Red Sox Notes: Matt Barnes solves the mystery of a bad outing

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Through the first few batters in the fifth inning Monday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins were hitting shots off reliever Matt Barnes.

This had Barnes perplexed, and in the dugout, manager Alex Cora and pitching coach Dana LeVangie were equally mystified.

"I thought too many good swings were taking place for a guy that was actually throwing pretty well,'' LeVangie noted after the Red Sox' 4-1 loss to the Twins.

Turns out, there was a reason. Someone -- Cora is a good candidate -- noted that Barnes was tipping pitches. LeVangie informed him of this during a lengthy mound visit and things were quickly rectified.



"I thought the swings on the pitches after that were much worse than they were earlier,'' he said. "He told me and I was able to fix it right away. It doesn't matter how good your stuff is, if they know what's coming, it's going to get hit. Stuff-wise, I feel like today was great and the swings that I got on pitches following the mound visit I felt were on in line with how I felt about my stuff today.''

Barnes hasn't been guilty of tipping pitches much before, but noted that bad habits can get formed after a few months off in the winter.

"You don't even realizing you're doing it,'' Barnes said. "(The staff) does a great job of recognizing it and once he came out and told me, I felt much better about it. (To make the adjustment within the inning) kind of salvages the outing for you. It goes from me wondering, 'I feel like my stuff is pretty good today but I'm getting smacked around' to 'Well, maybe that's the reason. I get to instantly change things and is my stuff actually where it needs to be.'

"Those guys are plenty good. They don't need any help knowing what's coming. That makes your life a whole hell of a lot harder. Guys are constantly watching video now and looking for an edge. If they can have that edge and they find something...I'm just fortunate we found it now.''

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The Sox made a total of 12 cuts between the morning and afternoon, returning a dozen players to minor league camp.

Sent out were catcher Oscar Hernandez, pitchers Zach Putnam, Erasmo Ramirez, Josh Smith, Ryan Weber, and Domingo Tapia, infielders Bobby Dalbec and C.J. Chatham, and Chad de la Guerra and outfielders Bryce Brentz, Tate Matheny and Cole Sturgeon.

The moves leave the Sox 35 players in camp, 10 over the limit with a little more than a week to go before the Sox have to submit their Opening Day roster.
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For the second start in a row, Nate Eovaldi gave up a first-inning homer, then very little else in his start.

Eovaldi tried to go up with a fastball to Eddie Rosario on an 0-and-2 count, but didn't get it where he wanted to and Rosario hammered it out for a two-run shot. In all Eovaldi pitched four innings and threw about 60 pitches in the game, then added another 15 in the bullpen.

"I felt really good with all my pitches,'' said Eovaldi. "I made a minor adjustment (mechanically) in the second inning and I think it improved the game. I wanted to get a little more tilt (with my delivery) to be a little more deceptive. I felt like, pitch-wise, I'm where I need to be. Where I am mentally and physically, I'm perfect.''

Eovaldi is scheduled to start the final game in Florida Saturday afternoon.

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In an intra-squad game on the back fields at Fenway South, Dustin Pedroia played five innings at second and was 0-for-3. He had two chances in the field. Tzu-Wei Lin was the DH and went 1-for-4 with a double and run scored.

Marco Hernandez also served as the DH and was hitless in three trips. But the Sox are encouraged that Hernandez, who missed most of the last two seasons with a shoulder injury that required two procedures, is healthy enough to take swings in games.

"He's doing well,'' said Cora. "I'm very pleased with him getting at-bats. He's worked hard, he's worked hard. Everybody knows what he's been going through and he's in a good place. Obviously, he hasn't played in a while and we still have a lot of time for that. But just to see him compete out there, I know he's happy with the progression and we're very happy with the way he's gone about his business. I'm very proud of him.''