Red Sox Journal: Team will open 2019 season at Seattle

BOSTON — The first in a trio of three-city road trips leads off the Red Sox schedule for the 2019 season.

Boston will visit Seattle for its March 28 opener. The Red Sox play a pair of four-game series with the Mariners and Oakland before three interleague games at Arizona, a stretch of 11 straight without a day off. Boston doesn’t play at Fenway Park until April 9, hosting the Blue Jays and Orioles in a six-game homestand.

The [...]

BOSTON — The first in a trio of three-city road trips leads off the Red Sox schedule for the 2019 season.

Boston will visit Seattle for its March 28 opener. The Red Sox play a pair of four-game series with the Mariners and Oakland before three interleague games at Arizona, a stretch of 11 straight without a day off. Boston doesn’t play at Fenway Park until April 9, hosting the Blue Jays and Orioles in a six-game homestand.

The highlight comes leading into the All-Star break, as the Red Sox and Yankees play a pair of games in London on June 29-30. Boston then has a pair of three-game series at Toronto and Detroit.

“For the families it sucks,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I think everybody was planning on going to London. We’ll see. It’s a tough one.”

The long trip doesn’t end there for any Red Sox player selected to the All-Star Game, which will be held in Cleveland on July 9. Cora is hoping to join his players at Progressive Field as the American League manager, an honor that goes to the coaching staff of the team that reaches the previous year’s World Series.

“Hopefully our All-Stars and the coaching staff,” Cora said. “If it’s that, I’m not complaining.”

Using the Red Sox and Yankees to promote the game on a wider scale makes sense to Cora.

“There are a lot of people planning on going to London because it’s us two who make it that big of a deal,” Cora said. “We get it. I understand that part.”

The Diamondbacks, Padres (Aug. 23-25), Rockies (Aug. 27-28) and Phillies (Sept. 14-15) will be Boston’s interleague road opponents. The Red Sox will host Colorado (May 14-15), the Dodgers (July 12-14), Philadelphia (Aug. 20-21) and the Giants (Sept. 17-19).

Slumping Sox

Baseball’s best offense is in a bit of a rut over the last 35 innings.

The Red Sox have managed just eight runs in that span and have homered once, a solo shot by J.D. Martinez in Saturday’s 5-2 victory over the Rays. Boston still leads the big leagues in runs scored, slugging and OPS among other categories, but its power outage evokes memories of a 2017 season when the Red Sox finished dead last in the A.L. in round-trippers.

“Sometimes we run into stuff like this,” Cora said. “We’re not a team that relies on the home run, but at the same time we need guys on base. They’ve done a good job getting ahead on hitters.”

Boston’s first three-game losing streak of the season featured a similar funk at the plate. The Red Sox were no-hit by Oakland’s Sean Manaea in a 3-0 loss on April 21, suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Athletics the next day and fell to the Blue Jays 4-3 in 10 innings on April 24. Boston scratched out a 4-3 win over Toronto the following day, making it a mere eight runs scored in four games.

Only one other time have the Red Sox experienced a similarly barren stretch this season. Boston scored 10 runs over five games from June 7-11, going 2-3 against the Tigers, White Sox and Orioles.

Rehab update

Barring any setbacks Eduardo Rodriguez (right ankle sprain) and Christian Vazquez (fractured right pinkie) are expected to start for Double-A Portland on Monday. It will be the second rehab appearance for the left-hander and the first for the catcher. … Rafael Devers (left hamstring strain) took grounders on the field before Wednesday’s game. The third baseman could begin his own rehab assignment soon. … Cora’s twin sons, Xander and Isander, turned 13 months old on Tuesday. They celebrated by dunking basketballs into their mini-hoops for the first time Wednesday morning. “Big update today — the twins grabbed the basketball and dunked it,” Cora said. “I was like, ‘Wow!’ I was so excited — both of them.” 

— bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25