The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Transcription

1 * The Boston Globe The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, April 18, 2018 The Shohei Ohtani show turned into the Mookie Betts show Peter Abraham ANAHEIM, Calif. They came to see Shohei Ohtani pitch. They left talking about how Mookie Betts hit. Betts hit three home runs on Tuesday night as the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, The game drew a crowd of 44,822, the second largest at Angel Stadium since it was renovated in Ohtani was a big draw; the 23-year-old rookie righthander from Japan won his first two starts, striking out 18. But Betts led off the game with a home run to left center field, the start of a night that saw him reach base five times. Ohtani lasted only two innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks as the Red Sox wore him out. Betts later homered off Luke Bard and Cam Bedrosian. It was the third three-home run game of his career. It s pretty fun any time you can do something like that, Betts said. It s huge to help the team. Just ride the wave. The only other Red Sox player to hit three home runs in a game three times is Ted Williams. Betts bruised his left foot on Saturday and missed Sunday s game. That he would be in the lineup against Ohtani wasn t decided until he came to the park and said he felt fine. Betts was on deck when Brock Holt grounded into an inning-ending double play in the ninth inning. So he missed his chance to become the 17th player in major league history to homer four times in a game. He specifically told me, I m going to get you up to bat again, Betts said. I might have words with him. The 14-2 Red Sox have won five straight and 14 of 15 after an Opening Day loss. They have the best record in baseball. Manager Alex Cora isn t surprised. When the Sox won 14 of their last 15 games in spring training, he felt the team had come together. We ve been playing good baseball for a month and a half now, he said. One thing about this group, they show up every day. Ohtani allowed three runs on four hits and two walks, throwing 66 pitches, only 34 for strikes, before he was taken out of the game. Ohtani had a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, but he was likely coming out of the game regardless given the pitch count. I felt like it would be fine today, (but) in the high intensity of a game, it didn t hold up too well, Ohtani said through a translator. But I m not going to be at the top of my game every start. When I don t have my best stuff, I still have to fight through the game.

2 The Sox came into the game determined not to swing at Ohtani s split-finger fastball, an impressive pitch that usually dives as it across the plate. Of the 13 splitters Ohtani threw, only one was offered at. That was the main thing. We know that s one of his bread-and-butter pitches, Betts said. If you can lay off that, you may have some success. But he also throws 100, too. Betts took two splitters in the first inning before he homered and four when he drew a nine-pitch walk in the second inning. He also fouled one off in that sequence. That wasn t the same split at his last outing. But you still have to be disciplined, Cora said. That was pretty solid.... They had a great game plan and they executed it. That the Sox worked so many deep counts wasn t part of the plan. It just worked out that way. We backed him in a corner and made him throw some pitches he didn t want to, Betts said. Jackie Bradley Jr. singled with one out in the second inning. Christian Vazquez drew a walk before Holt dropped an opposite-field single to left field to drive Bradley in. After Betts saw nine pitches to draw a walk, Andrew Benintendi s sacrifice fly scored Vazquez. In his first two starts this season, both against Oakland, Ohtani allowed three runs. The Athletics were 4 of 43. The Sox were 4 of 9 and struck out once. Bard, the brother of former Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, relieved Ohtani in the third inning. He allowed home runs by Bradley, Holt, Betts, and Rafael Devers as the Sox built a 9-1 lead after four innings behind David Price. Bradley and Devers each hit 438-foot shots. Price (2-0) allowed one run on three hits and struck out six with three walks over five innings. It was his first start since leaving last Wednesday s game against the Yankees with a numb hand on what was a cold night. That it was 67 degrees at first pitch helped. It was a little warmer. But it doesn t matter about the weather, you ve got to go out there and get outs, Price said. That was a lot of offensive support tonight early. That s always huge. Red Sox starters have a 2.05 earned run average and 1.06 WHIP. Brian Johnson relieved Price and threw three scoreless innings. Bradley was 3 for 5 and drove in two runs. Holt was 2 for 5 and had three RBIs. The Sox finished with 15 hits. They have scored 75 runs in the last nine games. As Betts was talking to reporters, Price wedged his way into the crowd and threw an arm around him. I didn t say Mookie s name in my interview, Price said. That s my bad. Great job. Great night. You re a good player. Shohei Ohtani found out what it s like to face a deep lineup Nick Cafardo ANAHEIM, Calif. In a word: disappointing.

3 For all the hype, for all the anticipation, for all the tickets sold Tuesday to see Shohei Ohtani pitch against the Red Sox, it was a stinker. Ohtani was touched up for three runs on four hits over 2 innings before being lifted on a night when he developed a blister on his right middle finger. Ohtani said his vaunted split fingered pitch didn t do a whole lot as a result of the blister. He had no fastball command, he said. Mookie Betts set the tone right off the bat in the first inning with a leadoff home run. Betts hit two more round-trippers before the night was over. Ohtani said after the game that the blister originally developed in his last start against Oakland. He said it will not affect his next start and that he had blisters when he pitched in Japan, but always managed to pitch through them. Both Ohtani and Angels manager Mike Scioscia downplayed the blister, which makes us wonder whether the blister was that big of a factor. A lot of people, however, had come to see Ohtani pitch. Whether you were a Red Sox fan there were plenty of them here or an Angels fan, the show was Ohtani. If he were a comedian he would have been booed off the stage. If he were a politician he would been voted out of office. This wasn t what anyone expected. The Ohtani that everyone wanted to see had been a dominant pitcher in his two starts against the Athletics. He was averaging 97 miles per hour on his fastball. His split-finger pitch was all the rage. The pregame hype centered around how the Red Sox were going to combat that and how their hitters needed to be patient. None of it ever materialized. As poorly as Ohtani pitched, reliever Luke Bard was worse. By the fourth inning after 1⅓ innings Bard had allowed four home runs. It was 9-1 by that point and fans could still catch the fireworks at Disneyland if they hurried. Sometimes these long-anticipated events don t live up to their billing. Ohtani didn t have a very good spring training, but then started the season like he was Babe Ruth reincarnated. We doubt Ruth had many stinkers like this one, but it goes to show you the difference between good teams like the Red Sox and average ones like the Athletics. Ohtani admitted afterward that facing the Red Sox lineup was a challenge. He watched video leading up to his start, and he realized the Red Sox were going to be tough. The Red Sox lineup is comprised of aggressive hitters. As Ohtani moves forward, he s going to have to learn how to beat the good lineups. He acknowledged that. Ohtani is pitching once a week, and he had an extra off day because of a rainout in Kansas City on Sunday. You wonder if the extra rest made him rusty. In his last start, Ohtani took a perfect game into the seventh inning. He allowed a hit and one walk while striking out 12 over seven scoreless innings. Where was that guy Tuesday? Where was the guy who had retired 35 of the last 38 batters he has faced since allowing a home run in the second inning of his first start? Ohtani could have been the first Angels pitcher since Jered Weaver in 2006 to win his first three career starts. He needed two strikeouts to break Tim Fortugno s club record of 19 through his first three games. He got one: J.D. Martinez in the first inning.

4 Hitters were 0-for-19 with 13 strikeouts against the split-fingered fastball before Tuesday. Ohtani had been able to get 26 swings and misses in 37 swings. We never saw that wipeout pitch. So the night became an exercise in how efficient David Price could be and how many home runs Mookie Betts would hit (3). Ohtani became just another guy having a bad night. When the dust settled, he wasn t Ruth. He was just another flawed pitcher whom the Red Sox swatted away like an annoying fly. The feeling after a short night was much ado about nothing. Angels Shohei Ohtani lasts only two innings vs. Red Sox Peter Abraham ANAHEIM, Calif. The much-anticipated matchup between the Red Sox and new Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani lasted only two innings on Tuesday night. Ohtani allowed three runs on four hits and two walks, throwing 66 pitches, only 34 for strikes, before he was taken out of the game. The Angels announced the rookie righthander from Japan had developed a blister, but he was likely coming out of the game regardless. Mookie Betts, back in the lineup after missing Sunday s game with a bruised left foot, led off the game with a home run. It only got worse from there for Ohtani. Jackie Bradley Jr. singled with one out in the second inning. Christian Vazquez drew a walk before Brock Holt dropped an opposite-field single to left field to drive in Bradley. After Betts saw nine pitches to draw a walk, Andrew Benintendi s sacrifice fly scored Vazquez. In his first two starts this season, both against Oakland, Ohtani allowed three runs and struck out 18. The Athletics were 4 of 43. The Sox were 4 of 9 and struck out once. Pitch selection was the key for the Sox. Ohtani threw 13 split-finger fastballs and only once did the Sox swing. That forced Ohtani to rely on his fastball and a slider he could not control. Luke Bard relieved Ohtani in the third inning. He allowed home runs to Bradley, Holt, Betts, and Rafael Devers as the Sox built a 9-1 lead after four innings behind David Price. Rick Porcello changed up his ways, and it s working great so far Peter Abraham ANAHEIM, Calif. Rick Porcello won the Cy Young Award in 2016 and followed that up with a torturous 2017 season. He led the majors with 17 losses and 38 home runs allowed while posting a 4.65 earned run average. A year after enjoying the best season of his career and the accolades that came with it, Porcello had his worst. The 29-year-old righthander spent much of his offseason pondering what had gone wrong.

5 He focused on improving the sequencing of his pitches and being less predictable with how he uses his sinker, as well as the elevation of his four-seam fastball One solution was more frequent use of his changeup. I had to do something to improve my sinker. That s what spring training was all about for me, establishing the changeup, Porcello said Tuesday before the Red Sox played the Los Angeles Angels. The changeup keeps hitters from timing up the sinker. For me, everything comes off the sinker, Porcello said. Ideally I m throwing that knee-high and the changeup is the same plane. Porcello is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA in three starts. He has allowed 14 hits over 19⅔ innings with one walk and 17 strikeouts. It s only three games, but that is how I need to pitch, Porcello said. Things will change over the course of the season, but I know what I need to do. Porcello has pitched to Sandy Leon in all three of his starts and they have developed a good rapport. Sandy has a good feel for when to call certain pitches, Porcello said. Porcello, who will face lefthander Tyler Skaggs, was 2-1 with a 3.37 ERA in his last three starts against the Angels. Bogaerts improved Xander Bogaerts, who has been on the disabled list since April 9 with a cracked bone in his left foot, did some running before the game and took batting practice on the field, along with fielding a few grounders. He had an all-around great day, manager Alex Cora said. Bogaerts is eligible to return Thursday, but the Sox plan to be cautious with their shortstop. I m working on my window, Cora said. Whenever I feel that it makes sense for us, that he s healthy and he can go out there and perform the way we want him to perform, he ll be out there. But he s making progress. Last year, Bogaerts was rushed back from after being in the right hand by a pitch July 6. He hit.232 the rest of the way. This injury is entirely different, but Cora wants to make sure the mistake isn t repeated. Bogaerts was hitting.368 (14 for 38) in the first nine games with 7 doubles, 2 homers. and 9 RBIs. Bogaerts is unlikely to return before the team returns home April 27. The Sox close this road trip with three games in Toronto and artificial turf is not ideal for a player returning from a foot injury. That s a tough surface, Cora said. We ll see. Bogaerts will need to run the bases without any pain before the Sox consider activating him. The Sox could consider a brief minor league rehabilitation assignment while the major league team is in Toronto. Pomeranz to return Drew Pomeranz will come off the disabled list to start Friday in Oakland. The lefthander has been out all season recovering from a forearm strain suffered early in spring training. Pomeranz pitched in two minor league games, working 9⅔ innings.

6 I m fine now, he said. It s just a matter of getting back out there. I was able to throw all my pitches. Righthander Steven Wright, who is on the disabled list recovering from surgery on his left knee, is expected to start a rehab assignment later this week. What day that will be has not been determined. Wright is expected to need a few starts. He pitched in only five games last season before having surgery. Righthanded reliever Tyler Thornburg threw 33 pitches over two innings in an extended spring training game Monday in Fort Myers, Fla., but he is not yet ready for a minor league assignment. Thornburg is coming back from thoracic outlet surgery. Dustin Pedroia will start workouts at Fenway South on Wednesday, the latest step in his return from left knee surgery. He has not been cleared for games yet. Lin makes difference The Red Sox lost a significant player when Bogaerts went on the DL. That they won five of the next six games was a testament to the organization s infield depth, particularly the arrival of Tzu-Wei Lin from Triple A Pawtucket. The 24-year-old from Taiwan started all three games against Baltimore and was 6 of 11 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs scored. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Lin was the first Red Sox rookie with two or more hits in every game of at least a three-game series at Fenway Park since Jose Iglesias was 6 of 12 in three games against the Angels in Lin was out of the lineup Tuesday as Brock Holt started at shortstop. Cora said he felt Holt was a better matchup against Angels starter Shohei Ohtani and that Lin would return to the lineup Wednesday. California dreaming It was 67 degrees at first pitch, a pleasant change for the Sox. The average first-pitch temperature in their first homestand was 43 with four games played in the 30s... Jonny Gomes is working the West Coast portion of the road trip for NESN. Gomes retired from playing and took a position with the Arizona Diamondbacks as the hitting coach with their rookie-level Arizona League team. Gomes was with the Sox from Former Sox outfielder Chris Young is a backup with the Angels. Several of the Sox players were on the field early to catch up with him. Young hit.253 with a.773 OPS in two seasons with the Sox... Ten employyes of the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Management, or Aramark ran the Boston Marathon to benefit the Red Sox Foundation. They were Dan Close, Andrew Dennen, Nick Ferrington, Robert Finan, Sarah Kimball, Mike Melisi, Trevor Starcher, Courtney Swift, Sarah Wasser, and Liv Whitney... The Red Sox are hosting Little League Opening Day at Fenway Park on Wednesday. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Kids can walk the warning track, take photos in the dugout, and, from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., play catch in the outfield. Concessions will be free for the Little Leaguers. Here s how the Red Sox tried to land Shohei Ohtani Alex Speier On Tuesday night, the Red Sox got an up-close view of Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese sensation who is taking the baseball world by storm as a two-way force of nature for the Angels. As the 23-year-old pursues life as both of a front-of-the-rotation starter and middle-of-the-order hitter, he is challenging baseball s norms. The announcement last December that the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters would post Ohtani set in motion pitches from all 30 major league teams, hoping to claim an unprecedented jackpot.

7 Ohtani s skill set, track record in Japan, and youth suggested a player who might be worth $200 million or more on the open market. Yet he was available for a $20 million posting fee plus a relatively modest bonus that might range from a few hundred thousand to the low seven figures, a figure capped by hard limits on the amount teams can spend in any given year on international players under the age of 25. A transcendent talent was available for dimes on the dollar. All 30 teams wanted in. The Red Sox were tantalized and they were ready. The buildup to this had been since 2012 in terms of how we re going to prepare, how we re going to make our presentation, said Red Sox senior vice president of player personnel Allard Baird, recalling the origins of the team s scouting efforts with Ohtani dating to his time in high school, when there seemed a possibility that he might bypass Nippon Professional Baseball and start his pro career in America. While Ohtani instead elected to start his career in Japan, from the moment he was selected by Hokkaido with the first pick of the 2012 draft, the baseball world prepared for his eventual posting. I m sure three-quarters of the teams in baseball had been building up for the same time, Baird said. Starting when Ohtani was in high school, Eddie Romero (now the Sox assistant general manager) and Jon Deeble (then the team s Pacific Rim scouting coordinator) pursued him aggressively. Once Ohtani stayed in Japan to start his pro career, the Sox took what multiple team officials described as countless looks from several evaluators at Ohtani during his five-year NPB career. Baird initially oversaw the process, but that primary responsibility was passed a couple of years ago to vice president of player personnel Jared Banner, who is now in charge of the team s professional scouting efforts in Japan, Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Taiwan, and Italy. Baird, Banner, and Shun Kakazu, the team s area scout in Japan, as well as special assignment scouts Eddie Bane and Steve Peck and international pro cross-checker Edgar Perez, were all involved in the evaluation process. As with everything we do, it was a big group effort, said Banner. We had a lot of people see him over the course of time. Of course, by the time Ohtani made himself available, his potential was no secret. A pitcher who complements a triple-digit fastball with a devastating splitter and who stood out as Japan s foremost slugger when he wasn t pitching would improve any team. The real challenge for teams was to come up with a presentation that would compel Ohtani to sit down for a face-to-face meeting and hear more. The task required a fascinating long-term exercise in organizational reflection, with Banner serving as project manager, reporting regularly to Baird and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski while also drawing upon colleagues from across the organization. The collaboration also included members of the Red Sox marketing and video production departments in an effort to highlight the franchise s history, the city s sports tradition, and the team s resources for a star coming from Japan. Here s the pitch The presentation cuts to the chase pretty quickly. Twin images of Ohtani in a Red Sox uniform one throwing a splitter, another hitting are followed quickly by a video on why Boston is made for Shohei. The video rolls through a succession of iconic Red Sox David Ortiz, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, and Luis Tiant before fixing on a final, singular figure. Grainy video captures Babe Ruth emerging from behind a door in a Red Sox uniform before footage of a forming legend pitching and then hitting with the team for whom he made his pre-yankees mark. The idea of highlighting Ruth came from Kakazu and immediately resonated as a way of highlighting a singular connection between Red Sox history and Ohtani s intentions to test MLB s boundaries.

8 Only one player in history impacted a franchise as both a pitcher and hitter, leading Boston to three World Series titles in six seasons, intones a narrator, referencing Ruth s run in Boston that included championships in 1915, 1916, and The Babe revolutionized baseball, dominating on the mound and at the plate. Fenway Park was the home of baseball s last true two-way star. Now, Boston is ready for its next baseball pioneer. The glimpses of The Babe give way to an image of Ohtani superimposed over the Green Monster scoreboard, with the narration, Boston is made for... legends... history... champions... Shohei. The presentation which was prepared in both English and Japanese continued by outlining how the Red Sox envisioned using Ohtani and why they believed they represented a good fit for him. Among the elements: The Sox offered a detailed outline of a two-way workload as a member of a five-man rotation and lineup semi-regular, offering details on projected innings and plate appearances. It also offered its scouting evaluations for Ohtani and its player development plans for him as both a hitter and pitcher. The Sox outlined their financial resources and willingness to spend aggressively in pursuit of championships. The Sox young core Ohtani s expected teammates for years to come was introduced. The Sox have Japanese-born staffers who are part of the team s training (Masai Takahashi), strength and conditioning (Kiyoshi Momose), massage therapy (Shinichiro Uchikubo), and media relations (Mikio Yoshimura) staffs. All played a big role in our preparation, said Banner. They are a unique and talented group that make our organization special. With the help of that staff, the presentation outlined a specific schedule that would start Jan. 1, 2018, to begin the cultural preparation as well as physical training program to prepare Ohtani for his transition to MLB. A Title Town slide highlighted the winning culture in Boston, with pictures of stars from all four local teams winning championships. Koji Uehara appeared in an image of a Red Sox title no coincidence, given that the presentation outlined the Sox history with Japanese players. Daisuke Matsuzaka offered a thoughtful reflection on the unanticipated on- and off-field adjustments he faced in coming to the Sox as an established NPB star in 2007, how the team helped him through that transition, and what he considered the unparalleled experience of pitching in Fenway Park. All of those elements were meant to highlight what the organization considered one of its best selling points: the Boston baseball experience. Fenway Park is a special place, obviously the oldest ballpark in the big leagues, a lot of history there, our fans show up on a nightly basis, said Banner. They re loud and energetic. Baseball is in many ways No. 1 in Boston. Our organization is committed to winning, as our ownership group has shown since they took over in We wanted to highlight our winning tradition. We wanted to highlight our engaged fan base. And we wanted to highlight how much fun it is to play in Boston, a city that cares about baseball a lot. Among quotes from several of organizational leaders (including principal owner John Henry and Dombrowski), manager Alex Cora conveyed not only his respect for Ohtani s abilities but also how his own cultural transition from Puerto Rico to the States would allow him to relate to the player. It was, Red Sox officials thought, a strong case for Ohtani s potential fit in Boston.

9 I can t even tell you the number of man-hours that were involved in it between Jared and the various individuals, said Dombrowski. Jared and the group that worked on it did a phenomenal job. Yet while the Red Sox felt good about what they produced, they also knew this was in some respects a message in a bottle that had been dropped into the sea. They were optimistic when they sent the presentation to Ohtani s agents at CAA Sports, but also clear-eyed that it was no guarantee of a meeting with the pitcher. We didn t have expectations, said Banner. We just tried to put our best foot forward. Dave and Allard always stress that we have a full, thorough process. That s what scouting is all about. From back in my amateur days, you might go see 80 guys in a year and you might get one of them. Were the other 79 guys a waste? No. I think that s part of the process, doing your due diligence, doing the work, because that one time you do get the player, it s worth it. It was great to see our whole organization come together. A lot of people throughout baseball ops and other departments helped put us in position to deliver a presentation that we as an organization were proud of. The aftermath When CAA informed teams of the seven clubs that would meet with Ohtani, the Red Sox were not among them. I will say I was just short of shocked, based upon the presentation, that we didn t make the final round because it was so well done, Dombrowski said. The inevitable reality of a singular talent coming to the big leagues at a bargain price was that 29 teams would be disappointed by the outcome. The Angels were alone in celebrating Ohtani s choice of destinations. Their celebration hasn t stopped. Entering his start against the Red Sox Tuesday, Ohtani was 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA, 18 strikeouts, and 2 walks in 13 innings while also hitting.367/.424/.767 with three homers among his five extra-base hits in eight games. I m intrigued to see how we ll match up against him, said Dombrowski. He s a rare talent. He s great for the game. That s why we, as well as other organizations, were so aggressive trying to sign him. Our people believed in him a great deal. So, yeah, I m interested to see him. With the Red Sox having the best record (13-2) in baseball a half-game better than the 13-3 Angels that interest is now almost academic, if it exists at all. Asked if he were intrigued to see how the skills he d seen on display by Ohtani in Japan would translate to the big leagues, Banner was direct. No, he said. I m excited about watching our guys. I m excited about Red Sox and potential Red Sox. That s it. Nobody else. Mookie Betts or Mike Trout: Who gets the nod? Nick Cafardo ANAHEIM, Calif. One is jacked, the other is chiseled. One has two MVP awards, the other should have one.

10 One has shown who he is and what he is, the other is about to get there. Mike Trout vs. Mookie Betts. Which player would you rather have? Any player would want to be Trout, perhaps the best player in baseball (though Bryce Harper might pose an ever bigger threat than Betts). But after you give Trout his obvious accolades, who wouldn t want Betts? Both are excellent athletes who can change a game with their power, speed, and defensive ability. Betts is probably the better defender, though he s playing right field and Trout is a center fielder. Trout has proven himself as a consistently great performer over a longer period of time. Betts finished runner-up to Trout for the 2016 American League MVP. I think Betts got robbed. As a voter, I place great value on a player who helps lead his team to a first-place finish. Betts did that in Trout s Angels were awful, and it s tough to gauge the value of a player under those circumstances. Where the stats lean in favor of Trout, that s where the majority of the votes went. Which brings us to a topic that will never die: Should the MVP award be based on the best player, or his value to the team? It seems they ve become one and the same. But that shouldn t be. While Betts dropped off last season, Trout continued to excel. It s funny that Trout, off to another great start and helping his team to a 13-3 record (the best in Angels history), has been overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani, who started Tuesday night s game against the Red Sox. Trout has reached base safely in half of his 34 plate appearances over the last seven games. He batted.385 ( 10 for 26) with four homers, 8 RBIs, and 8 runs scored during that stretch. Betts was hitting.353 with two homers and 10 RBIs with a OPS going into Tuesday night s game. Trout had a.973 OPS. Betts was tied for the league lead in doubles (7), second in runs (16), second in average (.353), and fourth in OPS. Ohtani has drawn huge numbers of Japanese media to his games, which have become events particularly when he pitches. When he hits, it hasn t been as pronounced, but he s taken baseball by storm as a hitter as well. Trout doesn t mind the media attention shifting away from him. In that way he s very similar to Betts, who shuns the spotlight and wants little to do with the attention paid to him. But to see two outstanding all-around players going head to head is an event in itself. Betts s skill set is often taken for granted, because he has shown he s human with slumps, as he often endured in So I asked 10 evaluators (a combination of scouts and GMs) to choose one over the other, and the answer was predictably in favor of Trout. I thought he would get all 10 votes. He got seven of the 10. Here are some responses: You could make a case for either, but Trout by a hair, said one National League executive. Trout is more physical and should be in a better position to maintain his power value as he ages. Betts would need to continue performing like a freak to keep up with Trout. Wow, I m going with Betts! said one American League scout. More versatile. The power numbers go to Trout, but I like Betts all around. Haven t seen Trout play in person since 2011, but with that in mind, I ll go with Betts, said an American League scout.

11 Trout, said a longtime National League scout. Analytics may favor Mookie, I love both, but Trout never cools. I d go with Trout, said a National League evaluator. Close though. Betts is a year younger and has a better OPS over the last two years. Trout s ahead of him, no doubt, said one American League executive, but Mookie has the ability to catch up if he has a couple of really consistent years, which he appears to be on his way to doing. Betts was flattered to be in the same conversation as Trout. He s a great player and I think everybody loves watching him play, Betts said. To be in the same conversation as a great player like that is an honor. He plays the game the right way and he plays it in an exciting way. I think we re both team-oriented in that we do the things we do to put our teams in position to win. I think any player would want to achieve what he s achieved and be recognized as one of the best to play our game. Betts has engaged with manager Alex Cora on trying to be a more aggressive hitter more like Astros leadoff man George Springer. Cora believes Betts can be a leadoff hitter with power and could be a 30-plus home run guy every season. Trout is a hard man to pin down, but in the past he s commented on how much he respects Betts s game and what a great all-around player he is. There is a mutual admiration between the players. Former Red Sox and Angels coach Gary DiSarcina coached both, and always remarked how different they were body-wise, but how they could basically win a game in so many different ways. Betts returned to the lineup Tuesday after suffering a foot contusion on a collision at the plate in Saturday s game against the Orioles. The Betts-Trout debate will continue over the next three games here. Trout has the edge for sure, but Betts is closing fast. * The Boston Herald Red Sox rough up Shohei Ohtani in 10-1 rout of Angels Jason Mastrodonato ANAHEIM, Calif. -- From one side of the Pacific Ocean to the other, people in time zones as much as 13 hours apart were revved up to watch Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani pitch against the best team in Major League Baseball. The last time he pitched, Ohtani touched 100 mph, took a perfect game into the seventh inning and finished with 12 strikeouts in a win over the Oakland A s. Last night at Angel Stadium, he was done after two innings. Ohtani mania was extinguished by the Red Sox red-hot offense, which knocked him around for three runs in two innings in an eventual 10-1 win as the Sox improved to an MLB-best 14-2 to start the season. They re the first team to start 14-2 since the 2003 San Francisco Giants.

12 Honestly, I don t know what this team isn t going to do really well, said David Price. We do everything extremely well. We can do it all. And we can do it with different guys. The Red Sox had scored 65 runs in their last eight games and surely represented the first big test for Ohtani, the 23-year-old who has devoured attention and been compared to the next Babe Ruth during his rookie season. Red Sox legend David Ortiz tweeted before the game, I wanna see if this kid Ohtani is really thaaat good tonite against MY boys The first batter of the game, Mookie Betts, worked the count full and then squared up a 97-mph fastball middle-down and roped it over the left-center-field wall for a leadoff homer. It was the first of three homers on the night for Betts, who hadn t played since Saturday, when he left the game with a foot injury. He was around the plate he just got some in trouble, said Betts. We had a good approach. You have to give us some credit. We re good hitters and did a good job backing him into a corner. His stuff is there. Everything is there. He throws 100, has a 90-mph splitter, slider, curveball. He s got it all. Hanley Ramirez hit a one-out single to extend the inning and Ohtani needed 28 pitches to get through the first with just a 1-0 deficit. After Price pitched a quick, 15-pitch inning, Ohtani returned to the mound and never looked comfortable. In front of a sold-out crowd of 44,822, the first Angels sell-out on a Tuesday night since Mike Trout bobblehead night in 2014 according to the USA Today, Ohtani retired Eduardo Nunez to start the second inning then gave up two walks and two singles as the Sox tacked on another run. With the bases juiced, Andrew Benintendi lifted a sky-high pop-up to score another on a sacrifice fly. Ramirez finally grounded out to end the inning. While it was clear Ohtani is an immensely talented individual, the Sox had no problem squaring up his fastball and laying off his secondary stuff. He was wild and inconsistent, spiking two pitches in the dirt some six feet before home plate. And after 66 pitches through two innings, he left the game with what the Angels announced as a developing blister on his middle finger, though he s still expected to start against the Red Sox as the designated hitter on Thursday. He s going to be really good, Price said of Ohtani. He s going to be good offensively and on the mound. He s very young. He s getting used to these baseballs. He s getting used to these atmospheres. It s going to take him a little while. It could be in seven days from right now. But he ll be fine. Ohtani s signature split-finger fastball never made much of an impact since he rarely worked ahead in the count. He wasn t able to land that splitter for strikes and we did a good job of laying off and backing him into a corner and making him throw pitches he didn t want to, Betts said. Luke Bard relieved him and was no better. The Sox quickly put up five runs on him in the third inning when Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt and Betts homered within a span of four batters. Rafael Devers added another homer in the fifth and Betts hit his third in the eighth. Making his first start since leaving after one inning due to a lack of circulation in his throwing hand, Price looked strong through five innings, though he did walk four batters and give up a run. It took him just 78 pitches to complete his night and by that time the Sox had a comfortable 9-1 win and turned it over to Brian Johnson.

13 Reasons for Red Sox early success begins with starting rotation Michael Silverman Considering that every facet to the Red Sox offense, defense, bench, manager, coaches, relievers, starters, video coordinator has played its part in the team s incredible 2018 start, there is no single secret to the success. But if you accept the challenge that finding an origin story to this tale is a worthy endeavor, then the place to begin is with the starting rotation. The Big Four of Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez have kept nearly every game under control. The starters keep the other teams offense in check heading into last night, their 2.06 ERA was best in the majors by a wide margin (Astros second at 2.53) which affords the deep lineup time to chip away at building and maintaining a lead rather than having to hack away in order to mount rallies from deep holes. If hitting is contagious, starting pitching can be, too. We re going to try to keep it rolling, honestly I mean, that s all we can do, feeding off each other, kind of passing the hat if you will, Sale said after his last start. It just seems like every day everyone comes in, we re staying locked in, obviously we have two great catchers behind the plate that can navigate anybody through any lineup at any given time. So, the faith and confidence we have in our catchers, the faith and confidence we have in your lineup which is a huge part of it, because when you go out there and you have runs to play with all you ve got to do is go out there and throw strikes. Throwing strikes is not the starter s only job, of course. Expanding the zone by wasting some pitches comes in handy, but if the ball s not over or near the plate, hitters won t swing. And the idea is that the starters want hitters to swing swinging and missing is the best outcome, followed by swinging and creating weak contact. So far, the Red Sox have enjoyed great success doing this, as the following statistics, mostly from FanGraphs.com, demonstrate. Besides the low ERA, their WHIP of 1.04 is the lowest of all 30 teams as is their walks per nine innings rate of The Red Sox starters are tied with the Dodgers and Yankees for inducing the most swings at their pitches, nearly 48 percent. Batters aren t clearing the bases against Red Sox starters. At a rate of 0.65 home runs per nine innings, opposing batters are hitting home runs off Sox starters at the second lowest rate in the American League, fourth lowest in the majors. When it comes to batters swinging and missing, the Red Sox starters induce those results at the fourth best rate in the league, seventh best in the majors. When batters make contact with pitches in the strike zone, they do so at the third lowest rate in the league, sixth lowest in the majors. The Red Sox pitchers are middle in the pack when it comes to pitch selection and throwing sliders, cutters and changeups. But they throw fastballs a lot, more than 58 percent of the time. However, they re not fireballers. With an average fastball velocity at 91.9 mph, Sox starters throw the third slowest heat in the league, seventh

14 slowest in the majors. That stat signals that they have excellent command and break on their fastballs, because hitters aren t making productive contact on fastballs that are thrown for strikes. In the event of a batter reaching a base, the Red Sox starters have been most adept at preventing them from coming around to score. Their left-on-base percentage of 86.5 is also the highest in the majors. Thanks in part to Price s brief start his last time out, Sox starters have not been in games particularly long, their average of 5.5 innings per start is ninth highest in the majors, according to the team s media relations department. But that s high enough to alleviate pressure and usage on relievers in the short and long term. The starters? It gives us a chance to match up the last third of the game, said manager Alex Cora. We feel, going into each game, that if we get 18 outs out of the rotation, out of the starter, we can go different ways there, like if we have lefties or we feel like the four-seamer works better with certain matchups or a sinker or a slider. Bottom line, the impact of J.D. Martinez, resurgence of Hanley Ramirez and all-around production from the lineup has meant a great deal, as has the defense. But, in the end, it all starts with the starters. Like I said my last start, you can make a mistake and not be totally burned by it. We have the confidence in our guys to score runs at any given time, and our defense has been off the charts, Sale said. You put that all together it makes it a lot easier on the starting staff to go out there and just throw strikes and do what we ve got to do to win games. Red Sox notebook: Mookie Betts shows great timing in return to lineup Jason Mastrodonato ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Three days earlier, Mookie Betts injured his foot in a home-plate collision and left the Red Sox game early. He missed Sunday s game, spent much of his time off watching video to prepare for the series with the Los Angeles Angels and convinced Red Sox manager Alex Cora he was ready to play. Last night, Betts hit a leadoff homer off two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani and finished the Red Sox 10-1 win with three homers, the third time in his career he s hit three home runs. It s pretty fun, Betts said. Anytime you can do something like that it s huge to help the team. I just ride the wave. To Cora, the funny part was that he was planning on giving Betts a day off on Sunday anyway. Yesterday he said on the plane he was OK, and this morning he was OK, and then today he showed us he was OK, Cora said. That s why rest is good. That the MVP candidate hurt his foot on Saturday -- X-rays were negative -- only made it easier for Cora to give him the rest, which was rewarded in a big way. Timing is going to be fine, Cora said. I think a lot of people are making a big deal of the days off and all that. I think if you rest those guys, they re going to be more consistent. We can t wait for them to struggle to give them a day off. Actually I was watching him Friday, Saturday and he was a little bit late on a few pitches. And I was actually thinking of giving him an off-day on Sunday and it just happen. I think it s very important for them. We take them for granted how good they are. But compared to other teams they re smaller than we are, compared to the Yankees and Orioles. You have to make sure they re fresh and it s better for them.

15 Eduardo Nunez, whose right knee hasn t been 100 percent since he got hurt late last year, sat out the weekend games because Cora didn t want Nunez to be at further risk in the murky weather, the manager said. Nunez returned last night and went 1-for-4 with a walk. Cora can seemingly do no wrong. Tzu-Wei Lin entered Tuesday with two hits in three straight games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but Cora had a feeling that Brock Holt would match up better against Ohtani. Holt, who was 4-for-24 to start the season, got the start at shortstop over Lin and hit an RBI single his first time up against Ohtani, then added a two-run homer off Luke Bard in the fourth inning to finish 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Brock comes in and he hits a homer, Cora said. And you know we were talking about Lin not playing today before the game and Holt is playing because we felt he was the best matchup and he puts good atbats. Cora said it wasn t hard to start Holt over the red-hot Lin. It s just a matter we feel with Ohtani s stuff and Holt s swing it s a good matchup for us, he said. Because Lin is considered a better defender, Lin will likely play shortstop today with groundball pitcher Rick Porcello on the mound. It is a factor, Cora said. With Rick down in the zone, put the ball in play, they don t swing and miss a lot with those all those righties. That comes into play. Xander Bogaerts on the mend The most pleasant sight for the Red Sox pregame was Xander Bogaerts walking around freely and then jumping into the batting cage for some swings. Bogaerts hasn t played since April 8, when he suffered a small crack in his ankle after landing on the concrete dugout steps while sliding to keep a ball in play. He was originally deemed out for days. He was in a walking boot for a few days. He ran a little bit, he s going to hit, take ground balls, so all around a great day for him, Cora said. Asked if the day timetable seemed likely, Cora said, I m working in my window. Whenever I feel that it makes sense for us that he s healthy and can go out there and perform the way we want him to perform, he ll be out there. But he s making progress. Cora s fear is that the Sox rush Bogaerts back, he won t be the same hitter he was to start the year. He was hitting.368 with an MLB-best seven doubles when he got hurt. Bogaerts also rushed back from a hand injury last year and it severely limited his ability to hit over the final 64 games. I don't want to put him in a situation where he feels that he s going to hit fifth, he goes out there and he s tracking pitches and it s a situation where our fifth hitter isn t actually the fifth hitter we want, Cora said. Knuckleballer Steven Wright is ready for a rehab assignment, Cora said. He s been out recovering from a knee injury and also had a platelet-rich plasma injection in his knee during spring training.

16 Tyler Thornburg threw two innings in a minor league game on Monday but is not yet ready for a rehab assignment. His velocity was good, Cora said. His breaking stuff was better. * The Providence Journal A healthy Hanley Ramirez now able to shoulder the load Brian MacPherson BOSTON Before it happened, few outside the Red Sox organization even knew Hanley Ramirez was going to have surgery. Six months later, that surgery looks like one of the most significant moves of the team s offseason. Ramirez hit 23 home runs last season but slugged just.429 well off the career.495 slugging percentage he carried into last season. The inability of Ramirez to be a middle-of-the-order force played a large part in Boston s post-david Ortiz power outage, prompting the team to make the acquisition of slugger J.D. Martinez an offseason priority. But while the shoulder surgery was relatively minor an arthroscopy and debridement, procedures designed to clean up wear and tear rather than make significant repairs the impact has been significant. Ramirez took an 0-for-4 on Sunday but is still hitting.333 with a.386 on-base percentage and a.569 slugging percentage in Boston s first 15 games. A $22-million vesting option for 2019 that once looked like an outcome the Red Sox needed to avoid now looks like it would be a win-win outcome after all. After the surgery, I feel a release, Ramirez said. My shoulder was free. I knew right away I was going to be able to do whatever I want. He s able to do whatever he wants right now at the plate, Red Sox manager Alex Cora echoed. A year ago, with his front shoulder limited, Ramirez at times had to cheat a bit in order not to get beat with fastballs on the inner half of the plate. He d start his swing early and open up his body to keep from being jammed. When he did that, of course, he left himself vulnerable on the outer half of the plate. A hitter who had slugged.714 on pitches on the outer third of the plate in 2016 slugged just.466 on those pitches in In the early going this season, Ramirez is slugging on pitches on the outer third of the plate. His home run off Miami s Trevor Richards on April 2 came on a slider on the outside corner that stayed up. When you re hurt and they pitch you inside, you don t want to get jammed, so you start expanding, expanding, expanding inside, Cora said. That s where the pitchers are going to go go in, in, in. When they go away, you re not able to cover any side. Martinez has been about as good as the Red Sox could have expected him to be in his first two weeks, slugging.518 with seven extra-base hits. But Ramirez has been even better. His.569 slugging percentage included a double and a home run on Saturday, two days after he took a Sonny Gray pitch off the wrist and had to leave early. The start is reminiscent of Ramirez s 2015 debut with the Red Sox, when he hit 10 home runs and slugged.659 in April only to crash into the wall along the left-field line and injure that left shoulder in early May.

17 An ugly defensive display in left field and the injury-hampered remainder of that season, one that saw the Red Sox finish in last place and GM Ben Cherington ousted as primary architect of the roster, overshadowed what had been a torrid first month. To the confident Ramirez, the health of his shoulder has a direct correlation with the ferociousness of his swings. When you re healthy, you don t have to think about anything or anybody, he said. You relax, and everything flows. Cora expressed his confidence in Ramirez early in spring training, proclaiming him his No. 3 hitter both before and after Martinez put ink to paper on his lucrative contract. That confidence came from an offseason visit to Ramirez in Miami in which Ramirez told his new manager, You don t have to worry about me. I ll be fine. If anything, Ramirez undersold his state of mind and his state of shoulder, too. He s been better than fine so far. He s been a revelation. * MassLive.com Drew Pomeranz: 'I'd love to stay here. I don't know what their plans are' Christopher Smith ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz will make his first start of the 2018 season, his contract year, Friday in Oakland. He began the year on the disabled list with a mild flexor strain. "I just threw a bullpen now and I feel like I can pick back up where I left off (in 2017)," a confident Pomeranz told MassLive.com here at Angel Stadium before the Red Sox's 10-1 win over the Angels yesterday. Pomeranz put everything together in He went 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA in 32 starts. A similar year in 2018 would lead him to a big pay day in free agency this coming offseason. But maybe he'll re-sign with the Red Sox before free agency. Pomeranz is willing to negotiate an extension during the regular season. Most impending free agents refuse to negotiate extensions in-season. They view it as a distraction. Pomeranz has no problem doing it. "I don't care," Pomeranz said. "I don't think it distracts me. I'm already focused on what I need to do. That stuff's separate from what I need to do here at the field. "I would do whatever, yeah," Pomeranz added. "Like I said, I'm locked in. I'm not letting anything get in the way of that. That stuff's (contract talks) not going to bother me." He obviously understands what a productive season means for him. "I feel like if I go out there and achieve some of those goals I have for myself, I think everything's going to work out." He has enjoyed his time in Boston. The Red Sox acquired him July 14, His wife Carolyn enjoys Boston more than any other city where he has played.