McAdam: Alex Cora shows his hand with bullpen usage in comeback win

Very little about the first week of the season has made much sense for the Red Sox.

Their starting rotation, thought to be a strength, has been horrid with no wins and one quality start in the first seven games.

The lineup, the best in baseball last season and unchanged from a year ago, recently went two and a half games without scoring so much as a single run.

And, in perhaps the most unpredictable development of all, the bullpen, widely seen as a potential weakness, has instead flourished. On Wednesday night, with a four-game losing streak in danger of growing, the bullpen came to the club's rescue.



After the Sox could get just five innings from an inefficient (96 pitches) Nathan Eovaldi, three Red Sox relievers combined to turn in four shutout innings, buying time for a ninth-inning comeback that produced a 6-3 win over the Oakland A's.

The fine relief work wasn't anything limited to Wednesday night, however. Over the last 22 innings, the Sox bullpen has allowed just three earned runs, a stretch of dominance that few anticipated.

It wasn't just how the bullpen performed; it was also how it was deployed.

With Eovaldi nearing the 100-pitch mark, Colten Brewer breezed through the sixth, then returned for the seventh when he got two more quick outs before issuing a two-out walk to Stephen Piscotty. That brought cleanup hitter Khris Davis to the plate, with the game tied.

Alex Cora called on Matt Barnes, his best relievers, to face Davis, who couldn't hold his swing on a hellacious curveball, stranding Piscotty at first.

That Cora would go to Barnes in the seventh inning of a tie game was both illuminating. Barnes, of course, had been given the ball last Friday night in the bottom of the ninth after the Red Sox had surged ahead in the top of the inning, prompting some to see the move as evidence Barnes would be the team's designated closer.

Cora, of course, was saying no such thing. What Friday proved was that in conventional settings -- where the Sox have a lead to protect in the ninth -- Barnes is his most trustworthy option.

But as Wednesday demonstrated, Cora isn't afraid to be a bit unconventional with his relievers. In a tie game in the seventh, he didn't go with Heath Hembree or Brandon Workman, his traditional choices for the seventh. Instead, he seized the moment and opted for his best reliever for what was then the biggest out of the game.

There was no sense holding Barnes back for a save opportunity that might not have materialized. That's so 20th century when it comes to strategy.

Instead, Cora got the matchup he wanted: his best reliever, a righthander to boot, to face the A's most dangerous hitter, also righthanded.

That at-bat likely was the key to the game, and Cora wasn't holding anything back. So the same guy who got the ball in the ninth with a lead also was summoned in the middle of the seventh.

Smart call. And not just because it worked out in his favor.

Cora then sent Barnes back out for the eighth and stayed with Barnes even when the A's -- thanks to a throwing error by Blake Swihart -- had to potential go-ahead run 90 feet from home plate. Once again, a critical at-bat, and once more, his best reliever on the mound.

Never mind the ninth, never mind the save opportunity. This was Cora showing a willingness to deploy his bullpen the right way, rather than the conventional one.

Once more it paid off, with Barnes getting Ramon Laureano to hit into an inning-ending chopper to short-- with considerable help from Brock Holt, who ranged into the hole and made a strong throw to nip Laureano at first.

The ninth? That took care of itself, with Ryan Brasier coming in with a three-run lead and, following a plunking of leadoff man Chad Pinder, quickly recorded three outs for his first career save.

It won't always lineup as neatly as it did Wednesday night. There will be times that Cora might spot Barnes (or Brasier) in a high-leverage jam, and be left without the matchup he wants later in the game.

But Wednesday represented the blueprint for the season. Ignore tradition. Forget the save opportunity. And manage so that you have your best pitcher on the mound for the most critical out(s).

And if it looked a little unorthodox, that's OK, too. Nothing else about this Red Sox season has gone according to plan, either.