FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s hard to imagine Garrett Whitlock’s spring getting off to a better start. The Red Sox right-hander made it three straight scoreless outings through the first week of games, sending down the Minnesota Twins 1-2-3 in the third during the club’s eventual 13-8 win.
Now, Whitlock will get ready to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
“I’m stoked. I’ve been jittery the past two days, like ‘oh man it’s almost here,'” Whitlock said. “Now I’ve got to go home, do some laundry and do some packing.”
Whitlock and teammate Roman Anthony will fly to Arizona on Sunday to join the rest of the American squad, which features Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and many more of the game’s biggest stars. Team USA will play exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies this week before opening their tournament run in Houston against Brazil on Friday.
Among those Whitlock expects to be in Houston for the tournament is his father, Larry Whitlock, a veteran who saw combat during the Vietnam War. Whitlock said getting to represent his country is an amazing honor, and that sharing the news with his father that he’d been selected to the team last fall was an incredible moment for the family.
“I called him and I was just like ‘hey I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else, as a vet, I’m just so honored that I get to represent this country for baseball,’ and he kind of sobbed up and everything,” Whitlock said. “It was a very cool moment for me and him.”
“I’m actually the only male in my family not to serve in the military,” Whitlock continued. “My dad, my uncle, my brother, my granddad on both sides, so it’s a really truly special thing that’s close to my heart and that’s why it’s such an honor for me. Forget the stage and everything else, just to represent the country, obviously I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do, but the chance that we can bring them some joy in anything, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”
To prepare for the tournament Whitlock said he began his ramp up earlier than normal, throwing several live batting practices over the offseason when he’d typically wait until camp. The work was clearly evident through the first week of games, as Whitlock allowed just one run in three innings with no walks and two strikeouts in his three Grapefruit League outings.
The next time he appears in a game the stakes will be a little bit higher, but if all goes according to plan Whitlock won’t be back with the Red Sox for a while
“It was funny, (USA manager Mark DeRosa) texted us like three days ago and he’s like ‘hey y’all better be packing for 18 days because we aren’t doing anything less.’ Kind of fired the guys up,” Whitlock said. “So I’m going to go home and you don’t realize how long 18 days is until you try to pack for it.”
Gray shaky in debut
Sonny Gray made his first start in a Red Sox uniform and wasn’t sharp, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches before ultimately allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He threw 31 pitches, 13 for strikes, and allowed just one home run to James Outman to lead off the second.
“I don’t like throwing as many balls as I did,” Gray said. “You walk the first hitter, four pitches, you know you’re not setting yourself up for success there.”
Gray was able to escape a potentially problematic first inning unscathed when he drew a 6-4-3 double play turned by Trevor Story and Nick Sogard to escape a bases loaded jam. But after giving up the solo home run in the second he allowed a single and was lifted after drawing a groundout to end his day.
Early solid again
Connelly Early took the mound at the top of the fourth for what was effectively his second “start” of the spring, and the rookie left-hander performed well again, throwing 2 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Early posted a 1-2-3 fourth, allowed a single and an RBI double in the fifth and gave up a single before finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth. The inherited runner later came around to score, giving early the second earned run, but the lefty still threw 27 of his 39 pitches for strikes and topped out at 97.1 mph on the radar gun.
“I’m just trying to keep building the workload and I want to hold the velo going into all three innings,” Early said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with that.”
Duran homers twice
Jarren Duran has been red hot over the first week of games, and Saturday he came through again by launching two more home runs, including a two-run shot in the first inning for the second straight day.
Duran went deep to right center field, crushing a 2-2 fastball from Twins starter Taj Bradley 401 feet for a two-run shot. He followed that up with another two-run bomb off Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning, this one going 409 feet.
The outfielder finished 2 for 2 with the two homers, four RBI, a walk and three runs scored. Duran is now batting .583 with a 2.167 OPS for the spring.
Roman Anthony and Carlos Narvaez each went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with a triple, and Max Ferguson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.
Coming up next
With the win the Red Sox are now 5-3 in Grapefruit League and 3-0 against the Twins. Ranger Suarez will take the mound for the second time this spring on Sunday when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles, and Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Wyatt Olds, Tayron Guerrero are all Devin Sweet scheduled to pitch as well. First pitch is 1:05 pm
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