Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock takes important step, pitches one inning of relief against Marlins
'Felt good to finally be back in a game,' Whitlock said. 'I had to slow myself down a little bit.'
Whitlock threw 12 of 18 pitches for strikes and allowed one unearned run thanks to his own error. With that milestone behind him, he will prepare for the season and what the Sox envision as a multi-inning relief role.
Whitlock said his fastball had good life and he threw an effective changeup. Now it's a matter of building up innings.
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'Just competing,' he said.
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The schedule pitching coach
Andrew Bailey
has mapped out would have Whitlock ready for Opening Day.
'Now we just go,' manager
Alex Cora
said.
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Whitlock was a key member of the bullpen as a rookie in 2021 and has since dealt with a series of injuries and bouncing between the bullpen and the rotation.
Whitlock followed
'I didn't feel very good today relative to how I did [on Sunday],' Buehler said. 'To still have 94 [miles per hour], 95 in there I think on days I don't feel good is a big step forward for me.'
That the righthander is healthy and pitching in spring training is its own achievement.
'The only full spring training I've ever had was in '17, '18, and then 2021. Those years were pretty good for me,' said Buehler, who was fourth in the National League Cy Young voting in 2021 after going 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 33 starts.
He is 7-9, 4.75 over 28 starts in the three years since.
Comeback kids
Roman Anthony
is expected back on Saturday and will be greeted by 18 packages stacked at his locker. Top prospects get a lot of free gear, it seems.
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Triston Casas
remains sidelined, having last played on Sunday. It's unclear when he will return.
Wilyer Abreu
, who arrived at camp with a gastrointestinal issue, has yet to be cleared to face live pitching. It's likely he will open the season on the injured list.
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Trimming the roster
The Sox made their first cuts, optioning righthander
Luis Perales
and outfielder
Jhostynxon Garcia
to the minor league camp. Garcia was 1 for 21 and struck out 10 times in 11 Grapefruit League games.
'It was good to have [Garcia] here, be around the guys,' Cora said. 'He's a good defender.'
Perales, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, did not pitch.
Non-roster righthanders
Brian Van Belle
,
Robert Stock
, and
Jason Webb
were reassigned to minor league camp along with lefthander
Jovani Morán
.
Houck takes his turn
Rafael Devers
part of the opposition. Devers has yet to appear in a Grapefruit League game but expects to next week. He has taken more than 30 at-bats against teammates to work on his timing … The Sox came to terms with 23 players on the 40-man roster with 0-3 years of service time. There were no contract renewals. Contracts over the $760,000 minimum included
Cooper Criswell
($1 million),
Connor Wong
($790,000), Abreu ($780,000),
David Hamilton
($780,000),
Justin Slaten
($776,000), and Casas ($774,000). The contracts are largely based on service time … The Sox had a 30-minute meeting before the workout with
Michael Lara
, the team's director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging …
Satoshi Nakajima
, who managed
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