The Red Sox's two main relief pitchers made progress towards being ready for the first game of the season on Thursday night. Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin both pitched during the Red Sox's 3-2 win over the Orioles.
Jansen performed much better than in his first spring appearance last Friday, where he gave up two home runs in a rough 0.2 inning showing. This time, the experienced closer was very good, delivering a flawless fifth inning while getting two strikeouts with just 13 pitches.
Jansen's fastball ranged from 93-95 mph, and after playing, the 36-year-old told NESN's Tom Caron that he felt good and expects to be ready for Opening Day.
“It’s been a tough spring for me,” Jansen said on TV. “Dealing with a lot of injuries, started with the lat problem, then the shoulder, then my back, so I didn't feel good until today, and that’s what you’ve got to do, you’ve got to be mentally tough, be patient, do things right in the weight room, and things will turn around.”
Jansen was initially set to pitch for the second time this spring on Monday but had his turn delayed twice due to back tightness. If Jansen had been delayed further, it would have raised doubts about his availability for Opening Day. Now, Jansen should pitch twice more before starting the season with the big league team in Seattle.
Martin, who has been limited in camp due to a groin injury, faced similar challenges, though his performance on Thursday was not as smooth as Jansen’s. The Red Sox's set-up man only got one out in the sixth inning, throwing 20 pitches, giving up two hits, and an unearned run, resulting from a throwing error by catcher Connor Wong.
The first hit was a double by Michael Perez, who later scored on Wong’s error, evening the game at 1-1, and the second was a hard-hit comebacker up the middle that narrowly missed hitting Martin, who was making his first appearance in a Grapefruit League game this spring.
Most of Boston’s expected starting players also played most of Thursday's game. Trevor Story went 2 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base, and Ceddanne Rafaela, Tyler O’Neill, and Masataka Yoshida all hit doubles. Wilyer Abreu had an RBI in the second inning, and after Baltimore took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh, Boston made a comeback with two runs in the bottom of the inning, getting an RBI single by Triston Casas and the go-ahead run on a Yoshida groundout.
In addition to Boston's top relievers, starting pitcher Cooper Criswell threw four innings without allowing any runs, with two hits, no walks and four strikeouts. Lucas Luetge gave up one run over 1.1 innings, and Brennan Bernardino pitched a scoreless eighth.
