New bullpen faces make strong opening statement for Red Sox in New York
COMMENTARY
It certainly could’ve gone better. And it absolutely could’ve gone worse.
That the Red Sox raced to early leads in their first three games, posting crooked numbers in the first or second inning of each, wasn’t terribly surprising. They regularly batter New York ace Gerrit Cole, and the offense wasn’t a major question despite the subtractions of Hunter Renfroe and Kyle Schwarber.
That those leads were all gone by the fourth inning? Yankee Stadium’s gonna Yankee Stadium, and a rotation built presuming Chris Sale would be at or near its top that then loses Chris Sale … yeah. I really like Nick Pivetta, but I don’t like him as a No. 2 starter.
The opening weekend ended on quite the note, however, with new face Jake Diekman mowing through Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Joey Gallo to preserve a one-run victory. Talk about knowing how to make an entrance.
“He was the closer today,” manager Alex Cora told reporters. “He’s done it before. I remember in 2019 he pitched against us at home and J.D. [Martinez], it was July or around that time, and he was like, ‘We need to get this guy.’ ”
Baseball seasons are long stories with short chapters, with Diekman’s part making so many of the opening details easier to savor. Alex Verdugo’s five hits, including a classic Dugie preen on a home run, and clean defense.
Kiké Hernández getting to show Jackie Bradley Jr. in person just how much he’s learned, robbing Aaron Judge of extra bases.
Rafael Devers needing two pitches to get rolling. Bobby Dalbec saving Sunday.
But let’s talk about the bullpen, after it threw 13 innings of one-run baseball in a performance that would’ve been a lot easier to miss if not for Diekman’s exclamation point.
The lasting story of the weekend will be Garrett Whitlock’s contract extension. An impossibly likable Georgian who has gone from Tommy John surgery as a Double A pitcher in July 2019 to a guaranteed $18.75 million in April 2022? You couldn’t make it up. (He also has a mild form of double vision, like the story needed more juice.)
When MLB.com ranked bullpens before the season, the Red Sox made the “also receiving votes” category, the story noting Whitlock needing to go to the rotation would ultimately decide their depth. He and Matt Barnes, whom the Sox are optimistic could be available Monday, will absolutely form their spine. (The plan for Whitlock to piggyback Rich Hill’s start in Detroit was didn’t last a game.)
But three new faces we saw this weekend will have a big say in how far they go as well.
We’ve already discussed Diekman, whose ability to miss bats and get groundballs while with Oakland made him the lefty of choice the instant he was acquired.
“The angle on the fastball and the slider [is tough],” Cora told reporters Sunday.
He was signed alongside Matt Strahm, whom ESPN’s David Cone roasted Sunday for needing to use more conditioner in hair he apparently hasn’t cut in five years. That was while Strahm worked through the seventh with the effective fastball that eluded Tanner Houck all night (and most of the spring).
Strahm, 30, has thrown fewer than 30 innings the last two seasons due to significant knee problems. But seeing Cora had him warming as Whitlock pitched with a one-run lead Friday — Strahm came in after New York tied it — makes clear he will have every opportunity to earn a big role.
If there’s an arm in the group who looks ready to channel Tampa’s ability to produce quality relievers every year from essentially thin air, it’s Strahm.
And then there’s Kutter Crawford. He’s not technically a new face, called up from Double A for an emergency start during Boston’s September COVID outbreak. But he introduced himself to the baseball nation on Sunday night with two steadying innings, earning his first MLB win as part of the corps’ 5 2/3 shutout innings.
“We like him. He has good stuff,” Cora told reporters. “He commands the strike zone. He’s really good at it.”
After that forgettable, rushed start against Cleveland, Cora told both pitcher and press that Crawford would be back — “I know he’s going to contribute. He’ll be part of this.”
A strong camp meant Cora got to tell Crawford he’d made the team to start this year. On Friday, he was the losing pitcher when Josh Donaldson sent a three-hopper through the infield to score the automatic runner in the 11th. On Sunday, he gave up three of the four hardest-hit balls in the game plus a Gleyber Torres double.
But he worked out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fifth, struck out Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge back-to-back in the sixth, and walked off with glowing praise from Cone and plenty of others.
“I got the lineup card over there sitting on my chair,” Crawford told reporters. “I’ll hopefully get it framed and put it on the wall.”
It’s one game amid an opening three, the start of six months of trying to make individual events into trends before they’re ready. The Sox are sub-.500 and arriving in new-look Detroit, which led only once in dropping two of three to the White Sox and Sunday had as many errors as hits (2).
Michael Wacha makes his first start on Monday. Rich Hill does the same — and least in this, his 1,784th stint with the Red Sox — Tuesday, with Nate Eovaldi lining up against old pal Eduardo Rodríguez on Wednesday.
The games are back, and the feeling-out period is on.
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