FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Garrett Whitlock took the mound for his first outing of the spring, he naturally wished to carry out properly and he clearly wished to make sure his pitches have been on level.
But the massive check was how he felt when it got here time to get again out for the second inning, and Saturday marked an enormous step in the appropriate route.
“Last year I felt like it was really hard for me to get my hip loose and everything going for multiple innings,” Whitlock mentioned. “But now I feel back to normal and feeling good.”
Limited by harm for many of his tenure in Boston, Whitlock is again to full well being and aiming to maintain it that manner as he gears up for the most important season of his skilled profession thus far. Despite a rocky first inning, Whitlock’s spring debut was finally a hit, because the 27-year-old allowed one run over two innings in what wound up being a 4-3 Red Sox loss to the Baltimore Orioles on a Colton Cowser walk-off dwelling run.
“Overall a good one,” Red Sox supervisor Alex Cora mentioned. “The quality of the pitches were good, so now we move on to the next one.”
Whitlock was hit laborious within the first inning, permitting a solo dwelling run to Adley Rutschman together with three laborious hit balls to the outfield, however got here again sturdy with a scoreless second. He struck out two in that body, together with baseball’s No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday, and completed with simply the one hit allowed and no walks.
“Felt healthy, so happy about that, things were good,” Whitlock mentioned. “One changeup that I tried to throw for a strike rather than ripping it and other than that I thought it was good.”
Prior to the sport Cora indicated Whitlock shall be amongst a handful of younger arms in rivalry for a spot within the beginning rotation, a job the Red Sox have envisioned for him since he was acquired within the Rule 5 Draft forward of the 2021 season.
Repeated accidents have prevented him from seizing that function, however whereas in previous years he pressed to be that man, Whitlock says he’s now taking a distinct method he discovered from former large league pitcher and fellow Alabama native Adam Warren.
“He told me to adapt that mindset of that Swiss army knife where it’s like just throw me in anything and I’ll go out there and do it,” Whitlock mentioned. “Once you adapt that mindset it frees everything else up where I don’t feel this chip or this burden like ‘aw I’ve got to be a starter,’ or ‘aw I’ve got to be a closer.’ ”
Even with that being the case, Whitlock continues to be a aggressive man and needs to win a beginning job. That might finally put him on a collision course with Tanner Houck, his finest pal and one of many different high contenders for a rotation spot, however Whitlock isn’t nervous in regards to the competitors affecting their relationship.
“Nah, I mean, we live together,” Whitlock mentioned. “It’s one of those things where we’re on the same team and it’s not like we’re both fighting for our lives, so we enjoy the competition, we play games at the house all the time where we’re competing against each other. It’s fun, and our friendship, he knows I’ve got his back whether he gets the starting job or I get the starting job, so we’re not worried about that, it doesn’t affect our friendship at all.”
Rafaela’s close to theft
Ceddanne Rafaela has made his title by delivering spotlight reel performs in middle area, and Saturday he practically delivered among the finest of his profession when he nearly robbed Rutschman of his first-inning dwelling run.
Rafaela simply barely mistimed his leap, and after the sport he mentioned he most likely makes the catch 99 occasions out of 100.
“I was pretty close,” Rafaela mentioned. “I jumped late.”
The Red Sox already know what Rafaela is able to defensively, and if he makes the group it is going to be as a result of he’s proven enchancment on the plate. Though he went 0 for 3 on Saturday, Cora mentioned he appreciated what he noticed regardless.
“Good at bats, from 0-2 to 3-2, hit a rocket to third base, and then he did it again in the third at bat, and in the first one he got to a 3-1 count, he took a shot, and on the 3-2 pitch he aced that pitch and he struck out,” Cora mentioned. “So three quality at bats.”
Bombs away!
Not many Red Sox followers knew who Mark Contreras was previous to this weekend, however the newly acquired outfielder has made a loud assertion by homering in every of his first two video games with the membership.
After smoking a three-run shot in opposition to Northeastern University on Friday, Contreras adopted it up with a solo shot off Jonathan Heasley within the high of the third.
Contreras completed the day 1 for two, Bobby Dalbec (2 for two) and Nathan Hickey (2 for 3) every had good days as properly, and David Hamilton drove in what was on the time the go-ahead run within the high of the eighth earlier than Cowser hit a two-run, walk-off dwelling run within the backside of the ninth off minor league reliever Nate Tellier.
New arms impress
Three relievers anticipated to contend for spots within the Red Sox bullpen made their spring debuts and all pitched properly. Cooper Criswell adopted Whitlock and allowed one run on two hits over two innings with a strikeout, Isaiah Campbell pitched a scoreless fifth with successful, a stroll and a strikeout, and Justin Slaten pitched a scoreless sixth with one hit allowed.
“They did a good job. I think we only walked one guy,” Cora mentioned. “Criswell was good, the slider, the sinker. We threw strikes, it was good to see.”
Next up
The Red Sox will play a pair of cut up squad video games Sunday, going through the Minnesota Twins of their Grapefruit League dwelling opener and the Atlanta Braves on the highway in North Port. Both video games are scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m.
Source: www.bostonherald.com