Clutch spot for Poyner
Rookie reliever earns 1st win
Matt Barnes was available. Joe Kelly was available. Heath Hembree was available. All three have thrown important innings out of the Red Sox bullpen in recent years.
Yet it was rookie lefty
Bobby Poyner that manager Alex Cora chose to put his faith in for the final two scoreless innings of the Sox’ 3-2 walkoff win in 12 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday.
“I saw that in Sarasota,” Cora said. “Tim Beckham hit a home run off him and
Jonathan Schoop came in and he threw five fastballs inside against him and he jammed him. And that’s when he got my eye. In Tampa, it was bad pitch selection. That was a pitch that wasn’t on the menu against Carlos Gomez and he paid the price.
“But he’s a guy with a fastball throwing 89-90, he can get people out. The changeup, we’ve been talking to him about using the changeup against lefties and he’s doing a better job. He’s a good pitcher, tough to pick up the ball and in an era when we talk about pitching vertical, he does an outstanding job.”
Poyner, who had never pitched above Double A entering the season but opened some eyes with a strong spring training, took over in the 11th and struck out the first two batters he faced in a clean inning.
He stayed on for the 12th, retiring Kevin Kiermaier for the third time in a week, and shutting the Rays down long enough for the Sox offense to rally.
“He has the confidence,” Hanley Ramirez said. “From us, the coaching staff, from everybody. That’s the name of this game, confidence. He went out there and did his job.”
Poyner had a 1.49 ERA while striking out 84 batters in 601⁄3 innings between Single A and Double A last year.
Close call
The play was so close in the ninth inning that Cora had to challenge it.
Jackie Bradley Jr. ran hard in an attempt to beat out a grounder to second base. And even though Daniel Robertson chose not to step on second for an easy out and instead made an acrobatic throw to first to get Bradley, the umpire ruled Bradley out.
Cora challenged the play and it appeared on video that Bradley stepped on first at the same time the catch was made. Ties go to the runner, but in this case the umpire officials in New York upheld the call on the field and Bradley was ruled out.
“He was out,” Cora said. “You look at the video and everybody gets excited but there’s different angles they have in New York so it was one of those. If they overturned it I was going to think ‘wow, great’ but I moved on right away. I was telling the guys ‘get ready, you’ve got to get locked in, if we win it, we win it, but we’ve got to get locked in for the next inning.’ ”
E-Rod slated to go
Eduardo Rodriguez will get the nod as the starter for Sunday’s game.
Recovering from knee surgery, his five-day schedule had him available on Sunday after throwing six innings in a minor league game on Tuesday . . . .
J.D. Martinez had a solid first game at Fenway Park as a member of the Red Sox, going 2-for-5 with a triple as DH.
Cora said he’d be comfortable using Martinez in left field this homestand, too.
“He worked hard,” Cora said. “I know it is different in Fort Myers, but he worked hard with (coach Tom Goodwin) down there, so we’re comfortable.”
Packed house
Cora said he had a lot of his family in town for the game, including his mother, who hadn’t seen him manage yet.
“And to be introduced as a Red Sox manager and have my family here is very special,” he said.
The previous 36 hours had been low key for Cora, he said. After arriving from Miami, he was moving and welcoming family members from out of town. He said he made a trip to Target and nobody recognized him.
“I don’t get caught up man, I don’t,” he said. “I know who I am and what I represent. I have family, family flying in yesterday. It was just a regular day.
“The experience is awesome. The baseball experience is good but you can’t get caught up in it. Instead of having fun with it, it becomes a grind. I know I’m going to have good days, bad days, horrible days. I know that. But I’ll keep it simple. We have a great team, great organization. This is my office, Fenway Park. Not everybody can say that.”