Martin Perez, the presumable second starter to open the season, took the bump on Wednesday for his intrasquad start and he said that “he felt strong” after his five innings of work. But it didn’t look that way, as he gave up five runs. In the first, he allowed a 2-RBI double to Jose Peraza after Christian Vasquez hit an RBI bloop single to center field.
Perez also gave up a two-run home run to projected second baseman, Jose Peraza, later in his start.
Jeffrey Springs pitched for the opposing team as he is trying to grab the fifth spot in the Red Sox rotation as a potential opener following Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, Ryan Weber, and Brian Johnson. In the bottom half of the first inning, Springs gave up a single to Rafael Devers followed up by a double down the left field line by J.D. Martinez. He did strike out Xander Bogaerts looking but then Mitch Moreland hit an RBI single to center field.
Austin Brice came in after Springs, and at times he was pulling his fastball out of the zone but he will be relied on to give Ron Roenicke bulk innings.
J.D. Martinez had another good day at the plate, as he recorded two more hits after already hitting three home runs in Summer Camp.
Alex Verdugo took a home run away from Benintendi, which is one of the best plays I’ve seen so far in camp. He is still learning how to play right field at Fenway Park–the hardest right field corner in the majors.
You can contact Ben Fadden on Twitter @benfaddenmlb
(Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)