Cora confirms Sale won’t be Opening Day starter
Alex Cora isn’t ready to announce his Opening Day starting pitcher, but he eliminated one significant contender on Sunday.
Ahead of a split-squad day against the Orioles and Yankees, the Red Sox manager told reporters that Chris Sale will not get the ball on March 30.
Apparently, that’s been the plan all along, and he clued his pitcher in a while ago.
“I decided that like a month and a half ago, when we had that conversation,” Cora told reporters, including Mlb.com’s Ian Browne. “knows already.”
Instead, the skipper says there’s “a good chance” Corey Kluber takes the mound for Game 1 of 162. Based on the spring training rotation, that would put Sale in Game 2.
Still, Sale getting the first start could’ve been a storybook beginning to what he hopes will be a stupendous comeback season.
After his August 2010 debut, the veteran southpaw made five Opening Day starts in the first 10 years of his career, including 2018 and 2019 for the Red Sox. He hasn’t been healthy to start the season since. Tommy John surgery, a rib fracture, broken pinky, and broken wrist are among the reasons he missed 2020 entirely and has only thrown out 48 1/3 innings over the last two seasons.
This year’s season opener also happens to fall on Sale’s 34th birthday.
His manager sees this is a gift. Or at least, he wants Sale, who’s been itching to get in real games, to see it as such.
“I want him to enjoy as a regular baseball player, just the whole Opening Day thing,” he said.
Split-squad Sunday
The Orioles beat the Red Sox 6-4, and the Red Sox and Yankees dueled their way to a 3-3 tie.
Raimel Tapia continues to hit. On Sunday, two Yankees players fell over trying and failing to nab a scorching ball. If the season started on Monday, he’d have to be on the 26man roster.
Adam Duvall hit his first Grapefruit League home run on Sunday afternoon, a towering shot over Jetblue Park’s
Green Monster to re-tie the game in the fifth.
Marcelo Mayer, the organization’s No. 1 overall prospect, made his Grapefruit League debut, and collected a leadoff double in the ninth inning.
Injury updates
Less than a week after the terrifying hit-by-pitch, most of Justin Turner’s stitches are out (some are dissolvable, he told reporters).
He was able to eat solid foods again on Saturday, and is already eyeing a spot in the Opening Day lineup.
The veteran infielder “played catch, and took some swings off the tee today,” he told reporters, including Mlb.com’s Ian Browne.
“Hopefully just kind of keep ramping it up as long as there’s no setbacks and hopefully be back out there as soon as possible. And then we’ll see where we’re at from there, but I certainly plan on being there for Opening Day,” Turner said. “That’s the plan.”
WBC Notes
Richard Bleier pitched a perfect eighth and former Red Sox pitcher Robert Stock got the save for Team Israel, who pulled off a dramatic comefrom-behind 3-1 victory over Team Nicaragua.
Speaking of Bleier, he and Sale were teammates at Florida Golf Coast University, and the latter confirmed a hilarious anecdote the former had shared about their college days, when Bleier was the ace and Sale was the freshman.
“There’s no question, he was the top dog when I got there,” Sale told NESN’S Jahmai Webster on Sunday. “We were roommates on the road, and he may or may not have made me sleep in the bathtub one night.”