Red Sox Notes: For a change, Red Sox play someone other than themselves

For the first time since March, the Red Sox faced another team Tuesday, and while it was just an exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays, it felt a little more like the real thing.

"Definitely at the beginning there, it was kind of weird with no fans,'' said starting pitcher Ryan Weber, who allowed four runs over six innings in the Red Sox' 8-6 loss to the Jays. "It's you vs. the hitter. It's quiet out there, you can hear everything, you can everyone talking. But at the end of the day, the game counts and my competitive juices were flowing out there.

"It was good to see how my stuff was playing against another team. It felt good finally playing another team. The last time we did was over (four) months ago. I got the actual competitiveness back instead of just doing a live BP against your teammates and trying to get your teammates out.''

Weber will be the team's No. 3 starter and Friday will mark the first time he's started a major league season on an Opening Day roster.

"It means a lot to me,'' he said. "This is going to my first Opening Day roster and to do it as a starting pitcher, I can say it's a dream come true. To be doing it with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, I can say it's what I dreamed of as a kid.''



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The Sox obtained pitcher Dylan Covey from the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday afternoon and added him to their 60-man Player Pool. They also removed Bobby Poyner from the Pool, giving them 59 players for the time being.

Covey, 28, is 6-29 with a 6.54 ERA over the previous three seasons, all of them with the White Sox.

The release from the Red Sox didn't specify that the team gave up a player to be named later or even cash considerations and a baseball source confirmed that Covey had a special ''assignment clause'' in his contract which forced the Rays to allow him to go elsewhere without the team being compensated as long as the interested team had room in its Player Pool. Technically, because under MLB rules a player can't be exchanged for nothing, the Red Sox will have to give the Rays a dollar.

Covey has Type I diabetes, which has hampered his development along the way. One of his best starts in the big leagues came at the expense of the Red Sox, whom he beat at Fenway on June 8, 2018, tossing six scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and a walk while fanning seven.

'I was in Milwaukee with him when they drafted him in the first round,'' said Ron Roenicke. "I am familiar with him. He's got good stuff. He's got a big fastball, it's got movement on it and it's a matter of him being healthy and being able to command his pitches. We're going on what we've seen before and it's a guy we like. He can be a starter or a long guy.''

Covey is the second pitcher added from outside the organization by chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom in the last week. Zack Godley was signed as a free agent last week.

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Recognizing that players on other teams took a symbolic knee during the playing of the national anthem Monday night, Roenicke said the Red Sox as a team discussed how they would respond to calls for racial justice in Friday's home opener.

"Certainly, it's been a topic,'' said Roenicke. "We've had lots of discussions about this. Obviously, it's a very important topic. As far I know, we don't have guys who are going to take a knee, but certainly, we will join with the other concerns. We'll see. We haven't told players they have to do anything. We've given them the right, which is what this country is all about -- the freedom to do what they feel strongly about.''

A source said that, as an organization, the Red Sox will make an off-field statement Friday at Fenway.

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Darwinzon Hernandez rejoined the team, having missed the first two-plus weeks after testing positive for COVID-19.

"We really need to see where he is,'' said Roenicke. "I know he had been throwing. We really don't know how much and really what effort he's been giving. So we'll get a little read on him and just try to build him up as best we can. We know how important these guys are, to get them back in there, but we also want to do it the right way.''

Hernandez, Josh Taylor and Eduardo Rodriguez all tested positive earlier this month and are being brought along slowly while on the IL.

Hernandez was seen throwing in the home bullpen a few hours before the start of Tuesday's exhibition game.

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Roenicke said he will have at least a few regulars go a full nine innings Wednesday in the final exhibition game of the summer...The Sox added reliever Domingo Tapia for these two games...Brian Johnson will start Wednesday's game vs. Toronto....Brandon Workman, cuffed around for most of Summer Camp, registered a 1-2-3 eighth inning....Mitch Moreland had a three-run homer in the first and J.D. Martinez added a two-run, opposite-field shot in the fifth...The other run for the Sox came on a single by Xander Bogaerts...Ryan Brasier couldn't protect a one-run lead in the ninth and allowed three runs...Martinez hit second in the Red Sox lineup, an attempt by Roenicke to break up the lefties at the top. "We may do it in the future,'' said Roenicke. "I wanted to see what he thought about it and he was fine with it. It makes sense if everybody is comfortable with it because I know comfort has a lot to do with how these guys hit. It's a good look. If you put that lineup up like that, it's hard to pitch to.''