Lefty embracing opener role; Red Sox hold Mets to one run to take series from New York
4:07 AM UTC
BOSTON — At some point, the Red Sox will have a full starting rotation again rather than the partial one they’ve deployed for the past several weeks.
But a diverse crew of relievers has been used effectively by manager Alex Cora, keeping the team afloat even while going with bullpen games multiple times a week.
And on nights like Sunday’s 6-1 win over the Mets at Fenway, the Sox are even thriving while handling nine innings by committee.
A grouping of Brennan Bernardino (five outs as the opener), Chris Murphy (11 outs as the bulk-innings guy), Josh Winckowski (two big outs with traffic in the sixth), Joely Rodríguez (three outs against his former team), Joe Jacques (two outs), Chris Martin (12-pitch strikeout of Daniel Vogelbach) and Brandon Walter (scoreless ninth) combined for the 27 outs necessary for victory.
One underrated key is the way Bernardino has settled in as an opener, allowing just one run over seven innings in his four appearances in that role.
“I’m enjoying it,” Bernardino said. “I’m starting to build a routine around it and getting ready for it. I’ve been throwing with the relievers, and then before the game I’ve been getting there about 25 minutes early, and I’ll stretch and then stretch again and stay loose, and I’ll get on the [bullpen] mound about 15 minutes before the game starts.”
Then, it’s a game of passing the baton, which Boston’s relief crew has become quite adept at.
“We just know we have to do our job and pass it to the next guy,” said Murphy, who earned the win, the first of his career. “It’s more than just the pitching; our offense has stepped up in a huge way to help us in the bullpen and give us some support.”
Without question, it helps when the offense makes a lot of noise early, and Boston had a 5-0 lead by the bottom of the third inning and 15 hits on the night.
After taking the rubber match against the Mets, the 53-47 Sox remain two games back in the chase for the third American League Wild Card spot.
At this crucial point of the season — in which the Red Sox are trying to convince the front office they should be buyers rather than sellers leading into the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline — every win takes on added importance.
“We feel good in the position that we are in right now,” said slugger Rafael Devers, who bashed his 24th homer. “We know that we’re in a tough division, but there’s a lot of baseball ahead of us and we know what we can do, and hopefully we can give a good chase to the teams ahead of us so we can secure a spot in the playoffs.”
Boston will have a day of rest on Monday, and then a stiff challenge with the Braves coming to town for the start of a two-game series on Tuesday.
Speaking of Tuesday, that will be yet another bullpen game for Boston, but one in which Nick Pivetta — who has stood out since moving to a relief role — could log the workload more typical of a starter.
Cora acknowledged that a more forgiving schedule of late has helped make the high-wire act of managing a pitching staff without Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock and Corey Kluber a little easier.
The degree of difficulty will also be lessened for Cora when key setup man John Schreiber returns from the injured list on Tuesday.
“Pivetta and Murph, let’s be honest, without those two, it’s tough to do,” Cora said. “Nick, we’ve been talking about him the last two weeks, but Murph has been amazing. Since we moved him to the bullpen in [Triple-A] Worcester, he’s been able to throw strikes. There’s certain days he’s all over the place, but his stuff plays. He has a good fastball. He can get righties out. It’s been a pleasant surprise for us.”
For Murphy, who struggled as a starter at Triple-A this season, pitching in a prominent role for the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball was something he couldn’t help but appreciate.
“It’s pretty cool,” Murphy said. “We all know it’s Sunday Night Baseball, and it’s that thing that’s bookmarked on ESPN every week. So it’s a pretty fun game.”
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