Southpaws head to injured list
Rodriguez, Hernandez, Taylor all recovering from COVID
As all three continue to recover from coronavirus, the Red Sox on Wednesday placed left-handed pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez, Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor on the injured list.
With Opening Day next Friday just nine days away, that would put each of the pitchers squarely in doubt to be ready. Rodriguez and Hernandez both tested positive for COVID-19 before summer camp began and are back home recovering in Miami and Venezuela, respectively. Taylor tested positive during intake screening at Fenway Park at the start of camp and is quarantining in Boston.
“Testing has been better on all three of them,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said on Tuesday. “So we know that they’re getting over it and once we start getting those better tests, we’re getting close.”
In order to return, MLB protocols require that a player who tested positive for COVID-19 needs to test negative twice 24 hours apart, no longer show symptoms, complete an antibody test and be cleared by team physicians.
Nathan Eovaldi is likely to be the Opening Day starter in place of Rodriguez, though Roenicke hasn’t made that official yet.
Perez shaky again
Martin Perez, who is likely to start the second game of the season behind Eovaldi, struggled again in Wednesday’s intrasquad game. The lefty pitched five innings and gave up five runs, including a two-run double and two-run homer to Jose Peraza. That follows last Friday’s outing in which he threw four innings — but only recorded nine outs due to pitch count limits — and gave up five hits and four walks.
Perez, though, said he feels strong and is confident the results will turn in his favor when the season begins.
“We’re just trying to work on little things to put everything together and then we’re going to start baseball games,” Perez said. “Like I said, I’m getting where I want to be. I think I’m going to be ready. I feel good. I feel healthy. I feel strong. I told our pitching coach (Dave Bush) that I felt strong after five innings. I think that says a lot. I’m in good shape.”
Perez said he doesn’t feel any added responsibility by being the No. 2 starter.
“I think it doesn’t matter what game you’ve got,” Perez said. “It’s the same responsibility. You’ve got to go out there and win games. That’s all that matters.
“Like I’ve said before to you guys, we have to stay together. We have to work together as a group. If we stay together and work together as a group, we’re going to do special things this year in this short season. That’s the same responsibility that I had when this started. Like I said, I’m getting to the point where I want to be. I’m available to get people out and give a chance to my team to win the game.”
Offense looks sharp
Some poor pitching performances have certainly aided the cause, but the Red Sox offense has been firing on all cylinders during summer camp, which is good news for a team that will be relying on it once the season starts.
“The offense is swinging so well that I keep asking is it just that our offense is so good or are we not pitching as well and maybe it’s a combination of both,” Roenicke said. “But to have this many guys hot this early surprises me because I thought we would slowly get into this and the last few games I was hoping we’d swing well. So when they come out swinging like this, this early, it’s like let’s maintain what we’re doing.
“You can go down the list. It’s J.D. (Martinez), it’s (Andrew Benintendi), it’s Jackie (Bradley Jr. ), ( Rafael) Devers has nice at-bats, Peraza, and it just keeps going. We know we’re going to have a good offense, we know we’re deep offensively, (Christian) Vazquez is starting to swing better, so everybody’s getting to the point where I think they’re ready to start playing games.”
Verdugo impressing defensively
Playing right field at Fenway Park is a challenge for any outfielder, but new outfielder Alex Verdugo seems to be gaining comfort there. On Wednesday, he made a nice play deep in right to rob Benintendi of extra bases.
“He’s good at all three spots in the outfield,” Roenicke said. “He can play center if we need him, he’s played left field also, so he’s good defensively. He’s still trying to get his timing at the plate, but once he gets that timing, we’re looking at a really good offense.”