The Boston Red Sox Tuesday, March 28, 2017 * The Boston Globe Sandy Leon belts two home runs in one inning Dan Shaughnessy SCORE: Red Sox 11, Orioles 9 RECORD: 16-13-3 BREAKDOWN: Sox center fielder Steve Selsky homered off Tyler Wilson to give Boston a 1-0 lead in the third. It was Selsky’s fourth homer of the spring, his second in two days. He was sent to Pawtucket after the game. Should’ve hit more homers, evidently. The Orioles came back with a scratch run off Eduardo Rodriguez in the bottom of the third. E-Rod got cuffed around a little in the fourth for four runs on five hits. The Sox blew it open with nine runs in the top of the fifth — highlighted by Sandy Leon’s two blasts — one from each side of the plate, and one a grand slam. Mercy. The bullpens staggered to the finish in front of 7,796 happy snowbirds. THUMBS UP: Leon’s two homers in a single inning were a clear “Take that, Boston media!” message, coming one day after we all gave his job to Christian Vazquez. Dustin Pedroia and Mitch Moreland each had a pair of hits. THUMBS DOWN: Rodriguez gave up nine hits and six runs (four earned) in six innings. Manager John Farrell said Rodriguez was sloppy in Baltimore’s four-run fourth. The lefty crossed up his catcher and neglected to back up home plate, among other sins. “He needs to be more consistent,’’ the manager said. “Those lapses can come back to bite you.’’ The Sox committed three errors in the middle innings. Craig Kimbrel came on to pitch the eighth and surrendered an opposite-field, two-run bomb to flyweight A-ball player Cedric Mullins. MEDICAL REPORT: Righty reliever Tyler Thornburg was a late scratch with pain in his upper right trapezius. The former Brewer reportedly had trouble adjusting to the Red Sox’ shoulder strengthening program and has pitched only 1⅓ innings all spring, surrendering seven hits and seven earned runs. He is expected to undergo an MRI Tuesday. AROUND THE BASES: The bullpen is a bit of a mess at this moment, and no one is stepping forward. Asked if he’s concerned about his bullpen, Farrell answered, “Not a concern, but we’re still trying to get to a full complement of guys, and whether or not that’s Monday April 3, that’s still to be decided.’’ . The Sox take three buses to spring games, allowing players to leave in shifts. In the old days, it was one bus, and everybody waited. NEXT GAME: The Red Sox play the Pirates in Bradenton Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. It’s the final road game of Boston’s Grapefruit season. The Sox will start knuckleballer Steven Wright against Pirates righty Drew Hutchinson. Robbie Ross Jr., Matt Barnes, and Joe Kelly are also slated to pitch. The game will be broadcast on NESN Plus and WEEI-AM (850). Who’s on first? Not Hanley Ramirez Dan Shaughnessy FORT MYERS, Fla. — Who’s on first? Not Hanley Ramirez. Not yet, anyway. But he says he still wants to go back there. The offseason blueprint for the post-Ortiz Red Sox calls for Ramirez to serve as DH against righthanded starters while lefty-swinging Mitch Moreland plays first base. On days when lefties start (there are a lot of them around), the Sox plan to put Ramirez at first while Chris Young DHs. Manager John Farrell also hopes to use the southpaw days to spell some of his everyday starters while Ramirez plays first. Unfortunately, Ramirez says his right shoulder is bothering him when he throws, and he hasn’t raised his hand to play first all spring. The Sox open the season Monday at Fenway Park against the Pirates, and Farrell sounds as though he has all but given up trying Ramirez at first in Florida. I caught up with Ramirez in the visitors’ clubhouse at Ed Smith Stadium Monday morning and asked him about the situation. “It was bothering me to throw,’’ he said. “Still a little bit.’’ When do you think you can play first base? “That’s the thing. I don’t know.’’ Do you think it’s better if you just don’t play there because it might hurt the shoulder? You’ve been hitting down here (.300/.897 OPS). “Exactly. I don’t want to bother my hitting.’’ Do you plan to go back to first? “Oh, yeah. It should get better. I don’t know what’s going on at first.’’ I think they want to sit Moreland against lefties and put you at first. Do you think that’s going to happen? “Yeah. If I’m healthy, yeah. If I can throw the ball, yeah.’’ But it’s not like you don’t want to go back over there, right? “No, not me. I’m a Gold Glover. Nobody should say that. I love it over there.’’ When can fans expect to see you back at first? “Fans want to see me hit bombs. So that’s why I’m not out there. Because every time I was trying to throw, it bothered my hitting a little bit, and so we decided to make sure the thing is ready.’’ But you didn’t have this problem last year, right? “I had it a little bit at the end of the season last year. From when I ran into that wall two years ago.’’ Sox fans know that history. Ramirez tried playing left field in 2015 after he signed with Boston, and he struggled there. He injured his shoulder crashing into a Fenway wall and hit only .249 with 19 homers and 53 RBIs before he was shut down for the final month of the season. The Sox moved him to first base last year, and he rebounded, hitting .286 with 30 homers and 111 RBIs. Now the Sox want him at DH . but only against righty starters. “That’s the plan, and I’m still hopeful of it, but without being cleared, I can’t write him in the lineup,’’ Farrell said Monday. Cleared? Is that “cleared” by the Sox medical team or by Ramirez? “A combination,’’ the manager said. “There’s the work he’s doing in the training room and the attempts that he’s made to get his arm moving and get some consistent throwing program under way.’’ Without Ramirez, the backups at first base are Brock Holt and Josh Rutledge. “I’m still with the intent that Hanley is going to be at first base at some points,’’ Farrell said. “Ideally, that would be if we see a lefty starter in the Detroit series [April 7-10].’’ Red Sox baseball boss Dave Dombrowski said: “It’s still possible. We’re still hopeful.’’ When I told Dombrowski that Ramirez is worried that throwing might affect his hitting, Dombrowski said: “It’s really the same as it was last year, his shoulder, in many ways. We’ll just have to wait and see. “Are we hopeful he’ll be out there? Yes. I can’t give you a date or anything. “If it doesn’t happen, we’ll just have to make adjustments from there. I don’t know that it’s going to affect our roster. It’s going to affect some playing time for certain people.’’ The post-Ortiz Red Sox will score a lot of runs this year. They erupted for nine runs in a single inning Monday against the Orioles in Sarasota. But until Ramirez returns to first, they are diminished offensively. Tyler Thornburg likely headed for disabled list Alex Speier and Dan Shaughnessy SARASOTA, Fla. — Tyler Thornburg anticipated that Monday would be a critical milestone in his preparations for the season. But when the day arrived, it brought with it a setback that all but ensures that the Red Sox righthander — acquired from the Brewers to serve as the setup man in front of Craig Kimbrel — will open the year on the disabled list. Thornburg, who hadn’t pitched in a Grapefruit League game since March 1 while trying to build shoulder strength, was scheduled to pitch against the Orioles, the first of what the Red Sox hoped would be at least three appearances in the final week of spring training. Instead, minutes before the game, the team announced that Thornburg had been scratched because of a spasm in his upper right trapezius muscle. The Sox already had acknowledged that Thornburg would have to thread something of a needle in order to be ready for Opening Day. After a scoreless inning in a minor league game last Friday, the 28-year-old expressed optimism that he’d be able to do just that. Monday’s setback, however, suggests that such ambitions will prove impossible to fulfill. “It’s hard to say right now that he’d have enough frequency to outings and pitch count to build up to be ready by next Monday,” said manager John Farrell, who noted that the spasm occurred in an area that was distinct from where Thornburg had experienced shoulder weakness. “We haven’t made that determination yet.” The manager said tests on Tuesday are “going to hopefully give us more information of what we’re dealing with here.” The development marks the second straight year that a pitcher acquired by the Red Sox for a pivotal bullpen role has been sidelined by injury. A year ago, Carson Smith was diagnosed with a flexor mass muscle strain in the spring, and eventually needed Tommy John surgery.