Struggling Jackie Bradley Jr. was in the starting lineup Thursday against the Orioles.

By Bill Ballou The Worcester Telegram & Gazette

BOSTON — Try, try again — that’s the Jackie Bradley Jr. story so far in 2018.

He returned to the Red Sox starting lineup Thursday night against the Orioles after sitting out the entire series against the Athletics. Bradley is having a disastrous season to date and manager Alex Cora has tried both letting him play through it, and putting him on the bench.

“It’s one of those things where, I know it’s not easy because people expect results right away,” Cora said. “You can go 0 for 4 and hit four line drives and people think you’re still in a slump, then you can go 4 for 4 with three jam shots and one single and it’s ‘Oh, he’s back.’

It’s just about the process and the way he sees the ball and the quality of the at-bats. I do feel he’s in a better position in the batter’s box. Hopefully it translates during the game.”

Alumni coming back: Fenway Park is scheduled to play host to an Alumni Game on May 27 for the first time since 1993. It will be a three-inning event starting at 10:30 a.m. Fans with tickets to the regular-season game at 1:05 p.m. against the Braves are invited to attend.

The managers will be Dwight Evans and Luis Tiant. The list of 25 alumni players is an eclectic one and includes Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Pedro Martinez. The oldest alum on the roster is pitcher Bill Lee, the only player who was on the Red Sox in the 1960s. Lee is 71. The youngest is Jonny Gomes, a mere 37 and only three years removed from the end of his major league career.

The only Sox player who made his debut in the 1970s who will play in the alumni game is outfielder Rick Miller. Players from the ‘80s include Boggs, Oil Can Boyd, Mike Greenwell, Sam Horn, Steve Lyons and Keith MacWhorter.

From the 1990s there are Scott Cooper, Jim Corsi, Rich Garces, Chris Howard, Derek Lowe, Lou Merloni, Darren Lewis, Steve Lomasney and Troy O’Leary. From this century this list includes Orlando Cabrera, Lenny DiNardo, Alan Embree, Mike Lowell, Julio Lugo and Mike Myers.

The last previous alumni game played at Fenway Park was held on May 29, 1993, when such events were called Old Timers Games. That game featured a number of Red Sox greats, including Jim Lonborg, Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski, playing a team of “Upper Deck Heroes” including Ernie Banks, Vida Blue and Cesar Cedeno.

Cora will not be a participant.

“Nah — you have to have hit more than one home run,” he said of his exclusion from the rosters.

The weather forecast has improved for the weekend, at least in southern New England, so the Red Sox have a large contingent heading to Triple-A Pawtucket for rehab work. The list includes Dustin Pedroia, Tyler Thornburg, Hector Velazquez and Austin Maddox.

Pedroia could be back in the major leagues before the month is over, Cora said, adding that the second baseman’s projected return remains “May 32nd.”

Carson Smith is hanging around waiting for a second opinion on his injured right shoulder. That is scheduled for next week.

Up next: The series continues at 7:10 tonight and a pair of pitchers who have had rough beginnings to their seasons will be on the mound. They are Drew Pomeranz for Boston and Alex Cobb for the Orioles.

Pomeranz has made five starts, only one of them a good one. He is 1-1 overall with a 5.47 earned-run average. Cobb is 0-5 with a 7.06 ERA in six starts for Baltimore. He was 3-1 in five starts against the Sox last year with Tampa Bay and two of those outings were superb.

Around the bases:  Boston's Brock Holt took over at second base for Eduardo Nunez who is having a bad year both at the plate and in the field. … File this away for a trivia contest — Orioles third baseman Danny Valencia is one of a handful of players to hit a home run for, and against, the Red Sox in the same season. That was 2012 when the Twins traded him to Boston in August.