Red Sox hang on in home opener against Blue Jays
No Bregman, no Devers, no problem for the Boston Red Sox and the spring training seats at JetBlue Park were sold out in Fort Myers for the team’s official spring training home opener against the defending American League champion Blue Jays on Sunday.
Yet winning the game on Sunday was a bigger problem as the second-string of the Blue Jays, which consisted mostly of bench players and minor leaguers, came within a run of sending the game into extra innings with a late rally against the Red Sox, who were playing most of their starters.
Fresh off a 7-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium on Saturday and an 18-3 drubbing of Northeastern during an exhibition at home on Friday, the Red Sox did not get off to a good start on Sunday.
Brayan Bello, their young right-handed starter who many around the team have been excited about, was getting hit left and right in the first inning.
With no starters in their lineup, the Blue Jays were taking a lot of first-pitch hacks against Bello and connecting. They put up four runs on Bello on four hits to start the game.
They were hitting Bello so well in the first inning that Manager Alex Cora pulled Bello out and put in the team’s towering young 6’8 prospect Jorge Juan. Juan finished the inning by getting two outs and allowing a hit.
The Red Sox hitters evened up the score in the bottom of the first on the strength of a two-RBI single from newly-acquired third baseman Caleb Durbin and a two-RBI double from outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela.
Bello returned to pitch in the second inning under spring training rules which allow teams to pull their pitchers and then re-insert them. The rules are meant to help pitchers avoid injury by having a long, stressful inning while also giving them a chance to get their work in with enough pitches.
Blue Jays Triple-A first baseman Riley Tirotta jumped on a first pitch fastball from Bello for a double before Bellow was able to retire the side by striking out minor leaguer Cutter Coffey swinging on a changeup, getting centerfielder Myles Straw to line out and outfielder Jesus Sanchez to ground out on fastballs.
Jarren Duran had a strong game with two hits in three at-bats including a ground-rule double line drive off the top of the wall. The hit appeared to be a home run but was called a ground-rule double due to fan interference.
Eloy Jimenez, looking to make a comeback with the Blue Jays, homered over the Green Monster and out of the park to break a 4-4 tie leading off the 5th inning for Toronto. Jimenez had earlier hit a deep double just a few feet short of clearing Green Monster to score a run in the first inning. Jimenez was followed by Kasevich, who connected on a deep homer to left field.
Jimenez, who has struggled with staying healthy in his career, showed major power early in his career with the White Sox when he slugged 31 homers in his rookie season. He could offer Toronto a major power bat if he can stay injury-free and get back in the form he showed Sunday.
Down 7-4, the Red Sox went on a six-run tear in the sixth inning capped off by a Nate Eaton bases clearing double to deep center. Eaton is a player who gives the Red Sox plenty of options. He can play the outfield as well as third base.
In the top of the seventh inning, Eaton showed off his glove against the bat of Eddie Micheletti, who led off the inning and hit a ball deep to the wall in right field. Eaton jumped up to the wall to make the catch.
Roman Anthony, the team’s highly regarded hitter, had one hit in four at-bats and scored two runs in the leadoff spot.
No matter who Cora decides to put at second and third, he clearly has a deep bench having added Durbin and Monasteiro to go along with Nate Eaton, Nick Sogard,Kiner-Falefa and young players in Mayer and Anthony and Campbell. Infielder Mikey Romero, who homered on Saturday.
While Cora was not going to hit the panic button off Bello’s start Sunday, he did sound excited about the play of third baseman Caleb Durbin. Durbin was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers with fellow infielder Andruw Monasterio earlier his month in what is so far looking like a steal for Boston. Monasterio homered for the Red Sox against the Twins on Saturday.
“We will make contact in that spot. Today was a good sign of that,” Cora said. Durbin was batting in the sixth position on Sunday and gave a good account of who he is as a hitter, Cora said. “It’s a different look,” he said. “We can hit him second, we can hit him sixth. I think it makes the lineup longer and just a different dynamic hitting him in that spot.”
While the game was a sellout, it wasn’t all Red Sox fans. Ther was a sea of blue across the seats in the stadium, identifying the large flock of Blue Jays fans in attendance.
Before the game, the Red Sox honored their late former All-Star Mike Greenwell in a ceremony. Greenwell, who grew up in Lee County, was a Lee County Commissioner at the time of his death in October.
The team dedicated his jersey number 39 to the top of the JetBlue Park Fenway South Green Monster at their spring training park in Fort Myers. The number now hangs atop the Green Monster in left field next to an enlarged copy of Greenwell’s signature.
Greenwell played his entire 12-year career with the Red Sox, and was on their 1986 American League Championship team that lost to the New York Mets in seven games in the World Series. Greenwell was an American League All-Star in 1988 and 1989, and was runner-up to Jose Canseco in the 1988 American League MVP voting.
Greenwell was a career .303 hitter who retired with 1,400 hits, a .368 on base percentage and a .463 slugging average. In his best season, in 1988, he hit .325 with a .946 OPS, .416 on-base percentage while hitting 22 homers, driving in 119 runs, collecting 192 hits, 39 doubles, stealing 16 bases and scoring 86 runs.
Greenwell was appointed to the Lee County Board of County Commissioners in 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat of the late Commissioner Frank Mann. Greenwell won a special election for the seat that year and was re-elected in 2024.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com