Workman ready to close it out again

BOSTON —For any baseball fan of a certain vintage, the opening guitar chords of "Enter Sandman" could elicit more thoughts of Mariano Rivera than Metallica.

The Hall of Fame closer’s entrance at Yankee Stadium was the stuff of legend, and it generally corresponded with impending doom for his opponents. Rivera piled up 314 of his 652 career saves on home soil in the Bronx, a Major League Baseball record.

Brandon Workman is a [...]

BOSTON —For any baseball fan of a certain vintage, the opening guitar chords of "Enter Sandman" could elicit more thoughts of Mariano Rivera than Metallica.

The Hall of Fame closer’s entrance at Yankee Stadium was the stuff of legend, and it generally corresponded with impending doom for his opponents. Rivera piled up 314 of his 652 career saves on home soil in the Bronx, a Major League Baseball record.

Brandon Workman is a little more understated. Your average Randy Houser concert won’t incite a mosh pit in front of the stage, and "Runnin’ Outta Moonlight" is more trucks and stolen kisses than menace. Nonetheless, that’s what sets the mood for the Red Sox right-hander to do his work in the late innings.

Workman, like any player in an empty ballpark this season, will need to look within to generate that little extra. Piped-in crowd noise will only go so far in replacing those hair-raising moments with the game on the line. He’s well aware of the stakes coming off a stellar 2019 and entering his final year of team control.

"It’ll just be something where you’ve got to make an adjustment and generate that yourself this season going forward," Workman said on Monday. "That’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going to have to make an adjustment."

Workman assumed the closer’s role in Boston midway through last season and was superb. He allowed just one home run and 29 hits in 71 2/3 innings while striking out 104. Workman finished 10-1 with 16 saves and a 1.99 earned-run average.

"The rest of that will take care of itself when the time comes," Workman said of his impending free agency. "First and foremost is getting ready for this season and having as much success as we can as a team over this season."

Workman recorded 13 of his saves after July 14 last season, but he enters this year having already been named the closer by manager Ron Roenicke. Struggles in his first two intrasquad outings won’t change how Workman is currently viewed within the organization. He’ll have the ball in his hands on July 24 against the Orioles if the Red Sox are on the verge of nailing down an Opening Day victory.

"I’m feeling good right now," Workman said. "The ball’s coming out good. I’ve just got to dial in a little bit with command and some of my pitch sequencing."

Missing the noise

It’s been a little too quiet for Roenicke over the last couple of days at Red Sox Summer Camp.

The experiments with piped-in crowd noise that began late last week have largely come to a halt. Walkup songs for hitters and music between innings have been played over the Fenway Park sound system, but providing some sort of backing track for actual game action would represent the next step.

"We thought we were going to get it back tomorrow or the next day," Roenicke said. "Hopefully that happens. It makes a difference in these games."

The normal din between pitches and ovations after a good defensive play or key hit are expected to be in place prior to Opening Day on July 24. There could also be a smattering of boos in the park should an opponent enjoy a standout moment against Boston. Roenicke expects a bit of a learning curve at the start in terms of coordinating an artificial atmosphere.

"I think the timing of that is really difficult — to be able to watch a game and figure out what’s going to happen and control the sound on that," Roenicke said. "Whoever is doing that needs some practice. Hopefully we’ll have plenty of games for them to get used to it."

Boston is scheduled to play another intrasquad contest on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Nathan Eovaldi is among the pitchers expected to work.

The ultimate utilityman

Tzu-Wei Lin is running out of defensive positions to learn.

Sunday saw the Red Sox utilityman make his debut at first base. His lack of familiarity was obvious on a couple of occasions during the afternoon intrasquad game, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Lin took ground balls with Boston third-base coach Carlos Febles prior to the first pitch, mixing in with Bobby Dalbec and the early infield group. Lin has played third base, shortstop, second base and all three outfield positions at either the big-league or Triple-A levels since 2017.

"I know he’s going to field the ball well," Roenicke said. "It’s a question of figuring out how to get to first base in a hurry, to get your body turned around and your foot on the bag."

Roenicke has an eye on a particular rule change in this case. Lin is a quick runner, and Major League Baseball’s decision to begin extra innings with a man at second base this season could offer him an additional role. Lin has appeared in 75 games over the last three seasons since making his Boston debut in 2017.

"The ninth inning, Mitch Moreland makes the last out," Roenicke said. "He’s going to go out there and you’re going to put him on second base. Well, we may run Lin.

"Then, if we end up scoring or not, you really don’t want to end up using another player all the time to go out to first base. Sometimes you will, but you don’t want to have to.

"If he shows he can play first base like he does all the other positions, we know we’ve got a valuable player who’s a good defender."

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25