Season-opening trip has gone well for Sox

The Red Sox begin their final series of this season-opening road trip when they take on the Angels Friday evening in Anaheim, Calif.

The Sox have gotten off to a solid start, splitting a four-game set with the Mariners then sweeping the Athletics. Here’s what we’ve learned:

■ Despite some lack of competition, the starting pitching has been impressive. The Sox rotation entered Thursday ranked first in the majors in strikeout rate (31.7 percent), third in ERA (1.89), and had walked just three batters in 38 innings, for the majors’ lowest walk rate at 2.1 percent.

When Andrew Bailey took over as pitching coach, he said the first point of emphasis would be throwing strikes. The Sox have followed Bailey’s directive — though it should be noted the rest of the league has followed — of throwing more breaking and offspeed pitches in the zone, and weaponizing fastballs as the knockout punch. The Sox had the lowest fastball percentage at 29.9 through their first seven games. Meanwhile, they had thrown 50.1 percent offspeed/breaking pitches, sixthhighest in baseball.

Is it sustainable? Particularly as the schedule gets more difficult? Time will tell. For now, it’s working.

■ Sox fans shouldn’t be worried about Kenley Jansen just yet. He didn’t have much of a spring training, so he’s still building up. But it is something to keep an eye on. Jansen grinded through back-to-back outings Tuesday and Wednesday, needing 20-plus pitches in each. His velocity was down close to 3 miles per hour on his cutter, too.

But perhaps a silver lining is that Jansen’s nagging back tightness did not prevent him from pitching on back-to-back days.

“I think I’ve just got to keep getting my rhythm,” said Jansen. I know that my spring was short. But I feel good.”

■ Brayan Bello still has the highest upside of the Sox starters. He has stuff you can’t teach, especially his sinker, which when at its best could be likened to trying to hit a bowling ball.

Bello yielded four runs on two homers to the Athletics on Tuesday, and might have become too predictable, which he does at times, with his slider and changeup. He hasn’t found command of those pitches, but strangely has walked just one batter.

He also has a 47.3 percent strikeout rate on his slider and a 42.3 percent whiff rate on his changeup. It’s just a matter of finding the strike zone consistently with those pitches, and not deviating too far from his greatest weapon: his sinker and changeup mix.

■ Rafael Devers sat out consecutive games in the Mariners series with a sore shoulder. He’s just 3 for 18 since returning. Devers spent much of the spring going to the opposite field, and he tagged Mariners ace Luis Castillo for an opposite-field homer in the first game of the season. But Devers’s movements have become a bit quicker since returning, appearing as if he’s pulling off of the ball, perhaps trying to cheat to make up for his shoulder.