The Boston Red Sox Monday, April 23, 2018

Transcription

1 * The Boston Globe The Boston Red Sox Monday, April 23, 2018 Red Sox, A s managers had to keep working to the end on no-hitter Peter Abraham OAKLAND, Calif. As Sean Manaea was working on his no-hitter against the Red Sox on Saturday night, both managers were considering getting their respective closers warmed up. In a 3-0 game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora had Blake Swihart pinch hit for Tzu-Wei Lin to start the ninth inning. He also thought it was time to get Craig Kimbrel loose. I m a rookie manager. Somebody s throwing a no-no and I have to make decisions, Cora said Sunday before a 4-1 loss against Oakland. So I go to [bench coach Ron] Roenicke, and I said, So how do you manage this? It s a three-run game. If Blake gets on, then you have Mookie [Betts], one of the best players in the big leagues. It s the top of the lineup. Do you get the closer up before somebody gets on? Roenicke advised against it, telling Cora to wait and see. Swihart grounded to shortstop before Betts hit a fly ball to deep right field that was caught on the warning track. When Andrew Benintendi drew a two-out walk, Oakland manager Bob Melvin had to worry about getting the victory. The Sox had Hanley Ramirez at the plate with J.D. Martinez on deck. Manaea also was over 100 pitches for the first time this season. We re one hit away from Martinez coming up with two runners on base, Melvin said. I m trying hard as a I can not to get the bullpen up. Oakland closer Blake Treinen never picked up a ball, but he did stand up and start to get loose. Melvin, a superstitious sort, didn t want to take that step. Once Hanley came to the plate, we got Treinen up, Melvin said. Thank goodness we didn t have to use him. When Manaea fell behind Ramirez, 2 and 0, both managers were ready to pick up the bullpen phone. But Ramirez swung at a changeup and grounded it sharply to shortstop. The A s forced Benintendi at second and Manaea had the no-hitter. For how bad it was and good for the kid, he was amazing we were one base runner away from having the tying run at the plate, and one big swing can tie the game, Cora said. Ramirez s grounder left his bat at miles per hour, making it the hardest-hit ball of the game, according to MLB s Statcast system. But it was an easy play for shortstop Marcus Semien. The Red Sox came into the game hitting.293 and averaging 6.5 runs. But Cora wasn t stunned by what Manaea did.

2 That s baseball. That s baseball, he said. We were talking about being humble and staying hungry. Well, we were humbled.... That s what happens when teams make adjustments. Cora said Manaea threw only a handful of changeups to lefthanded hitters in his first four starts. But he threw nine on Saturday. Little tweaks like that made a difference. Manaea walked two and struck out 10. The Sox thought Benintendi had an infield hit in the sixth inning, but he was called out for leaving the base line after initially being called safe. Pedroia s Fort stop Dustin Pedroia elected not to rejoin the team during the next homestand and will continue his workouts in Fort Myers, Fla. He s in a good place right now, Cora said. Pedroia is taking batting practice and going through defensive drills with prospects in extended spring training. Pedroia is on the disabled list, recovering from what was extensive surgery on his left knee in October. Cora revealed some details of how careful the Sox will be with their second baseman as he returns. It s a very controlled environment, Cora said. Once he starts playing rehab games, there will be days Pedroia only plays defense. He also will be prohibited from running the bases at first. That one he hates, Cora said. I brought it up to him, and he was like, I can t do that. I was like, Well you have to do it. Cora has been communicating with Pedroia on almost a daily basis. Hockey night A group of Red Sox players and staff members are making plans to attend the Bruins-Maple Leafs game in Toronto on Monday night. The team is off until Tuesday... Red Sox relievers have not allowed a run in their last 20⅔ innings. Carson Smith retired the one batter he faced Sunday... Mitch Moreland was 2 for 4 and is 13 of his last 27. He is hitting.349 on the season... Remember Austin Maddox? The righthanded reliever never pitched in spring training because of a shoulder strain and landed on the disabled list. He remains in Fort Myers and has pitched in the bullpen but not yet in any games. The next step will be live batting practice. Maddox appeared in 13 games last season and was on the playoff roster. We do feel he s going to contribute, probably sooner rather than later, Cora said... The Red Sox activated lefthanded reliever Bobby Poyner off the disabled list (left hamstring strain) and optioned him to Triple A Pawtucket. Before going on the DL, Poyner had appeared in six games for the Red Sox, allowing two runs over seven innings while striking out eight. With Brian Johnson now in the bullpen, the Sox didn t need a second lefthander. New challenge for Red Sox: Put a quick stop to skid Nick Cafardo OAKLAND The Red Sox have lost two straight for the first time this season. Do the bad times end here? This will be the test this team faces as they head into a three-game series against the Blue Jays starting Tuesday. You never want long losing streaks, said Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland. This team is capable of anything. We had two games where we had good pitching against us. That s going to happen. But we

3 have a great offense and great pitching. This is a very good team, so I think we re going to be able to limit that long-term damage where you lose a lot of games. The dream start was obviously not sustainable, but manager Alex Cora loves to talk about his lineup doing damage. Well, now the Sox have to limit it. It was something that was preached in Houston when Cora served as bench coach last season. The World Series champion Astros didn t have a lot of long losing streaks. In fact, their longest was five games in August, at a time when the Astros were running away with it anyway and on their way to 101 wins. The Red Sox had two four-game losing streaks as their high en route to 93 wins. With our pitching staff, that s the case, said Cora when asked about the ability of the Red Sox to stop lengthy losing streaks. Offensively, we feel capable of scoring runs every night. We re capable of scoring a lot. We re not going to score seven or eight every night, but this offense is going to be fine. We re going to hit. We still have had a good road trip, 4-2. We need to go to Toronto and win the series. But over the last two games, where have all the runs gone? The Red Sox led the league in runs scored heading into the last two games. The runs have vanished. These pesky Oakland A s took them away. They have turned the vibrant can t-bestopped lineup into something resembling the Miami Marlins over the last two games, being no-hit Saturday night and then scoring only one run in Sunday s 4-1 loss, decided when Khris Davis broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run homer off David Price in the bottom of the eighth inning. Fans may ask, why sit Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez when the team is off Monday? Get used to it. John Farrell used to be lambasted for giving players scheduled days off, but you ain t seen nothing yet. Cora believes in the concept even more than Farrell did. As a former positional player and extra player, Cora always believed that the extras need to play and that the regulars need to be refreshed. And that will be the case whether a guy is red-hot or not. If Cora feels that a hitter needs to get off his feet for a day, he ll do it no matter how hot the player is. Cora said both Betts and Ramirez might have come up in the ninth if the Sox had runners on, but that never happened. There were times last season when a player had a scheduled day off and it would be scrapped because Farrell didn t think he could live without the hot hitter that day. This cushion the Red Sox have built as a result of their strong start will merely reinforce Cora s methods. Cora will not adhere to pressure of having to play someone every day. He simply doesn t believe it. Who knows if the no-hitter spun by lefthander Sean Manaea has spiraled Boston into a slump. Is it a case of two A s pitching that well? Righthander Daniel Mengden was also mowing them down Sunday until he ran into trouble in the seventh, when the Sox scored their only run. The Sox had hit some balls hard throughout the day, but few were falling in. Jackie Bradley Jr. opened the game with a hard single to right to quickly end the no-hit streak. Moreland also singled in the inning, but Rafael Devers struck out to end the threat. Was this a case of the Red Sox aggressive style backfiring? It has certainly been a plus throughout the year, but scouting reports are now formulating, and A s pitchers seemed to take advantage of getting Boston hitters out early in the count. That s why hitting coach Tim Hyers said when the team was in Anaheim that hitters had to change up their approach a bit so they wouldn t be predictable.

4 They started looking at more pitches in the seventh, when they put the first two on with singles by Moreland and Devers (who ran the count to 3 and 2). With one out Brock Holt doubled to right to score a run, but the Sox left runners at second and third. And that cost them mightily, for as well as David Price pitched, when he allowed the three-run bomb to Davis in the eighth, it was pretty much over, as Sox bats were simply not in the mode to comeback. The two-game dip ate up two good pitching performances by Chris Sale and Price. It s never good to lose when those two guys are on the mound. Sale went seven innings and allowed three runs, not Sale-like but good enough to win. Price was magnificent with a first-inning blip and then nothing until the eighth-inning blast by Davis. And forget the nonsense that Price should have been pulled. He was pitching great. He made a mistake on a pitch, simple as that. And so we await the test. Will the Red Sox spiral into a bad spell, or can they lift themselves up again? With offense taking a day off, Red Sox fall again to A s Peter Abraham OAKLAND, Calif. Red Sox manager Alex Cora pulled every player off his bench to start Sunday s game against the Oakland Athletics. The team with the highest payroll in baseball used Blake Swihart as the designated hitter with rookie Tzu-Wei Lin at shortstop and Brock Holt at second base. Cora has committed to the idea of giving even his best players regular days off whether they necessarily need one or not. The idea is have a fresh roster for September and beyond. This time, it backfired. A day after the Red Sox were no-hit by Sean Manaea, they sputtered again offensively in a 4-1 loss. The Sox managed only six hits against four Oakland pitchers and were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. David Price kept his team in the game until the eighth inning when Khris Davis lined a three-run home run to left field with two outs. The 17-4 Sox have lost consecutive games for the first time this season. They start a three-game series at second-place Toronto on Tuesday. The Sox averaged 6.5 runs in their first 19 games. They have one in the last two. We think we have a great offensive club. But this is going to happen, Cora said. We re not going to score seven, eight runs a night. Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez, and Eduardo Nunez were on the bench to start the game and stayed there. Price held Oakland down into the eighth inning before one bad pitch decided the game. Price allowed one-out singles by Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty. Jed Lowrie, who leads the majors with 23 RBIs, then struck out for the third time. The Red Sox had righthander Carson Smith warmed up but Cora stuck with Price after seeing how he had overmatched Lowrie. Right now Jed is probably the best hitter in the league, so I decided to leave [Price] there, he said. Price s first pitch to Davis was a cut fastball that stayed over the plate instead of jamming him. Davis jumped all over it and the ball landed deep in the stands. Price looked at the ball for a split second then spun away in disgust.

5 Didn t make a pitch when I needed to and that was the ballgame, he said. It was good until the last hitter I faced. We made pitches all day long. One pitch cost me and cost our team. Price was furious with himself after the game, shoving a chair aside before he spoke to reporters. But he answered every question in a calm tone. Price (1-1) allowed four runs on nine hits over 7⅔ innings. He walked one and struck out six. That Price had such little margin of error was a product of the offense as Cora stayed with his principles even when there were chances to use a pinch hitter. Mitch Moreland and Devers started the seventh inning with singles against Oakland starter Daniel Mengden. Swihart, making his second start of the season, tapped the ball in front of the plate and catcher Bruce Maxwell threw Moreland out at third. Holt delivered an RBI double to right field. Oakland manager Bob Melvin called in Yusmeiro Petit and the veteran righthander halted the Sox there. Christian Vazquez swung at the first pitch and fouled out to first. Lin then struck out on three pitches, flailing wildly at a fastball off the outside corner. Ramirez, who is 3 for 9 in his career against Petit with two extra-base hits, stayed on the bench as Lin was overmatched. Betts and Nunez only watched. In the ninth, Swihart grounded out to the pitcher. After Holt reached on an error, Vazquez, who is hitting.211, then ended the game with a popup. Cora said he would not have used Betts unless he represented the tying run. It has to be the perfect spot for him to change the game, Cora said. One loss won t sway Cora away from what he believes is right. He was the bench coach in Houston last season when manager A.J. Hinch held Jose Altuve out of the lineup 11 times over the course of the season. The star second baseman then had a OPS in the postseason as the Astros won the World Series. Hinch, Terry Francona, and other managers he respects have told Cora to accept some losses as a cost of doing what is right for the long term. The players have bought in. You don t see anyone around here panicking, Swihart said. We re just going out there playing baseball. We have great team chemistry and we re having fun.... The more we play, we ll get those opportunities and come through. Why the Red Sox wound up not considering Sean Manaea in the 2013 draft Alex Speier The 2012 season was a horrible one for the Red Sox, the team s first last-place finish since 1992, but it came with a potential saving grace. The atrocity gave the Sox the No. 7 overall pick in the 2013 draft, the team s highest draft position since taking Trot Nixon at that pick 20 years earlier. As the team discussed potential early first-round candidates in the fall of 2012, lefthander Sean Manaea who on Saturday became the first pitcher to no-hit the Red Sox since Chris Bosio in 1993 was among the names on that list. Yet by draft day in 2013, when the Sox ended up selecting high school lefty Trey Ball, Manaea was no longer a remote consideration.

6 What happened? Manaea, who attended Indiana State, vaulted to top-of-the-first-round consideration after a dazzling Cape Cod League summer with Hyannis. In nine games (eight starts) spanning 51⅔ innings, he forged a 1.21 ERA with 85 strikeouts and just seven walks, earning recognition as both the league s top pitcher and top prospect. But in his junior year at Indiana State, Manaea dealt with knee, hip, and shoulder injuries that led evaluators to consider him a high-risk pick with the sort of medical issues that are rarely present for players taken at the top of the first round. Although he performed well for Indiana State that season, forging a 1.47 ERA while striking out 11.4 batters per nine innings and showing impressive command, the fact that he was limited to 13 outings (about 73 innings) raised yellow and red flags. Manaea s final scheduled predraft start occurred in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. With roughly 90 scouts in attendance, one evaluator recalled, he warmed up, went out on the field, and threw two pitches before having to leave due to injury. By the time of the draft, Manaea wasn t in consideration for the Sox top pick. Instead, the team plucked another lefty out of Indiana in Ball, who is now trying to reestablish his prospect credentials out of the bullpen with the Sox Double A Portland affiliate. Manaea slid all the way to the No. 34 pick, where the Royals, who d taken Hunter Dozier with the No. 8 overall pick, one slot behind the Sox selection of Ball, took what was seen as a bit of a risk on a pitcher with a high ceiling. Kansas City took Manaea and turned him into a key piece of their 2015 title, trading him as the centerpiece of a package to the A s for Ben Zobrist that summer. With Oakland, Manaea is now flourishing, with his no-hitter against the Sox representing the realization of the potential that had been on display in the summer of 2012 but that seemed too much of an uncertainty for virtually any team in the first round of the 2013 draft. * The Boston Herald One pitch dooms David Price, Red Sox in another loss to Athletics Steve Hewitt OAKLAND, Calif. In a tie game in the eighth inning, the Red Sox had a decision to make with David Price. The left-hander had thrown 90 pitches and given up back-to-back singles to Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty. Carson Smith was warming in the bullpen, and pitching coach Dana LeVangie came out to talk with Price. With Oakland s two best hitters about to come up, the Sox stuck with Price. The faith seemed to work when the lefty convincingly struck out Jed Lowrie, one of the best hitters in baseball so far this season, so Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn t think twice about keeping him in for Khris Davis. The way he got him out, you could see his fastball was good enough, Cora said. The pitch to Jed, that was probably the one that made me make the decision. It ended up being fool s gold. Price s first pitch to Davis was an 87-mph cutter, a pitch Price had been in command of all day, but this time, he left it too far over the plate. Davis made him pay by smoking the pitch over the left-field wall for a three-run homer, and the A s went on to a 4-1 win at the Coliseum.

7 I just didn t get it in far enough, Price said of the decisive pitch. Just didn t make a pitch when I needed to and that was the ballgame. It was the Red Sox second consecutive loss, which makes for their first losing streak of the season, and their first series loss. The Red Sox had one last chance to come back in the ninth, but failed to pose a threat. Brock Holt reached on an error, then advanced to second on defensive indifference. But Christian Vazquez flew out to right to end the game. Cora said he didn t consider pinch-hitting for Vazquez, who had doubled earlier in the game. Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez were both on an off day, but Cora said he was only going to use Betts if he represented the tying run. It had to be the perfect spot for him, Cora said. Without Betts and Ramirez, the Red Sox had trouble against A s starter Daniel Mengden. The righty retired 16-of-17 batters before the Sox finally woke up in the seventh. Mitch Moreland and Rafael Devers opened the frame with back-to-back singles before Blake Swihart grounded into a fielder s choice. Holt then hammered a Mengden four-seamer to right for an RBI double to tie the game. It was the sixth straight game with a hit for Holt, who is batting.375 over that span, and the run broke a skid of 18 scoreless innings for the Red Sox. But they couldn t do any more damage. Holt s knock also put runners on second and third with one out, but Vazquez fouled out before Tzu-Wei Lin struck out swinging. A day after Sean Manaea pitched a no-hitter, the Red Sox again seemed flummoxed by A s pitching. They struck out 10 times, including three by J.D. Martinez. They did a good job getting ahead in the count, then they expand the zone with changeups, off-speed pitches, Cora said. We put some good at-bats today, they hit the ball hard. We had a chance to take the lead, second and third, infield in, Christian gets a good pitch to hit, doesn t get it. Price had pitched a winnable game before the costly eighth. He fell behind early as Semien doubled to open the game and scored on Davis single to left. But the lefty settled down. He was efficient and in command, mixing his pitches well before he lost it on that one offering in the eighth. He threw 96 pitches over 72 3 innings, his longest outing of the season, striking out six. It was good until the last hitter I faced, Price said. Made pitches all day long, and one pitch cost me and cost our team. Red Sox notebook: Bats remain cool as Oakland takes series Steve Hewitt OAKLAND, Calif. Even before the Red Sox came back on Friday night to beat the A s here and earn their eighth straight win, Alex Cora s message was simple, yet pointed. Stay humble, stay hungry, Cora preached to his team in a pregame meeting.

8 The rookie manager knew his team was gaining a lot of attention. He said he was proud of the way they were handling themselves in the midst of winning 17 out of 18 games, and producing the best offense in baseball. Not that they weren t listening, but the Red Sox should certainly have their manager s full attention now. In the last two games of the weekend, the Red Sox got a mouthful of humble pie, and the Athletics proved that their foe was, in fact, mortal. Sean Manaea s no-hitter on Saturday was proof enough. Then, the Sox followed it up yesterday with a 4-1 loss. Suddenly, the Red Sox are going through their first real test of adversity this season. We re a good team, and we play 162 games in the season, so I think we ll be all right, Mitch Moreland said. It s certainly not time to panic or anything remotely close. The Red Sox are still 17-4, and it s still April, but a three-game set that begins tomorrow in Toronto against the second-place Blue Jays seems to be a good chance for the Sox to show some character. Cora is ever the optimist. The offense certainly did not display the same firepower this weekend as it did previously, but the manager noted in both losses to the A s that it had a real chance to win because of its pitching. Offensively we feel like we re very capable of scoring runs every night, and we think we re a great offensive club, but this is gonna happen, Cora said. This is gonna happen. They re not going to score seven, eight runs a night, but with the pitching staff that we have, they always will give us a chance to win the game. No-no nuance Although the Red Sox were no-hit Saturday night, they were taking it in stride. The offense was on a tear, but in baseball, nothing is ever really sustainable. Cora certainly didn t expect them to keep up the pace for 162 games. It s baseball, it s baseball, Cora said. We were talking about being humble and staying hungry. Well, we were humble (Saturday), although they ve been humble the whole time. But that s what happens. Teams will make adjustments. In (Manaea s) first start, he only threw five changeups to lefties, and then (Saturday) he throws So teams are going to make adjustments and we have to make adjustments. Pedroia down South Cora seems to be comfortable with where Dustin Pedroia is at in his recovery from offseason knee surgery. The second baseman reported to Fort Myers last week for controlled workouts, and Cora compared Pedroia s current work to the first few weeks of spring training. We talked about him going up to Boston and he said no, Cora said. He wants to stay, he s in a good place right now. He feels that going to Boston is going to work against him mentally, because he s going to be around the players and then he has to go back to Fort Myers, so he d rather stay down there and keep working. There s no timetable on when Pedroia will ramp up activities. Physically, he s doing better, he s moving around, Cora said. Whenever the program starts, his games, there s going to be certain days that he s only going to play defense. There s other days that he s going to

9 hit but when he hits he s not going to run. It s a very controlled environment. That s what he hates. I brought it up to him and he s like, Oh I can t do that. I m like, Well, you have to do it, but he s in a good place. Off days aplenty Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez were all out of the lineup yesterday. It was scheduled even though the team has an off day today. Take advantage of (today), back-to-back days, Cora said. I know we have (today) off, but coming all the way to the west coast, long games, I think it makes sense for the three of them to have an off day. Blake Swihart made his second start of the season, this time as the designated hitter. Swihart went 0-for-4. He needs at-bats, and he s a good offensive player, Cora said. The question was where he s going to play. It was either left field, DH and I asked J.D. (Martinez) what he would rather do and he said I d rather play the outfield, so we went with it. Prior to the game, the Sox activated lefty reliever Bobby Poyner from the 10-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket. Poyner was on the DL for a left hamstring strain. He made two rehab appearances, one with Portland and one with Pawtucket, combining for two scoreless innings. * MassLive.com Rafael Devers, Red Sox slugger: 'Nothing better could've happened in my life than my daughter' Christopher Smith OAKLAND, Calif. -- Rafael Devers is off to an impressive start in his first full season as a major leaguer. The 21-year-old is batting.284 with a.344 on-base percentage,.469 slugging percentage,.814 OPS, three homers, six doubles and 17 RBIs in 86 plate appearances (19 games) for the 17-4 Boston Red Sox. His improved defense has been the most pleasant surprise. He has three defensive runs saved, tied for third best among major league third basemen, per FanGraphs.com. He also leads all Red Sox players in defensive runs saved. MassLive.com caught up with Devers and his translator Daveson Perez at Oakland Coliseum to discuss a variety of topics, including his 3-year-old daughter Rachell. Devers' English has improved quite a bit over the past year and he answered a couple of the questions below on his own without Perez. Smith: What did people say when you returned home to the Dominican Republic after last season? Devers: "When I went back, first thing on the plane, people were happy for me, people I didn't even know that recognized me. They were talking to me about everything I did last season and asking me how it felt and how everything went." Smith: Have your parents been to a game or just seen you on TV?

10 Devers: "Yeah, they did get to see me play live. It made me feel really good because what's better than having your family here with you? After my debut in Seattle, when we came back (to Fenway Park), that was the first game they got to see me play." Smith: What do you like about Boston? Have you done stuff around the city? Devers: "I like it. I like it a lot. Just the people are very happy, very energetic at the ballpark and very passionate. Whenever we do well, they have our back. Aside from being at the ballpark, I like to go shopping and eating out. And Boston's just a beautiful city. It's just really beautiful." Smith: Any type of food you've discovered here that you didn't have back in the Dominican Republic? Devers: "Here in the states, my favorite food is Chipotle (Mexican Grill). Of course you have other Latin restaurants that you can go eat at. But my favorite is Chipotle." Smith: What did you do for fun when you returned home to the Dominican Republic in the offseason? Devers: "Mostly I just like to fish. But aside from that, I like to hang out with my friends. We like to hang out and drive around. And I like to hang out with my daughter (she's here with him now in the U.S.). That's really it." Smith: What do you like to do with your daughter? Devers: "I do everything with her. She's the type of girl that as soon as she wakes up, she's a handful. She likes to have fun. And what I can say? There's nothing better that could have happened in my life than her." Smith: Do you have a car in Boston or do you walk to the ballpark? Devers: "I have a car. In every league that I've played in I've always had a car." Smith: What was your first ever car? Devers: (laughs): "Yeah, I had a Toyota Highlander when I was in Greenville and it was pretty old. When the lease was up, I left it in the parking lot and they took it. So I don't even know what happened to that car." Smith: What kind of car do you have now? Devers: "Mazda." Smith: Do you lease it? Devers: "No, it's already paid." Hector Velazquez, Boston Red Sox RHP: My grandmother 'cried' before debut in Oakland. She 'dreamed' of me being in majors Hector Velazquez, Boston Red Sox RHP: My grandmother 'cried' before debut in Oakland. She 'dreamed' of me being in majors Red Sox pitcher Hector Velazquez's biggest fan is his 84-year-old grandmother Emilia who he talks with on the phone two or three times a week during the season. Smith: Anyone who you grew up watching play, who it has been cool to see play in person and play against? Devers: "Robinson Cano."

11 Smith: What's your favorite ballpark besides Fenway so far? Devers: "Toronto, Canada (Rogers Centre). And Seattle (Safeco Field). I like the cities. I like Canada." Smith: What do you like about Toronto and Canada so much? Devers: "I just like the city. The city's another beautiful city. I like the stadium. I like the feel of playing at that ballpark." Smith: How has your life changed the past year or has it really? Devers: "I'm still the same guy. Nothing's really changed about me personally. Of course you grow up and you make certain changes to your life. But everything is still the same." Smith: You obviously were a top international prospect at age 16, but when did you realize you really had what it took to be a major leaguer? Devers: "From the first day when I got signed, that's always been my goal. I knew the talent that I had and I have. And I knew that I had the talent to make it there. I just knew I had to work every single day to make that a reality. And I never put pressure on myself no matter how many people were talking about me. I just took every day and worked as hard as I could each day." Smith: When did you start feeling more confident with your English? Devers: "This past offseason, I try." Alex Cora didn't consider using pinch hitter until 9th with Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez available Christopher Smith OAKLAND, Calif. -- Alex Cora's Boston Red Sox stroked only six hits in a 4-1 loss to the Athletics here at Oakland Coliseum. Cora didn't start Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez. He also kept all three on his bench the entire game. He didn't use any of them as pinch hitters. Did he at least consider it? "Just in the last one," Cora said. "With second and third, Mookie was going to hit. Besides that, no." Cora didn't want to use Betts as a pinch hitter unless he represented the tying run. He would have used Betts as a pinch runner in the eighth had J.D. Martinez reached base. But Martinez struck out swinging against closer Blake Treinen. "It has to be the perfect spot for him," Cora said. "He was ready to run earlier in the game. If J.D. were to get on with two outs and they had the closer, we felt we could run on him and put pressure on him and get the go-ahead run at second. Probably he was going to run there. But besides that, it would have to be the perfect spot for him to change the game." After 18 straight innings without scoring a run dating back to Mitch Moreland's sixth-inning grand slam Friday, the Red Sox tied the game 1-1 in the seventh on Brock Holt's RBI double.

12 But Boston squandered a perfect opportunity to take the lead with two runners in scoring position and just one out in the seventh. Reliever Yusmeiro Petit retired Christian Vazquez on a pop-up to first baseman Matt Canha in foul territory. Tzu-Wei Lin struck out swinging on three pitches. Cora said he didn't consider pinch hitting for Lin, the No. 9 hitter, in that spot. "Petit is a guy that he's going to throw fastballs," Cora said. "He's a veteran guy. He threw three fastballs away. So just got him out." David Price gives up 3-run homer to Khris Davis in 8th, Red Sox lose a series for first time in 2018 Christopher Smith OAKLAND, Calif. -- David Price probably shouldn't have still been in the game. Craig Kimbrel was the better option but he wasn't even warming. The Red Sox lefty was cruising entering the bottom of the eighth inning with the score tied 1-1. He had thrown only 81 pitches. But he began to labor in the eighth. He gave up two singles with one out and then struck out Jed Lowrie. On his 15th pitch of the inning, Kris Davis took him deep for a three-run homer. The Athletics won 4-1 over the Red Sox here at Oakland Coliseum. Boston finally dropped a series after winning its first six to begin Price pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, all earned, nine hits and one walk while striking out six. After 18 straight innings without scoring a run dating back to Mitch Moreland's sixth-inning grand slam Friday, the Red Sox tied the game 1-1 in the seventh on Brock Holt's RBI double. But Boston squandered a perfect opportunity to take the lead with two runners in scoring position and just one out in the seventh. Christian Vazquez popped out to first baseman Matt Canha in foul territory. Tzu- Wei Lin struck out swinging on three pitches. Athletics starter Daniel Mengden allowed one run, six hits and no walks while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings. Reliever Yusmeiro Petit recorded the final two outs in the seventh with two runners in scoring position. Marcus Semien led off the first inning with a double. He advanced to third base on Stephen Piscotty's groundout to shortstop. Jed Lowrie struck out looking for the inning's second out, but Khris Davis connected on a 92.2 mph twoseamer for an single that scored Semien. * RedSox.com Price tagged for HR in 8th in Boston's loss to A's Do-Hyoung Park OAKLAND -- Well, the Red Sox weren't going to win 90 percent of their games forever. One day after their hot start was brought to a screeching halt by Sean Manaea's no-hitter, Boston's potent bats were again held in check by A's pitching. And after seven strong innings, David Price was tagged for a

13 three-run homer by Khris Davis in the eighth as the A's claimed the series with a 4-1 victory Sunday at the Coliseum. The Red Sox lost consecutive games for the first time in 2018 and dropped their first series of the year after winning six straight to begin the season. They had started the season as the seventh team of the modern era (since 1900) to win 17 of its first 19 games. But Boston is still 17-4 and holds a four-game lead in the AL East, with an off-day to regroup on Monday before a chance to extend its divisional lead in Toronto. "It's still a good road trip," manager Alex Cora said. "We're, what, 4-2 [on this road trip]? So we go to Toronto, a division rival, win the series, and move on." Price was stellar through the first seven innings, effectively attacking both sides of the plate, and was on track for his third quality start in five appearances in Although he yielded a first-inning run on Davis' RBI single, he only allowed one baserunner to reach second base from the second to the seventh innings. "He threw the ball great," first baseman Mitch Moreland said. "He battled for us the whole time and kept us within distance. We just didn't get him any runs. It's tough to see him work like that and not be able to give him a little support." It all unraveled on one pitch in the eighth. After allowing one-out singles to Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty, Price used his cutter to strike out the red-hot Jed Lowrie for the second out. Despite Price having thrown a season-high 95 pitches and a righty ready in the bullpen, Cora elected to leave Price in to face Davis. Price wanted to throw a first-pitch cutter inside, but it caught too much of the plate, and Davis sent it into the left-field bleachers. It was only the second homer of the season allowed by Price and snapped a streak of nine consecutive games in which Sox pitching had allowed three or fewer runs. "It was good until the last hitter I faced," Price said. "I made pitches all day long, and one pitch cost me, and it cost our team. So that [stinks]." Meanwhile, Boston's lineup had no answers for Oakland starter Daniel Mengden, who allowed a pair of singles in the first, but settled down, retiring 16 of the next 17 Red Sox hitters. Mengden followed a similar game plan to that of Manaea on Saturday, getting ahead in the count before expanding the zone with offspeed pitches. Regardless, Cora felt that his offense, even with Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez getting days off, put together good at-bats and hit the ball hard. The timely hits just didn't come. And that will happen over the course of a 162-game season. "Offensively, we feel very capable of scoring runs every night," Cora said. "We think we're a great offensive club. But this is going to happen. They're not going to score seven, eight runs a night. But with the pitching staff that we have, they always will give us a chance to win a game." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Sox strand two: The Red Sox finally got to Mengden in the seventh, when back-to-back singles from Moreland and Rafael Devers gave Boston two baserunners with nobody out. After Blake Swihart's swinging bunt led to a forceout at third, Brock Holt came through with an RBI double down the right-field line to tie the game at 1, ending Mengden's outing. But reliever Yusmeiro Petit induced a foul popup by Christian Vazquez and struck out Tzu-Wei Lin with three straight fastballs to strand Sox runners on second and third, preserving the tie for Davis' late heroics.

14 "No outs, runner on first and second, and I hit a swinging bunt," Swihart said. "We had a couple of opportunities. Brock came through and got us a run, and the more and more we play, the more and more opportunities we're going to come through on." HE SAID IT "[Price] gets Jed out, we had [Carson Smith] ready, but I felt with the conviction with which he pitched and the way he dominated Jed -- right now, Jed is probably the best hitter in the league -- so I decided to leave him there. A cutter over the plate, and Davis put a good swing on it." -- Cora, on his decision to let Price face Davis in the eighth UP NEXT The Sox are off on Monday before they head to Toronto for three games to wrap up a nine-game road trip. Resurgent right-hander Rick Porcello will seek his MLB-leading fifth win against a powerful Blue Jays lineup that is second in the American League in scoring. Toronto lefty J.A. Happ will oppose Porcello at 7:07 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Reversed call feels strangely familiar to Cora Do-Hyoung Park OAKLAND -- For the record, Alex Cora agrees with the ruling that Andrew Benintendi was out of the baseline. That's despite the fact that Cora remembers his brother, Joey, being ruled safe on a similar slide on a bunt single in a similarly momentous contest: Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series between the Mariners and Yankees. You might remember that 11th-inning bunt single for setting up Edgar Martinez's legendary walk-off double that sent the Mariners to their first ALCS berth. "I remember Joey sliding in 1995 against the Yankees," Alex Cora said. "He was out of the baseline and he was called safe. So it is what it is." The circumstances were quite different, but the plays were nearly identical. With the Red Sox down 3-0 in the sixth inning of Sean Manaea's no-hit bid on Saturday, Benintendi hit a soft ground ball down the first-base line. Manaea stumbled a bit getting off the mound, leaving first baseman Matt Olson to scoop up the ball and attempt a diving tag. Benintendi stepped around the tag and reached out with his left arm to touch first base. Joey Cora's play happened on a drag bunt down the first-base line leading off the bottom of the 11th, with the Mariners down, 5-4, to the Yankees and their season down to its last three outs. Pitcher Jack McDowell was slow to get off the mound, and first baseman Don Mattingly had to field the ball in front of first and attempt a diving tag on Cora. Cora also stepped around the tag and reached out with his left arm to touch first base. Cora was ruled safe. Benintendi was ruled safe. But the umpires overturned the ruling on Benintendi, saying that he had stepped out of the baseline. Both plays will be part of history. Cora went on to score the tying run, with Ken Griffey Jr.'s ALDSwinning run not far behind. Benintendi and the Red Sox were on the losing end of the 12th no-hitter in A's history.

15 While Benintendi remains frustrated about the ruling on his play, both Alex and Joey Cora seem to be at peace with the call. "[A difference] is we were in the biggest game of the year," Joey Cora said. "[Benintendi's] is game 20. In [mine], the game was on the line in Game 5. It's a do-or-die situation. I think the rules have changed a bit from then to now. They didn't get the call, but I got the call." Lefty Poyner activated, optioned to Triple-A Do-Hyoung Park OAKLAND -- The Red Sox activated left-handed reliever Bobby Poyner from the 10-day disabled list before Sunday's game and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket. Manager Alex Cora also offered updates on the status of pitcher Austin Maddox and second baseman Dustin Pedroia on Sunday. Poyner completed his second rehab outing on Saturday with Pawtucket, twirling a 10-pitch scoreless seventh inning against the Gwinnett Stripers. He retired the side in order, striking out Chris Stewart to end the frame. The 25-year-old lefty had been on the disabled list since April 12 with a left hamstring strain. The Red Sox had been talking about having Pedroia meet the team in Boston, but the veteran second baseman wished to remain at the team's extended spring training complex in Fort Myers at this stage in his recovery. "He feels that going to Boston is going to work against him mentally because he's going to be around the players and then he's going to have to go back to Fort Myers," Cora said. "So he'll stay down there and keep working." According to Cora, Pedroia is essentially at a stage similar to the first few weeks of Spring Training, doing defensive drills and building up his strength. They do not yet have a concrete timetable for his recovery program. Cora also feels that keeping Pedroia in Fort Myers is important due to the leadership he offers to the younger players in extended spring training. "Regardless of where he's at, he's going to do everything right and 100 percent," Cora said. "He's one more instructor down there." Maddox threw an "aggressive" 30-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday with encouraging results. Cora said that Maddox is slated to throw one more bullpen session before progressing to live batting practice. "We do feel that he's going to contribute sooner rather than later," Cora said. "He's different than the other guys. He pitches inside, he elevates. He's one of those guys, that when healthy, we feel comfortable with him with matchups." Maddox has not pitched this season as he recovers from a right shoulder strain. The 26-year-old righty recorded a 0.52 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of relief for the Red Sox last season, with 14 strikeouts and two walks. Red Sox to celebrate Earth Day on April 27 As part of Major League Baseball's league-wide sustainability initiatives to recognize Earth Day, the Red Sox will celebrate Earth Day on April 27 at Fenway Park in collaboration with their partners at Waste Management and Aramark.

16 The Sox will have a fan engagement table that will include recycling games, trivia and giveaways and a postgame waste sort similar to their effort last year. They will also announce that they will collaborate Engie, their energy supplier, to offset 100 percent of their electricity consumption with green e-certified renewable energy certificates through November The Red Sox are one of nine clubs that utilize solar power at their ballpark, and one of 11 teams that operates its own garden or farm. Boston uses its garden to source some food for concession stands and restaurants at Fenway Park. * WEEI.com A's 4, Red Sox 1: Alex Cora magic put on pause Rob Bradford It had been exactly 25 days since we could legitimately question an Alex Cora decision leading to a Red Sox loss. It was an impressive run. But Sunday afternoon in Oakland, the streak came to an end. Coming into the series finale with the A's, the Red Sox had lost just three times. The first was the Opening Day, eighth-inning collapse. The second came in among the flying fists with the Yankees. And No. 3 occurred Saturday night when Chris Bosio's 1993 no-hitter got pushed back in the record books thanks to an out-of-nowhere no-no from Sean Manaea. After some debatable bullpen decisions on March 29, it would have been tough to pinpoint really much of anything Cora decided upon that led to those last two losses. And while the moves made by the Red Sox manager Sunday afternoon weren't definitively the reason his team suffered a 4-1 loss to the A's, there were a couple that opened the door for the kind of spirited conversation that makes our Boston baseball-following community's world go around. (For a complete recap, click here.) The headliner was the decision to leave David Price in to face Oakland's Khris Davis with two outs in the eighth inning. The situation was this: The game tied at 1-1, two runners on, Price -- sitting at 95 pitches -- facing off with the Oakland slugger, and Carson Smith having already warmed up in the bullpen. Also of note - the Red Sox starter had just fanned the A's hottest hitter, Jed Lowrie in the previous at-bat. Coming into the at-bat, Price had thrown Davis exclusively fastballs and cutters, with one fourth-inning cutter catching a good chunk of the plate but only resulting in a pop-up to first baseman Mitch Moreland. Four innings later, the lefty offered the right-handed hitter the same pitch in almost the exact same location. The result wasn't the same. After the game Cora explained to reporters why he chose to leave Price in and not go to Smith (per MassLive.com): "I felt with the conviction he (Price) pitched and the way he dominated Jed -- right now Jed is probably the best hitter in the league -- so I decided to leave him there," Red Sox manager Alex Cora explained. "He left a cutter over the plate and Davis put a good swing on it.... We've got Smith but the way he got (Lowrie) out, you could see his fastball was good enough. The pitch to Jed, that was probably the one that made me make the decision." Cora also went on to say that Craig Kimbrel wasn't perceived as an option, with the manager only considering using the closer outside the ninth inning on the road righ now if the Red Sox were leading.

17 The other moment that could be scrutinized came in the seventh inning, with the Red Sox having just tied the game while putting runners on second and third with one out. Up to the plate came Christian Vazquez, who had doubled, but came into the game hitting.208 with a.508 OPS. While the Sox didn't have their normal catching depth handy due to Blake Swihart's presence at designated hitter, they still had Sandy Leon on the bench, and -- more importantly -- Mookie Betts, Eduardo Nunez and Hanley Ramirez ready to pinch-hit. But with Oakland righty reliever Yusmeiro Petit in the mound Cora rode with Vazquez, who popped up to first. The following batter, Tzu-Wei Lin, also hit for himself, going down swinging to end the threat. Ramirez had been 3-for-9 with a homer against Petit, with Nunez having gone 2-for-6 and Betts just 0-for- 1. (Vazquez and Lin had no history against the reliever.) The closest there came to a pinch-hitting opportunity was with Betts in the on-deck circle when Vazquez flew out to end the game in the ninth inning. None of these would seem to be egregious transgressions on the part of Cora, but they were the type of incidents that sparked the kind of debate we really haven't had since that March 29 day in St. Petersburg, Fla. And that's going to happen, especially when the best April team of all-time loses two in a row. Up until the Davis home run, Price was having a stellar outing, allowing just one run through the first seven innings, striking out six and walking just one. Offensively, Mitch Moreland served as the onoy Red Sox hitter to claim multiple hits. * The Boston Sports Journal Consecutive losses represent first hiccup in Red Sox season Sean McAdam OAKLAND It says everything about the 2018 Red Sox season to date that the following question or some approximation of it was being directed at the players and manager Alex Cora yesterday afternoon in the wake of their 4-1 setback to the plucky Oakland A s. Do you think it will be a good test to see how you handle this? This, in this case, means the team s first losing streak. Which now stands at two games. Two There are no alarms going off yet, or calls for lineup changes. But the Red Sox had gone more than three weeks without losing consecutive games. Heck, they hadn t even lost two games in the same week until they were no-hit Saturday night and then limited to a solo run Sunday. That resulted in their first series loss of the year, too. Look out below. Necessary perspective aside, most teams would dearly love to be in a position where two consecutive losses constitute the first crisis of a season, or, at the very least, the first test. And yet, here we are. It had all been so easy for the Red Sox through the first 19 games. This road trip began with a mix of offensive fireworks (27 runs and 11 homers in three games in Anaheim) and stellar starting pitching (three runs allowed across three games) and when the Red Sox followed that up Friday by pasting the A s with