Sox beat NU in spring opener
Downs makes his debut after trade from LA
FORT MYERS — One of the Red Sox’ most interesting offseasons in recent memory came to an end on Friday, when the team took the field for its first of 197 games to be played in 2020.
In the annual spring training opener against Northeastern University, the Red Sox scored late for a 3-0 win in the seven-inning affair.
Sox farmhand Jagger Rusconi singled off Northeastern pitcher Rick Burroni to score Marcus Wilson in the sixth inning and break the scoreless tie.
The Sox have never lost to Northeastern in 19 meetings between the two teams. Their first was at Fenway Park in 1977, when Luis Tiant started for the Sox. The Huskies have come within one run only once, in 2015, when NU lost, 2-1. This was the 10th time they’ve been shut out.
The Sox used none of their regulars in this one. Marco Hernandez, Rusney Castillo and prospect Jeter Downs headlined the starting lineup, while Downs collected his first hit (an infield single) since coming over from the Dodgers in the Mookie Betts trade.
“He’s aggressive at the plate,” interim manager Ron Roenicke said of Downs. “I know our hitting coaches really like him. Carlos Febles likes him on defense. He’s going to play short and second. He’s a great kid.”
Roenicke said he expects a few of the team’s regulars to debut on Saturday, when the Sox play their first Grapefruit League game against the Rays. A few others will debut on Sunday. Xander Bogaerts (ankle) and Rafael Devers (birth of his daughter) are a bit behind schedule.
“We don’t have as much time as we used to have before we started games,” Roenicke said. “So these come pretty quick. I guess the negative part when we start these games is the regulars aren’t quite ready to go yet. That would be the only thing that I would look forward to, once we can start playing everybody.”
Past history important
There should be a few battles for roster spots to watch this spring.
“Certainly the fifth spot in the rotation, maybe a couple spots in the bullpen,” Roenicke said. “Second base, first base, how much we can play Mitch Moreland at first. We go to second base, who that’s going to be, how much is Michael Chavis going to cover those two spots. We brought Jose Peraza in to play second base, too. So there is still some competition there.”
Roenicke said he’s not worried too much about spring training performance and will base his decisions more on past history.
“Spring training fools you a lot,” he said. “Some guys are really quick starters and some guys are really slow starters. So I think history and what they’ve done in the past is probably more important than just a straight competition on who does better in spring training.”
‘Opener’ still in play
Roenicke is still talking with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and the Sox’ front office about the potential use of an opener instead of a regular fifth starter.
The Sox are a starter short since they traded David Price to Los Angeles and have limited starting depth.
“I really haven’t figured out with our personnel what would be a better way to do it,” Roenicke said.
“We’ve been figuring what the possibilities are and I think we’re just going to play this out in spring and see what we have.
“If you just do one opener you have to figure out, OK, whoever that person is who comes in, how does he fit in in those days between when that opener goes his fifth turn again? I think if you have a couple openers it may be easier because you can actually set up something where you have two guys that fill in on these two days.”
The skipper said he doesn’t want to share who is competing for the fifth starter job, nor does he want to say which pitchers are being stretched out to provide starting depth.
“I would say there’s probably four or five guys that we’re looking at,” Roenicke said. “And we have had those conversations with them. I would rather not say who it is that is in competition.”
Chatham injured
Shortstop prospect C.J. Chatham was supposed to play Friday but was scratched with right shoulder soreness.
“Turning double plays today, he came up a little sore,” Roenicke said. “Young guy, we’re trying to protect him. Maybe day to day, or two or three days.”
Former Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, 34, is attempting another comeback and signed a minor league deal with the Rockies.