Pitching in what should be his penultimate start of the spring, Walker Buehler enjoyed one of his best performances as a member of the Red Sox so far.
Buehler allowed two runs (one earned) over five strong innings, allowing three hits with no walks while striking out four in the eventual 4-4 tie against the New York Yankees. The right-hander retired the first 10 Yankees batters he faced, and the only earned run he allowed came after Aaron Judge hit a double and Cody Bellinger followed with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
Buehler was victimized by a subsequent one-out error by David Hamilton at shortstop on a ball off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr., and that led to an RBI single by Anthony Volpe, but Buehler avoided any further damage and finished his outing by pitching a scoreless fifth.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, couldn’t get much going against new Yankees ace Max Fried, who threw 4.1 shutout innings, but the offense came to life against New York’s bullpen. Masataka Yoshida hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to get the Red Sox on the board, Roman Anthony had an RBI single in the seventh and Rob Refsnyder hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Left-hander Brennan Bernardino gave up two runs (one earned) in 1.2 innings of relief, allowing two hits and two walks with two strikeouts, and Bryan Mata threw 1.1 scoreless innings with no hits, a walk and two strikeouts.
Prior to the game in Tampa, manager Alex Cora told reporters that utility man Romy Gonzalez is undergoing an MRI after leaving Monday’s split squad game early with a tight oblique. According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, the injury isn’t believed to be serious but the team wants to be cautious with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
The Red Sox announced the first of what are expected to be many roster cuts this week on Tuesday morning, announcing they have re-assigned right-hander Wyatt Mills to minor league camp.
Mills, a non-roster invitee, was originally acquired after the 2022 season in exchange for Methuen’s Jacob Wallace but got injured in spring training and missed the last two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. Mills is back healthy and pitched well in camp, allowing two earned runs in six innings over five appearances, but will now start the season in the Worcester Red Sox bullpen.
The Red Sox will host the Detroit Tigers at JetBlue Park on Wednesday. Right-hander Richard Fitts scheduled to face off against Detroit’s Casey Mize, and Aroldis Chapman, Liam Hendriks, Justin Wilson and Michael Fulmer will all come out of the bullpen. First pitch is 1:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on NESN, NESN 360 and WEEI 850 AM.