Martinez off to typical slow start

FORT MYERS, FLA — J.D. Martinez, the Red Sox designated hitter, is off to the kind of start he’s accustomed to in spring training. He’s hitless in his first two spring training games.

"I’m trying to find the barrel," Martinez said after batting twice in Monday’s spring training 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins. He walked and struck out.

"In the first two or three weeks of spring training it feels like I’ve never played [...]

FORT MYERS, FLA — J.D. Martinez, the Red Sox designated hitter, is off to the kind of start he’s accustomed to in spring training. He’s hitless in his first two spring training games.

"I’m trying to find the barrel," Martinez said after batting twice in Monday’s spring training 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins. He walked and struck out.

"In the first two or three weeks of spring training it feels like I’ve never played the game before."

He said that he has changed his diet — "My joints don’t hurt as much as they did."

The change means less meat and more greens.

"I’m not saying I am a vegan," he said. "I feel better. I’m kind of excited about it."

Praising his teammate

Andrew Benintendi hit his first home run of the spring. He lined the second pitch of the game off Twins starter Kenta Maeda into the right-field seats.

Martinez is high on Benintendi. "He’s got good talent. He just needs to grow. The potential is there for a breakout year.

Maeda threw 37 pitches in two innings, allowing two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

"First time facing hitters so I just wanted to get that feel back," Maeda said through an interpreter. "And I wasn't scheduled to give up a home run on the first hitter, just so you know."

Maeda, 32 in April, is entering his fifth MLB season after four with the Dodgers and eight years in Japan. He went 10-8 with a 4.04 ERA last season for Los Angeles.

Home opener

The Sox will play their first game of the spring at Fenway South on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles. It’s the first of 16 home games for Boston.

New face

The newest member of the Red Sox is Jerry Narron, named by interim-manager Ron Roenicke as his bench coach last week. The two are longtime colleagues. Narron was Roenicke’s bench coach in Milwaukee from 2011-2015. Narron was also Boston’s bench coach in 2003.