The Boston Red Sox have recalled right-handed pitcher William Cuevas from Triple-A Pawtucket to start Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader.
It’s a doubleheader day for the Boston Red Sox, which means dipping into the farm system for a spot starter. William Cuevas has been called up from Pawtucket to start the nightcap against the Baltimore Orioles.
Update: Hector Velazquez is now expected to start Game 2 tonight since he wasn’t needed out of the bullpen during the day game. Cuevas will be available out of the bullpen and should get in the game with Velazquez unlikely to go deep.
MLB allows teams to add a 26th man for a doubleheader so calling up Cuevas won’t cost another player their roster spot.
The #RedSox today recalled RHP William Cuevas from Triple-A Pawtucket as the club’s 26th man for today’s day-night doubleheader against the Orioles. Under Major League Baseball Rules, both teams are permitted to add an extra player for today’s games.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 11, 2018
David Price will take the hill in the first game at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. Cuevas will start tonight’s game beginning at 7:05 p.m.
This will be the second appearance this season with the Red Sox for Cuevas. He tossed two innings in relief on July 3 against the Washington Nationals. Cuevas allowed two hits, including a solo home run.
Cuevas was signed as an international free agent by the Red Sox in 2008. The Venezuelan native made his big league debut with Boston in 2016, making three relief appearances. Cuevas allowed two runs on five hits and six walks in five innings out of the bullpen.
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He signed a minor league free agent deal with the Detroit Tigers that winter but only made one brief appearance for the club. Cuevas was shelled for four runs while only recording one out in his lone stint in the Tigers bullpen.
Detroit released Cuevas in June of that season and after declining an outright assignment to Triple-A the right-hander found himself a free agent once again. He signed a minor league deal with the Miami Marlins but never made it to the majors with them.
The 27-year old’s career came full circle when he signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox last January. Now he’s back in Boston to make his first major league start.
Cuevas has spent nearly the entire season as a starter for Triple-A Pawtucket. He’s 8-6 with a 3.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 7.8 K/9 over 20 starts.
It’s been a solid season so far in Pawtucket but we should temper expectations for tonight’s start. Nothing that we’ve seen in any of his previous opportunities would lead us to believe Cuevas is a big league pitcher. Sure, we can joke about the Orioles having a Triple-A lineup but this Baltimore squad put up 12 runs against Nathan Eovaldi and the Red Sox bullpen Friday night. They are capable of doing some damage.
Boston’s bats have proven capable of doing plenty of their own damage against a brutally bad Orioles pitching staff. Cuevas doesn’t have to pitch a gem. He simply needs to avoid a meltdown. Pitch well enough to keep his team in the game and let the offense do the rest.