The Red Sox traveled across the state to Jupiter, Florida to take on the Miami Marlins at their Spring Training home. The Red Sox faced phenom Jose Fernandez, coming back still from Tommy John surgery he had in May 2014. Last year, he was slowed by a biceps strain that limited him to 11 starts, complicating his full recovery from the surgery. Steven Wright, in the mix for the fifth rotation spot, available while Eduardo Rodriguez comes back from a knee injury, started for the Red Sox.
Wright struggled right out of the gate, allowing hits to the first three batters and a run. Giancarlo Stanton lofted a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0. First baseman Derek Dietrich followed with another single to put runners at first and third with one out but Wright managed to retire the next two batters to avoid further scoring.
Wright had a strong second but was touched for an unearned run in the third. Marcel Ozuna, who had singled and scored in the first, doubled. Ozuna advanced to third on a passed ball by Blake Swihart. Ozuna came around to score on an error by today’s second baseman, Josh Rutledge.
The Red Sox could do absolutely nothing against Fernandez, managing all of one walk and no hits in his five innings of work. The lone Red Sox hit was Swihart’s single with two outs in the eighth inning, off Red Sox former reliever Craig Breslow. This no-hit possibility was probably the only thing interesting about this game.
Fernandez even had a hit himself in the game, equaling the Red Sox total for the day. Considering the game was across the state in Florida, about three hours drive from Fort Myers, and the Red Sox were without Xander Bogaerts, Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz, fans should not be terribly worried about this result. Fernandez is a former Cy Young third place finisher in 2014 with a career 2.40 ERA who dialed up the radar gun to 98 today.
Game Notes
- The game was played in a tidy one hour and fifty nine minutes. Reporters were probably thinking, “why can’t they do this during the season?”
- Henry Owens made his first relief appearance of the Spring after four starts
- The Red Sox had only two baserunners, Swihart’s hit and a Shaw walk in the first inning
Wright recovered well from a rocky beginning allowing seven hits over five frames. He had allowed four to the first five batters of the game. One of the runs he allowed was unearned
Owens was today’s only reliever. He pitched well in his three innings of work, allowing no runs, two hits, walking none and striking out a batter. After a 6.97 ERA and nine walks in his first 10.2 Spring innings, his goose egg in the walk column was a welcome sight.
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Maybe it was the bad news of Carson Smith’s injury that sapped the clubhouse of energy but the Red Sox didn’t have much to offer the Marlins fans today. There is no game ball for anyone today. A walk and a single should not result in an award, however imaginary. The Red Sox also struck out eight times today.