a better job of adjusting on the fly out there,” Eovaldi said.

Seattle starter worked a solid six innings. The lefthander allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and struck out five without a walk. He left with a 6-3 lead.

Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez had solo home runs off Kikuchi. Martinez’s was a 430-foot blast to center in the sixth inning.

With the Sox down, 6-3, Christian Vazquez homered leading off the eighth inning. When Andrew Benintendi drew a walk, the Sox suddenly had the tying run at the plate with no outs.

The Mariners went to righthander Cory Gearrin, who allowed a single by Mookie Betts. That sent Benintendi to third.

Martinez struck out looking at a well-located fastball on the outside corner. Bogaerts drew a walk to load the bases for Eduardo Nunez.

Nunez tapped a ball to the right side and inexplicably stopped halfway up the base line.

So Gearrin threw to the plate to start a 1-2-3 double play as Nunez stood watching.

“I wanted him to tag me, that’s why I stopped,” Nunez said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Cora didn’t fault Nunez.

“It’s such a weird play. There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “It was such a freak play. I’ve never seen it in my life.”

Rafael Devers doubled off Strickland to start the ninth inning then moved to third on a passed ball. Strickland then hit Blake Swihart.

Bradley grounded to first base and Devers was thrown out at the plate. That was when Cora went to Moreland.

“It felt like that was playoff game,” Nunez said. “We forgot it was the second game of the season, that was the feeling. We wanted to win so bad.”

Rick Porcello not sad to see retire

Peter Abraham

SEATTLE — The only sign of Ichiro Suzuki at T-Mobile Park this week are the dozen or so styles of T- shirts and hats available in the team stores with his name and/or number on them.

Suzuki retired after the March 21 game against Oakland in Tokyo. He will continue to work for the Mariners in an advisory role, but for now is taking some time away.

Rick Porcello is just fine with that.

Suzuki was 13 of 33 (.394) against Porcello going back to their first meeting in 2009.

“He was such a unique hitter,” Porcello said Friday before the Sox played the Mariners. “He would let the ball get deep and shoot it down the left field line. You’d feel good that you got a fastball by him, but then he’d hit it.”

Porcello, a sinkerball for much of his career, resorted to changeups against Ichiro.

“I wanted to get him to hit the ball in the air, which is not what I was doing with most hitters,” Porcello said. “He just gave me problems. I had to throw my best changeup to get him out. Other than that, he covered the plate with me.

“Nobody really hit the way he did. He was a challenge for me, but that was the case for a lot of .”

Brandon Workman also has bad memories of Suzuki.

Suzuki was only 2 for 7 against Workman, but one of those hits was a single Sept. 8, 2013, at Yankee Stadium. In a 3-3 game in the ninth inning, Suzuki singled to center field, stole second, moved to third on a fly ball, and scored on a wild pitch.

“A walkoff wild pitch,” Workman said. “Not a great way to end a game.”

Suzuki hit .292 in 150 games against the Sox and .269 in 64 games at Fenway Park. Suzuki’s .634 OPS at Fenway was his lowest at any AL ballpark.

No concerns for Sale A day after Chris Sale allowed seven runs over three innings, manager again said his ace was healthy.

“His stuff wasn’t there. His slider wasn’t good; the fastball was erratic and the changeup was OK,” Cora said. “I talked to him. He’s healthy. Obviously he knows more about himself than me as far as delivery and all that. He’ll work on it the next few days.”

Sale is scheduled to face Oakland on Tuesday.

“The most important thing is that he’s healthy,” Cora said. “I know everybody worries about it. When you don’t see the 98, 99 [mile-per-hour fastballs] people are going to ask questions. We understand that.”

Cora pointed out that Sale gradually built his velocity last season. But Sale’s fastball averaged 94.3 m.p.h. in his first start last season and 92.7 on Thursday.

His slider velocity was essentially the same.

“Talking to Chris, he understands where he’s at and what he needs to do,” Cora said. “From my end, he’s healthy and that’s the most important thing.”

Mariners grab Seattle obtained catcher from the before the game and optioned David Freitas to Triple A Tacoma.

Freitas started Thursday and was 0 for 2 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI.

The Giants claimed Murphy off waivers from the Rockies on Monday, designated him for assignment Thursday, then flipped him to the Mariners a few hours later for 20-year-old righthander Jesus Ozoria.

Murphy, 27, had 81 games of major league experience with the Rockies from 2015-18.

Rodriguez’s turn Eduardo Rodriguez appeared in five major league games during spring training and pitched 15 innings, a heavier workload than his older rotation mates.

The Sox expect to see that pay off when he makes his season debut Saturday night.

“This is the first time he had a regular offseason,” Cora said. “He was able to work out and get stronger instead of rehabbing [from an injury]. You see it. You see a different body; you see a different guy on the mound.”

Cora believes the 25-year-old Rodriguez still has vast potential.

“We all do. We feel that way,” the manager said. “You think about it, he’s been a good pitcher for a while. His ceiling is way up there.”

Rodriguez said his only real goal is to make every start.

“That’s it, start every game I’m supposed to,” he said. “If I do that, I feel like I’ll produce. I know I can do it.”

Mookie mania Mookie Betts has the third-most popular jersey based on sales at MLBShop.com since Jan. 1. is first, Aaron Judge second, and Mike Trout fourth. The only other Red Sox player in the top 20 is Andrew Benintendi, who is 18th . . . Rafael Devers, at 22 years, 156 days, was the 10th-youngest player on an Opening Day roster . . . The Red Sox assigned Michael Chavis to Triple A, Bobby Dalbec to Double A, and Triston Casas to Single A Greenville . . . Porcello reached 10 years of major league service time on Friday.

* The Boston Herald

Eduardo Nunez explains why he stopped running to first base

Jason Mastrodonato

SEATTLE — Eduardo Nunez didn’t know what else to do.

When he hit a dribbler down the first-base line with bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning on Friday night, Nunez could see Mariners pitcher Cory Gearrin field the ball in Nunez’s running lane. So Nunez stopped, and ducked, allowing Gearrin an easy opportunity to throw home to initiate a double play that would end the inning with the Red Sox behind two runs.

Thankfully for Nunez, Mitch Moreland hit a three-run shot in the ninth and the Red Sox won, 7-6.

“That was a very bad moment at the time,” Nunez said. “I was very mad. Good thing we got the W. Mitch saved me.”

Nunez said he was hoping if he stopped before getting too close to Gearrin, the pitcher would have to run toward him to tag him, allowing the run to score in that time, or throw to first base.

“He decided to go to home plate,” Nunez said. “That was pretty smart.”

But why did Nunez look back and watch the play unfold instead of continuing to run toward first?

“It was too late already,” he said. “He went to home plate, he was out. It was too late already.”

Asked if he would do anything differently, Nunez said, “I don’t think so.”

Manager Alex Cora thought it was a tricky play.

“There’s noting you can do there,” Cora said. “You can run into it. It’s such a weird play. I think everybody in this room would have stopped too because you see the pitcher going into the lane and he’s going to throw.

“The rule says he can actually run over the pitcher. He can keep going because the lane and all that is to defend the fielder. When the throw goes from the plate to first, that’s when you have the three-foot line. But on the way to first, you can run into him and nothing happnes.

“It’s such a freak play, I’ve never seen it in my life. It just happened to look that way, look bad probably people are talking about it, tweeting about it. But I bet anybody who’s here would have done the same thing.”

Matt Barnes, Red Sox closer? Bullpen saves the day in Seattle

Jason Mastrodonato

SEATTLE — Not even after the Red Sox bullpen bailed out another disastrous performance out of the starting rotation, and not after Matt Barnes earned the save with an overpowering ninth inning, would manager Alex Cora name a the closer.

Evidently, the Red Sox are done being in the business of using a conventional closer after being tied to the save over three years with Craig Kimbrel.

This is a new era of the Red Sox bullpen. And through two games, the Red Sox bullpen has been the highlight of this team.

After Nathan Eovaldi was torched for six runs in five innings, four Sox relievers combined to throw four hitless innings, striking out seven and paving the way for a dramatic comeback as the Red Sox completed a wild 7-6 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Mitch Moreland came off the bench to smack a pinch-hit three-run homer off Mariners closer Hunter Strickland and complete a comeback in which the Sox scored six unanswered runs.

So it wasn’t the Red Sox bullpen that was the problem. Nor has it been early on.

Eovaldi doesn’t look to have concerning issues — his fastball velocity averaged 97 mph and he touched 100 mph — but he was still rocked, giving up three homers and allowing seven batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph, tying the most 100-mph batted balls in one game off Eovaldi since 2015.

This, following a night in which Chris Sale allowed six 100-mph batted balls off him, tying his highest total since 2016.

After Eovaldi allowed his final three runs in the fourth inning, Cora sent him back out for the fifth, hoping to get three more outs from his starter (which he did) before turning it over to the bullpen.

From there, Colten Brewer worked around two walks in his Red Sox debut for a scoreless sixth, Brandon Workman struck out one in a perfect seventh and Brian Johnson, who typically maxes out at 89-90 mph, touched 92 mph while striking out the side in a perfect eighth, setting the stage for Barnes in the ninth.

Did Barnes know he was going to pitch the ninth?

“I talked to him about a month ago about how we’re going to use him,” Cora said.

Barnes isn’t officially the closer, but it’s safe to say that the flamethrowing right-hander is primed to be the most important reliever in the Red Sox bullpen this season.

Asked if his usage had anything to do with the heart of the Mariners’ lineup coming up in the ninth, Cora smiled and said, “Um, a lot. A lot. There, you got it.”

Barnes admitted he was nervous, though there were no signs of him being too amped up.

“Any time your name is called and you go in for the first time, you always have an anxious excitement,” he said. “And anybody who tells you they don’t is just lying to you. It’s the way we are. But once you get out there and get loose and start running out there and get into the game, it’s the same thing, you’re locked in what you’re trying to do.”

Confident and true to himself, his first three pitches as the defacto closer were three straight curveballs, all of them perfectly placed, to Mariners star . Barnes retired him on a 97-mph heater.

He then struck out Domingo Santana on a 97-mph fastball and fanned Daniel Vogelbach to end the game on a curve that was spotted on the bottom-outside corner.

“It’s awesome, especially given the guys who have closed the ninth inning prior to me in this organization,” Barnes said. “You’re talking about a bunch of All-Stars with a whole bunch of saves. So it’s an honor…If it’s not me in the ninth inning on a given night we have 100 percent faith in the other guy who is going to take the ball and close the game out for us.”

Barnes has been training himself for this job for years. Last year, the final of Kimbrel’s contract, Barnes was taking notes about how Kimbrel prepared.

After each outing, Kimbrel could be spotted in the weight room, throwing a heavy medicine ball against a wall or running on a treadmill until sweat poured off his forehead. Barnes decided to adapt Kimbrel’s postgame workout, which he mirrored all of last year.

So it seemed oddly familiar when, about 45 minutes after recording the final out last night, Barnes appeared from the weight room, dripping with sweat.

“I was fortunate to have Craig here for multiple years and I learned a lot from him, the way he goes about his business and conducts himself,” Barnes said. “Tried to pull on some of that stuff. He’s been a great friend. I saw him doing (the postgame workout), talked to him about why and wanted to give it a shot, ended up really liking it. So, stuck with it and continued to do it.”

What’s the point of the postgame workout?

“I want to make sure my legs feel as fresh and as good as possible before a game,” Barnes said. “So if I work out prior to a game, I don’t want to expend any energy then. So if I do it now, I have all night and tomorrow morning until, almost 24 hours, for my body to recover as opposed to maybe six hours before I have to pitch or something like that.”

It worked for Barnes last year, when he had a 2.30 ERA entering August before a hip injury interrupted his season.

He seems much more open to the flexible closer role that is being used more prevalently in the modern day game. He doesn’t need the title to make him happy.

“The thing that has helped me the most was pitching in the postseason last year, in the ALCS and the World Series in particular,” said Barnes, who threw 8-⅔ innings in the playoffs and allowed just one run on three hits. “The fourth or fifth inning in those games is so incredibly high-leverage because every game and every pitch is so drastic in those scenarios that honestly I tired to draw on that.”

Through two games, the Red Sox bullpen is 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA. The rotation is 0-1 with a 14.63 ERA.

And the unofficial closer looks all right.

Fear not, Chris Sale not hurt

Michael Silverman

SEATTLE – The Red Sox do not seem to be ultra-stressed about this Chris Sale situation.

That’s because they’ve eliminated the No. 1 concern.

“I was talking to Chris, he understands where he’s at and what he needs to do. He’s going to be fine,” manager Alex Cora said Friday. “From my end, healthy – that’s the most important thing.”

Cora spoke the day after Sale’s short and forgettable three-inning start in which he allowed seven runs on six hits – three home runs – with a triple, double and two walks mixed into the 12-4 beatdown.

Being that it was Sale, the club’s No. 1 starter who was not himself the second half of last season with a shoulder issue, and that it was Game 1, Cora understood all the concern that swirled around the start afterwards.

“He feels he’s a little bit off, probably extension, all that stuff they talk about. We got information from last year, he’ll compare it and they’ll go from there,” Cora said. “But the most important thing is he’s healthy, which I know everybody worries about it. When you don’t see the 98, 99, people are going to question, we understand that, but people who paid attention to what we did last year understand that, before that Texas start, the velocity wasn’t where it was in the summer, the thing is that everybody remembers what happened in September and October. We understand. Physically he’s fine, he’ll be OK.”

Now that that’s settled, Cora said the remaking of Sale into the Sale everybody expected will be placed in the hands of pitching coach Dana LeVangie and pitching assistant Brian Bannister. This is their time to shine, with a process that will begin with a video review that Sale will take part in.

“It’s more Dana, then Banny,” Cora said. “You might say that (Sale) doesn’t look (at video) but all these guys say certain things and I bet they do watch, they pay attention to what they do and they feel it, which is the most important thing. But Dana is great about paying attention to details, and you go through all the checkpoints.”

Cora implied there should not be too much to correct.

“Yeah, I think the slider was good yesterday he was good in the first inning,” said Cora. “Besides that, he was big and on the inside part of the plate. You don’t see him throwing sliders and hitting people. His secondary stuff is what makes him great. Yesterday it wasn’t there.”

Cora could eliminate the next best conspiracy after the health angle.

“Probably yesterday, people were saying ‘Oh, he’s tipping his pitches,’” Cora said. “Not every time you get hit, you tip your pitches, we know that. Or they got the signs. No. It doesn’t work that way. But Dana does a good job of keeping it simple for them. And when they go to the bullpen, they understand what they have to do.”

Sale averaged only 92.8 mph on his fastball, a couple mph short of his 95.7 average last year.

Again, not to worry, said Cora.

“No, because we went through the same thing last year,” Cora said. “I don’t want to bring back when I was the bench coach in Houston, but I heard a lot of people were saying he was throwing 99 from the get-go and he ran out of bullets in October. Which one do you take? Him throwing 99 in March and April or him pitching in the World Series?”

In other words, chillax.

Sale’s fine.

Until his next start, there’s nothing to be concerned about.

Red Sox notes: Blake Swihart hoping to prove himself in 2019

Jason Mastrodonato

SEATTLE — Saturday night begins a new chapter for Blake Swihart.

As he takes his spot behind the plate against the Mariners for his first start of the 2019 season, the 26-year- old Red Sox catcher is eager to show he’s deserving of the roster spot he earned in spring training, which sent established big league catcher Sandy Leon back to the minor leagues.

“I’m excited but just going out and doing my job,” Swihart said. “I’ve always looked at myself as a catcher so it’s just another day at the field.”

As for the competition in spring training, “I didn’t even think about it,” Swihart said. “Had my head up in spring training, feeling confident, just playing baseball.”

In 2018, Swihart made just 16 starts behind the plate and the Red Sox went 5-11 in those games. They went 55-23 when Leon started at catcher and 46-21 when Christian Vazquez started.

Manager Alex Cora still believes Swihart is a capable big league catcher. But it’s clear the difference between Swihart and Leon is on offense. Swihart has a .256 average and .678 OPS over 597 plate appearances in the big leagues, though many believe he’s capable of better.

“We’re about to see,” Cora said. “He had a good spring training, but had a good spring training last year. I think the at-bats this year were better than last year. He was a guy, everybody was talking about him being an offensive catcher. We’re about to find out.”

Former hitting coach Chili Davis always said Swihart would be a .300 hitter one day.

“I’m pretty sure I can hit .300,” Swihart said. “I almost did it my rookie year (when I hit .274), and that was with a slow start to my rookie year. I have confidence I can do it. The more at-bats the better I’ll be.”

And after being moved around the diamond the last two years while playing left field and moving around the infield, Swihart has finally been able to focus on his catching again.

“It was pretty fun, honestly,” he said. “Playing all over the field, it was like I was back in Little League playing all over the field when my dad was the coach. It brought back some old memories. I got to showcase that I can play other positions if we’re ever in a bind. But I can also catch.”

NEW LINEUP IN GAME 2

Rafael Devers’ place in the three-hole lasted just one game.

Devers went 1-for-5 with two and three left on base in Thursday’s season opener, but was moved back to sixth on Friday against another lefty starter.

Cora said Devers should still hit third against righties but will be lower in the lineup against lefties.

“I talked to Raffy this morning to make sure that he doesn’t take it as a demotion,” Cora said. “Just with the righties, not knowing too much about their pitcher, having Sam Travis playing, most likely that’ll be the set up but with Steve Pearce hitting third.

“I told him, ‘this is nothing against you. It’s just the way we might go with all the righties we have.’”

The lineup for Game 2 was: Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Eduardo Núñez, Devers, Travis, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Vázquez.

NUNEZ BACK IN OLD FORM

Nunez was on the front end of a double steal on Thursday and though he was once considered a liability due to a bad knee, he looks like someone the Red Sox want to see running wild again in 2019.

“That’s a good sign,” Cora said. “He’s healthy. You can see it in even in the swings, he’s able to use his legs. He’s driving the ball. Yesterday he made that mistake, doesn’t make the play at second, but besides that that was a great day for him, running the bases, making decisions, tagging from third. Last year, no chance. Last year, he had a game like that, today was an off day.

“It’s good to have him. He reminds me a lot of the guy I saw on video in 2017 when we were getting ready for the playoffs. He was a game changer for the Red Sox. He was hitting line drives all over the place, running, all that. He was a force. He looks healthy. That’s a good sign for us.”

AUDITION FOR LATER INNINGS

Tyler Thornburg was looking good through two batters on Thursday but then allowed a base hit and a two- run homer. He’ll have to prove himself with good outings in low-leverage spots before the Red Sox use him in the late innings, Cora said.

“The stuff, he showed 96 mph and now like, OK, we’re to that point where we know you’re healthy and we need to get outs and finish innings,” Cora said. “I think he’s done good getting two outs right away and then something happens and then something bigger happens. Maybe pitch mix, trying to slow him down. I do feel like he’s such a good athlete that it’s rushing, everything is fast. I actually talked to Christian Vazquez yesterday like, ‘Hey man, slow him down, find a way to slow him down.’ And he did in the last batter. So he’s a guy that little by little stuff-wise, he’s a guy that we envision (in high leverage spots). Get a few outs in a few situations and then ready to put him out there.”

* The Providence Journal

Red Sox Journal: Travis hoping to capitalize on opportunity

Bill Koch

SEATTLE — The Mariners’ Yusei Kikuchi made just his second big-league start on Friday night and presented the Red Sox with a unique challenge in the process.

The Japanese left-hander threw 91 pitches in a win against the Athletics last Thursday at the Tokyo Dome, providing precious little video for Boston to study ahead of the matchup at T-Mobile Park. Red Sox manager Alex Cora stacked his lineup with right-handed hitters, including a first start of the season for first baseman Sam Travis.

“Video is video,” Travis said. “It’s nice to see how stuff is moving and what kind of delivery he has. It’s definitely a different view being in the box, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

Kikuchi, 27, impressed during his seven seasons with the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball ranks. He posted a 2.69 ERA over 148 games, making starts in all but four of his appearances. Kikuchi limited Oakland to four hits and a lone earned run in 4 2/3 innings, falling just shy of a decision in a 5-4 victory.

“He likes to pitch on the inside part of the plate against righties and away against lefties,” Cora said. “One thing that we do when we’re really good is just stay in the strike zone.”

Steve Pearce (calf strain) almost certainly would have been in the lineup against Kikuchi, but he continues to rehab at extended spring training alongside Dustin Pedroia (left knee) and Marco Hernandez (left shoulder). That opened a place on the 25-man roster for Travis, who slashed .244/.326/.366 in 24 games this spring.

“We want Steve back and healthy,” Travis said. “He’s a big part of this team. Me being here, it’s just another opportunity for me to show what I can do.”

“It was the opposite of last year,” Cora said. “Last year he was swinging the bat well early, and then he lost his swing toward the end. This year he struggled early, and then he found it. He’s swinging the bat really good — line drives toward the middle of the field.”

Pearce is tentatively scheduled to play in a game at extended spring on Monday. Pedroia was in action on Friday, logging four at-bats.

Batting order switch

Rafael Devers was dropped from third to sixth in the order on Friday night, allowing Cora to place right- handers in the next four spots after leadoff man Andrew Benintendi. Cora notified Devers of the decision during a conversation early Friday morning.

“I wanted to make sure he doesn’t take it as a demotion,” Cora said. “With the righties and not knowing too much about their pitcher, I’m trying to explain most likely that would be the setup with Pearce hitting third.”

Devers was just the third Boston player to bat third on Opening Day at age 22 or younger. He went 1-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts and left three men on base, a healthy share of the nine stranded by the Red Sox in a 12-4 hammering. Devers has been consistent throughout his young career against left-handers and right- handers, posting an OPS of .752 and .760, respectively.

“I told him, ‘This is nothing against you,’ ” Cora said. ” ‘This is the way we might go because of all the righties that we have.’ ”

A positive sign

In terms of raw stuff, Tyler Thornburg provided some encouraging signs on Thursday.

The right-hander ran his fastball up to 95.6 mph during his 25-pitch relief stint and averaged a strong 94.4 mph on the pitch. Thornburg appears healthy as he continues his comeback from surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome.

The next step for Thornburg is to retire hitters with some consistency. He set down the first two men he faced in the seventh before Mitch Haniger doubled to left and Domingo Santana drove a two-run homer to left.

“Yesterday he was throwing well,” Cora said. “Then all of a sudden it was a fastball down, and he needs to live up in the zone. Then it was a changeup and Santana got to it.”

Thornburg’s average fastball velocity was 94.1 mph in his final season with the Brewers. That was in 2016 and came prior to the trade that saw Boston ship a package of four players to Milwaukee for Thornburg, one headlined by third baseman .

“I do feel like he’s such a good athlete he’s always rushing,” Cora said. “Fast — everything is fast. I talked to Christian (Vazquez) yesterday and was like, ‘Hey man, slow him down. Find a way to slow him down.’”

Plenty of blame to go around in Sox’ subpar start

Bill Koch

SEATTLE — Chris Sale grabbed the lion’s share of the headlines for the wrong reasons, but there was more to the Opening Day blowout suffered by the Red Sox than their ace’s subpar performance.

Boston scuffled at the plate against Seattle starter and wasn’t exactly crisp in the field during the 12-4 shelling on Thursday at T-Mobile Park, a rotten start to its World Series title defense.

The Red Sox left nine men on base, three in scoring position over the first three innings while the game was still a real contest. Boston also struck out eight times, something of a departure from a season ago. The Red Sox were excellent with two strikes in 2018, slashing well above the league average at .200/.264/.325.

“I think we expanded a little bit with two strikes,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We don’t usually do that. That’s something we have to keep working on.”

“We’ve got to come through in those situations,” said Mookie Betts, who singled three times but popped out to strand Jackie Bradley Jr. at third base ending the top of the third inning. “I know it’s early, but there are no excuses. We’ve got to string together some two-out hits. We’ve got to have a couple better at-bats.”

Rafael Devers made an error at third base in the first inning and Eduardo Nunez made another at second base in the sixth, leading to an unearned run. Even Betts and Bradley weren’t immune from difficulty in the field. The Gold Glove winners softly collided on a David Freitas sacrifice fly to right center in the third, with Betts ultimately making the catch.

“I didn’t hear him,” Betts said. “I’m not sure he heard me until late. Nobody got hurt, so everything’s cool.”

The Mariners owned an 8-2 lead after five innings, a gap Boston was unlikely to close. Still, the Red Sox bullpen failed to hold it there. Heath Hembree walked in a run in the sixth and Tyler Thornburg was tagged for a two-run homer to left by Domingo Santana in the seventh, two developments that added insult to injury.

“They just put up 12 runs and I don’t know how many on Chris Sale,” Betts said. “They’re good. They’re in the big leagues for a reason. We’ve got to go out and battle.”

Both Sale and Cora insisted the left-hander was healthy, and a quick scan of his average velocity by month in 2018 would suggest Sale could soon be back on track. His four-seam fastball checked in at 93.36 mph in April, just a tick above the 92.77 mph he averaged on 25 four-seam fastballs Thursday night. Command was more the issue for Sale, as he left pitches out over the plate on all three home runs he allowed.

“Fastballs in leaking over the plate, breaking balls kind of spinning in there and not really doing a whole lot — just bad,” Sale said. “Assess it tomorrow, see what we’ve got and get back on the grind.”

“If you compare it to the first start last year velocity-wise, he hit a few 94s,” Cora said. “But it wasn’t 97, 98 either. I do think he tried to go to certain spots and he didn’t get it there.”

Boston successfully turned the page following an Opening Day meltdown at Tropicana Field last season. Joe Kelly and Carson Smith conspired to give away a four-run lead in a 6-4 defeat against the Rays, as Sale was denied a victory despite six shutout innings. It was the third time in their last four championship seasons the Red Sox dropped their debut.

“That’s the beauty and the curse of this game,” Sale said. “You’ve got to wait a little bit as a starting pitcher to get out there, but as a team collectively you show up tomorrow ready to win. You just throw this one in the trash can.”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox’s Mitch Moreland hits game-winning homer in 7-6 comeback win vs. Mariners

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- With the Red Sox two outs away from their first 0-2 start since 2012, Mitch Moreland gave them their first signature moment of the 2019 season.

With Boston trailing 6-4 in the ninth, Moreland hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer off Hunter Strickland to give the Sox their first lead of the night. Matt Barnes was called upon for the third save of his career, retiring the Mariners in order and striking out Dan Vogelbach to clinch Boston’s first win of the young season.

The Red Sox trailed for most of the night after the Mariners teed off on one of their top starters for the second straight game. Righty Nathan Eovaldi was hit hard, allowing six earned runs on eight hits in just five innings, allowing three Mariners home runs and leaving the game with the Sox trailing, 6-1.

Appearing for the first time since his heroic relief outing in Game 4 of the World Series, Eovaldi allowed a leadoff homer to Mallex Smith and another blast to outfielder Domingo Santana in the first inning. Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts and M’s catcher Omar Narvaez traded solo shots in the next two frames, giving Seattle a 3-1 lead after two.

Seattle broke things open a bit in the fourth, with three straight hits to open the inning including a Ryon Healy RBI double that made it 4-1. Back-to-back sacrifice flies from Dee Gordon and Mallex Smith gave Seattle a 6-1 advantage.

J.D. Martinez hit his first home run of the season for the Sox in the sixth, crushing a first pitch Yusei Kikuchi fastball 428 feet to center in the sixth. Christian Vazquez followed with a deep blast to left in the eighth to make it a 6-4 game.

Boston had a good chance to tie things up in the eighth, but Martinez struck out with runners on first and third and Eduardo Nunez grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. A Rafael Devers leadoff double and Blake Swihart hit-by-pitch set the stage for Moreland, whose first homer of the season was reminiscent of the pinch-hit, go-ahead shot he hit off Ryan Madson in Game 4 of the World Series in October.

Boston improved to 1-1 on the season, avoiding its first 0-2 start since the infamous 2012 campaign.

Sox comeback a rare feat

Boston was 4-50 when trailing entering the ninth inning in 2018, so coming back from a two-out deficit against Strickland was pretty unlikely.

Strickland was visited by trainers on the mound and will reportedly undergo an MRI Friday to see if there’s anything wrong with his arm. The former Red Sox farmhand signed with Seattle as a free agent over the winter.

Eovaldi hit hard in debut

Eovaldi allowed seven balls in play hit harder than 100 mph and another at 99.9 mph.

It was the hardest Eovaldi has been hit (in terms of exit velocity) since 2015, as Seattle hit two homers, two doubles, a single and a sacrifice fly with exit velocities of at least 99.9 mph. Eovaldi’s fastball averaged 96.8 mph and maxed out at 99.5 mph.

Sox rotation struggles historic in first two games

The back-to-back bad performances from Sale and Eovaldi aren’t just surprising. They’re historic, too.

As Alex Speier of the Boston Globe pointed out, the Sox are the first team in the live ball era to have both of its starters allow 6+ runs and 3+ home runs in the first two games of a season. The 2016 Diamondbacks accomplished the “feat” in 2016.

Smith’s sacrifice fly in the fourth could have done even more damage, as Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. made an impressive running catch for the second out of the inning.

With how hard Red Sox pitching has been hit over the first two games, Bradley Jr. has had a lot of chances in center. He’s made good on all of them.

Rodriguez makes debut Saturday

The Sox will look to avoid an 0-3 start Saturday night, with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez opposing righty Mike Leake. First pitch is at 9:10 p.m. ET.

Mitch Moreland’s pinch-hit heroics for Boston Red Sox bring back October memories

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- For the second time in just over five months, Mitch Moreland entered a game as a pinch-hitter and took aim at the Pacific Ocean as part of a memorable Red Sox comeback.

Moreland’s three-run, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning gave the Sox their first win of the year in a 7-6, come-from-behind victory over the Mariners Friday night. It was reminiscent of Moreland’s last home run- - also a pinch-hit, three run homer-- which cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-3 in Game 4 of the World Series in October.

Yes, the stakes are much different in March than they are in October. But this one still meant a lot to the Red Sox, who hadn’t looked anything like themselves for the first game-and-a-half of the 2019 season.

“It felt like that was a playoff game,” said infielder Eduardo Nunez. “We forgot this was the second game of the season. That was the feeling. We wanted that W so bad.”

Seattle ambushed Nathan Eovaldi over five innings and jumped out to a 6-1 lead before the Sox began clawing back. J.D. Martinez and Christian Vazquez each hit solo homers as Boston cut the deficit to two entering the ninth.

Rafael Devers led off the ninth with a double off Hunter Strickland and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Strickland hit Blake Swihart with a pitch before inducing a fielder’s choice at the plate that brought Moreland up with runners on first and second and one out.

Moreland saw two straight balls from Strickland before smoking a line drive homer over the wall in right. With an exit velocity of 114 mph, it was tied for the hardest ball Moreland had hit in the Statcast era (since 2015).

“I hit it pretty hard,” Moreland laughed. “It felt pretty good.”

Moreland’s homer gave the Red Sox the exact kind of lift they needed Friday night. After six weeks of spring training in Fort Myers and a two-day stopover in Arizona, they showed up in Seattle looking very sloppy Thursday in a 12-4 Opening Day loss. Eovaldi’s struggles, which came a day after one of Chris Sale’s worst outings in a Sox uniform, had the Sox headed for their first 0-2 start since the Bobby Valentine nightmare season of 2012.

But like they did all of last season, the Sox found a way to win. Manager Alex Cora, who pressed all the right buttons in October, did so again Friday, opting to keep Moreland in the stable for a potential ninth- inning situation despite having the option of pinch-hitting him two innings earlier.

“It was cool,” Cora said. “You felt it. I think we put good at-bats throughout the game. We started getting runners on and running, playing the way we can.”

It’s rare for the first win of a given season to be as memorable as this one. And it’s unlikely that most of the 90 to 100 wins the Red Sox expect to have before October will be, either.

“It was definitely a big one,” Moreland said. “We’ve got to get that first one out of the way. So we got that done. Now we roll.”

Boston Red Sox’s Matt Barnes on first save: ‘You don’t want to be the guy to give it up’

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- Even after picking up the first Red Sox save of the season in a 7-6 win over the Mariners Friday night, Matt Barnes was careful not to refer to himself as the team’s closer.

“It’s awesome,” Barnes said of getting the chance to close Friday’s game. “Especially given the guys who have been the closers-- or, closed the ninth inning-- prior to me in this organization. You’re talking about a bunch of All-Stars with a whole bunch of saves. It’s an honor.”

Barnes’ correction was an important one, as the Red Sox are not yet calling him the “closer” but instead say he’s one of the guys who can “close the ninth inning.” Manager Alex Cora refused to name a set closer throughout spring training and wasn’t changing his tune after Friday’s game. false Boston Red Sox closer: Matt Barnes gets save Friday vs. Mariners, but Alex Cora won’t name him full- time closer

Cora will not commit to Barnes as his closer, instead going game-by-game in the ninth inning.

Semantics aside, the ninth inning Friday night belonged to Barnes. After Mitch Moreland capped a Sox comeback with a go-ahead, three-run-homer in the top of the inning, Barnes set the Mariners down in order to record the third save of his career (and first since 2017).

Barnes was one of four Red Sox relievers to throw scoreless innings, keeping Boston in the game after a rough five-inning start from Nathan Eovaldi. Though Barnes knew which part of the order he was likely to face (he faced Seattle’s No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters), he didn’t know he’d be coming into the ninth inning until the situation presented itself.

“You don’t want to be the guy to give it up,” Barnes said. “I was just locked in on trying to do my job and trying to put up a zero.”

Barnes admitted he was a little more nervous than usual coming into Friday’s game, but not because he was closing. The sixth-year righty said he always gets a little more anxious for his first outing after the season, even after an intense postseason run that he believes has him prepared for high-leverage situations in 2019.

“The fourth inning or the fifth inning there in those (playoff) games is so incredibly high-leverage because every game and every pitch is so drastic in those scenarios,” Barnes said. “Honestly, I’ve tried to draw on that and my experiences in pitching in those situations and the mentality I took into those games.”

Barnes is one of a few Red Sox-- along with Ryan Brasier and maybe Heath Hembree and Tyler Thornburg-- who have the unenviable task of replacing future Hall of Famer Craig Kimbrel at the back end of the bullpen this season. Barnes considers Kimbrel a close friend and hopes to use some of what the former Sox closer taught him in their three years together in his augmented role.

“I was fortunate enough to have Craig here for multiple years. Learned a lot from him and the way he goes about his business and conducts himself,” Barnes said. “So try to pull on some of that stuff."

Even if Barnes isn’t named the full-time closer, he’ll likely be Boston’s most important reliever in 2019. Cora trusts him in high-leverage situations and clearly views him as a go-to reliever in intense spots.

Barnes will be tested plenty of times this year, whether those tests come in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning of games. It’s fair to say he passed his first one pretty easily.

“Anytime you can have a nice quick inning is awesome and it’s great to get the first one under your belt,” Barnes said. “I’m just happy I was able to do my part tonight to help this team get a win.”

Nathan Eovaldi hit hard in Red Sox win vs. Mariners; Alex Cora calls outing ‘strange’

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- Hours before the Red Sox mounted a memorable comeback to steal a 7-6 win from the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, starter Nathan Eovaldi walked off the mound after having an outing similar to Chris Sale’s on Thursday.

Eovaldi was not himself in his 2019 debut, allowing six earned runs on eight hits over five innings. Like Sale, the righty gave up three Mariners home runs, departing with the Sox trailing, 6-1.

Eovaldi was hit very hard by Seattle Friday night, as the M’s put seven balls in play with an exit velocity of 99.9 mph or greater. On those seven swings, Seattle had two homers, two doubles, a single and a sacrifice fly to the warning track.

“It was strange,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’ll dig into it and go from there.”

Eovaldi, a postseason hero who signed a $68 million contract over the winter, gave up a leadoff homer to Mallex Smith and never really settled in to his outing. Though his velocity was excellent (his four-seamer averaged 96.8 mph and maxed out at 99.5 mph), he wasn’t able to spot his pitches where he wanted to.

“Just felt like I didn’t execute my pitches when I was ahead in the count,” Eovaldi said. “Left a couple sliders down the middle. Same with some of the splitters and fastballs. I’ve got to do a better job of executing when I’m ahead in the count.”

Cora commended Eovaldi for coming back out for the fifth inning and setting the Mariners down in order. With the bullpen already a bit taxed after Sale’s three-inning outing, the extra inning from Eovaldi went along way.

“For whatever happened out there, he gave us the biggest three outs of the game,” Cora said. “We needed him one more inning. Around that time, I said, if he gives us three outs, we’re going to win this game. Because we know we can hit, we know we can come back. He got us those three.”

Eovaldi said his splitter was his best pitch Friday night, noting that his fastball and cutter didn’t work as well as they usually do. Like Sale’s a day earlier, Eovaldi’s command left something to be desired.

“A lot of pitches over the heart of the plate,” Cora said. “They squared some balls up. They hit the ball hard.”

Despite Eovaldi’s showing, the Sox were able to escape with a win and avoid their first 0-2 start since 2012. The hope now is that Eovaldi, who was Boston’s best pitcher in October, can get back in form for his next outing Wednesday in Oakland.

“It’s just one of those games, you have to try to try to find a way to make it through,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve got to do a little better job adjusting on the fly out there and figure out what I’m doing wrong.”

Boston Red Sox’s Eduardo Nunez explains bizarre baserunning play vs. Mariners: ‘I stopped so he could tag me or throw to first base’

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- Red Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez was caught in the middle of a bizarre play in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, grounding into a 1-2-3 double play to kill a Sox rally with the bases loaded and the team down, 6-4.

Nunez hit a slow tapper back to Mariners pitcher Cory Gearrin, who threw home to start the double play. Nunez, who had slowed down to avoid a collision with Gearrin, stopped in his tracks and allowed catcher Omar Narvaez to throw to first for the easy final out.

Nunez said he stopped because expected Gearrin to either tag him or throw to first. Instead, Gearrin threw home, surprising Nunez and making it too late for Nunez to start running toward first after stopping.

“That was very smart of him,” Nunez said.

Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t blame Nunez for the decision, saying there was nothing else a runner could have done in that situation.

“It’s such a freak play,” Cora said. “I’ve never seen it in my life, to be honest with you. It just happened that it looked that way. It looked bad. Probably people are talking about it.”

The double play was deflating at the time for the Sox, who had crawled back from an early 6-1 deficit to make it a two-run game. After J.D. Martinez struck out with runners on first and third for the first out of the inning, the Sox squandered their best opportunity to take their first lead since the second inning Thursday.

“That was a very bad moment at the time,” Nunez said. “I was very mad. Good thing we got the W.”

Nunez’s baserunning wouldn’t end up costing the Red Sox, as Mitch Moreland won the game with a pinch- hit, three-run homer an inning later. After playing poorly Thursday and falling behind early Friday, the Red Sox were able to escape with a 7-6 win, absolving Nunez of any blame in the process.

“We needed that W so bad,” Nunez said. “I felt so bad at the time. Good thing Mitch saved my... self.”

Boston Red Sox notebook: Rafael Devers’ lineup drop isn’t a demotion, Eduardo Nunez looking healthy after strong Opening Day

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- A collection of Red Sox-related notes from T-Mobile Park, where the Red Sox are looking for their first win of the season against the Mariners Friday evening:

Nunez’s quickness in opener an encouraging sign

Infielder Eduardo Nunez, who spent much of last season hobbled by knee issues, showed increased quickness by leading a double steal and later scoring in the second inning Thursday. Manager Alex Cora has been impressed with Nunez’s quickness and athleticism since the beginning of spring training.

“That’s a great sign,” Cora said. “He’s healthy. You can see, even in the swings, he’s able to use his legs. He’s driving the ball.”

Cora said that a year ago, Nunez would have needed a day off after a game where ran as much as he did Thursday. The fact that he’s back in the lineup Friday with no limitations is encouraging.

“He reminds me a lot of the guy I saw on video in 2017 when we were getting ready for the playoffs (as Astros bench coach),” Cora said. “He was a game-changer for the Red Sox. He was hitting line drives all over the place, running and all that. He was a force. He looks healthy. That’s a good sign for us.”

Devers’ drop in lineup not a demotion

Third baseman Rafael Devers is hitting sixth Friday against lefty Yusei Kikuchi after hitting third on Opening Day. Cora had a conversation with Devers to tell him the move wasn’t a demotion and was instead motivated by bunching righties against lefty Yusei Kikuchi.

“I told him, this is nothing against you,” Cora said. “It’s the way we might go because of all the righties that we have.”

Thornburg continues spring struggles

Reliever Tyler Thornburg got two quick outs in the opener before allowing a Mitch Haniger double and Domingo Santana homer. It was reminiscent of Thornburg’s spring training, as the righty had trouble finishing innings in Florida as well.

Thornburg is fully healthy and has been able to maintain his stuff since the beginning of camp, even hitting 96 mph with a fastball in the opener. While those steps are important ones, Thornburg’s spot on the roster could be in jeopardy if he doesn’t have positive results early.

“It’s now like, we’re to that point where we know you’re healthy,” Cora said. “Now we need to get outs and finish innings.”

Cora wants Thornburg to slow down on the mound instead of rushing his delivery. If he does so, he could provide a solid presence in the back-end of an uncertain bullpen.

“This is a guy that, little-by-little, stuff-wise, he’s the guy we envisioned,” Cora said. “Now get a few outs in a few situations and we’ll be comfortable putting him out there.”

Rodriguez to make debut Saturday

Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez will make his first start of the year Saturday opposite Mariners righty Mike Leake. Cora said throughout spring training that Rodriguez was one of the most impressive pitchers in camp.

Part of Rodriguez’s evolution this year will require the 25-year-old to come into his own without leaning on veterans like David Price, Chris Sale and Rick Porcello as much as he has in the past. Cora wants Rodriguez to build his own legacy.

“We want Eduardo Rodriguez. We don’t want a mix of David and Chris and Rick,” Cora said. “We don’t want a blend. We want him to be who he is because his stuff is that good. I think he finally understands that.”

Injury updates

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia (left knee) took four at-bars in a minor-league game in Fort Myers Friday.

First baseman Steve Pearce (left calf) participated in running drills and may get in a minor-league game as early as Monday. Cora was encouraged by the progress Pearce has made.

Boston Red Sox’s Alex Cora expects increased velocity, better command as season progresses

Chris Cotillo

SEATTLE -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora reaffirmed Friday that he isn’t worried about Chris Sale after the lefty’s rough start on Opening Day.

Much like he did after Thursday’s game, Cora said Sale is healthy and that his issues against the Mariners were all command-related.

“His stuff wasn’t there. The slider wasn’t good, the fastball was erratic and the changeup was okay,” Cora said. “I talked to him… he’s healthy. Obviously, he knows a little bit more about himself than me, as far as delivery and all that. He’ll work on it these next few days and he’ll be ready for the next one.”

Sale is dealing with a small mechanical issue and is working with pitching coaches Dana LeVangie and Brian Bannister to try to get more extension in his delivery. Though he sat 92-93 mph with his four-seamer Thursday, the team doesn’t view the velocity dip as a red flag.

Sale threw his fastball consistently in the 98-99 mph range at points last summer before being shut down with shoulder issues. The Sox have tried to get him to rein things in a bit in hopes he doesn’t deal with late- season issues like he has in recent years.

“When I was the bench coach in Houston, a lot of people were saying he threw 99 from the get-go and ran out of bullets in October,” Cora said. “So which one will you take? Him throwing 99 in March or April or him pitching in the World Series?”

Though Sale struggled with commanding his fastball Thursday, Cora believes the more significant aberration is that Sale had trouble throwing strikes with his slider. Sale lot control of a slider and hit Mitch Haniger with a pitch in the second inning.

“You don’t see him throwing sliders and hitting people,” Sale said. “I think his secondary stuff is what makes him great. Yesterday he wasn’t there.”

Sale will spend the next couple days watching video with LeVangie and Bannister in hopes of getting himself in tune for his next start. The lefty will be back on the mound Tuesday night in Oakland.

“Talking to Chris, he understands where he’s at and what he has to do,” Cora said. “He’s going to be fine. From my end, he’s healthy. That’s the most important thing.”

* RedSox.com

Sox stun Mariners on Moreland's clutch homer

Ian Browne

SEATTLE -- Mitch Moreland started loosening up by the fourth or fifth inning on Friday night, wondering when he would have his chance to impact a game the Red Sox badly wanted to win.

Manager Alex Cora’s mind was doing a different type of exercise, wondering when he should call on Moreland’s power bat.

Judging by the glowing results, Moreland and Cora both haven’t lost the magic touch that made the Red Sox the World Series champions five months ago.

Moreland finally got his chance in the top of the ninth inning and didn’t let it go to waste. Instead, he absolutely wasted a 2-0 fastball by Hunter Strickland for a three-run, pinch-hit homer that completed a furious comeback from five runs down and gave the Red Sox a satisfying 7-6 win over the Mariners.

The laser-beam had an exit velocity of 114 mph, according to Statcast, the third-hardest homer by a Boston player since 2015.

“Yeah, I hit it pretty hard. It felt pretty good,” said Moreland.

You may recall that it was Moreland who launched the three-run, pinch-hit homer that ignited the Red Sox’s comeback from 4-0 down against the Dodgers in that epic Game 4 win of the 2018 World Series that put the Red Sox on the precipice of the championship they would win the next night.

Been there, done that, right?

“Yeah, that always helps, I guess, to be in that situation,” said Moreland. “The more preparation you can get and experience you’ve gotten with it, the better you can prepare. Obviously it’s a little bit different. But yeah, still, all the same, you’re trying to go up there and do your job.”

And give Cora credit for restraining himself when he at least contemplated using Moreland to pinch-hit for Sam Travis in the seventh inning, by which time the Sox had whittled a 6-1 deficit to 6-3.

“The coaching staff, they were like, ‘We should save Mitch in case something happens later in the game,’ and we went with Blake [Swihart] first,” said Cora. “We wanted Mitch to hit with men on and put a good swing on it. He’s been working hard. He’s been working hard on this, and he was locked in. From the seventh inning on, he was preparing and was in the cage with [coaches] Ramon [Vazquez] and Andy [Barkett]. That’s what they do, they prepare. We don’t stop playing. They understand their roles, and that was a big swing by Mitch.”

Moreland’s main job for the Red Sox is to start at first base against righties. But when they face a lefty, they have a certified pro ready and waiting off the bench.

This was the fifth pinch-hit homer of Moreland’s career, including postseason. And he became the 12th player in Red Sox history to hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later, and the first since Mike Carp’s grand slam at Tropicana Field on Sept. 11, 2013.

Though Moreland might make pinch-hitting look easy, he will tell you that it most certainly is not.

“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely not ideal,” said Moreland. “When you get to that situation, or you think you might be in it, you just try to prepare the best you can and be ready for it when it comes and be familiar with the situation and that’s kind of my gameplan going into it.”

Homers get Sox back in it Not much had gone right for the Red Sox in the first two games until Moreland’s connection. Chris Sale was shelled for three homers and seven runs on Opening Day. Nathan Eovaldi was belted around for three more homers and six runs in four innings on Friday.

But as they make a habit of doing, the Red Sox didn’t stop playing. J.D. Martinez and Christian Vázquez smashed solo homers to slice the deficit to 6-4.

“Down early, we kept fighting, and I think that’s a huge component of what this team does,” said reliever Matt Barnes. “We saw it a ton last year. We’re never out of a game. Guys kept grinding, putting up zeros, the offense kept scoring and Mitch came up with a huge three-run homer.”

And the save goes to … Cora had been making it a big mystery how he would deploy his bullpen in the late innings with a lead. After Moreland put the Sox in front on Friday, it was Barnes who was entrusted with the first save opportunity of the season.

The righty dazzled, earning his third career save by striking out two of the three batters he faced and throwing just 12 pitches in a perfect inning.

This doesn’t necessarily mean Barnes will close in the next save opportunity.

It was notable that Barnes was used with Seattle’s 2-3-4 hitters looming in the ninth. Conceivably, he could come on in the eighth when the meat of the other team’s order is due up.

“We’re sticking with the plan,” said a coy Cora after the game.

Nunez caught in between The Red Sox might well have completed their comeback in the eighth inning if not for some bizarre baserunning by Eduardo Núñez. With the bases loaded and one out, Nunez hit a slow roller down the first- base line against Cory Gearrin. Gearrin pounced on it and alertly fired home for the first out. Nunez ducked down as he got to Gearrin to avoid the throw, and never advanced much further, as he looked back to see the play at the plate then ducked again when catcher Omar Narvaez fired to first to complete a 1-2-3 double play.

“There’s nothing you can do there,” said Cora. “You can run into it, it’s such a weird play. I think everybody in this room would have stopped, too, because you see the pitcher going into the lane and he’s going to throw. The rule says he can actually run over the pitcher. He can keep going because the lane and all that is to defend the fielder. When the throw goes from the plate to first, that’s when you have the three- foot line, but on the way to first, you can run into him and nothing happens.

“It’s such a freak play. I’ve never seen it in my life. It just happened to look that way. It looked bad and probably people are talking about it, tweeting about it, but I bet anybody who’s here would have done the same thing.”

Up next Eduardo Rodriguez gets the start as the Red Sox take on the Mariners at 9:10 p.m. ET on Saturday in Seattle. Rodriguez comes into a season healthy for the first time as a Major Leaguer, and looks to have a breakout year. The lefty was solid when healthy last year, winning 13 games. He is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in three career starts in Seattle.

Cora isn't worried about Sale's tough opener

Ian Browne

SEATTLE -- There are no health concerns with Red Sox ace Chris Sale and therefore there is nothing the club is concerned about heading into his next start.

Opening Day was what it was -- a very bad day. Sale is already back to the drawing board and is likely to produce a much better result in Oakland on Tuesday night.

“I was talking to Chris. He understands where he's at and what he needs to do,” said manager Alex Cora. “He's going to be fine. From my end, he’s healthy, and that's the most important thing.”

The low 90s velocity readings? That was completely by design, and also the way Sale pitched for the first several weeks of last season.

“When you don't see the 98, 99 [mph], people are going to question it,” said Cora. “We understand that, but people who paid attention to what we did last year understand that before that Texas start [in May], the velocity wasn't where it was in the summer. The thing is that everybody remembers what happened in September and October. We understand. Physically he's fine. He'll be OK.”

Cora was asked whether he was confident Sale would get back to the pitcher who can throw in the high 90s.

“Over time, yeah,” Cora said. “I don’t want to bring back when I was the bench coach in Houston [in 2017], but I heard a lot of people were saying he was throwing 99 from the get-go and he ran out of bullets in October. Which one do you take? Him throwing 99 in March and April, or him pitching in the World Series?”

The issues from Thursday’s 12-4 loss in which Sale lasted three innings and gave up three homers seemed mechanical.

“They'll work on it these next few days and he'll be ready for his next one,” said Cora. “He feels he's a little bit off, probably extension, all that stuff they talk about. We got information from last year, he'll compare it and they'll go from there. But the most important thing is he's healthy, which I know everybody worries about it.”

Swihart ready for first test

After beating out Sandy Leon for the backup catcher spot, Blake Swihart will get his first start on Saturday night against the Mariners.

“We’re about to see,” said Cora. “He put a good Spring Training together. He put a good Spring Training together last year. But I think the at-bats this year were better than last year. Last year, he had a lot of first- pitch hits during the spring. And then obviously the numbers were up there.

“But this year, he battled. There were a lot of two-strike at-bats. He put [together] good swings. He was a guy that everybody was talking about him being an offensive catcher. We’re about to find out.”

Time for results from Thornburg

Tyler Thornburg appeared to be cruising to a scoreless inning on Opening Day when he got two quick outs. But then he gave up a double to Mitch Haniger and a homer to Domingo Santana. The Red Sox are hoping the righty can finally be a contributor after two injury-marred seasons.

“I mean, the stuff, he showed 96 and now it’s like, ‘OK, we’re to that point where we know you’re healthy and we need to get outs and finish innings.’” said Cora. “I think he’s done good getting two outs right away and then something happens and then something bigger happens. Maybe pitch mix, trying to slow him down. I do feel like he’s such a good athlete that it’s rushing, everything is fast.

“I actually talked to Christian [Vazquez] yesterday like, ‘hey man slow him down, find a way to slow him down.’ And he did in the last batter so he’s a guy that little by little stuff-wise, he’s a guy that we envision and like you said get a few outs and in a few situations and then be ready to put him out there [in bigger situations].”

* WEEI.com

Here we go again with these Red Sox

Rob Bradford

SEATTLE -- Tim Hyers paused before going into the visitors' clubhouse dining room and pointed toward the hallway which led to the manager's office.

"That guy ...," the Red Sox hitting coach exclaimed.

Hyers didn't need to finish his statement. It was understood. He was pointing to Alex Cora.

When it comes to the Red Sox' manager people were ready to pounce. That's how it works. Once anyone reaches the pinnacle it becomes sport to find ways to make the perch a bit more difficult to sit upon. It happened at times last season when Cora dug into his way of thinking and certainly surfaced as Friday night's game against the Mariners unfolded.

Nathan Eovaldi was getting rocked a day after Chris Sale suffered a similar fate. The Red Sox were seemingly on their way to a second loss in as many tries, with Cora having already been put in the crosshairs for the spring training approach to his starting pitchers along with unwavering faith in an unknown bullpen.

Then 2018 kicked in.

"We felt like this was a playoff game," said Red Sox second baseman Eduardo Nunez. "We forgot this was the second game of the season."

That's because the malaise of spring training had finally worn off, revealing all the same elements of last season's success. In fact, it was almost eerie how the narrative changed to becoming a mirror image of the World Series run. The key innings from an unsung bullpen. A flurry of timely hits. And, of course, there was Cora.

The first hint that the manager's Midas touch hadn't been lost in the banquet circuit came in the most subtle of ways. The pitcher who had been torched for seven balls put in play of 100 mph or better, along with a total of six runs over five innings, Eovaldi, was left in for one more inning when such things seemed to matter little. What it did was allow Cora to set up his bullpen without overextending the group on just Day 2.

Considering Eovaldi's ineffectiveness, and relative high pitch count, this was far from a no-brainer.

"I mean for whatever happened out there he gave us the biggest three outs of the game because we needed him one more inning and I think around that time," said Cora of Eovaldi's perfect fifth inning. "I said if he gives us three outs we’re going to win this game because we know we can hit. We know we can come back. But he got us those three innings. A lot of pitches over the heart of the plate. Wow, they squared some balls up, they hit the ball hard. But the last inning, he actually wanted one more and I was like ‘Nah this is the first game of the season we’re not playing that game yet,’ but for how bad he was, he gave us the biggest three outs of the game because he gave us a chance to win."

He added, "It was huge. We were actually thinking, ‘Well if he can’t get out of this inning, what are we going to do the next three or four innings?’ That’s what you’ve got to do. You don’t want to be in a hole right away, two games. We’ve got 11 in a row, you burn the bullpen right away. It was huge. It was huge. For how bad he was, for him to go out there and give us those three outs was very important."

Thanks to home runs from J.D. Martinez (6th inning) and Christian Vazquez (8th), Cora got his chance to pull the most important strings. Those came in the ninth.

After a leadoff double from Rafael Devers, it was Sam Travis' spot in the order. The first baseman had already come away with two hits but with righty closer Hunter Strickland on the mound it was deemed necessary to bring on a lefty hitter. The options were Brock Holt, Mitch Moreland and Blake Swihart. Cora went with the accomplished, Swihart, saving Moreland for a situation involving more runners on base.

The manager had already resisted the temptation to use Moreland in a pinch-hitting role in the seventh with the Red Sox trailing by three, a man on and one out. The thought was there would be another chance to use his biggest home run threat off the bench. He was right.

Swihart reached via a hit-by-pitch, moving to second on Jackie Bradley Jr's fielder's choice. Now it was time for Moreland.

Third pitch. Ninety-five right down the middle. Three-run homer. Game-winner. Sound familiar.

"A lot of things remind me of the World Series," Cora said. "(Mallex) Smith with the (leadoff) home run, it was like, ‘Wow, Nate, he sucks. The last two hitters he faced have hit home runs.’ We turned the page on that. Now we’re ready to play ... We didn't stop playing. It was pretty cool."

Seemed like old times.

Mitch Moreland's flair for the dramatic carries over into 2019

Rob Bradford

SEATTLE -- This wasn't exactly apples to apples. But it certainly bore the same kind of fruit.

When Mitch Moreland launched his pinch-hit homer in Game 4 of the World Series he was flat-out sitting on a first-pitch changeup. The result was the hardest hit homer measured in an October Classic game since 2015, supplying the springboard for what would ultimately be a decisive Red Sox win over the Dodgers.

This one -- Moreland's pinch-hit, three-run blast against Seattle's Hunter Strickland in the ninth inning Friday night, giving the visitors a one-run lead -- didn't come with predictions. That didn't mean he wasn't in another perfect position to present late-game heroics.

“Not necessarily," said Moreland when asked if he was sitting on Strickland's 2-0, 95 mph fastball. "I knew he didn’t want to get behind anymore."

The scenario did, however, offer another example why Moreland is so good at these such things. He has, after all, now hit five career pinch-hit homers.

After starting to contemplate a showdown with Strickland following Christian Vazquez's eighth-inning homer, which brought the Red Sox to within a pair, Moreland truly started zeroing in on what awaited as the ninth inning unfolded. He had only faced Strickland one other time but understood the slider/mid-90's fastball combo that awaited.

So, with Blake Swihart standing at second base and Jackie Bradley Jr. at first with one out, Moreland dug in.

Two straight sliders were presented just off the corner of the plate. The lefty hitter offered at neither, leaving Strickland in a predicament.

"That always helps, I guess, to be in that situation," he said. "The more preparation you can get and experience you’ve got with it, the better you can prepare. Obviously, it’s a little bit different. But yeah, still, all the same, you’re trying to go up there and do your job."

"You get a predictable count with a guy like Mitch and he's dangerous," said Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers. "The key was that he laid off the two breaking balls. That set up the whole at-bat because if he swings at one of them it's a 1-1 count and he can go either, or. Laying off the two breaking balls allowed him to take a chance and sit in a zone with a fastball."

Moreland certainly sat in the right zone, equaling the hardest-hit ball of his career (114 mph).

"Yeah, I hit it pretty hard," he said. "It felt pretty good."

For him, and everyone else in a Red Sox uniform.

How Matt Barnes made the most of his unveiling

Rob Bradford

SEATTLE -- Most of the players had already headed to the team hotel when Matt Barnes finally emerged at his locker.

Covered in sweat, the appearance was strikingly similar to what Craig Kimbrel had projected after such nights after punctuating a Red Sox' win with another save. This time it was Barnes' turn, first with the last three outs in the Red Sox' 7-6 win at T-Mobile Park Friday night and then the Kimbrel postgame workout. (For a complete recap of the Red Sox' win, click here.)

"You can learn a lot from that guy," quipped Barnes before digging into his question and answers session.

He learned from Kimbrel when it came to playing catch before the game, making every single throw count. He learned from Kimbrel when it came to preparing for the end-of-game moments. And he learned from Kimbrel when it came to hitting the treadmill after games, and not before, in order to preserve his legs for that night's game.

Barnes, as it turns out, was a pretty good student. At least that's what we can gather after the reliever's first real test.

While Alex Cora continued to play coy when it came to unveiling pitcher he would lean on in the most important moments at the end of games, but it wasn't difficult to decipher that Barnes was his guy. The manager had presented the righty with the plan more than a month ago, along with a sheet of paper showing him how 2018 saw Barnes face more challenging scenarios than even Kimbrel.

The true mystery was how Barnes would handle the responsibility. He did, after all, come into this season with just two career saves, with his most recent one coming in the 11th-inning of a win over the Orioles back on Sept. 19, 2017. The UConn product was also just a few years removed from first being introduced to this world of relief pitching. So to envision living life as the heir apparent to Jonathan Papelbon, Koji Uehara and Kimbrel always seemed like a pretty big leap of faith.

It sure didn't look that way against the Mariners.

Barnes cruised through the No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters in the Seattle lineup in the same fashion the Red Sox had seen from Kimbrel throughout the past three seasons. Nobody was hiding the fact that it was undoubtedly a big moment for all involved.

"I think it’s a great thing for the entire organization," said Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie. "Where he started from, where he is now, the progression leading up to this. Him coming in tonight in a save situation, getting it done says a lot about the organization, hanging in there with him, trusting him. And it says a lot about him going out there in this situation and getting the job done.

"Who knows how long can it go and how much confidence can this give him going forward? And our entire pitching staff. We lost one of the greatest closers potentially of all-time and Matt Barnes stepped in there tonight and did it. It’s pretty special."

Barnes admitted that this first game of the 2019 season offered a bit more adrenaline than usual ("It’s the first game of the season, so any time your name is called and you go in for the first time, you always have an anxious excitement. And anybody who tells you they don’t is just lying to you," he said.) But it also didn't quite allow for the heart-rate elicited by those moments last postseason in Yankee Stadium, Minute Maid Park or Dodger Stadium.

The Red Sox' confidence that Barnes could do this thing starts with the pitcher's ability but was punctuated by what he managed when it counted the most last October.

"The thing that has helped me the most was pitching in the postseason last year, in the ALCS and the World Series in particular," he said. "The fourth or fifth inning in those games is so incredibly high- leverage because every game and every pitch is so drastic in those scenarios that honestly I tried to draw on that and draw on those experiences in high leverage situations. And try to replicate that going into these games."

For the second game of the season, this was about as good a replication as the pitcher is going to find. And, low and behold, it ended up with the same exact results.

"We’re sticking with the plan," said Cora with a wry smile.

Why not? So far, so good.

Barnes' save was made possible by Mitch Moreland's go-ahead, three-run, pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning. It was Moreland's fourth career pinch-hit homer, becoming the 12th player in Red Sox history to hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later. He is the first Sox to accomplish the feat since Mike Carp on Sept. 11, 2013 at Tampa Bay.

* Bostonsportsjournal.com

Red Sox summon October magic for first win of new season

Sean McAdam

SEATTLE — By the calendar, the Red Sox almost couldn’t be further removed from last fall. Five months and a day have passed since they wrapped up the World Series at Dodger Stadium, still a sweet memory to be sure, but increasingly distant.

After all, this was a new season and it’s still just March. It’s hard to summon that feeling of urgency for the second game of a 162-game slog.

And yet, Opening Day had undeniably left them with a bad taste. Their ace, Chris Sale, had turned in a rare stinker and the Sox had produced little in the way of offense. They were uncharacteristically flat.

Worse, Friday looked like more of the same for a while. Once more, the Seattle Mariners were teeing off on a Sox starter, Nathan Eovaldi, and by the time the fifth inning rolled around, the Sox were just hoping to get through the night without completely burning their bullpen again. Nine more games await before a day off.

Then, the Sox kept chipping away — a single run in the fifth, another in the sixth. They added one more in the eighth, and could have had more but for a bizarre double-play which cut down another potential run at the plate and summarily killed a chance at a bigger rally.

At the very least, though, some life returned to the Red Sox. Something was stirring. And when Mitch Moreland, reprising his pinch-hitting heroics from the Series, cranked a 2-and-0 pitch from reliever Hunter Strickland out to right field, turning a two-run deficit into a one-run lead, the season had officially come to life.

Suddenly, T-Mobile Park, with a predictably smaller crowd than the one which had filled the ballpark for Thursday’s opener, felt like Fenway West. The vast majority of fans on the third base side in the lower bowl were Red Sox fans and they made their presence known, infusing the visitor’s dugout with an energy that had been noticeably absent all of Thursday and most of Friday, too.

Everything new was old again. March was the new October. And when the closer du jour, Matt Barnes, carved up Seattle’s 2-3-4 hitters with ease in the bottom of the inning, punctuating the comeback with strikeouts for the final two outs, the Red Sox had themselves their first win of the new season, 7-6, and avoided the ignominy of becoming the first Sox team to begin the year 0-2 since the dreaded Bobby Valentine Error.

“Down early and kept fighting,” said Barnes, who notched his third career save. “I think that’s a huge component of what this team does. We saw it a ton last year. We’re never out of a game.”

“It felt,” concluded Eduardo Nunez, “like this was a playoff game. That’s a good feeling. We wanted that ‘W’ so bad. We got back to who we are.”

Nobody, it should be noted, wanted it more than Nunez after he strangely pulled up halfway up the first base line, enabling reliever Cory Gearrin to begin an unusual inning-ending 1-2-3 double play.

In the clubhouse, the music blared and the mood was festive.

“It was definitely a big one,” said Moreland, the primary hero. “You’ve got to get that first one out of the way, so we got that done. The energy’s great right now, to get that first one in the fashion that we did.”

It was that energy that seemed to buoy them through most of last October, when typically, singular moments get magnified thanks to the stakes and the size of the stage.

Think back and you can recall a half-dozen huge moments that marked the team’s postseason run: Andrew Benintendi’s game-saving catch in Houston; Steve Pearce’s monster homers in both Games 4 and 5 in Los Angeles. Eovaldi’s marathon relief performance in Game 3; Nunez’s sprawling play to end the ALDS in Yankee Stadium.

When the big moments presented themselves last October, the Sox were ready. So it was again Friday night.

Spring training is over. The games count now.

The last week had been uneven, with days off Sunday in Arizona and Wednesday here. The loss Thursday felt empty, with the team going down without much of a fight.

That wasn’t who they were last year. On Friday, they signaled that it wouldn’t who they were this year, either.

Friday was about getting back to business, about not giving in, about making every at-bat count. Trailing 6- 1 after four innings didn’t dissuade them. They put their heads down and scored six straight unanswered runs to take back a game that threatened to get away from them again.

“We’re feeling good right now and ready to go tomorrow,” said Moreland.

A day late perhaps, the Red Sox were back to work Friday.

Red Sox 7, Mariners 6 – Red Sox pull off ninth-inning comeback for first win

Sean McAdam

Moreland answers the call: Mitch Moreland has proven himself as a successful pinch-hitter, including, most famously, last October in the World Series. So when the Sox needed a big hit in the top of the ninth, trailing by two, Alex Cora knew who to turn to. The Red Sox had two spots to pinch-hit for in the inning, starting with the second spot up that frame. But Cora wisely chose Blake Swihart to hit for Sam Travis, saving Moreland for an opportunity to hit with men on base. Sure enough, Swihart reached when he was hit by a pitch and after Jackie Bradley reached on a fielder’s choice, Cora summoned Moreland. “Alex always a good feel for that stuff,” said Moreland. “(Being in that spot) is definitely not ideal. But when you get to that situation, or think you might be in it, you just try to prepare the best you can and be ready for it when it comes. That’s kind of my game plan going in. The more experience you have (pinch-hitting), the more you can prepare.” Moreland, who said he first started to ready himself by taking swings as far back as the fifth inning, laid off a couple of sliders in from Seattle reliever Hunter Strickland then got a fastball. Moreland smoked the ball into the right-field seats.

Barnes assumes closer’s role — for now: Alex Cora has been loathe to reveal his plans publicly when it comes to the closer’s job, but for one night anyway, the assignment went to Matt Barnes. After Moreland’s three-run, pinch-hit homer in the ninth, Cora turned to Barnes, who retired the side in order, with the last two by strikeout. “I was just trying to go out there and close the door on the game, honestly,” said Barnes, downplaying any suggestion of permanence. “Any time you get in a situation like this, when the guys give you the lead late after we’d been down, you don’t want to be the guy to give it up. So I was just locked in on trying to do my job and put up a zero.” Cora, too, stopped short of saying that Barnes would have the job full-time. “We trust these guys — all of them,” he said. “We’ll stay with the plan. The game dictated for Barnes to be in for the ninth.”

Eovaldi got squared up: Nathan Eovaldi’s start wasn’t any better than Chris Sale’s on Thursday. Like Sale, he was susceptible to the long ball, allowing three homers in the first two innings. Even the balls that didn’t leave the ballpark were belted hard. The M’s hit seven balls 100 mph or greater when it came to exit velocity and totaled six runs against him over the first four innings. “That was strange,” said Cora of how hard the Mariners were mashing against Eovaldi. “I just feel like I didn’t execute my pitches when I was ahead in the count,” said Eovaldi. “I left a couple of sliders down the middle, and same with some splitters and fastballs. I’ve got to do a better job of executing when I’m ahead in the count.” With Eovaldi’s struggles, the Sox became the first American League team in the live ball era to allow six or more runs and three or more homers from their starters in the first two games of the season.

TWO UP

Christian Vazquez: After going hitless in his first two trips to the plate, Vazquez unloaded with a long homer to left in the top of the eighth, bringing the Red Sox to within two runs. If Vazquez is capable of providing some big hits from the ninth spot, the Red Sox lineup will be that much tougher for opposing staffs.

Brian Johnson: The lefty was sharp in the eighth inning, with his fastball reaching 92 mph. Johnson fanned all three hitters he faced, sending the Sox to the ninth with a chance to mount their comeback.

ONE DOWN

Colten Brewer: Brewer got through a scoreless sixth, but he wasn’t sharp, walking two of the first four hitters he faced before getting out of the two-on, two-out jam.

TURNING POINT

Cora identified the fifth inning when Eovaldi, who had been hit hard and allowed six runs in the first four innings, was able to give them one more. After Edwin Encarnacion reached on a throwing error by Rafael Devers, Eovaldi set down the next three in a row and saved the bullpen in the process. “I said at the time, if he gives us the next three outs, we’re going to win this game,” said Cora. “For how bad it was (at the start), he gave us the biggest three outs of the game because he gave us a chance to win.”

QUOTE OF NOTE

“We didn’t stop playing today. It was a cool game.” Alex Cora on the team’s comeback victory.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Mitch Moreland became the first Red Sox hitter to supply a pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later since Mike Carp did so on Sept. 11, 2013. With a solo homer in the sixth, his first of the year, J.D. Martinez is now batting .393 with four homers and 10 RBI in his last 15 games against the Mariners. UP NEXT

It’s the third game of the series at 9:10 (ET) with Eduardo Rodriguez (13-5, 3.82 in 2018) vs. RHP Mike Leake (10-10, 4.26 in 2018)

* The Athletic

Have the Red Sox settled on a closer? Well, sorta.

Jen McCaffrey

SEATTLE – Red Sox manager Alex Cora spent much of spring training telling reporters his plans for the closer’s role would be revealed on March 28 — meaning he’d wait until Opening Day.

Well March 28 didn’t go quite as planned. And March 29 almost didn’t either, until Mitch Moreland’s pinch-hit, three-run homer in the ninth inning propelled the Red Sox ahead of the Mariners (eliciting memories of Game 4 of the World Series in the process).

With a fresh 7-6 lead, the Red Sox bullpen door swung open and out came Matt Barnes, jogging across left field and through the infield, up to the mound as Boston’s closer — at least for this night.

Barnes needed just 12 pitches, eight of which were strikes, to shut down the heart of Seattle’s lineup. It marked his third career save and first since an 11-inning game against the Orioles in September 2017. But it didn’t feel alien to the pitcher, who was forged in the fires of last year’s postseason.

“The thing that has helped me the most was pitching in the postseason last year, in the ALCS and the World Series in particular,” Barnes said. “The fourth or fifth inning in those games is so incredibly high- leverage because every game and every pitch is so drastic in those scenarios, that honestly I tried to draw on that and draw on those experiences in high leverage situations, and try to replicate that going into these games.”

Just like you shouldn’t read too much into an ugly Opening Day loss, the same should be said for a come- from-behind victory in the second game. However, lasting takeaway from Friday’s game may be further clarity about what the Red Sox are trying to do in the ninth inning with a lead.

Barnes and Ryan Brasier have been the names mentioned all winter by the Red Sox as the pair competing for the closer’s role, but it’s likely less of a competition and more of a shared role based on match-ups.

Asked after the game why Barnes and not Brasier was slotted into that spot, Cora mentioned the part of the order had a lot to do with it. With the two-, three- and four-hitters up, a group that had collectively gone 3- for-8 to that point in the game, Barnes was the go-to reliever.

“I talked to him about a month ago about how we’re going to use him,” Cora said.

That may mean that Barnes is considered Option A, to be used against the opponent’s best in the final innings. That doesn’t mean it’ll always be him in the ninth, though. If the bottom of the order is due up and the opposition’s bench is thin, perhaps Brasier gets the nod. If it’s a close game and the heart of the order is up in the eighth inning, maybe Barnes gets that inning instead, leaving the ninth, and the technical “closing,” for Brasier.

“We kind of had an idea of where I was going to pitch,” Barnes said. “I didn’t know it was going to be the ninth inning before tonight. I kind of had an idea of the type of situation and AC (Cora) and Dana (LeVangie) and CB (bullpen coach Craig Bjornson) have been phenomenal in communicating that, not only this year but last year as well. You kind of prepare and you mentally lock in for a few innings in a scenario you could possibly be used and you kind of go about it that way.”

Added Cora: “We’re watching the game. The game dictated for Barnes to be in the ninth. I told Dana to pick up the phone. You saw Brasier getting up before. We’ve got people that can get people outs in the eighth, ninth innings, seventh.”

Part of the ambiguity with the closer’s role is to keep teams guessing. Eventually a pattern will emerge, but Cora and his staff clearly feel there’s no advantage to laying it out for their opponents ahead of time.

“If it’s not me in the ninth inning on a given night we have 100 percent faith in the other guy who is going to take the ball and close the game out for us,” Barnes said.

Despite it being just his third career save, Barnes learned quite a bit about closing from Craig Kimbrel over the previous four years. As a teammate and something of a student of Kimbrel’s, Barnes followed the veteran closer’s post-game workout regimen, studied his mentality on the mound, and tried to replicate his overall preparation.

“I was fortunate to have Craig here for multiple years and I learned a lot from him, the way he goes about his business and conducts himself,” Barnes said. “Tried to pull on some of that stuff.”

As for Saturday, Cora said Barnes will be available to pitch again; whether that’s in the seventh, eighth or ninth, remains to be seen. The score, the part of the lineup, and the overall game situation will all factor into the decision. Every game from here on out will provide more details to that usage pattern and how this unconventional plan will unfold.

* The Seattle Times

Mariners lose first game of season on pinch-hit home run in ninth inning

Ryan Divish

The Mariners were fortunate to escape disaster in the eighth inning Friday night. Cory Gearrin used a lulling pace and a perfect slider to escape a bases-loaded, one-out situation on a stunning 1-2-3 double play where Eduardo Nunez stopped running after the first out was made at home on his slow bouncer up the first-base line.

It’s the type of unexpected, game-changing play that seems to save a victory from an inevitable defeat.

But there was no sidestepping a ninth inning where the Mariners’ closer didn’t look right from his first pitch and command issues followed.

Right-hander Hunter Strickland entered the game trying to protect a two-run run lead and keep the Mariners unbeaten. But after giving up a leadoff double to Rafael Devers, tossing a wild pitch and hitting Blake Swihart with a pitch, Mariners manager Scott Servais and athletic trainer Rob Nodine came to the mound to see if he was injured.

The conversation was brief and Strickland remained in the game. He didn’t finish it.

After getting an out at home on a nice play by first baseman Ryon Healy on a ground ball and a perfect throw to catcher Omar Narvaez, Strickland fell behind 2-0 to pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland on a pair of sliders. Forced to throw a fastball, he gutted a 95-mph heater down the middle of the plate that Moreland hammered into the right field seats for a three-run homer.

It was Strickland’s final pitch of the night. While his replacement Roenis Elias kept the deficit to one run, the Mariners went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to suffer a 7-6 loss — their first of the season.

So what happened in the conversation between Servais and Strickland?

“Guys on the bench had noticed he was shaking his arm or whatever,” Servais said. “We went to the mound and talked to him there. He said, ‘I’m fine. I’ll get through it and get these guys out.’ Obviously, it didn’t work out for him.”

Strickland is one of the many new faces on this team. Servais doesn’t have the past relationship with him to know what is or isn’t a health issue. He trusted what Strickland was saying.

“I know he’s a pretty tough guy and he’s wired the right way and that he’s pitched through some things in his career,” Servais said. “You certainly have to trust your guys in that spot. And I do. I do trust Hunter. He just made a bad pitch to Moreland and left a ball up. He certainly wasn’t sharp as we’ve seen him in the season.”

Catcher Omar Narvaez knew something wasn’t right.

“I think he was kind of sore,” Narvaez said. “You could see by his actions. His slider wasn’t sharp enough like he normally has it. Once I saw his slider hit Swihart, I thought something was going on because he normally can do whatever he wants with his slider.”

Narvaez was in the meeting.

“We have to trust him,” he said. “I’m not the one who makes the decision. But we have to go with what we’ve got. And if he says he’s fine then we are going to keep working with him.”

Strickland had a large ice pack on his shoulder postgame, which is common for any pitcher, but he continually flexed his right hand as if to find feeling in it. It was something he was doing in the game.

“I had some tightness in the back of the shoulder,” he said. “I was all over the place. Everybody saw it. It wasn’t good at all. I just wasn’t comfortable. But that’s no excuse, I still have to make pitches regardless.”

The problems didn’t stem from any one pitch.

“It was just kind of gradual,” he said. “It was some tightness, and it just never loosened up.”

And even with the tightness, Strickland felt he was good enough to pitch in the situation.

“We never feel tip top every day anyway,” he said. “That’s just part of the job, and I didn’t get it done today.”

But will he get a chance to do the job again this weekend or in the near future? Servais said that the plan is for Strickland to get checked out by team doctors. It seems unlikely that he will pitch in the remainder of the series versus the Red Sox and a 10-day injured-list stint even as a precaution might seem logical. It would weaken a bullpen that is far from deep or experienced.

Seattle wasted another strong offensive showing. They banged out four homers, including three off Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi, giving them 12 on the season. But their defense cost them a run in the fifth inning and the bullpen couldn’t protect a three-run lead.

The circumstances surrounding the second start of rookie left-hander Yusei Kikuchi were slightly different Friday night. Unlike his first start in Tokyo where he was making history as the first Japanese player to make his major-league debut in Japan and pitching in a game that he knew would be the last for his hero, Ichiro, Kikuchi only had the moderately easier task of facing the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, a day after they were drubbed to start the season.

Facing a potent Boston lineup that is willing grind out at-bats and make pitchers work, Kikuchi gave the Mariners a solid outing in just his second big-league start.

Kikuchi pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

The Mariners’ first run came in the most unexpected of ways. Leadoff hitter Mallex Smith, who came into the game with seven career homers in 295 major-league games, picked up his eighth. Batting leadoff and facing flamethrower Eovaldi, Smith jumped on the second pitch he saw, yanking a fly ball over the wall in right field for his first career leadoff home run and a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners were a team expected to hit homers and had hit five in the opening game of the series, but Smith joining the party? Well, maybe there’s something in the new pinkish hue that is throughout T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners made it 2-0 via the long ball from a more expected source. Domingo Santana crushed a hanging breaking ball from Eovaldi into the visitors bullpen for a solo homer and a 2-0 lead. It was Santana’s third homer of the season and 10th run batted in.

One of Kikuchi’s few mistakes came in the second inning and it cost him a run. He left a fastball right down the middle to Xander Bogaerts. It resulted in a solo homer that cut the lead to 2-1.

But the Mariners answered immediately with, of course, another long ball. Catcher Omar Narvaez came into the game hitless in nine at-bats. But he broke the drought by pulling a line drive just over the right- field wall for another solo homer.

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Seattle continued to build its lead on Eovaldi. With runners on first and third, Ryon Healy smoked an RBI double off the wall in deep center to score a run. Smith and Dee Gordon followed with sacrifice flies to center to make it 6-1.

The Mariners gave back a run when Beckham made an error to start the fifth inning. The runner came around to score. Boston trimmed to lead to 6-3 in the sixth when J.D. Martinez annihilated a pitch from Kikuchi over the wall in center for a solo homer.

* Associated Press

Moreland 3-run HR in 9th, champ Bosox beat Seattle for 1st W

SEATTLE -- Mitch Moreland began warming up with swings in the Boston clubhouse around the fifth inning. Manager Alex Cora nearly used Moreland as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning but thought it would be better to wait.

Good choice.

"When you get to that situation or think you might be in it, you try to prepare the best you can and be ready for it when it comes," Moreland said.

Moreland connected for a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the World Series champion Red Sox rallied for their first win of the season, beating the Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Friday night.

A day after losing its opener 12-4, Boston bounced back by rallying from a 6-1 deficit, capping the comeback with Moreland's shot. It was the fourth pinch hit homer of Moreland's career, and he's the 12th player in Red Sox history with a pinch hit go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later.

"We wanted Mitch to hit with men on and he put a good swing on (it)," Cora said.

It was 6-4 when Rafael Devers opened the ninth with a double off closer Hunter Strickland (0-1), moved to third on a passed ball, and pinch hitter Blake Swihart was hit by a pitch.

Strickland got a huge out when Devers was nailed at the plate on Jackie Bradley Jr.'s groundball, but Moreland didn't miss a 2-0 fastball in the middle of the plate and lined into over the right field wall. Strickland was checked by a trainer earlier in the ninth but remained in the game.

Strickland said he had tightness in the back of his shoulder and was going to be looked at by team doctors.

"I was all over the place, everybody saw it. It wasn't good at all," Strickland said. "I just wasn't comfortable, but that's no excuse."

Matt Barnes pitched the bottom of the ninth to close out the victory for his first save since 2017. The Red Sox have a different look in the bullpen this year after closer Craig Kimbrel became a free agent -- he hasn't yet signed with a new team.

Cora remained coy about whether Barnes is the full-time closer.

"We were watching the game and the game dictated for Barnes to be in the ninth," he said.

Boston's comeback ruined another fine effort by rookie Yusei Kikuchi, who pitched six solid innings and left in line for the victory. After pitching well last week in Japan, Kikuchi showed his new hometown fans the mix that made him a prized signing by Seattle in the offseason.

Kikuchi allowed two earned runs and four hits, including homers by Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, and struck out five.

It was all for naught as Seattle's biggest concern entering the season -- its bullpen -- failed to come through. The Mariners traded Edwin Diaz, who led the majors with 57 saves last year, to the in a big deal during the winter.

WACKY EIGHTH

Christian Vazquez's home run in the eighth pulled Boston within 6-4 and the Red Sox missed a chance at more runs in the inning when Eduardo Nunez bounced into a 1-2-3 double play against Cody Gearrin to end the threat. Nunez stopped running to avoid being tagged by Gearrin, but the pause allowed Seattle to complete the inning-ending double play.

"There is nothing you can do there. You can run into it but it's such a weird play I think everybody in this room would have stopped, too," Cora said

SLUGGING SEATTLE

Seattle continued its slugging start to the season with three home runs off Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi, who lasted five innings and allowed six runs.

Mallex Smith hit his first career leadoff home run, Domingo Santana's torrid start continued with his third homer and Omar Narvaez's first hit of the season was a solo shot just fair down the right field line for Seattle. The Mariners have 12 home runs in four games, including eight in the first two against Boston.

TRADING PLACES

The Mariners added depth at catcher by acquiring Tom Murphy from San Francisco for minor league pitcher Jesus Ozoria. Seattle optioned David Freitas, who started on opening day, to Triple-A Tacoma to clear the roster spot.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (13-5, 3.82 in 2018) gets the start after setting a career-high in wins and a career-low ERA last season.

Mariners: RHP Mike Leake (10-10, 4.36 in 2018) makes his first outing since pitching one of Seattle's two exhibition games when the team was in Japan. It will be Leake's seventh career start vs. Boston.