You only get one chance to make a first impression. For players traded to playoff contenders, that chance comes in the midst of a two-month sprint toward the postseason.
Nathan Eovaldi made a good one Sunday for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. He threw seven scoreless innings, the first pitcher to do that in his Red Sox debut in more than 100 years. He was impressive from the first inning on and quickly got the sellout crowd on his side.
“Today was a special day for me,” Eovaldi said after the 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
It’s been a special season for Boston baseball, and Eovaldi’s arrival couldn’t have come at a better time. Eduardo Rodriguez has joined Steven Wright on the disabled list with an ankle injury. Drew Pomeranz, back from the DL, pitched only 42/3 innings in his return last week and is scheduled to go again Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
No one truly knows what to expect.
The Red Sox rotation, expected to be a strength, has lost a great deal of its depth over the past two months.
Eovaldi isn’t the kind of name that would have excited fans before the season, but he’s the sort of acquisition that can bolster a good team. And the Red Sox, at least at this point of the season, are historically good. They are just the fifth team in the expansion era (1961-present) to win as many as 73 of their first 106 games.
Last month the Red Sox added Steve Pearce to give them first base depth and help improve a lineup that has struggled against left-handed pitching at times. Pearce has delivered. He entered Monday’s game hitting .340 with a .939 OPS since joining the Sox. He has allowed Manager Alex Cora to rest Mitch Moreland a bit more since the All-Star first baseman tweaked his knee last week. The Sox haven’t missed a beat, winning 6 of 9 since the break.
The New York Yankees, who arrive in Boston on Thursday for a pivotal four-game series at Fenway, have made their own moves to shore things up coming into the showdown. First they acquired Zach Britton from Baltimore to add to an already impressive bullpen. Then they added J.A. Happ from Toronto to give them another left-handed starter.
Happ made his New York debut Sunday, just as Eovaldi was throwing his first pitches for Boston. He was also impressive, giving up just one run in six innings in a victory over Kansas City.
It doesn’t always go that smoothly. Just ask Britton. He threw a perfect inning Thursday in his first appearance with the Yankees. But on Saturday the left-hander allowed a run on two hits and two walks in the seventh against the lowly Royals.
Kansas City scored the go-ahead run when Britton walked No. 9 hitter Drew Butera. Boos rained down from all corners of Yankee Stadium as the run crossed the plate.
Welcome to the Big Apple, kid.
More accurately, welcome to the playoff race. There’s always pressure to make a good impression with a new team. Doing it in the heat of August is even more difficult. Baseball-wise, it won’t get much hotter than a four-gamer between the Sox and Yankees – with first place possibly on the line – later this week.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.