The Sunday, August 16, 2020

* The Boston Globe

They’re history: Red Sox pitching officially reached a new low on Saturday

Alex Speier

Children and their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents across New England can convene — or at least connect via Zoom — on Sunday morning and marvel that in the 120-year history of the Red Sox franchise, no one has ever borne witness to the pitching carnage currently taking place.

On Saturday night, the Red Sox sent ace Nate Eovaldi to the mound. The righthander — memorably dominant in the 2018 in New York — represented the team’s most stabilizing presence.

But the anchor could not hold. Instead, the Yankees continued their season-long thrashing of Red Sox pitching, crushing three homers off Eovaldi en route to an 11-5 victory that introduced a new level of infamy to a beleaguered pitching staff.

The Red Sox have allowed at least eight runs in six straight games, all (shockingly!) losses. That never previously occurred in the history of the franchise. If the Sox give up eight or more on Sunday, their streak of games allowing a touchdown and two-point conversion will match a major league record.

“It seems like when it rains, it pours,” said Eovaldi. “Right now, we’re all kind of going through it.”

Indeed they are, in a way that has challenged the limits of comprehension. It’s become a David Lynch movie, an exploration of whether there is something so gruesome as to become aesthetically compelling.

The gory details since Monday:

52 innings

63 runs (10.9 runs per 9 innings, and tied for the most ever allowed by the Red Sox in a six-game stretch.)

55 earned runs (9.52 ERA)

84 hits

13 homers

.357 average/.427 on-base/.626 slugging

In 267 plate appearances and 1,049 pitches, Red Sox pitching has turned every opposing hitter into Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, a career .340/.447/.632 hitter. There have been some very talented players among the Rays and Yankees lineups, but nary a Gehrig in the bunch.

In any season, a six-game stretch along these lines would be painful. But this year, that’s 10 percent of the season, making it significantly likely the 2020 Red Sox pitching staff will distinguish itself as the worst in franchise history.

The highest ERA in franchise history is 5.02 in 1932, a dismal bunch with the worst winning percentage (43-111, .279) of all time by a Red Sox team. With Saturday’s loss, this year’s group is at 6.10, and their 6- 15 record (.286) likewise has them, about 35 percent of the way through the season, in view of the standard for futility.

There are reasons for this, of course. The Red Sox pitching staff is reduced drastically by the February decision to trade David Price, the season-long losses of their two best (Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez), and the absence to this point in the season of two of their best five relievers (Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor).

Contention has become virtually impossible, a notion publicly acknowledged by chairman Tom Werner on Friday. There’s a lot of losing left in front of the team during what amounts to an ongoing audition for future (2021 and beyond) roles in three rotation spots.

“It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day,” said J.D. Martinez. “It’s hard to when your offense is always on the field, just tired. Whenever you’re out there for 45 minutes, 30-45 minutes before you’ve got to get in there and hit, it’s not easy.”

Resignation seems to be taking hold. On Saturday afternoon, Ron Roenicke tried to address the spreading atmosphere of defeat. He talked about the need to avoid getting consumed by the enormity of the team-wide struggles, and to instead focus more narrowly on executing individual pitches.

“When you make quality pitches, you get people out,” said Roenicke. “It’s no different here than in the minor leagues.”

But it is. The hitters are better, the audience is larger, and the measuring stick of 120 years of history more easily accessed. Pitchers with minor league track records of success are not necessarily equipped to handle elite big-league hitters, a notion the Red Sox have encountered in game after game after game.

Several hours and 11 runs after delivering his pep talk to the pitchers, Roenicke could do little but shake his head. Optimism had been drained by yet another dismantling.

“It’s just tough when you send Nate out there and he gets hit,” he said. “Just, it’s hard.”

Indeed it is. And as difficult as it has been for the Red Sox staff to compete to this point, an ominous date looms on the horizon: By August 31, the team may well deal some of its best pitchers.

The bottom may still be to come.

Yankees rough up Red Sox again, continue domination of rivalry

Peter Abraham

NEW YORK — Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke met with his forlorn pitching staff before Saturday night’s game against the Yankees and presented them with what he thought was good news.

Roenicke and pitching Dave Bush said they planned to use the pitchers in better-defined roles moving forward. The idea was to give them an opportunity to re-set after a string of terrible games.

“Just try and ease their minds a little bit. Trying to free them up and get them to stop pressing and be themselves,” Roenicke said.

But it somehow got worse. Nate Eovaldi had his worst start as a member of the Sox in an 11-5 loss.

That’s six consecutive losses for the 6-15 Red Sox. They have allowed eight or more runs in each of those games, a staggering 38 in the last three. The team’s average has swelled to 6.09.

“It sucks. It’s definitely not fun,” said J.D. Martinez, who saw two hits and two RBIs wasted. “It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.”

Clint Frazier homered and drove in five runs for the Yankees. Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez also homered as Eovaldi allowed eight runs over 5⅓ innings.

The Sox are planning to call up Chris Mazza to face the first-place Yankees on Sunday night in what would be his first major league start. He’ll be the 11th starter tried in 22 games.

“We need to start playing good baseball. We’re not playing good baseball,” said Roenicke, who night after night takes the heat for roster decisions made above him. “We’re lacking in something it seems like every day. We don’t play good defense one day and then we don’t hit another day or we don’t pitch.”

As the Red Sox stagger, the Yankees feast. They are 5-0 against the Sox this season, scoring 40 runs. The Yankees had 11 hits off Eovaldi and three relievers, eight for extra bases.

The Sox have lost 13 of the last 14 games between the teams including eight in a row for the first time since 1985.

Eovaldi was one of the heroes of the 2018 championship run and was rewarded with a four-year, $68 million contract. He is 3-3 with a 6.32 ERA in 28 games since.

“It’s extremely frustrating, for sure,” Eovaldi said.

Eovaldi took a 3-2 lead into the fourth inning and to that point had thrown only 40 pitches.

With two outs and a runner on first, he got ahead of Sanchez 0 and 2. Sanchez came into the game having struck out in 44 percent of his plate appearances this season.

The third pitch was just off the plate and Sanchez took it. Sanchez fouled off a cutter to stay alive then appeared to have struck out when he took a curveball at the bottom of the strike zone.

Umpire Jansen Visconti didn’t call it, which drew some comments from the Red Sox dugout audible in the press box.

The next pitch was a splitter that stayed over the plate and Sanchez hit it 391 feet into the left-field seats. It was his fourth of the season, the second in as many games.

“I felt like there were a couple of close calls,” Eovaldi said. “I felt like I made a lot of really good pitches tonight and I felt like they laid off a lot of those as well.”

Eovaldi wasn’t unlucky in the sixth inning. He just pitched poorly.

In a 4-3 game, Eovaldi allowed a leadoff single by Gleyber Torres and a into the right-field corner by Mike Tauchman. This time, Eovaldi struck out Sanchez. But Frazier drove the first pitch he saw — a cutter that did nothing — into the right-field stands for his second home run.

When Brett Gardner doubled, that was it for Eovaldi. Gardner scored when Tyler Wade doubled off Heath Hembree.

Matt Barnes, who hadn’t pitched since last Sunday, started the seventh inning and allowed three runs, two on a single by Frazier.

Yankees starter James Paxton (1-1) wasn’t particularly impressive, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings. All three runs came in the third inning.

Martinez drove in two runs with a sharply hit ball down the left-field line but was thrown out going to second. The next hitter, Xander Bogaerts, homered to left field.

Tauchman, the left fielder, settled under the ball on the warning track then watched it clear the wall. It was fourth of the year for Bogaerts, one of the few Sox players who has met expectations.

The Sox hitters start every game knowing even six or seven runs may not be enough. They’ve averaged five runs in the losing streak.

“I think we’ve got to refocus and go out there and do the best we can do,” Martinez said. “I feel like our offense has been putting up runs. It is what it is.”

Frustration bubbling as Rafael Devers tries to chase his way out of a slump

Alex Speier

Rafael Devers has spent much of the 2020 season beating himself up — literally.

The sight of the 23-year-old whacking himself in the head with his hand or bat after a swing that yields either a foul ball or a swing-and-miss is now familiar. It attests to a dramatic departure from the joyful image projected by the third baseman in his 2019 breakout season.

It’s not hard to see the roots of his growing frustration. His extraordinary performance last year as a 22- year-old — when he hit .311/.361/.555 with 32 homers and an incredible 90 extra-base hits (third most in Red Sox history) — feels like a distant memory in 2020.

After his 2-for-5 in Boston’s sixth straight defeat, 11-5 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Devers was hitting just .189/.241/.338. Among the 173 players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title entering Saturday, his .549 OPS ranked 160th.

“Startling,” manager Ron Roenicke said of the numbers posted thus far by Devers, as well as some other Red Sox.

Three weeks is a short stretch, and one that might be dismissed if it fell somewhere in the middle of a 162- game season. But in this compressed season, when three weeks is one-third of the entire campaign, the 23- year-old looks like someone who is having a hard time shouldering his struggles.

“He wants to perform at a real high level, and to do that, he pushes himself,” said Roenicke. “I wish he wasn’t so hard on himself, but you can’t just tell somebody, ‘Don’t be hard on yourself.’ ”

Perhaps his offensive woes have contributed to a poor defensive showing. Despite a few excellent plays, Devers has committed a major league-high eight errors, a number that matches or exceeds 11 teams. Or perhaps his offensive and defensive woes are unrelated, and he’s simply struggling on both sides of the ball.

Whatever the case, a player whom the Sox view as a franchise cornerstone — in many ways, the most important and valuable member of the major-league roster — is instead amidst one of the worst seasons thus far in baseball, ranking in the bottom few players in Wins Above Replacement.

So what gives? How to explain the massive dropoff?

For Devers, the lines between elite production and substandard production are typically drawn by the perimeter of the strike zone. When he makes contact on pitches in the strike zone, he’s still hitting rockets, posting a .344 average entering Saturday with a .656 slugging mark and an average exit velocity of 93.4 miles per hour this season. But when chasing pitches out of the zone, he’s just 1-for-13 (.077) with no extra-base hits and an average exit velocity of 82.9 mph.

Darren Fenster, one of Devers’s minor league managers, once noted that at times in the early minors, the hitting prodigy seemed willing to swing at a rosin bag. This year, he’s regressed from an aggressive approach to his past as a hacker.

Devers has swung at 46.0 percent of pitches he’s seen outside of the strike zone, the seventh-highest chase rate of a qualifying hitter in the big leagues. In other words, he’s swinging more often than just about anyone in the game at the pitches against which he can do the least, something that’s contributed to a skyrocketing rate (nearly doubled to 32.4 percent) and his poor numbers.

“He’s still a little wild out of the zone. He knows it,” said Roenicke. “When I talk to him about it, it’s always the same thing: ‘I’ve got to stop swinging at those pitches that are too far out of the zone.’

“He’s trying to not do it. There’s a fine line between being aggressive and still seeing the ball and making sure you’re not chasing those pitches. So, he’s out there working on it every day and in the cages and at batting practice.”

For the Red Sox and Devers, there is some solace he’s worked his way out of such predicaments in the past. With High A Salem in 2016, he reined in a hyperaggressive approach that made him one of the least productive hitters in the league through mid-May to have a huge final three-plus months. In 2018 with the Red Sox, he moved beyond a poor showing that lasted into August to become far more selective in September and the postseason, where he contributed a number of key hits.

The Sox remain hopeful that Devers — still the second-youngest player on their roster — can re-enact some of those adjustments again.

“He’s just really swinging hard instead of letting his good hands work,” hitting coach Tim Hyers said recently. “We know he’s one of the best hitters in the game whenever he gets the ball in the zone and relies on his hands.”

Those hands have spent as much time hitting Devers’s own helmet as they have lately, a snapshot of the futility and frustration that has surrounded the 2020 Red Sox.

Jonathan Lucroy doing what he can for Red Sox, himself in Pawtucket

Peter Abraham

NEW YORK — At 34, Jonathan Lucroy isn’t just the oldest player working out with the Red Sox reserve group at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. He’s the oldest by nearly three years.

Lucroy’s 1,203 career games in the majors are 503 more than all of the other players around him combined.

“They’re calling me dad,” Lucroy said.

Lucroy, a catcher and first baseman, opened the season with the Sox, but played two innings in one game without getting an at-bat before he was designated for assignment on July 29.

Lucroy cleared waivers and stayed. His time since has been a series of intrasquad games in an empty Triple A ballpark.

“No one wanted me. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen still,” Lucroy said. “I’m here to play the game and work to get better. If the Red Sox need me, I’m available. If another team needs me, I’m sure we can figure something out and I can go and play for them.”

The Red Sox have done Lucroy a favor by giving him a spot in the 60-man player pool. They have Christian Vazquez and Kevin Plawecki catching in the majors and two backups with major league experience in Pawtucket, Jett Bandy and Juan Centeno.

If the Sox eventually take Lucroy out of the player pool, it won’t be a surprise. For now, he is paying the organization back by being what amounts to a player-coach.

“I’m trying to use my time here to help the guys out, the young players,” Lucroy said. “I’ve been pretty fortunate and blessed to have a good amount of time in the game and been around a number of great players, Hall of Fame players.

“I try to take what I learned from those guys and help the guys here. That has been very fulfilling.”

A veteran catcher can often be a positive influence on a young because he can judge their progress based on his experience behind the plate and as a hitter. did that for the years with the Red Sox, pushing , Jon Lester, and others.

Now Lucroy, a two-time All-Star, is influencing Bryan Mata, , and the other prospects at the Pawtucket camp.

“I try to talk to those guys about at-bats, what I look for. It helps them with their pitching and game- calling,” Lucroy said. “Hopefully I can leave a legacy. Maybe it’ll help them be a little bit more successful.”

Lucroy said the Sox have some good young pitchers who need to learn pitch-to-pitch consistency.

“I’m trying to work with them on execution, throwing strikes, and attacking the zone,” he said. “When they can do that, they can move up. I don’t want to smother anybody and force myself on people. I want them to come to me.

“If I see something on the field I’ll say it once and leave it alone. Then they can come to me about anything. I’m open to helping them any way I can.”

An actual rotation? For the first time since the start of the season, the Red Sox seem to have a rotation.

Manager Ron Roenicke said Saturday that Chris Mazza would start against the Yankees on Sunday, with Martin Perez in the series finale on Monday night.

Zack Godley and Kyle Hart will face the on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before the rotation flips back to Nate Eovaldi.

“It’s not often I give you guys all those names,” Roenicke said before Saturday night’s game against the Yankees.

The Red Sox have had “TBA” listed as the starter for many of their games, using 10 different pitchers in 21 games, with little success. Through Friday, Sox starters had a 6.48 ERA. Only the Tigers, at 7.47, have been worse.

Lining up five starters is an attempt at bringing some consistency to what has been an unsettled situation. One game every five days is workable. Two or three becomes a problem.

“I can’t say that we’re going to definitely get there. But if we can get closer to it, that would be good,” Roenicke said.

Mazza will be making his first major league start, but pitched successfully as a starter in the minors for the Mets last season. He faced the Yankees in relief on Aug. 1 and went 2⅔ scoreless innings.

Hart made his major league debut on Thursday and allowed seven runs in two-plus innings. It was a mess, but the Sox want to give the 27-year-old lefthander another chance.

“If you don’t have a good start, you’re not going to get another one? I don’t want them to think that way,” Roenicke said. “Go out there again and relax and pitch the way that you can.”

Godley has allowed 13 earned runs over 10⅓ innings in three starts, but he had a 4.75 ERA in 81 major league starts prior to joining the Sox.

Josh Taylor gets closer Lefthanded reliever Josh Taylor should join the team in the coming days. He tested positive for COVID-19 in July and was late getting started. The same was true for lefty Darwinzon Hernandez, but he is working on a starter’s schedule in Pawtucket and being built up. He is scheduled to work three innings on Sunday. If that goes well, he could return to the majors with an eye on being further built up . . . The Sox will face J.A. Happ on Sunday. The 37-year-old lefty is 11-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 25 regular-season appearances against the Sox.

Will Flemming a pleasure to listen to on WEEI’s Red Sox broadcasts

Chad Finn

Of all the broadcasts I have watched and heard as the sports leagues have relaunched, the most satisfying and authentic have been the Red Sox radio broadcasts on WEEI.

In these most abnormal of times, the broadcasts sound like they could come from any regular summer. I probably don’t have to say it, but that is welcome.

Now, I recognize that part of the reason the radio broadcasts sound so normal is because your eyes can’t contradict your ears like they do while watching a game on television. The ambient crowd noise on radio is unobtrusive, but the juxtaposition of hearing it on a television broadcast at the same time you’re seeing the 35,000-plus empty seats at Fenway Park can be hard to reconcile.

Most of the appeal of the broadcasts, even as the team is increasingly unappealing, is due to the work of Joe Castiglione and Will Flemming. Castiglione is the comfortable constant, having joined the Sox booth back in 1983, when current NESN broadcasters Dennis Eckersley and were still players.

Flemming is newer to the scene, having been recalled from Pawtucket as part of the rotating cast of broadcasters WEEI used alongside Castiglione last year. (”I guess I won Broadcast Survivor last year,” joked Flemming.)

Down to call the vast majority of the 60 games this year, Flemming, who has a multiyear contract, has been a smooth fit alongside Castiglione.

Flemming brings an easygoing style, a self-deprecating sense of humor, great respect for Castiglione, and the welcome mind-set that baseball is supposed to be an escape, now more than ever.

“The fundamental job is to tell them what’s going on with the Red Sox, obviously,’' said Flemming, whose older brother, Dave, is a play-by-play broadcaster for the . “That’s why they’re listening. But the second track of it is people listen to baseball and all sports to be entertained and to escape their regular lives. And I think this year more than ever that is more important. I think that I consciously this season more than ever try to find the positive and happy in everything.

“And I also try consciously to not complain about the lack of fans, the weirdness. No one in the universe wants to hear me of all people, one of the 10 most lucky people in the world to be actually at Fenway Park, nobody wants to hear me complain about what we don’t have. It’s more important than ever that we stay positive and optimistic and focus on the blessing that is baseball while we have it.”

There are greater degrees of difficulty to calling games this season. Castiglione and Flemming (as well as Sean McDonough and Lou Merloni, when they are part of the broadcast) are situated in their familiar perch above and to the right of home plate during home games. But because radio broadcast teams are not allowed to travel per MLB mandate, they must call road games from a monitor in their Fenway booth. That can get tricky, not that Flemming is complaining.

“On radio, I think one of our most important jobs is to immediately react with the tone of our voice to tell the listener, ‘Hey, you might be on your back patio taking a drink, having a chat with your family, but right now J.D. Martinez just hit a ball that might well leave the ballpark.’ I think that’s really important to know within milliseconds of his contact. And that is much, much harder off of monitors.

“And so the home games, although the energy of a full park is not there and that part is missing, they feel somewhat similar. But on the road games off the monitor, it’s tougher to read the speed and trajectory of the ball, especially in the corners.

“My philosophy on that from the beginning has been, ‘We know we’re going to make mistakes. The best thing to do about it is not only admit it but then just to laugh at yourself about it.’ ”

Flemming’s perspective and gratitude he has for his job was shaped by life experience. His appreciation for being a Red Sox broadcaster comes from having had a past career — he began his work life in Silicon Valley in the world of tech startups after graduating from Stanford — that he discovered was not a passion.

“I realized that I just wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t pursue broadcasting one time for real,’' said Flemming, who with the support of his then-fiancée and now wife, Jennifer, decided to make the career change in 2009, landing a job for $500 a month to call home games for the Astros’ Single A team in Lancaster, Calif.

“It consumed me for the next 10 years and involved an enormous amount of sacrifice and would not have been possible without support from my family and my friends,’' he said. “There were many times that you think it might be the time to get off the road and go do something more practical and more reliable and more dependable.”

The next year, the Virginia native, who grew up listening to call Orioles games (Miller now shares the Giants booth with Dave Flemming), moved on to the Nationals’ Single A team in Potomac, Md. He spent two years there, then three with the Pirates’ Triple A team in Indianapolis. He beat out more than 100 candidates in 2015 for a coveted job with the , which has been a pipeline to the majors for broadcasters, including his brother.

“Anyone who follows baseball broadcasting knows that getting a PawSox job is a major trajectory- changing moment,’' he said.

Flemming became familiar to Red Sox fans last year, hosting the pregame and postgame shows and often joining Castiglione and the other assorted broadcasters in the booth. Flemming was an especially good fit with Castiglione and McDonough, whose sharp sense of humor often targeted Flemming, leading to good- humored parrying.

Flemming’s role has expanded during this strangest of seasons. It’s one of the few positive developments related to the Red Sox in 2020.

“It’s definitely not what any of us would have expected,’' he said. “Yet I still feel a really profound sense of gratitude and honor to be a part of even in this strange environment. To be a part of people’s lives and hopefully to offer them some measure of escape. No matter how different and strange and challenging it is because of all the constraints placed on us, it’s still an amazing thing to be a part of it.”

Some new angles for baseball’s official scorers this season

Peter Abraham

As one of the official scorers at Fenway Park since 2001, Bob Ellis has trained his eyes to cover as much of the field as possible when the ball is put in play.

Determining whether the batter should be credited with a hit or the fielder charged with an error is contingent on an assortment of variables that have to be calculated quickly.

Now imagine trying to do that while watching on television.

As part of the protective measures in place for this season because of the pandemic, is having official scorers work from home instead of from their usual seat in the front row of the press box.

“That was the mandate, to keep as many people out of the park as we could to adhere to the safety guidelines,” said MLB vice president Laurel Prieb, who oversees the scorers as part of his job. “The official scorers were among the more difficult choices. But health and safety took precedence.”

MLB employs approximately 80 scorers, and many are in the age range where contracting COVID-19 could cause serious health problems or even death.

“I’d rather be at the ballpark,” said Ellis, who is 68. “But I also understand we’re experiencing a national health crisis. I’m happy we’re still able to score the game.”

MLB went to great lengths to bring the ballpark into the homes of the scorers.

In addition to their local television feed, scorers have a computer program called NORAD that allows them to see what’s called a “mini-feed” of different camera angles, including one from a camera high above home plate that shows the entire field from a bird’s-eye view.

“This is not exactly what they signed up for. But they’ve embraced it,” Prieb said. “The direct feed they receive is faster than TV and clean, there are no breaks.”

Scorers also have the ability to look at replays before rendering judgment.

Ellis explained that one of the trickier calls he had this season was on July 25, when Alex Verdugo went from first to third on a shot to left by Jackie Bradley Jr. The left fielder threw wild trying to get Verdugo, Bradley Jr. advancing to second on the error (and thus credited with only a single).

The game feed didn’t show Bradley Jr. paused before he went to second, only taking the extra base because of the bad throw, but the overhead camera caught it. Such calls can affect a pitcher’s .

“I miss the camaraderie at the park, but I feel like we’re getting the calls right,” Ellis said. “That’s the most important thing.”

The league also made sure the scorers had adequate high-speed Internet service, and even arranged for backup scorers in other cities to be ready in the event of a power outage.

“It’s quite a system,” said Howie Karpin, who has scored Mets and Yankees games for the last 22 years. “Nothing compares to being at the game, but this is the best alternative. Baseball did a good job with it.”

Chaz Scoggins, a longtime baseball writer now retired from the Lowell Sun, has been scoring games at Fenway Park for 42 years. Being at the game has been a mainstay in his life. But he understands this is how it has to be.

“I’m a technological Luddite,” Scoggins said. “It took me a while to get used to it, but I’m getting faster and more comfortable as time goes on.

“I’d rather be at the ballpark because we can see things the cameras don’t show. But we’re adapting to the situation. Once you learn how to toggle back and forth, you can see what you need to see.”

The scorers meet with MLB officials via Zoom once a week to discuss calls or better ways to use the video system. They also can keep in contact with team officials at the ballpark via the Slack messenger system.

“I’ve had to learn a lot of new technology I had never heard of before this year,” Karpin said. “I would have been willing to go to the park, but I appreciate that MLB is looking out for us.”

Scoring games is an important duty within baseball. Long gone are the days when teams paid one of the beat writers a few extra bucks to be the official scorer. Scorers now attend offseason seminars and have their decisions evaluated.

It’s not just fans and media who pay attention. Players get annoyed quickly if they think they were robbed of a hit or unjustly charged with an error.

David Ortiz once burst into a press conference was conducting to complain about a call, and a few years later received a scolding from , then MLB’s executive vice president of on-field operations, for complaining about a scoring call.

There was a time when scorers would venture down to the clubhouse to rehash calls with the players, and sometimes altered their decision as a result.

Now MLB has a system where teams and players can formally appeal decisions to a committee.

“Scoring has gotten better and more consistent over the years,” Scoggins said. “A lot of work goes into and everybody is working together. Hopefully we’ll all be able to get back to the ballparks next season. I miss it.”

Caught in a draft? Red Sox aren’t necessarily set up The Red Sox went into the weekend with the second-worst record in the game. Awful as that is, the payoff would be a high draft pick and a chance to take one of the two great Vanderbilt righthanders, Kumar Rocker or Jack Leiter (son of former big leaguer Al Leiter), in the June draft.

Not so fast. As Globe colleague Alex Speier points out, the March agreement between MLB and the Players Association gave commissioner Rob Manfred the right to modify the draft order if the season does not go 81 games.

Obviously, the season will not go 81 games, but whether Manfred will exercise his power isn’t certain. As one MLB official said, “That’s not high on the list right now.”

Manfred conceivably could use winning percentage from 2019-20 to determine the order. But if MLB is going to crown a champion this season, it seems only fair that the worst team should get the first pick next June, and so on.

The Sox have not had a top-three pick since 1967, when they took righthander Mike Garman third. That’s also the highest they’ve ever picked.

A few other observations about the Red Sox:

▪ Carroll Hardy, who died last Sunday, was remembered in Boston for being the only player ever to pinch hit for Ted Williams. Hardy also replaced Williams in left field in the ninth inning of The Kid’s last game.

Hardy’s athletic résumé ran deep. He was the 34th pick of the 1955 NFL Draft. The 102nd pick that year was a quarterback from Louisville named Johnny Unitas.

Hardy played one season for the San Francisco 49ers and caught four touchdown passes from Y.A. Tittle. But Hardy decided the NFL was too rough and switched to baseball.

▪ and Brock Holt were locker mates at Fenway Park and became good friends. Now separated, they were a combined 7 for 63with one extra-base hit and 26 through Friday.

Holt, who signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with Milwaukee, had started only eight games, and Benintendi is on the with a rib cage strain.

Benintendi had an .806 OPS in 333 games from 2016-18. It’s .751 in 152 games since. The idea that he may be just an average player didn’t seem possible in 2018.

▪ The Red Sox signed in 2011 when he was 16. He developed quickly in their system and was one of the four prospects traded to the Padres for Craig Kimbrel in 2015.

Margot, now with the Rays, finally got a chance to play at Fenway Park this past week, nine years after he signed with the Sox. He was 10 for 14 with three doubles, five runs, and three RBIs in four games.

▪ Tampa Bay righthander got the against the Red Sox on Monday and started on Tuesday. Jim Lonborg did that all in one day on May 13, 1972.

While pitching for the Brewers, Lonborg faced six Twins to finish the completion of a suspended game the Brewers won, 4-3, in 22 innings. Lonborg then started the regularly scheduled game and went four innings, giving up two earned runs.

Get this: After the 22-inning game finished, the regularly scheduled game lasted 15 innings before the Twins won, 5-4.

George Scott, who played five years for the Brewers between his stints for the Red Sox, played both games in their entirety and was 2 for 14 with a home run. Revere native also played in both games for the Brewers.

Kittredge, unfortunately, injured his elbow Tuesday and will need Tommy John surgery.

▪ The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv will add a chest protector Moe Berg wore when he caught for the Red Sox to its new exhibition.

Berg played 15 years in the majors and was with the Sox from 1935–39. He then joined the Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) and worked as a spy in Europe during World War II.

If you haven’t already, read “The Catcher Was A Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg” by Nicholas Dawidoff to learn more about the fascinating Berg.

ETC. Dodgers go to bat for democracy Dodger Stadium will serve as a polling place for five days leading up to the Nov. 3 election. It’s believed to be the first time a ballpark will be used in that capacity.

More Than A Vote, a nonprofit organization founded by LeBron James that opposes voter suppression, made the deal with the Dodgers and the state of California.

In Los Angeles County, voters can choose from approximately 1,000 polling places. For many, Dodger Stadium will be an easy choice given its vast parking lots and relatively easy access.

If you think about it, major league ballparks are a perfect place for voting during the pandemic. Most are centrally located in big cities and are accessible by car or public transportation. They also offer large, open- air concourses to set up dozens of socially distanced voting booths complete with nearby bathrooms.

More Than A Vote also has made deals with NBA arenas in Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, and Sacramento to be voting centers.

While not in conjunction with More Than A Vote, the Red Sox are exploring the idea of making Fenway Park available as a polling place.

It’s easy to envision ballparks in Chicago, Denver, Miami, New York, Pittsburgh, and other cities also helping to serve the local populace. Many ballparks are built at least in part by taxpayer funds, so providing taxpayers a place to vote makes sense.

Aiding democracy is a worthwhile endeavor to support. This is something MLB and the Players Association should get behind.

Extra bases Teams often manipulate service time for young stars, timing their debut so the club maintains what amounts to seven seasons of control and the player has to wait an extra year for free agency. did the reverse to the Mets, deciding to opt out of the season shortly after he gained enough service to become a free agent after the . Stroman, who had not pitched this season because of a calf strain but was expected back soon, cited concerns about coronavirus. But had he opted out before the season, he would not have been credited with service time. Rookie manager Luis Rojas, who has been refreshingly frank in his dealings with the media, said he was “blindsided” by the decision. The Mets traded two solid pitching prospects — Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson — to the Blue Jays to get Stroman last season. Kay is pitching well out of Toronto’s bullpen and Woods Richardson is a former second-round pick with a high ceiling. All the Mets ended up with was 11 starts from Stroman … The Diamondbacks signed Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $85 million contract because of his championship pedigree and what they believed would be at least four more years of high-end pitching. But Bumgarner was 0-3 with a 9.35 ERA before going on the injured list with what was said to be a mid-back strain. More worrisome is that the velocity in his dropped from 91.4 m.p.h. to 87.8 … MLB has not allowed in-person scouting at games or for workouts at the training sites, and that is unlikely to change. The league remains committed to the idea of having only those people necessary to conducting the game be allowed in the park. But as the Aug. 31 trade deadline approaches, MLB will coordinate video and data sharing from the alternative sites so teams can better judge the players there. Teams have a choice of whether to take part in sharing the information … Mookie Betts hit leadoff only six times in his first 17 starts. The Dodgers like him hitting second behind Joc Pederson and ahead of Clay Bellinger to balance the lineup. I understand the merit of that. But I’d prefer to get my best player the most plate appearances possible. Betts leading off puts pressure on the opposing pitcher right away … The Indians put Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac on the restricted list for breaking curfew in Chicago and hanging out with a group of friends in violation of safety protocols. That is a particularly serious offense, considering Cleveland pitcher Carlos Carrasco had a bout with leukemia last year and manager Terry Francona is dealing with several health issues. Clevinger issued an apology. Plesac, in a truly mind-boggling bit of stupidity, filmed a video while driving that blamed the media for being “evil” in reporting what he did, and defended his actions. That’s right, he defended breaking rules by filming a video while driving … In case you missed it, the Orioles beat the Phillies, 10-9, in 10 innings Tuesday thanks to the first leadoff two-run inside-the-park home run in history. Thanks to the tiebreaker rule, Austin Hays led off the top of the 10th with Andrew Velazquez at second and homered on a line drive to center that bounced past a diving Roman Quinn and rolled all the way to the wall. The Phillies scored in the bottom of the inning, but stranded two runners to end the game … Happy birthday to Jin Ho Cho, who is 45. The righthander from South Korea was 2-6 with a 5.72 ERA in 13 games for the Red Sox from 1998-99. The Sox were active with South Korean pitchers under Dan Duquette. They signed Sun-Woo Kim in 1997, Cho and Seung Song in 1998, and Sang-Hoon Lee in 1999.

* The Boston Herald

Why Ron Roenicke held meeting with Red Sox pitchers before Saturday’s loss to Yankees

Steve Hewitt

In the midst of a historically bad week of pitching, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke, doing everything he can to correct the struggles, held a meeting with his pitching staff at Yankee Stadium before Saturday night’s game against the Yankees.

The meeting didn’t yield immediate results. The Red Sox lost their sixth in a row in an 11-5 defeat to their rivals, which marked the first time in franchise history they allowed eight or more runs in six consecutive games. But the manager hoped the meeting could help a struggling staff that’s now given up 63 runs in six games in the long run.

“I just gathered them together and trying to ease some of the, I don’t know if you call it stress, or what you call it, but just tried to ease their minds a little bit and try to free them up and to not press,” Roenicke said. “Just being themselves and making pitches. It’s no different here than in the minor leagues. Our taxi squad, when you make quality pitches, you get people out, so it’s just trying to repeat those pitches and anyway, it’s just tough when you send Nate (Eovaldi) out there and he gets hit and just, it’s hard.”

The reason why it’s hard is obvious. With Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez lost for the season, the Red Sox have just two starters they expected to enter the season with in Eovaldi and Martin Perez, and Roenicke is doing his best to patch together the rest with journeymen and guys who were supposed to be depth pieces.

Eovaldi, originally the No. 4 starter in the rotation before David Price was traded, and Perez, an offseason pickup, are being relied upon to produce quality starts whenever they’re on the mound. The Red Sox are 1- 11 this season when anyone else starts.

It leaves almost no margin for error for Eovaldi and Perez. With the state of the staff as it’s constituted, the Red Sox are barely capable of competing for a playoff spot if both of them are pitching well, let alone when one or both has a poor outing, like Eovaldi had Saturday as he gave seven runs, included three home runs, in the loss.

“I try and treat every start, I’m going out there, I’m not trying to give up any runs, ever,” Eovaldi said. “It’s been frustrating in a way. You want to be able to go out there, give the team the best chance to win. I haven’t been able to do that in the last couple starts. Frustrating.”

Eovaldi clearly isn’t the biggest problem. One thing Roenicke wanted to address in his Saturday meeting was trying to define roles for his pitching staff, which features a lot of new faces.

Last season, the Red Sox had five clear-cut starters and roles were easier to define. But Roenicke doesn’t have that luxury this season as he tries to put the puzzle pieces together on what fits, and where he can put his players in the best position to succeed.

“It was a different group,” Roenicke said of the 2019 team. “We had five starters that we thought were really good and that makes a difference. That’s why I wanted to talk to the pitchers today because it is different and we put some different requirements on some of the guys that instead of having defined roles, which I told them I’d try to do a little better on that, but we mix guys up a lot.

“Some guys have opened up, some guys are long and so we’ve tried to make that a little easier for them, so mentally they’ll be prepared for more of a role when they come in, so some guys I told won’t have that role. Some guys, I need them to be able to cover the second inning through the rest of the game, but others, maybe that eases them a little bit and we’re able to have more quality outings.”

Nathan Eovaldi continues Red Sox’ historic pitching woes in 11-5 loss to Yankees

Steve Hewitt

Not even their No. 1 starter, their de facto ace this season, could save the Red Sox from their woes.

If there was ever a time for the Red Sox to right their ways, it was with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound at Yankee Stadium, where he’s dominated since arriving in Boston in 2018. But the right-hander had his worst start of the season, and his mistakes were too much for the Red Sox to overcome in their sixth consecutive defeat, an 11-5 loss to the Yankees on Saturday night.

“It sucks,” J.D. Martinez said. “It’s definitely not fun. It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.”

The Red Sox dropped to 6-15, already 8½ games back of the first-place Yankees just three weeks into the season. Here are the takeaways:

The Yankees made Eovaldi pay: When Eovaldi is on, his electric fastball is moving quickly to the top of the zone, where opposing hitters can’t get over it. But the few times he missed on Saturday, it was costly.

For a second consecutive start, Eovaldi gave up at least two homers, and for the first time since March 29, 2019, he gave up three. Each of them — a two-run homer to Gio Urshela in the second, a two-run shot to Gary Sanchez in the fourth and a three-run blast to Clint Frazier in the sixth — were on mislocated .

Sanchez’s homer in the fourth was particularly costly. The Red Sox led 3-2 and Eovaldi was cruising, when with two outs, he had an 0-2 count on Sanchez. He threw a ball before his fifth pitch of the at-bat, a 1-2 curveball, hit the bottom of the strike zone but wasn’t called for an inning-ending strikeout. One pitch later, Sanchez took advantage of his extra life by blasting his third homer in three games into the left-field seats.

“I feel like there were a couple of close calls,” Eovaldi said. I felt like I made a lot of good pitches tonight, and I felt like they laid off a lot of really good ones as well. A curveball that bounced in the dirt. I don’t know what their approach was, but I felt like they had a really good approach tonight.”

Eovaldi’s recent dominance against the Yankees came to a close Saturday night. Since joining the Red Sox in 2018, in five starts against them coming into Saturday, Eovaldi had a 0.31 ERA, but gave up seven runs to a lineup that didn’t even include Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton.

And though the Red Sox rely on Eovaldi to give them a chance to win every time he takes the mound, he hasn’t been sharp lately. He has a 7.71 ERA in his last three starts, and saw his season ERA spike to 5.93 in Saturday’s loss. But that’s still the second-best mark of four Red Sox pitchers who have made multiple starts this season.

Historic pitching woes continue: Eovaldi’s struggles were just the continuation of what’s been a historically poor week for Red Sox pitching. The night marked the first time in franchise history that the Red Sox have allowed eight or more runs in six consecutive games.

The Red Sox have continued to get off on the wrong foot, putting their offense behind and forcing them to play catch up. Urshela’s two-run homer in the first marked the 14th time in the Red Sox’ 21 games this season that they’ve given up multiple runs in the first three innings. They have allowed a total of 53 runs in the first three innings this season, which is the most in MLB.

Since last Sunday, when Mitch Moreland’s walk-off homer sent the Red Sox to a series win over the Blue Jays, they’ve allowed 63 runs, which is tied for the most in history over a six-game stretch. To put that in perspective, both the Dodgers (60) and Indians (57) have given up less than that all season in 21 games each.

“It’s both sides of the ball,” Eovaldi said. “It’s pitching, it’s hitting, it’s defense. It seems like when it rains, it pours. Right now, we’re all kind of going through it. We’ve got to find a way to get back, have fun playing the game, go out there, try to focus on the little things we did right tonight, build off of that, and get back out there tomorrow ready to go.”

Signs of life: The Red Sox have been waiting for the heart of their order to click together, and for a brief moment Saturday, they did.

In what amounted to be the only bright spot of the night, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts strung a rally together to give the Red Sox a lead in the third. Jumpstarted by Devers’ one-out double, Martinez followed with a game-tying, two-run single, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch it to a double. Bogaerts followed with his fourth homer of the season, a shot that barely cleared the left-field wall.

Devers, who entered the night with an MLB-leading eight errors at third, made a pair of impressive plays at the hot corner. But those positives were not nearly enough to overcome the Red Sox’ inept pitching staff.

Red Sox Notebook: Kyle Hart earns second chance as starting rotation takes shape

Steve Hewitt

It’s still not much, but the Red Sox have formed at least an appearance of a starting rotation this week.

Still without a lot of options to choose from, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke revealed Saturday that Chris Mazza, who has made one appearance this season, and Martin Perez will start the final two games of this weekend’s series with the Yankees.

Zack Godley will make his fifth start of the season Tuesday at home against the Phillies and rookie left- hander Kyle Hart, who made his first career start in Thursday’s loss to the Rays, will get another chance on Wednesday.

The decision to start Mazza on Sunday night, when he will oppose the Yankees’ J.A. Happ, was simple: the right-hander pitched 2⅔ scoreless innings of relief against the Yankees in a loss two weeks ago.

“So with those good (2⅔) innings, it earned him the right to go ahead and start again against them,” Roenicke said.

Hart gave up seven runs (five earned) in two innings in his debut, but Roenicke didn’t want to close the book on the left-hander over that performance.

“I think really just trying to want to give somebody more than just one start,” Roenicke said. “It’s hard when you put a lot of pressure on a guy, if you don’t have a good start, you’re not going to get another one. I don’t want him to think that way. …

“It’s hard enough to do well and perform here in the big leagues, so I think with Kyle, just knowing yeah, go out there again and relax and pitch the way you can and hopefully we get a good start from him.”

The Red Sox are desperate for answers in their rotation — or at least one — after losing both Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez for the season. Nathan Eovaldi and Perez are the only two to have provided any stability to a staff that went into Saturday night with the second-worst starters’ ERA (6.48) in baseball. Roenicke was still hopeful that a consistent rotation could come together.

“I think the two guys is hard,” Roenicke said. “I think originally when we were thinking about four, I didn’t think that was an issue at all. Then we got down to three, and I was still like OK, we can do that, but now it got down to two, it makes it difficult. …

“I can’t say that we’ll definitely get there, but I think if we can get closer to it, it would be good.”

Offensive numbers ‘startling’

Roenicke has seen the numbers produced through one-third of the season by the players expected to be the Red Sox’ best hitters this season and almost can’t believe it. Rafael Devers entered Saturday batting .174 with just 12 hits and 24 strikeouts, J.D. Martinez was at .219 and even Xander Bogaerts was at .274 after a recent hot stretch.

“I think when I look at a lot of their numbers so far, I guess you could say startling,” Roenicke said. “I know what these guys can do. I know if we were playing six months, where they’d probably end up at the end of the year. … It is only 20 games but it is a third of the season.

“I’m hoping these guys get it going, I look around the league and I’ve been checking it out lately and there’s a lot of great hitters right now that are also not hitting. It’s not just our club. I know what we can do.”

Taylor expected to be activated this week

Roenicke had said Thursday that left-hander Josh Taylor could join the Red Sox in New York before the end of the Yankees series, but he’s still not sure. Either way, Taylor, whose season was delayed two weeks because of a positive COVID-19 test, is expected to be activated this week.

“I’m not exactly sure where he’s going to join us,” Roenicke said. “Kind of depends also on what we have going on the next couple of days. But he’s getting close. We know he threw a couple of days ago and he’s probably at the point where we can slide him in. I know they wanted at least two or three days after that last outing. We’ll see if we see him here or shortly after we get back home.”

Darwinzon Hernandez, who is continuing to build up, is scheduled to throw a three-inning outing this weekend in Pawtucket and could also be activated this week.

* The Providence Journal

Historic Red Sox pitching struggles continue

Bill Koch

We’re watching the worst pitching staff in Red Sox history as we sit here on this Saturday night.

That’s no hot take. It’s not even a mild opinion.

No collection of Boston pitchers has ever allowed as many as eight runs in six straight games. No Red Sox team has ever posted an earned-run average north of 6.00 and only one has dared to go beyond 5.00.

The club founded in 1901 and formerly known as the Americans, Speed Boys, Puritans and Pilgrims is being battered by the opposition like never before in 2020.

This 11-5 loss to the Yankees came with what seemed to be Boston’s best hope taking the ball. Nine hits and eight earned runs later, Nathan Eovaldi saw his personal ERA swell to 5.93. The owner of the only two Red Sox quality starts in 21 games appeared a bit shell-shocked as he watched the final three innings play out.

“It seems like when it rains, it pours,” Eovaldi said. “Right now we’re all kind of going through it. We’ve got to find a way to get back to having fun playing the game.”

That wouldn’t seem remotely possible for Boston at the moment. The Red Sox have lost six straight and been doubled up by a whopping 63-30 in the process. Mitch Moreland’s walkoff homer against the Blue Jays last Sunday seems ages ago.

“It sucks,” said J.D. Martinez, who singled twice and drove in a pair of early runs. “It’s definitely not fun. It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.”

Martinez’s liner to left was the highlight as Boston plated three runs in the top of the third inning. But no lead is safe for the Red Sox at the moment, and certainly not one that stands at just 3-2. New York wiped that out against Eovaldi in the fourth when Gary Sanchez smashed a two-run homer to left and the recurring nightmare started all over again.

“We’re not playing good baseball,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “We’re lacking in something, it seems like, every day.

“Maybe we don’t play good defense one day. Maybe we don’t hit another day or we don’t pitch. We need to start playing good baseball and I think the wins will start coming. Until we do that it’s going to be tough.”

Is it possible with this roster? Martinez pulled the curtain back a bit on what it’s like to be a hitter when your pitching staff is incapable of slowing opposing bats. Boston currently sports a 6.10 ERA, more than a run north of the team-worst 5.02 it logged in 1932.

“It’s hard to hit when your offense is always on the field just tired,” Martinez said. “Whenever you’re out there for 30, 45 minutes before you’ve got to get in there and hit it’s not easy. It’s tough.”

Roenicke announced a five-man rotation prior to Saturday’s game, one that still features something of a bullpen collection on Sunday night. Chris Mazza will be called up from the alternate site to make the start and isn’t likely to go all that deep. Roenicke intimated not having five starters and some semblance of a routine is taking its toll on some Red Sox pitchers.

“We’ve put some different requirements on some of the guys instead of having defined roles,” Roenicke said. “I told them I would try to do a little better on that. But we’ve mixed guys up a lot.

“Some guys have opened up. Some guys are long. So we’ve tried to make that a little easier for them so mentally they’ll be prepared for more of a role when they come in.”

Boston is obviously missing the likes of Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez. But the Red Sox have allowed two runs or more 14 times in the first three innings and seven runs or more in 11 games. Those two left- handers weren’t going to start every night, and they might consider themselves lucky to not be a part of this ongoing ignominy.

Red Sox set five-man rotation through Wednesday

Bill Koch

The Red Sox might finally have some semblance of a pitching rotation after using 10 different starters through their first 20 games.

Nathan Eovaldi took the ball Saturday night against the Yankees in the Bronx. Chris Mazza and Martin Perez will finish the four-game set, which runs through Monday night.

The Red Sox return home briefly next week for a two-game series with the Phillies at Fenway Park. Zack Godley and Kyle Hart will start against Philadelphia before Boston hits the road again to battle the Orioles.

“Not often I give you guys all those names,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said.

Eovaldi boasts the only two quality starts of the season for the Red Sox. He’s the lone pitcher to work through the sixth inning, doing so twice. Boston is a miserable 1-11 in games where Eovaldi and Perez don’t start.

“We know we need to come out winning ballgames as opposed to now – we have to make up some games,” Eovaldi said Friday. “We know we have to come back and we’ve got to do everything we can to start winning ballgames.”

Red Sox starting pitchers entered Saturday with a 6.48 earned-run average, the second-worst mark in baseball. Only the Tigers and their ghastly 7.47 ERA were ranked lower than Boston. The Diamondbacks (6.29) were the only other team above 6.00 and just nine teams check in above 5.00.

“We’re trying to be a little bit more specific in what we’re doing,” Roenicke said. “I know we can’t do that all the time because of the personnel we have.

“We’ve talked about if a couple guys step up in the starting rotation and give us the good feel that we can keep sticking with them every five or six days. That allows things to settle down a little bit more.”

The Red Sox are down a pair of left-handers with Chris Sale (left elbow) out due to Tommy John surgery and Eduardo Rodriguez (myocarditis) experiencing a complicated recovery process from COVID-19. Boston also traded David Price to the Dodgers and allowed Rick Porcello (Mets) to leave in free agency during the offseason.

“I think originally we were thinking about four (starters), and I didn’t think that was an issue at all,” Roenicke said. “Then we got down to three and I was like, ‘Okay, we can do that.’ Now when we got down to two, it makes it difficult.”

The Red Sox are in the midst of a philosophical shift ushered in by chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. Boston didn’t bother to fill all of its rotation spots prior to and planned on using an opener at least once each turn. The Red Sox posted a 4.95 ERA last season, which ranked just 19th among the sport’s 30 clubs.

“It’s more difficult, yes,” Roenicke said. “But we kind of went through the same thing last year too, and we did have a set rotation. So it’s not always just that.”

Hart made his debut Thursday against the Rays and recorded just six outs in a 17-8 defeat. Tampa Bay plated a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning and put its first six men on base in the third. Hart was a top-30 prospect in the Boston system per MLB.com and represented an increasingly rare homegrown starter drafted and developed successfully by the Red Sox.

“It’s hard when you put a lot of pressure on a guy – ‘If you don’t have a good start you’re not going to get another one,’” Roenicke said. “I don’t want them to think that way. We certainly would never tell them that.

“But I think if it happens a lot they see that and they feel that way. We don’t want to put that extra pressure on them. It’s hard enough to do well and perform here in the big leagues. Just go out there again and relax and pitch the way that you can, and hopefully we get a good start from him.”

Michael Chavis riding five-game hitting streak

Bill Koch

Michael Chavis seems to have found a little something at the plate, but don’t ask him to explain it in detail.

The Red Sox infielder has broken out of what was an 0-for-25 skid that started last season. Chavis entered Saturday on a five-game hitting streak, including a double, two triples and a home run.

“There were definitely some adjustments that were made, but for me being a feel hitter is definitely something that’s big,” Chavis said. “It’s tough to explain. There’s not really something I can relate to in normal life.”

Chavis has made all but one of his starts at first base, working in a platoon with Mitch Moreland. He’s 8- for-23 with a pair of homers against left-handed pitching, earning him a start against Yankees southpaw James Paxton.

“You can’t really tell somebody what a feel is,” Chavis said. “You just kind of know within your swing there are certain moves you make. You take a swing and it feels right.”

Chavis is likely to make back-to-back starts this weekend. New York sends another left-hander to the mound Sunday night in J.A. Happ.

Rafael Devers looking to stay in the strike zone

Bill Koch

Rafael Devers fouled off a Jonathan Holder fastball and smacked himself in the jaw with the head of his bat.

The Red Sox third baseman wasn’t one of the players made available after Friday night’s game against the Yankees. We can’t be sure whether or not he deliberately struck himself in frustration or was simply careless whipping the bat with his right hand.

But Devers was certainly upset with missing what he felt was a hittable pitch. He singled up the middle later in the at-bat, knocking in a consolation run in a 10-3 Boston defeat.

It’s been a difficult start for Devers after a breakout 2019 season. He entered Saturday night batting just .174 with a .549 OPS. Chasing outside the strike zone has been a common issue throughout the first 20 games, and opposing pitchers are taking advantage.

“He’s still a little wild out of the zone,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “He knows it. When I talk to him about it, it’s always the same thing – ‘I’ve got to stop swinging at those pitches that are too far out of the zone.’”

Devers has an uncanny ability to put the bat on the ball no matter where it’s located, and that’s working against him at this point. He’s walked in just 4.1% of his 74 plate appearances and struck out in 32.4% of them. Those numbers were 6.8% and 17.0%, respectively, through 702 plate appearances last season.

“He’s a good bad ball hitter,” Roenicke said. “But consistently, when he was really good last year for that long period of time, he still chased – but it wasn’t that often. And he also didn’t miss mistakes.

“Now he just seems to foul that one and then all of a sudden he’s chasing after that. He knows it. He’s trying to not do it. There’s a fine line between being aggressive and making sure you’re still seeing the ball and not chasing those pitches.”

Roenicke is also well aware of how much pressure Devers might be putting on himself at the moment. The 23-year-old is fiercely proud and determined, especially when it comes to pleasing his teammates. Devers set the bar high with 32 home runs, 54 doubles and 90 extra-base hits last year.

“I wish that he wasn’t so hard on himself, but you can’t just tell somebody, ‘Don’t be hard on yourself,’” Roenicke said. “I was hard on myself and I couldn’t stop it. We’ll see how he comes out of it.”

As Sox struggle, hopeful eyes turn to Pawtucket

Bill Koch

PAWTUCKET — Consider one particular evaluation from Bruce Crabbe when attempting to project the current members of the Red Sox farm system.

It concerns a player who was drafted in the fifth round out of a Tennessee high school in 2011. Mookie Betts started his professional career in the Gulf Coast League and played 71 games with short-season Class-A Lowell in 2012.

“I’d have never said at this time when Mookie was 20 years old in Lowell that he was going to be who he is right now,” Crabbe said this week. “I probably would have said no, he’s not going to be an everyday player on our team when I first saw him.

“He was a good player and athletic, but I never thought he would be where he is today.”

Betts wound up rushing through Boston’s system, playing just 54 games with Double-A Portland and 45 games with Triple-A Pawtucket. He debuted with the Red Sox in 2014 and never looked back, developing into a World Series champion and an Most Valuable Player. His contract extension with the Dodgers, a 12-year deal for $365 million, made Betts one of the game’s richest players.

Now in his 16th year with the Red Sox organization, Crabbe has served on staffs from the Spinners to Triple-A Pawtucket. This is his seventh season as the bench coach with the PawSox, and he’s currently working with members of Boston’s player pool at the alternate site.

Red Sox fans will increasingly turn to McCoy Stadium in search of help if the current dismal trend in the big leagues continues. Boston is off to a 6-14 start and looks hopeless, a full five games behind the Blue Jays for last place in the A.L. East. It’s the worst beginning authored by a Red Sox team since going 4-16 in 1996.

According to SoxProspects.com, eight of the top 17 players in Boston’s system are currently working in Pawtucket — Jeter Downs, Bryan Mata, Bobby Dalbec, Jarren Duran, Jay Groome, , C.J. Chatham and Connor Wong.

Crabbe and PawSox manager Billy McMillon are in charge of day-to-day simulated games and workouts. They currently count a valuable asset among their players in Jonathan Lucroy, an 11-year veteran who was outrighted to the alternate site on Aug. 1.

“I’ve been blessed to be in the game for a long time,” Lucroy said. “I’ve been around a lot of really, really good players. Great players — Hall of Famers. Just trying to help these guys here and, really, anybody.”

How much assistance could Boston receive from its system in the next few years? Baseball America ranks the Red Sox system 23rd among the game’s 30 franchises. But as Crabbe’s initial evaluation of Betts should remind you, growth among certain players isn’t linear.

“What role, who’s to say,” Crabbe said. “But I believe a kid like Jeter Downs could turn into an everyday position player on the Red Sox team. And I hate just singling out Jeter, because I think there’s a lot of potential.

“I think there are a couple of pitchers down the road who could fit in. I like Connor Wong behind the plate. I think (Jhonny) Pereda has shown me something behind the dish — another new acquisition. I think Bobby could fill in at a corner spot.

“I couldn’t say when. There’s some youth here that projects.”

Downs was the 32nd overall pick by the Reds in 2017 and was traded twice before his 22nd birthday. Betts, David Price and $48 million went to the Dodgers for Downs, Wong and Alex Verdugo in a February blockbuster. Downs, a middle infielder, totaled 24 home runs, 35 doubles and 24 stolen bases across two levels in 2019.

“We still have our differences,” Crabbe said. “I think he feels like I jump him a little bit more than others. He knows that it’s well meant when I do let him know what he did wrong — as well as when he does right.”

Dalbec tested positive for COVID-19 and was late reporting to Summer Camp, perhaps missing a chance to make the 30-man roster for Opening Day. He reached Triple-A for the first time last season and has homered a combined 59 times over the last two years. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder projects as a corner infielder.

“I think Bobby is one of the more refined position players from the young kids that are here,” Crabbe said. “He’s got the actions that show both at third and first.”

Duran could be seen as the most similar to Betts in terms of his background. The seventh-round pick out of Long Beach State in 2018 transitioned from second base to the outfield thanks to his raw athleticism and speed. Duran has racked up 21 triples and 43 doubles in 223 professional games.

“I’ve seen potential with the bat and the way he runs,” Crabbe said. “He’s got all the tools to have a position in our outfield in the big leagues in the future. Not saying how soon, but there’s some room for him to be pretty good.”

Boston pitching entered Saturday with a 5.86 earned-run average — only the Phillies (5.95) were worse. The Red Sox used 10 starters through their first 20 games, and Nathan Eovaldi remains the only one to finish six innings. Houck reached the PawSox for the first time in 2019 while Mata made his final 11 starts with the Sea Dogs.

“We’ve just got to be more consistent with throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count,” Lucroy said. “The most basic analytic you can have is throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count.

“Strike percentage is a huge part of being successful. Being able to locate in counts and execute and expand in certain counts when you can, whether you’re going for a punchout or weak contact.”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox allow 8-plus runs in six straight games for first time in franchise history, have given up 63 runs during losing streak

Christopher Smith

Boston made history Saturday evening ... just the wrong kind.

The 2020 Red Sox became the first team in franchise history to give up eight or more runs in six straight games (h/t Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who was first to mention this streak).

Boston lost 11-5 to the at Yankee Stadium to drop its sixth straight game. The Red Sox have been outscored 63-30 during the six losses.

With a 6-15 record (.286 winning percentage), Boston is on pace to finish with 17.1 wins for its shortened 60-game schedule.

The Red Sox also dropped to 1-13 at Yankee Stadium since the start of the 2019 season. Boston dropped to 0-5 vs. the Yankees this year. The Sox are a combined 1-10 against the Rays and Yankees.

Nathan Eovaldi dropped to 1-2 with a 5.93 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in five starts. He allowed eight runs, all earned, nine hits (three homers) and two walks while striking out three in 5 ⅓ innings. Gio Urshela (374 feet), Gary Sanchez (391 feet) and Clint Frazier (378 feet) all took him deep.

The Yankees scored four runs against Eovaldi during the bottom of the sixth inning to increase a 4-3 lead to 8-3. Frazier’s three-run homer highlighted the rally.

The opposition has batted .306 against Eovaldi this season.

Red Sox starting pitchers have posted a 6.95 ERA (80 ⅓ innings, 62 earned runs) in 21 games.

Red Sox offense

Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Alex Verdugo each had two hits for the Red Sox. Martinez stroked a two-run single to tie the game 2-2 in the third inning.

Xander Bogaerts belted a 380-foot home run in the third inning to give Boston a 3-2 lead.

Verdugo’s 433-foot, 108.3-mph homer in the ninth cut the deficit to 11-4. added an RBI triple to make it 11-5.

Kyle Hart to receive another start for Boston Red Sox vs. Phillies on Wednesday after struggling in MLB debut; Chris Mazza to start vs. Yankees on Sunday

Christopher Smith

Red Sox left-hander Kyle Hart will receive a second start vs. the Phillies at Fenway Park on Wednesday despite struggling in his major league debut.

Hart allowed seven runs (five earned runs), seven hits (two homers) and three walks while striking out four in a loss to the Rays on Thursday.

“It’s hard when you put a lot of pressure on a guy — if you don’t have a good start, you’re not going to get another one,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “I don’t want them to think that way. We certainly would never tell ’em that. But if it happens a lot, they (the young starters) see that and I think they feel that way. We don’t want to put that extra pressure on them. It’s hard enough to do well and perform here in the big leagues. So I think with Kyle, just go out there again and relax and pitch the way you can. And hopefully we get a good start from him.”

Roenicke also announced the Red Sox will recall Chris Mazza from Triple-A Pawtucket to start Sunday vs. the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Mazza pitched 2 ⅔ innings of relief against the Yankees on Aug. 1, his only appearance this year.

“It earned him the right to go ahead and start against them,” Roenicke said.

Martin Perez will start against the Yankees on Monday. Zack Godley will pitch vs. the Phillies at home Tuesday.

Red Sox pitching ranks worst in the major leagues in WHIP (1.65), 28th in ERA (5.86 ERA) and 29th in batting average against (.288).

The Red Sox rank 28th in starter ERA (6.48), last in starter WHIP (1.76) and last in starter batting average against (.297).

Sunday vs. Yankees: Chris Mazza

Monday vs. Yankees: Martin Perez

Tuesday vs. Phillies: Zack Godley

Wednesday vs. Phillies: Kyle Hart

Darwinzon Hernandez could ’slip into’ Boston Red Sox starting rotation eventually after likely being activated as reliever

Christopher Smith

The Boston Red Sox likely will activate left-handed pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez from the 10-day injured list this coming week. He’s expected to return as a reliever, but Boston eventually could move him to the starting rotation later this season.

Hernandez missed most of summer training camp after testing positive for COVID-19 back home in Venezuela.

He will throw three innings in his next outing at Boston’s alternate training site, Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium.

“After that, we’ll see where he is in his pitch count and how he did,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said via Zoom on Saturday. “Does he maintain his velocity, which means he’s back with his strength again? And if he is, then sometime next week he could also be available."

Roenicke said the lefty likely will return as a reliever with length.

“I would think at the beginning as a reliever and maybe try to build him up a little bit better there also,” Roenicke said. “And then if he slips into that starting role, then we’ll try to do that.”

Hernandez posted a 4.45 ERA in 29 outings (one start) as a 22-year-old rookie last year. He struck out 57 in 30 ⅓ innings, but he also walked 26 batters.

He allowed four runs (three earned) in 3 innings in his only career start vs. the Rangers last June 11.

He recorded a 3.95 ERA in 27 ⅓ innings of relief.

Taylor to return this coming week

Josh Taylor, who spent most of summer training camp quarantining in a local hotel room after testing positive for coronavirus during his intake screening, should be ready to return to the Red Sox this coming week.

He pitched at Pawtucket on Friday, retiring the four batters he faced.

“He’s probably at the point we can slide him in,” Roenicke said.

Taylor enjoyed a strong rookie season for the Red Sox in 2019. The lefty posted a 3.04 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and .229 batting average against in 52 outings (47 ⅓ innings).

Kyle Hart’s brother watched lefty’s Boston Red Sox debut through Bleacher Bar fence: ‘I knew we’d find a way to be here'

Chris Cotillo

BOSTON -- Even though fans aren’t allowed to watch games inside Fenway Park this summer, nothing was going to stop Ryan Hart from watching his little brother’s major-league debut in person.

Hart, the older brother of Red Sox rookie Kyle Hart, flew from Memphis to Boston on Wednesday ahead of Kyle’s debut against the Rays on Thursday afternoon. When the lefty delivered his first pitch against the Rays at 4:30 p.m., his brother had the best view possible -- through the gate looking out onto the field at The Bleacher Bar in center field.

Accompanied by his girlfriend, Kim, and Kyle’s agent, Nello Gamberdino, Hart watched as his brother completed his unlikely journey to the majors. Though it was difficult to track pitches through the chain links of a garage door, Hart had the distinct honor of being one of just a handful of fans to see his Kyle’s first big-league pitches in person.

“I knew we’d find a way to be here,” Hart said. “It’s certainly not how I imagined by brother’s major- league debut but I couldn’t see myself missing this opportunity. I’d regret it forever.”

After sending righty Ryan Weber to the club’s alternate training site over the weekend, the Red Sox decided to give a start to Kyle Hart, a former 19th-round pick from Indiana who had dominated during intrasquad games at Pawtucket this summer. Once the Sox informed the lefty of his promotion, his brother began making last-minute travel arrangements to come to town.

Even though he knew he wouldn’t be allowed inside Fenway Park and likely wouldn’t get to speak with Kyle due to COVID-19 protocols, Hart wanted to be in Boston for his brother’s special moment. Knowing that he had a free place to stay (Kim’s mother and stepfather live in Massachusetts) and some vacation days banked from his job at International Paper in Memphis, Hart booked his flights and began trying to figure out the best spot to watch the game.

Hart had been to Boston twice before and had attended two games inside Fenway before Thursday. Those visits included trips to The Bleacher Bar, where Hart knew he’d be able to see the field.

Hart called the bar on Wednesday, asking if his party could reserve one of two tables with a clear view of the field for his brother’s start. The bar staff said they would accommodate him, and the group was in their seats 90 minutes before first pitch so they could watch Kyle warm up in the outfield.

“It’s not bad,” Hart said with a beer in hand. “It would be great if they’d be able to raise the garage door but understandable with COVID restrictions and protocols.”

As Kyle navigated through a long first inning against the Rays, Ryan watched intently, glancing back and forth between the field and NESN feed on a nearby TV. He celebrated Hart’s first two big-league strikeouts and lamented an error that let Tampa Bay take an early 1-0 lead.

With his arm around Kim, Hart was living and dying by every pitch his little brother threw.

“I’m probably more nervous than he is,” Hart said. “For me, I’m overcome with excitement, joy and emotion. We’re very proud of him and not just for this accomplishment, but for the man he is and the character he has. It has honestly gotten him here and earned this for him.”

Kyle’s outing didn’t exactly go as planned, as the Rays tagged the rookie for seven runs (five earned) in 2+ innings and eventually won, 17-8. But for a player who had undergone Tommy John surgery in college and signed for a low, $5,000 bonus, the opportunity to pitch in the big leagues represented a major milestone.

“All the people reaching out, I felt so much support,” the lefty said after the game. “I was really proud to go out and pitch and know that I had that many people watching me. People that probably hadn’t seen me pitch in a long time, just because it’s hard to follow in the minor leagues. That part made me really happy.”

Earlier this week, Kyle Hart said Ryan -- who is eight years older -- was the most excited and anxious person in his circle, noting that their parents were surprisingly measured when he broke the news of his promotion. For Kyle, it was no surprise that Ryan was willing to drop everything and come to Boston for the game.

The brothers weren’t able to talk in person after the game, but Ryan and Kim did get a chance to wave to Kyle as he got on the team bus for the Sox’ trip to New York and talked to him on the phone. Kyle appreciated that his brother put his life on hold to see him pitch.

“That’s the kind of guy he is, to jump on a plane and go have some beers while I make my debut,” Kyle said earlier this week on MassLive’s The Fenway Rundown podcast. “I wouldn’t trade him for the world. He’s a gem.”

After his start, Kyle called the outing an “unforgettable experience,’ even if the results weren’t what he had hoped. It’s safe to say his big brother felt the same way.

“We just wanted to be here,” Ryan Hart said. “Even if we can’t be in the ballpark, being as close as we can to the action was the next best thing.”

J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox slugger: ‘It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day'

Christopher Smith

The Red Sox’s 11-5 loss to the Yankees in New York on Saturday capped off one of the most embarrassing weeks in franchise history.

Mitch Moreland belted a walkoff homer Sunday, then came blowout after blowout after blowout. Boston dropped their next six straight games by a combined score of 63-30. The 2020 Red Sox on Saturday became the first team in franchise history to give up eight or more runs in six straight games.

“It sucks,” J.D. Martinez said via Zoom. “It’s definitely not fun. It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.”

The Red Sox starting rotation ranks last in the major leagues in WHIP (1.78) and batting average against (.302). No other starting rotation in baseball has a batting average against of .300 or higher. Boston’s starter ERA (6.95) ranks 29th out of 30 teams.

“It’s both sides of the ball,” Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi said. “It’s pitching. It’s hitting. It’s the defense. It seems like when it rains, it pours. And right now, we’re all kind of going through it. But we’ve got to find a way to get back and have fun playing the game."

The Red Sox have been outscored 133-93 for a negative-40 run differential. Boston posted a positive-229 run differential in 2018 when it won a franchise-record 108 regular season games.

Boston is 6-15 (.286 winning percentage) and on pace for 17.1 wins during this 60-game schedule.

The Sox are 1-10 against the Yankees and Rays. They have been outscored 87-46 (-41 run differential).

“It’s hard to hit when your offense is always on the field just tired,” Martinez said. “Whenever you’re out there for 45 minutes, 30-45 minutes before you’ve gotta get in there and hit, it’s not easy. It’s tough. It’s one of those things where I think we’ve got to kind of refocus and go out there and do the best we can do really. Keep putting competitive at-bats (together). I feel our offense has been putting up runs. So it is what it is.”

Martinez, Boston’s top hitter, went 2-for-4 with a two-run single vs. the Yankees on Saturday but he’s batting only .234 with a .737 OPS (on-base + slugging percentage).

Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. also each recorded two hits in the loss. But Devers is batting .189 with a .578 OPS while Bradley is at .234/.581.

Christian Vazquez — who batted No. 5 in the order Saturday — started off as one of Boston’s most productive hitters to begin the season, but his average and OPS have dropped to .227/.689.

“My hips are sliding,” Martinez said. “I’m drifting uphill. Can’t stay on my backside so I loop the barrel. Have to make decisions further out in front. So there you go.”

Martinez added, “Whenever your hips slide, you have to make decisions more out in front. Whenever you’ve got to make decisions more out in front, you don’t recognize pitches. ... It’s been my hips. Go to the source: the hips.”

Martinez said he felt better at the plate Saturday after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against Gerrit Cole and Adam Ottavino on Friday.

“I hit a couple home runs the other day and then I went up against Gerrit Cole and Ottavino. They’re no slouches I don’t think. It’s about what? $400 mil between those two guys? Those guys are tough guys to be facing when you’re locked in. So today I felt like I hit the ball well. Before yesterday, I hit the ball well. So, yeah.”

* RedSox.com

Eovaldi can't contain Yanks as skid hits 6

Ian Browne

Fair or not, Nathan Eovaldi has been thrust into the stopper role during a season in which the Red Sox don’t have Chris Sale or Eduardo Rodriguez.

Each of his starts take on added importance, particularly a night like Saturday, when the Red Sox came in with a five-game losing streak marred by shoddy pitching, mental mistakes and an offense still not clicking up to its considerable capability.

Instead of getting things back on track for Boston, Eovaldi was a catalyst in the sharp nosedive continuing with an 11-5 loss to the Yankees that extended the losing streak to six games.

The righty was knocked out with one out in the sixth after giving up nine hits, eight runs and three homers.

At 6-15, the Red Sox have the worst record in the American League and the most losses in MLB. During the losing streak, Boston has been outscored, 63-30. By giving up eight runs or more for the sixth straight game, the Red Sox set an ignominious franchise record.

“Yeah, it sucks,” said Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez. “It’s definitely not fun. It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.”

The rivalry has been as one-sided as it can be so far this season, with the Yankees taking the first five matchups between the clubs by an aggregate score of 40-18.

“We need to just start playing good baseball,” said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. “We’re not playing good baseball. We’re lacking in something it seems like every day. Maybe we don’t play good defense one day, maybe we don’t hit another day or we don’t pitch, so we need to start playing good baseball and I think the wins will start coming, but until we do that, it’s going to be tough.”

For a short time early in the game, it looked like the Sox had a chance to snap the skid, getting a two-run single from Martinez and a solo homer from Xander Bogaerts for a 3-2 lead in the top of the third inning.

But Gary Sánchez mauled a misfired splitter by Eovaldi for a two-run homer in the fourth. And in the sixth, the Yankees went for the knockout, highlighted by a three-run shot by Clint Frazier.

“The first inning, I gave up a two-run homer to [Gio] Urshela,” Eovaldi said. “We answered back, got back in the lead, and again, I got hurt by the long ball tonight. It’s extremely frustrating for sure.”

There’s a lot of weight being put on not only Eovaldi, but also Martín Pérez, the only other mainstay in the rotation. On Sunday, journeyman Minor Leaguer Chris Mazza will become the 11th pitcher to make a start for the Red Sox in the first 22 games of the season.

The Red Sox just hope they can somehow hand the ball to Pérez on Monday night with a chance to split this four-game series.

“Yeah, probably unfair [what is being asked of Eovaldi and Pérez], but that’s kind of where we are,” Roenicke said. “I do have a ton of confidence in both of them, and they’ve pitched well and that’s why I have confidence in them. Yes, where we are, it’s certainly important for them to give us the innings, and hopefully when they do that, we have a lead in some of these games. We’re not keeping leads very long, so we do depend on them.”

With a 6.10 ERA, the Red Sox own the worst mark in the Majors.

“Whenever you’re out there for 45 minutes, 30-45 minutes before you’ve got to get in there and hit, it’s not easy,” said Martinez. “It’s tough, you know? It’s one of those things where, I think we’ve got to kind of refocus, go out there and just do the best we can, really. Go out there and keep putting [together] competitive at-bats. I feel like our offense has been putting up runs, so it is what it is.”

Prior to the game, Roenicke gathered his pitchers together for a pep talk.

“Trying to ease some of the -- I don’t know if you call it stress, or what you call it, but just tried to ease their minds a little bit and try to free them up and to not press, and just be themselves and make pitches,” Roenicke said. “It’s no different here than in the Minor Leagues. Our [alternate training site], when you make quality pitches, you get people out, so it’s just trying to repeat those pitches. It’s just tough when you send Nate out there and he gets hit and just -- it’s hard.”

Hart to get 2nd start; Taylor, Darwinzon close

Ian Browne

Even the urgent nature of a 60-game season sometimes calls for some patience.

And Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke is demonstrating some with the decision to give prospect Kyle Hart another start on Wednesday afternoon against the Phillies.

The 19th-round selection from the 2016 Draft made his Major League debut on Thursday against the Rays, giving up seven hits and seven runs (five earned) over two-plus innings.

After the game, a 17-8 loss, Roenicke had been non-committal on if Hart would stay in the rotation.

What was the deciding factor?

“I think really wanting to give somebody more than just one start,” said Roenicke. “It’s hard when you put a lot of pressure on a guy -- if you don’t have a good start, you’re not going to get another one. I don’t want him to think that way. We certainly would never tell him that, but I think if it happens a lot, they see that and I think they feel that way, and we don’t want to put that extra pressure on him.

“It’s hard enough to do well and perform here in the big leagues, so I think with Kyle, just knowing, yeah, go out there again and relax and pitch the way you can, and hopefully we get a good start from him.”

The 27-year-old left-hander didn’t seem shaken by the events of his debut.

“Obviously, the results, not even close to what I had envisioned, but it’s something that I’m happy I went through it,” Hart said after the game. “I’m happy that I can put it beyond me and start working and growing and just keep maturing as a pitcher, because I know I can compete at this level, although that wasn’t my best display.”

In a change of pace from recent weeks, Roenicke even went ahead for a few days on his rotation rather than going day to day. Righty Chris Mazza will come up from the alternate training site in Pawtucket, R.I., to start Sunday in New York. Lefty Martín Pérez had already been scheduled to pitch the finale against the Yankees on Monday. Zack Godley, coming off a tough start against the Rays, will go Tuesday, followed by Hart on Wednesday.

“I think [just] the two [set] guys [in the rotation] is hard,” Roenicke said. “I think, originally, when we were thinking about four, I didn’t think that was an issue at all. Then we got down to three, and I was still like, 'OK, we can do that,' but now it got down to two, it makes it difficult.”

'Startling' numbers need to improve The pitching has been a big reason for the Red Sox getting off to their worst start through 20 games since 1996. But the offense isn’t exactly helping matters.

Star hitters Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez are both performing way below expectations. Before going to the injured list with a right rib cage strain, Andrew Benintendi had just four hits in 39 at-bats.

“I think when I look at a lot of their numbers so far, it’s I guess you could say startling. I know what these guys can do,” Roenicke said. “And I know if we were playing six months where they would probably end up at the end of the year. Like you said, it’s only 20 games, but it is a third of the season.

“So I’m hoping these guys get it going. I look around the league, checking it out lately, and there’s a lot of great hitters that are also not hitting. So it’s not just our club. I know what we can do. I’m hoping we can get it together.”

Updates on Taylor, Hernandez Lefty relievers Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez, who both reported to Summer Camp late after testing positive for COVID-19, are on the verge of being activated by the Red Sox.

Taylor could even be activated before the finale of the series at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Hernandez is getting stretched out and was expected to throw three innings in Pawtucket either Saturday or Sunday.

“And after that we’ll see where he is in his pitch count and how he did,” Roenicke said. “Did he maintain his velocity, which means he’s back to full strength again? If he is, then sometime next week he could also be available.”

Hernandez came through the Minors as a starter, but the Red Sox used him in relief down the stretch last season. The initial plan was for him to stick in the bullpen this season. But given the problems the Sox are having in the rotation, those plans could change.

“I would think at the beginning, [he'll be used] as a reliever and maybe try to build him up a little bit there also,” Roenicke said. “Then if he slips into that starting role, then we’ll try to do that.”

* ESPN.com

How the Red Sox can climb back out of their vortex of ugliness

Buster Olney

The dramatic competitive retreat of the Boston Red Sox was probably inevitable to some degree, because of choices made five, four and three years ago. But the rapidity of the team's decline is still stunning, given that 22 months ago, one of Major League Baseball's cornerstone franchises had its best year ever, 119 wins with the regular season and postseason combined -- the second most in MLB history. And now, 2020 might be the Red Sox's worst year ever.

The departure of , one of baseball's best managers, and the trade of Mookie Betts accelerated the Boston's spiral into the vortex of ugliness in a year of transition. But through Saturday's games, the Red Sox had the worst ERA at 6.10, with opponents hitting .289 -- the worst in the American League by a margin of 25 points. Only the had given up more walks than Boston's 89 -- an average of nearly 4.4 per game.

It's a relatively small sample size of games, and the problems are augmented by an injury to Chris Sale (losing him to Tommy John surgery); the inclusion of David Price to balance some of the money in the Betts trade; and the manifestation of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced Eduardo Rodriguez off the field and created a layer of the unknown about the lefty's future. But the early numbers also reflect the enormously deep hole that the Red Sox are in as they move forward, because as any longstanding Boston fan knows -- while even the worst Red Sox teams usually find ways be good offensively, they can never be competitive in baseball's competitive division until the pitching turns.

Here's the good news: Chaim Bloom, the head of baseball operations for the Red Sox, demonstrated through his time with the that he's really good at constructing a steady flow of pitching. Tampa Bay opened in February with as much mound depth as any franchise in baseball.

Here's the big question: How quickly can this happen?

In Tampa Bay, Bloom's Rays always had the luxury of time. Because the Rays always have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, the fan base never really expects them to compete dollar for dollar or win for win, year after year. In Bloom's time with the Rays, Tampa Bay had the flexibility to keep slow the progression of its most talented young pitchers, to let them marinate in Class A, Double-A and in Triple-A, so that by the time they were promoted to the big leagues and their service-time clocks began, they were as fully developed as possible. Former Tampa Bay pitcher Matt Moore had 4½ years in the minors when he was called up, Jeremy Hellickson had 5½ years, 6½ seasons.

It's hard to imagine Boston fans -- or more importantly, Red Sox ownership -- waiting that long for the ascension of a talent like Archer.

It's always possible that with the benefit of a greater payroll, Bloom's tactics will shift somewhat, in the way that Andrew Friedman's did when he moved from Tampa Bay to the . Friedman was recently involved in the massive commitment to Betts, whose $365 million contract represents about five seasons of the Rays' total payroll. But in L.A., Friedman maintained a small-market's team adherence to drafting and developing, which is the core strength of the Dodgers -- Walker Buehler, Will Smith, Gavin Lux and Dustin May are among the elite young players picked in the second half of the first round or later. Bloom, like Friedman, is likely to always have a devotion to the farm system. But it might be three or four or five years before Bloom's foundation of drafts and development begins to fully show up in the big leagues.

With Betts and Price off the books, the Red Sox have more financial flexibility and could be one of the few aggressive teams in the upcoming free-agent market. Evaluators say the quality of pitching available this winter is thin, especially in comparison to last winter's group that was headlined by Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg. Trevor Bauer, Robbie Ray and Marcus Stroman are some of the better names. Given the expectation that the free-agent class is going to be bigger than ever, with a higher number of players non- tendered, the Red Sox could also aim to cash in and find value with medium-sized bets -- much in the way that the Astros did with Charlie Morton before the 2017 season, signing him to a two-year, $14 million with the belief that he could improve with some specific adjustments. (Houston turned out to be exactly right, with Morton throwing the final pitch of the .)

But Ben Cherington, the former general manager of the Red Sox, learned firsthand about the fickle nature of ownership. He and his staff built one of the best groups of prospects in baseball -- Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and others. But with Cherington playing the long game for broader organization stability, Red Sox owner John Henry suddenly moved into a win-now mode and hired David Dombrowski to run baseball operations. Cherington left and Dombrowski did exactly what he was hired to do, flipping a lot of organizational assets in prospects and money to win, and the Red Sox steamrollered the rest of baseball in 2018 for the team's fourth title in 15 years.

But Henry changed course again. Dombrowski was fired, Bloom hired, and Bloom must now try to find enough pitching for the Red Sox to find relevance among the Yankees (who are stacked), the Blue Jays -- whose rebuild is off to an excellent start -- and the Rays, arguably one of baseball's best teams. Friends of Bloom say he went into the job with his eyes wide open, understanding how much work needs to be done -- and fully aware of the possibility he might run out of time before Henry's patience, and that of Red Sox fans, runs out fully.

• Teammates have noticed that the very first thing that DJ LeMahieu does upon his arrival at the park is pull on his Yankees' cap. The first thing. Every day.

Other players might lounge at their locker a bit, maybe get something to eat and then, when they prepare to go out on the field for stretching, that's when they'll put on their cap. But with LeMahieu, it's the very first thing, every day. Adam Ottavino, who played with LeMahieu in Colorado, has told other Yankees that the infielder would do the same thing when he was with the Rockies.

"Very old school," said reliever Zack Britton, who says LeMahieu reminds him of J.J. Hardy, his former teammate with the Orioles who was very focused on preparing and playing and was always drama-free.

• Yankees staffers give Britton enormous credit for being an exceptional leader through baseball's coronavirus year, in keeping the players informed, in having the wherewithal to rapidly gather consensus to make decisions. Britton is the team's union representative, and he joked that Courtney Leggett, his wife -- who is an attorney -- might opine that during the shutdown of April and May and June the pitcher spent too much time communicating with teammates. Sometimes, he said, he would spend the better part of the day exchanging texts or messages to provide as much information as possible to his teammates, and to get feedback. "They would tell me how they were feeling," he said, "or I would try to separate fact from fiction for them."

Britton said he could do only so much, anyway, and the fact that the Yankees have players who are engaged and invested in the process has made decision-making better and more efficient when necessary, such as when the team's games in Philadelphia were canceled. The Yankees' quickly pivoted and made the decision to travel to Baltimore to play the Orioles.

• When Cleveland's Zach Plesac took to video to complain about the media coverage of his violation of the health and safety protocol -- a video taken while driving a car, without a seat belt -- what he clearly missed was that his teammates were far more outraged than any reporter or columnist. And this was the last straw before the Indians demoted Plesac and teammate Mike Clevinger -- two of the most important players for the team to compete for the playoffs -- to make a larger point about the accountability to the others in the organization in 2020.

It would have been better for Plesac and Clevinger if they had simply owned their mistakes to teammates, embraced the extra layers of health and safety protocol required by the team, and then moved on. Players and staffers have seen how outbreaks happened with the Marlins and Cardinals, and there were Cleveland teammates so upset by what Plesac and Clevinger did -- creating possible COVID-19 exposure for others -- that some considered opting out if the two players returned to the roster immediately. The front office stepped in and put the two pitchers into a baseball version of a timeout.

"We're only as strong as our weakest link," said a player, and right now, the peer trust in Plesac and Clevinger to do what they can to protect the likes of Carlos Carrasco must be rebuilt. Plesac's video really hurt him in the eyes of others wearing the same uniform.

• Randy Dobnak of the has always been good at generating ground balls, but his improvement this year has been notable, with his ratio improving from a 2.4 ground ball-to-fly ball ratio to 3.6, and through Friday's games, Dobnak had a 0.90 ERA, best in the American League.

"The sinker this year is diving more than it ever has," he said, "and I do think that has a lot do with everything. I've worked a lot, during quarantine, on making my changeup and breaking ball more consistent. I think everything works together really well, playing off the sinker to create all of the weak contact and keeping the ball on the ground."

Opponents are hitting only .183 against Dobnak, 17th best in the big leagues. Among the first 76 batters he has faced this year, he hasn't given up a home run.

• As the Astros' difficult year continues, many evaluators and agents believe there will be an exodus of players out of Houston because some players -- even those who weren't part of the 2017 team -- want to move away from the toxicity of an association with the franchise. George Springer, Yuli Gurriel, Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick will be free agents this fall, and next year Carlos Correa, Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke could reach the market. "They've got a perception problem," one agent said.

There are always shifting tides for whether a particular team is desirable. In the late 1980s, for example, the chaos around the Yankees made them a club that many free agents mostly used for leverage but avoided. In the late 1990s that changed, with some veterans hoping to become part of what was seen as an excellent clubhouse culture. By the mid-2000s, some free agents viewed the Yankees as too corporate.

So it's very possible that the perception of the Astros will change -- especially through enhanced financial offers. Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman are the only veterans under contract beyond 2021.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

MLB Notebook: Two weeks out from the trade deadline, Red Sox should be looking forward

Sean McAdam

Hold on Red Sox, fans. Just two more weeks to go.

No, the 2020 season hasn’t been (further) shortened, at least not yet. But some relief is on the way.

In this upside-down year where the calendar means little (Hockey in August! College football in March!), the trade deadline is Aug. 31, which means than in just two short weeks, the Red Sox have an opportunity to get worse in order to someday get better.

Like everything else that’s been upended by the pandemic, it’s impossible to know how this going to play out. Will the trade market being busier than usual? What kind of players will be most sought after?

Here’s your early guide to what might take place and what the Red Sox will be — or rather, should be — focused on.

WILL IT BE AN ACTIVE MARKET?

That depends, and a case can be made either way.

On the one hand, there are some surprise teams in contention. Surely, no one expected the , , or to be in position for the post-season, but if the season were to conclude this weekend, every one of those team would qualify.

For the Orioles, Marlins and Tigers, all in the middle of planned-out rebuilding, it’s highly unlikely they would be tempted to take a short-cut and sacrifice a player they’re counting on for the future, just for the chance to qualify for an expanded playoff format.

Similarly, even quality, contending teams might be reluctant to made trades. First, just four weeks will remain in the regular season after the deadline, lessening the impact of an acquired player. Ordinarily, a team obtaining help at the deadline would get two months of regular-season games.

Secondly, all teams — even those finishing first — must win a best-of-three series to advance to the Divisional Series. So, imagine that a team with designs on winning it all — say, the Yankees or Dodgers or Twins — make a trade at the end of August for a key piece, only to run into a hot team in the first week of October and sent home after just two or three games. That would be a big investment for almost no return.

On the other hand, there may be some teams who believe that an appearance in the postseason would help gin up support for next year. A team like the Tigers, which hasn’t sniffed the postseason since 2014, or the Rockies, who haven’t won a postseason game since 2009, might see the benefit of giving their fans a playoff team.

WHAT KIND OF PLAYERS WILL BE IN DEMAND?

Again, the calendar enters the equation here. Teams will understandably be reluctant to mortgage the future for a mere 25 or so September games and no more than two playoff games guaranteed.

In that sense, the typical deadline deal — contender ships several prospects for an established rental player headed for free agency — might not be a workable model this time around. Imagine trading for a starter headed for the market, someone like Mike Minor. The acquiring team would be getting a maximum of five September starts, and as few as one postseason start. How many teams would want to give up two prospects, with the potential of 12 years of control at the major league level, for such a slight return?

“I’d be surprised if we saw many of those rental deals this year,” said one talent evaluator. “It’s just not worth it.”

In all likelihood, clubs will instead focus on players who may be under control for at least another year. That way, the acquiring team could justify sacrificing a young player or two, knowing that the veteran being obtained could play a role in 2021, too.

WHAT ROLE WILL MONEY PLAY?

As always, a significant one. But perhaps more than usual.

The pandemic, the shorter schedule and the lack of fans at games have led to substantial losses for a number of franchises. For some, those losses may be measured in nine figures.

Accordingly, there may be teams eager to unload some bigger contracts in an effort to achieve payroll relief. This is especially true for aging players who are in some decline, but still have significant value or skill.

Those sorts of deals may allow teams will some payroll flexibility to address some immediate needs without having to give up a whole lot in terms of player cost in return. ______

So where does all of this leave the Red Sox?

The team’s current slide — seven games under .500 and counting, lodged in last place in their division — may offer a clear path.

Had the Sox gotten off to even a decent start — 10-9, say, instead of the current 6-13 — it might have been tempting to either add a piece to help down the stretch or refuse to commence a . Remember, ownership doesn’t like the notion of waving the white flag on a season and would prefer to put forth the illusion that the team is both building for the future while remaining competitive.

The face-plant of the first three weeks removes that option for them. Unless the Red Sox could obtain Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole, no amount of wizardry on the part of Chaim Bloom is going to turn the current roster into one that’s postseason-worthy.

That’s actually a good thing. For now, the Sox have no excuses when it comes to focusing their efforts on 2022 and beyond.

That said…

WHICH PLAYERS MIGHT BE ON THE MOVE?

Team president Sam Kennedy, in an interview with WEEI this week, said the Sox have already begun having discussions with teams. Further, Kennedy said the Sox would be open to listening to offers on just about everyone on the roster.

“I don’t think anybody would be untouchable,” said Kennedy, while adding that there were probably some foundational pieces the Sox would clearly prefer to keep.

The list of players currently on the major league roster, however, is probably a short one:

Xander Bogaerts. Signed to a below-market deal, the longest-tenured player on the roster, and only now entering his prime (he’ll turn 28 in October). Rafael Devers. For the second straight year, he’s started slow — both at the plate and in the field. His defensive lapses can be maddening, but there’s no disputing his raw power and offensive skills. Eduardo Rodriguez. Some of this is health-related since Rodriguez is sidelined for the remainder of the season with myocarditis, a byproduct of his battle with COVID-19. No one is about to make a deal now for him. But Rodriguez could serve as an anchor to a rebuild rotation starting in 2021 and although he’s eligible for free agency after 2021, has indicated a desire to get an extension done. Christian Vazquez. Vazquez is signed to a deal that is even more club-friendly than the one signed by Bogaerts and has emerged as one of the better catchers in the game. Also, the Sox are without any in-house any alternatives to replace him in the short-term. And that’s that. Anybody else should spend the next two weeks wearing a “No reasonable offer refused!” sign around his neck.

The obvious candidates to go: (All of whom are headed to free agency)

Mitch Moreland

Moreland has been the epitome of professionalism in his four seasons with the Sox, serving as good run producer and a great teammate. But while the Red Sox hold a team option for 2021, they’d be better off auctioning Moreland elsewhere and giving him a chance to win another championship. He’s still a potent bat against righties and a reliable glove at first base.

Jackie Bradley Jr.

Bradley has been something of an enigma for most of his career in Boston — capable of astounding defensive play while confounding with his streakiness at the plate. Obviously, other teams recognize the latter, which will limit his value, as will his $11 million expiring contract. But for a team looking for outfield help (Milwaukee, after Lorenzo Cain opted out of the season?), Bradley would be a nice short-term solution.

Kevin Pillar

Pillar isn’t quite the center fielder Bradley is, though he’s played more corner outfield spots. In addition, he’s a noted weapon against lefties (.823 OPS last season). And he’s considerably cheaper ($4.25 million) than Bradley, which shouldn’t be dismissed in a year in which few — if any — teams will be willing to take on much payroll.

Brandon Workman

Workman is yet another free-agent-to-be and would be a nice pickup for a team seeking to augment its late- inning relief corps. Workman’s control can be problematic, but when he’s around the plate, he can be almost impossible to hit, limiting both lefties and righties last season to well under .200. At 32, he’s not going to be part of the Red Sox’ plans, and as the team rebuilds, the closer role shouldn’t be a huge priority.

Martin Perez

Other than his first outing, Perez has been exactly who the Red Sox had hoped he’d be — a reliable, back- end starter who keeps his team in games. He doesn’t have elite stuff, but he’s learned how to stay out of the middle of the plate and keep hitters off-balance. And given that Perez is currently on a pretty good roll, it might make sense to move him while his value is still high.

THE TOUGHER CALLS

J.D. Martinez

On the one hand, the Red Sox now have a bigger pool of potential teams with whom to deal, since it’s likely that MLB and the Players Association will implement the DH in 2021, and then, as part of a new collective bargaining agreement to be negotiated after 2021, make it a permanent part of the NL landscape thereafter. That’s the good news. The bad news is Martinez’s salary ($19.375 million in each of the next two seasons) is going to be a bear to move. Surely, the Red Sox would have to take some of it back to facilitate a deal. The question would be: how much would they be willing to eat. Remember, Martinez can opt-out again after this season — though, again, would run into a scorched earth free-agent market. It makes sense for the Sox to, at the very least, see what the level of interest is in Martinez.

Andrew Benintendi

This would represent selling low, since Benintendi is off to an atrocious start with just four hits in the first three weeks of the season. And his recent rib cage injury means it’s likely he’ll still be on the IL when the deadline, further hampering his value. He signed an affordable deal last winter, so it probably makes the most sense to let him get healthy, hope he rebounds with a strong September and then fully explore dealing him on the offseason.

Nathan Eovaldi

If the Sox retain Eovaldi, he might, with the return of Rodriguez and Chris Sale, form the nucleus of a competitive rotation in 2021, allowing the Sox to be more competitive next year and perhaps even accelerate their rebuild. But if the Sox see an opening to rid themselves of what is now clearly an over- value contract (two years remaining after this at $17 million per season), they should jump at it. Eovaldi might represent that sweet spot for another team in that he remains under control through 2022, though not at outrageous money. Again, the Sox would have to either take less in player return or supplement his remaining salary in order to maximize what they get back.

BSJ Game Report: Yankees 11, Red Sox 5 – The beatings continue

Greg A. Bedard

HEADLINES

Groundhog Day: Well, now … these are starting to all feel the same. For the sixth-straight game, the Red Sox lost a game. For the sixth-straight game, the Red Sox allowed at least eight runs. For the third-straight game, the Red Sox allowed double-digit runs. Yup, it’s Groundhog Day for the Olde Towne Team.

Well, here’s something very new: This edition of the Red Sox are the first team in franchise history to allow eight or more runs in six straight games. The MLB record is seven straight games (done five times, most recently in 2000 by the Orioles and Mariners) per Alex Speier of the Globe. The Red Sox have been outscored 63-30 during this skid. The Red Sox keep battling the Pirates for the worst record in the league.

“We just need to start playing good baseball,” said manager Ron Roenicke. “Then I think we’ll win. We’re not playing good baseball. We’re lacking in something it seems every day.”

Eovaldi not sharp: Eovaldi (1-2) had, by far, his worst outing this season, as he allowed three homers and eight runs in 5 1/3 innings. Opponents are batting .306 against Eovaldi. He was just not sharp on Saturday night, especially with his cutter. All three home runs were basically in the same place: middle and out over the plate. Take a look:

TURNING POINT

The game was going back and forth a bit — and going quickly (always sure to change between these two teams) — as the Yankees had a 4-3 lead into the sixth inning. And then, oh boy.

Gleyber Torres singled. Mike Tauchman doubled, and then Clint Frazier homered on the first pitch with one out. After Brett Gardner followed with a double, that was it for Eovaldi.

“When it rains, it pours,” he said.

TWO UP

Rafael Devers: Showed some signs of life (along with No. 4 hitter J.D. Martinez, who went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI) by collecting two hits and making two standout plays at third base.

Alex Verdugo: Had two hits and his fifth home run to now rank second on the team behind Mitch Moreland (six). That’s how bad the lineup has been.

ONE DOWN

Matt Barnes: If the Red Sox had any hopes of getting back into the game down 8-3, they were dosed once Barnes entered in the seventh as he allowed three runs (two earned) in his inning of work.

QUOTE OF NOTE

“It sucks. … It’s not fun going out there and getting your head beat in every day.” — J.D. Martinez.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The Yankees have won the first five games in this rivalry by a combined score of 40-18. New York has beaten Boston in eight straight meetings, its longest winning streak in the rivalry since 1985. Red Sox starting pitchers have posted a 6.95 ERA in 21 games. Eovaldi has a 7.71 ERA in his last three starts

UP NEXT

The Red Sox and Yankees have their third of four games at 7:08 p.m. Sunday when RHP Chris Mazza (2.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs) goes against LHP J.A. Happ (0-1, 10.29)

* The Athletic

With move to a regular rotation, Red Sox signal that it’s all about the future

Chad Jennings

Ron Roenicke did the strangest thing Saturday. For the first time as Red Sox manager, he announced a fairly typical five-man rotation with nary an opener in sight.

The key was the No. 5 starter. Instead of a reliever asked to give an inning or two, the Red Sox announced rookie Kyle Hart would get another chance. He’ll pitch on Wednesday, and with that, the Red Sox seem to have shifted their focus firmly to the future, without quite so much care for the present.

“It’s hard when you put a lot of pressure on a guy, (knowing) if you don’t have a good start, you’re not going to get another one,” Roenicke said. “I don’t want him to think that way. We certainly would never tell him that, but I think if it happens a lot. They see that, and I think they feel that way. And we don’t want to put that extra pressure on him.”

Pressure comes in the here and now. It’s what young Xander Bogaerts felt when he was called up in 2013 to help the Red Sox win the World Series, and it’s the reason the Red Sox traded for experienced Nathan Eovaldi rather than give a second start in 2018. Pressure comes when today’s win is more important than tomorrow’s development, but the wins just don’t mean as much these days.

Not that the Red Sox are no longer trying to win. It might have looked that way Saturday when they lost their sixth straight game 11-5 against the Yankees, but they’re going to call up minor-league starter Chris Mazza to start against the Yankees on Sunday, hoping he can repeat the success he had in long relief against the Yankees two weeks ago. And they’re going to keep veteran Zack Godley in the rotation for now, giving them a No. 3 starter who’s at least done the job before. Of course, Eovaldi and Martin Perez are still the top two starters.

But the commitment to Hart is significant. He’ll be the first Red Sox prospect in five years to make his big- league debut as a starter and stay in the rotation for a second start. Hart gave the Red Sox reason to send him down or move him into the bullpen – his first time through the Rays lineup Thursday was pretty good, but the second time through was a mess – but the Red Sox are taking a more patient approach.

“Obviously, the results (were) not even close to what I had envisioned,” Hart said after his debut. “But it’s something that I’m happy I went through it. I’m happy that I can put it beyond me and start working and growing and just keep maturing as a pitcher, because I know I can compete at this level, although today wasn’t my best display.”

When Mazza makes his start Sunday, he’ll be the 11th Red Sox pitcher to start a game this season. That will be one for every two games they’ve played. It’s been a juggling act of call-ups and openers while only Eovaldi and Perez remain from the rotation that opened the season.

If the rotation keeps evolving like this, it might eventually become more of a learning experience than a fight for survival. And it doesn’t have to end with Hart’s second chance.

The Red Sox are now saying Darwinzon Hernandez, too, could get another look as a starter. The 23-year- old made one start last year but otherwise worked strictly out of the bullpen. During spring training – even after David Price had been traded, and when it was already known Chris Sale would miss at least the start of the season – the Red Sox remained adamant that they wanted Hernandez to thrive as a reliever before considering him as a starter.

“I think it’s getting him used to the big leagues, getting him confident that he can pitch here,” Roenicke said in February. “… Once you have that confidence, you can move a guy in different areas. I think it’s easier (to make him a starter) then, if we wanted to. Maybe it’s next year, or maybe it’s the year after.”

On Saturday, though, Roenicke announced that Hernandez will be stretched out to at least three innings in minor-league camp before he’s activated from his COVID-19 recovery. The idea of having him in the rotation by the end of the season seems to be on the table.

“I would think at the beginning, (he’ll be used) as a reliever and maybe try to build him up a little bit there also,” Roenicke said. “Then if he slips into that starting role, then we’ll try to do that.”

Hernandez has electric stuff — he had 16.9 strikeouts per nine innings last season — and if he can maintain that stuff as a starter, it would change the internal options quite a bit. If the Red Sox can finish this season with Hart, Hernandez and one other young starter in the rotation, they could learn quite a bit about their options for next season.

Former first-round pick Tanner Houck is in the player pool as an obvious rotation candidate for later in the season, and hard-throwing Venezuelan prospect Bryan Mata is also in the pool, and he clearly had the team’s attention when he made a strong Grapefruit League start during the original spring training. Another wild-card possibility is 27-year-old Colten Brewer, who’s made one start, threw 73 pitches last time out, and has pitched at least 2 2/3 innings three times. He might be best suited to two-inning relief appearances — kind of a higher-octane Marcus Walden — but Roenicke has left open the possibility of Brewer, too, getting more opportunities to start. Such evaluation is surely more important than any single game this season, especially for a team that’s allowed at least eight runs in six consecutive games.

The Red Sox have Eovaldi and Perez under contract for 2021 (assuming they’re not traded). Eduardo Rodriguez is expected back from his health scare next season, and Chris Sale should be back from Tommy John surgery by midseason, if not sooner. If just one young rotation candidate can emerge this year, the Red Sox could have an early favorite to open as next year’s No. 5. If those young starters can help win a few games this year, too, it will be a bonus.

“That’s our jobs, trying to figure out what role we can put these guys in that they can succeed the most,” Roenicke said. “And how do we do that mentally, also? We know physically what they’re capable of, but mentally how do we get them in a state of mind where they can relax enough, have enough confidence to see what their abilities will show up at a big-league level?”

Roenicke said the Sox are trying to be a little more specific in their approach as they look for stability now and for the future.

“If a couple guys step up in the starting rotation and give us the good feel that we can keep sticking with them every five or six days, then that allows things to settle down a little bit more,” he said.

* The New York Post

DJ LeMahieu’s thumb injury puts damper on Yankees’ win over Red Sox

Dan Martin

The Yankees picked up another win Saturday night, but it came with another costly injury, as DJ Lemahieu left Saturday’s 11-5 victory over the reeling Red Sox with a sprained left thumb suffered on an awkward swing.

So far, though, nothing has slowed the Yankees’ offense.

On Saturday, they belted three homers, including one from Gary Sancez, who has homered in three straight games — and another from Clint Frazier.

Frazier has been on fire in three games since being recalled from the alternate site in Scranton. He’s 7-for- 11 with five extra-base hits, and he added five RBIs on Saturday, highlighting the Yankees’ eighth win in a row over Boston, who have the worst record in the AL.

It was also the Yankees’ fourth consecutive victory, but they were forced to deal with another blow to an offense that’s already sent Aaron Judge (right calf) and Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring) to the IL.

Frazier, Mike Tauchman and others have made up for the absence of Judge and Stanton. It remains to be seen how long the Yankees will have to be without LeMahieu and how they’ll contend with that loss.

The Yankees have been fine so far.

“It’s a good feeling because trying to play the position of Aaron Judge is not easy,’’ said Frazier, who was in right field Saturday. “I knew last year, whenever I played right field, none of those fans with season tickets came to see me play. They came to see him. He put himself in the position to be the face of baseball. Those are big shoes to fill.’’

And if LeMahieu is out for any length of time, his shoes will be, as well.

LeMahieu was removed before the top of the sixth after suffering the injury in the bottom of the fourth.

He was visited by and the training staff in the fourth and remained in the game. LeMahieu then grounded out to end the inning and stayed at second base for the top of the fifth, but was replaced by Tyler Wade to start the sixth.

X-rays taken at the Stadium were negative, but LeMahieu also underwent a CT scan and MRI exam to determine the extent of the injury.

“DJ can’t be replaced,’’ said James Paxton, who gave up three runs in five innings.

Gio Urshela provided an early 2-0 lead with an opposite-field shot off Nathan Eovaldi in the first.

James Paxton gave that lead back in the third, when he allowed a two-run single to J.D. Martinez. Xander Bogaerts followed with a solo shot to give Boston a 3-2 lead.

Like most leads for the Red Sox this season, it didn’t last long.

Sanchez took Eovaldi deep to left in the fourth.

Frazier crushed a three-run opposite field shot to right in the sixth, as the Yankees went up, 7-3.

On the mound, Paxton was trying to build on his best start of the year last Sunday at Tampa Bay, when he struck out 11 and gave up three earned runs in 6¹/₃ innings.

On Saturday, his velocity was better, topping out at 95 mph. The results were mixed.

Paxton whiffed just two against the Sox and said he was working on his mechanics.

Boone said he was pleased with how he worked through the outing.

“I thought he grinded,’’ the manager said. “He made pitches in the fourth and fifth innings when it wasn’t smooth or easy.”

Meanwhile, the Yankees will have to deal with another injury. If they are without LeMahieu for any length of time, it will be a serious blow. Even after going 0-for-3 Saturday, LeMahieu was hitting .411 (30-for- 73).

But just like a year ago, the Yankees have hardly missed a step.

“Adversity keeps coming up and guys keep filling roles,’’ Frazier said. “A lot of people would say they’re hungry to get that opportunity and whenever it happens, it’s going to be hard to take it from some of them.”

This time, Frazier might be one of them.

* Associated Press

LeMahieu hurt, but Frazier's 5 RBIs lift Yanks over Red Sox

NEW YORK -- The next-man-up New York Yankees are at it again.

Clint Frazier homered, drove in five and made a diving catch filling in for injured right fielder Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez went long in his third straight game, and New York overcame the loss of AL batting leader DJ LeMahieu to beat the Boston Red Sox 11-5 Saturday night.

Frazier had three hits, including a three-run drive, and matched a career high in RBI. Gio Urshela also homered for the Yankees, and Tyler Wade delivered an RBI double after replacing LeMahieu, who left with a sprained left thumb in the sixth inning and could be headed for the injured list.

New York has beaten Boston in eight straight meetings, its longest winning streak in the rivalry since 1985. The Yankees improved to 14-6 in this pandemic-shortened season -- the franchise's best 20-game start since going 17-3 in 2003 -- despite losing Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aroldis Chapman and now LeMahieu to injury or illness.

"As always, the expectations in that room never change despite what happens," manager Aaron Boone said.

Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo homered, struggling sluggers Rafael Devers and J.D. Marinez had two hits each, but Boston dropped to 6-15 after trading away Mookie Betts in February. Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-2) allowed three homers and eight runs in 5 1/3 innings, by far the worst start of what's been a bounceback season for the hard-throwing righty.

"We just need to start playing good baseball," manager Ron Roenicke said. "Then I think we'll win. We're not playing good baseball. We're lacking in something it seems every day."

Yankees starter James Paxton (1-1) allowed three runs in five innings.

LeMahieu, hitting .411 atop the Yankees' lineup, was pulled in the sixth inning after an awkward whiff against Eovaldi in the fourth. He remained in the game and grounded out weakly but was pulled after playing another half-inning in the field.

X-rays were negative, but the Yankees sent LeMahieu to the hospital for an MRI and CT scan. LeMahieu broke the same thumb in 2018 with Colorado. He told Boone this injury felt similar.

"He was pretty sore," Boone said. "We'll just have to see what comes back from that."

Frazier and Wade again showed off the depth of a club that won the AL East in 2019 despite placing a record 30 different players on the injured list.

Frazier, a promising 25-year-old blocked the past few seasons by Judge and Stanton, is 7 for 11 with two home runs in three games since being recalled from the club's alternate site this week.

"It's a good feeling, you know, because trying to play the position of Aaron Judge is not easy," Frazier said. "I knew that last year whenever I was playing right field, none of those fans that bought season tickets came to the game to see me play. They came to see him."

Frazier went the other way to right for his homer off Eovaldi in the sixth and added a bases-loaded single in the seventh to drive in two more.

Criticized for his defensive acumen and effort, Frazier helped Paxton strand two baserunners in the first when he laid out to catch Bogaerts' sharp line drive in right-center.

"I obviously had a few mishaps last year, but I had a long offseason and a long coronavirus offseason as well to make up for some stuff that happened last year," Frazier said. "I never really looked at myself as a bad . I just had a couple bad plays."

He did it all from behind a pinstripe face covering he's wearing this season as a COVID-19 precaution.

Sanchez lofted a two-run homer in the fourth that put New York ahead 4-3. The 27-year-old started the season on a 4-for-43 slide with one homer before this three-day power surge.

Paxton hasn't gotten the same zip on his fastball since having a cyst surgically removed from his back in February, and his heater topped out at a season-best 92.8 mph Saturday. After striking out 11 against Tampa Bay in his previous start, he struggled to put away Boston hitters and finished with two strikeouts.

SOAKED STAFF

Boston has allowed 63 runs over its past six games.

"When it rains, it pours," Eovaldi said.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Red Sox: Roenicke says RHP Chris Mazza will start Sunday and LHP Martin Perez on Monday to close out the series against the Yankees. RHP Zack Godley will then pitch Tuesday against Philadelphia, followed by rookie LHP Kyle Hart.

Yankees: Judge will be treated through the weekend for a strained right calf that landed him on the injured list Friday, and Boone hopes he can resume baseball activities Monday. ... Chapman (COVID-19) threw his second simulated game at the club's alternate site Friday, and Boone said the All-Star closer is just about ready to return, possibly Monday or Tuesday.

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Yankees LHP J.A. Happ (0-1, 10.29) was skipped New York's previous turn in the rotation but will make his third start Sunday night against Boston. Happ's contract includes a $17 million option for next season that was to be guaranteed for either 27 starts or 165 innings, which in this shortened season becomes 10 starts or 61 1/3 innings. Mazza, a distant relative of Joe DiMaggio, pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees on Aug. 1, his only appearance this season.