In an inning, all the Red Sox' spring bullpen plans went off the rails

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It was noted hardball enthusiast Mike Tyson who once sagely noted: “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’’

In the eighth inning, the Sox took not only a punch to the mouth, and a shot to the gut. And all of a sudden, the plan was out the window.

From as far back as the winter meetings in December, rookie manager Alex Cora spoke of wanting to use closer Craig Kimbrel in situations other than the ninth inning.

It wasn’t exactly a “closer-by-committee’’ plan. Instead, it was an acknowledgment that in the modern game, your best relievers should sometimes be used in the game’s biggest moments. Think Andrew Miller in the 2016 postseason for Cleveland

Then, fate intervened. Kimbrel’s infant daughter Lydia underwent a second heart procedure and Kimbrel left camp for three weeks. By the time he returned, there was time for only two Grapefruit League appearances. Kimbrel didn’t have the opportunity to come into a game in the middle of an inning, and Thursday, Cora wasn’t about to have him do it in the season opener, even as the Rays were running – well, walking actually – all around the bases against the Boston bullpen.

Cora watched first Joe Kelly and then Carson Smith implode in a blizzard of free passes, and a 4-0 lead with six outs remaining quickly transformed into an ugly 6-4 loss.

“We talked about it before the game,’’ offered Cora. “I’m not going to put (Kimbrel) in that spot right now. We feel he’s ready, but I don’t think it’s fair for him to come into a situation (where) it’s not a clean inning. It’s something that we mapped out, we talked about it and we stuck to it. We decided he’s not coming in (to those spots), as of now. As of now.

“He was available, but for where we are no, for what we’re trying to accomplish here, we need him for the long run, not for one out on Opening Day. If that situation presents itself later, we’re talking maybe (another) 15 days and he’s ready, he’ll be in that situation. But I’m not going to change my mind because there’s a lot of stuff going on out there. We’ve got a plan and we’ve got to take care of players.’’

Kimbrel wouldn’t have even been a consideration for the eighth had Kelly been able to throw strikes. But Kelly began yanking fastballs – some by a little, some by a lot – and quickly, it was time to abandon another spring training credo.

Cora noted a little more than a week ago that Kelly had, at times, relied too much on his fastball. And even with plus-velocity that sees him regularly hit triple digits, Kelly gets – relative to today’s game – few strikeouts or swings-and-misses.

The Sox preached to him the importance of mixing in his breaking pitches to give hitters a different look.

In the eighth, Kelly tried to establish the fastball first, but couldn’t, walking three of the first five hitters he faced. Compounding things was that, because he was falling behind every hitter, he couldn’t go to his secondary stuff. And the more he tried to get back into better counts with his fastball, the more he fell behind.

In all 24-of-29 pitches thrown were fastballs, including 21 of the first 23.

“I can live with getting hit around a little bit,’’ said Kelly. “But when you let that many hitters on base from the free pass, it’s going to end up biting you in the butt. Falling behind hitters and digging yourself a hole, it was hard to then go to an off-speed pitch once you’re already behind.

“There’s always, ‘couldn’t have tried this, could have done that.’ But at the end of the day, that’s pretty pathetic what I did. You can’t do that.’’

In the macro sense, Thursday’s eighth-inning debacle raises the question of whether the Red Sox have a reliable eighth-inning option to get them to Kimbrel. Smith has served in that capacity in the past, but he, too, was guilty of a walk, and then a three-run triple to Denard Span.

In time, Cora should have Tyler Thornburg in the eighth inning gumbo. For now, he has to be guided by matchups and some trial-and-error.

In the opener, it was mostly error, and the timing is sure to magnify the issue.

“There would be less talk about it if it was the 34^th game of the season,’’ said Xander Bogaerts. “It just happened to be the first game of the season.’’

Where planning is only theoretical and the onus is on performance.

“It comes down to execution,’’ muttered one Red Sox staffer, “and we didn’t execute.’’