Cora provides answers as pitching questions persist
BOSTON — The laundry list of questions about the Red Sox pitching staff is never ending; every answer is quickly replaced with a new puzzle to solve.
What did Alex Cora want to see from Brayan Bello on Saturday? To get ahead in the counts.
When will Chris Martin return to the bullpen? He could be activated as early as Sunday.
What’s going on with Chris Sale? He’s been making adjustments between starts.
Is Garrett Whitlock a starting pitcher? His manager says yes.
How is James Paxton doing? Some days are better than others.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Cora went into detail about each pitcher:
Bello needs to get ahead: With Garrett Whitlock on the injured list with right elbow neuritis, Bello is back in the rotation for the foreseeable future.
Over his first two starts of the season before getting optioned to Triple-A, the 23-year-old righty allowed eight earned runs on 13 hits, walked three, and struck out eight batters across 7 ⅓ innings.
Getting the ball on Saturday, there’s “one thing” his manager wants to see from him. “For sure, work ahead,” Cora said pre-game. “That’s the most important thing.”
“Stuff-wise, we felt he was good (in his last game). Just go out there and do the same thing. This is a team that, they’re going to put the ball in play, don’t get frustrated with that,” the manager advised. “Induce them to quick outs and be efficient, and give us five or six innings.”
Martin’s return: Martin is back in Boston, and “there’s a good chance he’ll be active” on Sunday, Cora announced.
The right-handed reliever made a one-inning rehab appearance with Triple-A on Friday, and allowed two unearned runs on two hits. He threw 14 pitches, 10 for strikes.
“It doesn’t look great, the line, but the stuff was OK,” Cora said.
Sale’s adjustments: Sale’s last two starts were night and day: 11 strikeouts of the Twins, followed by a zero-strikeout game in Baltimore.
Following the latter, Cora said that they need to get the 34-yearold lefty back to being an athlete, after several years of injuries and time away from the game. He says the Red Sox are “using everything that we have to get him right.”