Small slump in the road
Sox bats stay cool for 2nd straight day
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
OAKLAND, Calif. — Even before the Red Sox came back on Friday night to beat the A’s here and earn their eighth straight win, Alex Cora’s message was simple, yet pointed.
“Stay humble, stay hungry,” Cora preached to his team in a pregame meeting.
The rookie manager knew his team was gaining a lot of attention. He said he was proud of the way they were handling themselves in the midst of winning 17 out of 18 games, and producing the best offense in baseball.
Not that they weren’t listening, but the Red Sox should certainly have their manager’s full attention now.
In the last two games of the weekend, the Red Sox got a mouthful of humble pie, and the Athletics proved that their foe was, in fact, mortal. Sean Manaea’s nohitter on Saturday was proof enough. Then, the Sox followed it up yesterday with a 4-1 loss.
Suddenly, the Red Sox are going through their first real test of adversity this season.
“We’re a good team, and we play 162 games in the season, so I think we’ll be all right,” Mitch Moreland said.
It’s certainly not time to panic or anything remotely close. The Red Sox are still 17-4, and it’s still April, but a three-game set that begins tomorrow in Toronto against the second-place Blue Jays seems to be a good chance for the Sox to show some character.
Cora is ever the optimist. The offense certainly did not display the same firepower this weekend as it did previously, but the manager noted in both losses to the A’s that it had a real chance to win because of its pitching.
“Offensively we feel like we’re very capable of scor- ing runs every night, and we think we’re a great offensive club, but this is gonna happen,” Cora said. “This is gonna happen. They’re not going to score seven, eight runs a night, but with the pitching staff that we have, they always will give us a chance to win the game.”
No-no nuance
Although the Red Sox were no-hit Saturday night, they were taking it in stride. The offense was on a tear, but in baseball, nothing is ever really sustainable. Cora certainly didn’t expect them to keep up the pace for 162 games.
“It’s baseball, it’s baseball,” Cora said. “We were talking about being humble and staying hungry. Well, we were humble (Saturday), although they’ve been humble the whole time. …
“But that’s what happens. Teams will make adjustments. In (Manaea’s) first start, he only threw five changeups to lefties, and then (Saturday) he throws 15-18. So teams are going to make adjustments and we have to make adjustments.”
Pedroia down South
Cora seems to be comfortable with where Dustin Pedroia is at in his recovery from offseason knee surgery. The second baseman reported to Fort Myers last week for controlled workouts, and Cora compared Pedroia’s current work to the first few weeks of spring training.
“We talked about him going up to Boston and he said no,” Cora said. “He wants to stay, he’s in a good place right now. He feels that going to Boston is going to work against him mentally, because he’s going to be around the players and then he has to go back to Fort Myers, so he’d rather stay down there and keep working.”
There’s no timetable on when Pedroia will ramp up activities.
“Physically, he’s doing better, he’s moving around,” Cora said. “Whenever the program starts, his games, there’s going to be certain days that he’s only going to play defense. There’s other days that he’s going to hit but when he hits he’s not going to run. It’s a very controlled environment. That’s what he hates. I brought it up to him and he’s like, ‘Oh I can’t do that. I’m like, ‘Well, you have to do it,’ but he’s in a good place.”
Off days aplenty
Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez were all out of the lineup yesterday. It was scheduled even though the team has an off day today.
“Take advantage of (today), back-to-back days,” Cora said. “I know we have (today) off, but coming all the way to the west coast, long games, I think it makes sense for the three of them to have an off day.”
Blake Swihart made his second start of the season, this time as the designated hitter. Swihart went 0-for-4.
“He needs at-bats, and he’s a good offensive player,” Cora said. “The question was where he’s going to play. It was either left field, DH and I asked J.D. (Martinez) what he would rather do and he said I’d rather play the outfield, so we went with it.” …
Prior to the game, the Sox activated lefty reliever Bobby Poyner from the 10-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Poyner was on the DL for a left hamstring strain. He made two rehab appearances, one with Portland and one with Pawtucket, combining for two scoreless innings.