Red Sox Notebook: Opportunities continue to emerge in Red Sox bullpen

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With the Red Sox losing Steven Wright for the first 80 games of the season following his suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, Boston will need to find someone to fill his role.

Given his ability to work over multiple innings, as opposed to most of Boston’s bullpen, which is filled with one-inning relievers, Wright could have been the bridge from the sixth to the eighth or taken on something similar to a “super reliever” role. The Red Sox still have two arms that have the stamina and ability to be effective over multiple innings out of the bullpen: Hector Velazquez and Brian Johnson.

However, the two have not gotten off to the best start this spring.

Johnson made his first appearance of the spring on February 25 in Boston’s 4-3 loss to the Pirates where he went two innings, struck out two and surrendered two hits and an earned run. After battling an illness, the lefty made his second start on March 7, giving up three earned runs on five hits over 1 1/3 innings.

Johnson remains focused on the individual tasks at hand, rather than the big picture of carving out a role.

“I think that’s a trap you can fall into if you try to go out there and do too much,” he said following his second start. “I don’t care if it’s spring training, I don’t want an outing like that. I know these stats don’t count, but I don’t care. That was not good. Especially, I got to do better with two strikes. … I got to put guys away when I have the opportunity.”

Velazquez made his third appearance of the spring on Sunday, giving up four earned runs on six hits, two being home runs, over the course of two innings in Boston’s 8-1 loss to the Rays. In his previous two appearances, Velazquez surrendered four earned runs on eight hits (one home run) while striking out five over 4 2/3 innings.

But Cora has noticed a difference in Velzaquez this spring, primarily because his fastball is reaching into the 93-94 MPH range, an uptick from his average from his 2018 average of 92.11 MPH (according to Brooks Baseball), which was an improvement from his 2017 average, 90.26 MPH.

The right-hander is aware of his opportunity, but doesn’t want to dwell on it.

“It’s definitely something that I’m thinking about with that position being open in the bullpen now,” Velazquez said through the team translator prior to Sunday’s appearance. “Like I said before, (I’m) just working on my mechanics and trying to focus on doing a good job so I’m ready to take on whatever role that I’m given by the team.”

Rick Porcello makes spring debut

Among the five pitchers expected to be in Boston’s five-man rotation, Eduardo Rodriguez had been the lone man to pitch in a Grape Fruit League game, prior to Sunday’s game.

Rick Porcello became the second in the group to make a spring training start, throwing three innings in Boston’s 8-1 loss against the Rays in Port Charlotte. Porcello was saddled with the loss after giving up two runs on four hits.

The Red Sox offense remained quiet in their fifth-straight loss. Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers were the only two regulars from last year’s Major League roster to log a hit, with Sam Travis adding in one, as well. Steve Pearce had Boston’s lone RBI, knocking in Aneury Tavarez in the seventh inning on a grounder to short.

Dustin Pedroia expected to take on heavier workload

Alex Cora reported Dustin Pedroia felt “good” following his second spring training appearance on Saturday, with the second baseman going 0 for 1 and turned a double play in the field to end the top of the second inning.

Cora expects Pedroia will at least bump up from two to three innings on Tuesday, though there is a chance he plays four frames.

“Let’s see how he comes in on Tuesday,” Cora said. “There’s a pretty good chance we ramp up the innings from two to four. But obviously, let’s see how he feels.”