Countdown to Opening Day
The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox do not play each other in the regular season until the Red Sox visit Target Field May 25-27.
Perhaps that is one reason the Spring Training city rivals spent most of the final week in Florida playing each other – Tuesday, split squads Wednesday, Thursday night at Hammond Stadium, Friday night at JetBlue Park, and Saturday afternoon at Hammond Stadium. Only the schedulers know for sure.
Opening Day starters Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz made their final spring training tuneup appearances Wednesday when the rivals played to a 4-4 tie through nine innings.
Hughes, slated to start Minnesota’s opener Monday in Detroit, struck out five, walked two and gave up one run and four hits in four innings against a squad that included Sox starters Dustin Pedroia, Pablo Sandoval and Mike Napoli.
Buchholz, slated to start Boston’s opener in Philadelphia, struck out four, walked one and gave up six hits in four scoreless innings.
It’s night and day for me,” Buchholz said comparing himself to a year ago. “I feel like I’m under control. If I feel like if I’m off with something, I can make the adjustment a lot quicker than I did a year ago. Things are getting better each time out.”
Red Sox manager John Farrell said Buchholz has seemed more confident and poised. Last season, Buchholz missed most of June with a knee injury. He was 8-11 with a 5.34 ERA last year.
“In the middle of February, that was noticed,” Farrell said of Buchholz’s improved confidence. “After a normal offseason being healthy and having an appropriate number of bullpens before coming into camp, he felt pretty good physically. Last year, it was maybe more effort for him to bring the velocity. Now he’s healthy and not trying to overthrow with his delivery.”
Pedroia went 2-for-3 with a walk and had the only multihit performance for the Red Sox.
Torii Hunter went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Twins, while designated hitter Kennys Vargas had two hits. Eduardo Escobar started in left field in place of Oswaldo Arcia, who was out with the flu, and went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
SENT DOWN: The Twins optioned Caleb Thielbar to Triple-A Rochester, bringing their pitching staff to their regular-season number of 12.
STARTING TIME: Hughes said he tried working on his changeup more this spring and had mixed results with it.
“Now that spring training is over, we have bullpens and things like that,” Hughes said. “We’ll still work on some things between starts. I didn’t throw as many as I would have liked this spring, but at the same time I’m not going to completely abandon it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM: Twins RHP Kyle Gibson, scratched from his start Tuesday because of the flu, is slated to start the Grapefruit League finale Saturday.
Red Sox closer Koji Uehara (strained hamstring) was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday. … C Christian Vazquez had his right elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews, and the team said he scheduled Tommy John surgery on Thursday.
Florida Marlins: The offseason investment the Marlins made in talent paid dividends at their spring training ticket office.
Even with Wednesday’s announced crowd of 3,304 – the smallest of the exhibition season – the Marlins drew an average of 5,071 fans to Roger Dean Stadium for their 14 home games. That’s an 18 percent increase over 2014, when Miami averaged 4,306 fans.
“Every game has been packed – that’s the first time I’ve seen that,” said closer Steve Cishek, who has been with the Marlins since 2010. “It’s been pretty cool – a lot different, that’s for sure.”
The Marlins sold out four games, compared with two a year ago. They’ve finished last in the NL in regular-season attendance nine of the past 10 years.