The Red Sox set a franchise record in their season opener, but it's not one of which they can be proud.
In their first 121 seasons, the Red Sox had never before blown multiple saves on Opening Day.
Then came Friday at Yankee Stadium.
First Garrett Whitlock coughed up a game-tying homer with one out in the eighth inning, resulting in a 4-4 tie game. Then, two innings later, it was Jake Diekman's turn, as he was charged with another blown save when the Yankees rallied in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game at 5-5. (The run was unearned thanks to the automatic runner, but a blown save is a blown save).
Then came the capper in the bottom of the 11th, when a ground ball single off Kutter Crawford snaked through the infield, scoring Isiah Kiner-Falefa from second base, gift-wrapping a 6-5 win for the Yankees.
Is this any way to start a season?
There was a suspicion all along that the Red Sox' bullpen could be a trouble spot, especially early in the season, and it didn't take long for that issue to manifest itself.
Alex Cora hinted at as much Thursday when he revealed that he hadn't settled on a closer. Matt Barnes displayed an alarming dip in fastball velocity over the course of spring training, and while an adjustment to his delivery earlier this week may have put Barnes in a position to work his way back into the role he forfeited in August of last year, he's not there yet. Complicating matters further, Barnes tweaked his back recently and was unavailable for Friday's opener.
Everyone else was, however, and for a time, especially as the Sox got dragged into extra innings, it looked as though they all might get an inning of work. Nathan Eovaldi was lifted after five innings, and soon, the parade of relievers began, like some modern-day March of the Wooden Soldiers.
It may well have been Cora's plan to have Whitlock, his most trustworthy option, take the Red Sox all the way to the finish line. In his first two innings of work, Whitlock resembled his brilliant rookie self, retiring six of the first seven hitters he faced, three by strikeout. But in the eighth, after freezing Giancarlo Stanton on a called third strike for the first out, Whitlock was victimized by D.J. LeMahieu.
Well, LeMahieu and Yankee Stadium, to be clear, since the ball barely cleared the inviting right-field porch. But the game-tying homer was enough to scuttle any idea of allowing Whitlock to go the rest of the way.
"We were just going as deep as possible,'' acknowledged Cora of his intended usage of Whitlock, "because he was ready for that.''
Once Whitlock was out, however, Cora was forced to adjust and the options weren't all appetizing, or, for that matter, effective.
The next three relievers -- Matt Strahm, Hansel Robles and Jake Diekman -- each issued a walk, and both Strahm and Diekman had difficulty finding the strike zone. Strahm appeared to be overthrowing at times and Diekman's slider had too much break.
Next came Ryan Brasier, who inherited a bases-loaded mess in the 10th and surrendered a game-tying sacrifice fly to center. Finally, there was Crawford, who gave up a seeing-eye grounder that managed to find its way between two infielders, scoring the automatic runner from second base.
Without Barnes healthy and back to form, the strategy seems to be to use Whitlock as much as possible without pitching him into the ground....and filling in the rest based on matchups.
But history suggests that's a risky proposition, and yesterday, it was confirmed again. When you have a relay race involving a half-dozen relievers, sooner or later, one is going to drop the baton. Sure enough, a couple of handoffs were less than smooth for the Sox -- in part because of the imposing Yankee lineup.
Keep in mind that the Red Sox plan before Chris Sale suffered a stress fracture of the rib cage was to have Tanner Houck piggyback his starts while pairing Whitlock with Rich Hill. That way, the Sox would have two days out of five in which they were utilizing stretched-out relievers to go multiple innings, limiting the exposure of the rest of the relievers the other three days.
Sale's IL stint forced a reappraisal. Now, Houck is in the rotation as his replacement and Whitlock is the lone trustworthy arm capable of going through the lineup one time on his own.
In time, presumably, Barnes will figure things out and be back in the traditional closer's role. Then, the Sox can choose from among Robles, Diekman, Brasier and Strahm to handle the seventh and eighth.
Until that happens, they need one of two things: lots of runs from the offense, or deep, quality outings from the starters.
The former seems attainable, as the Boston lineup is as good as any in the league. The latter, frankly, is wishful thinking, especially this early in the season, with starters still not built up fully.
In the meantime, they can find out what they have in the bullpen, mixing and matching, riding hot hands and seeking favorable matchups. Of the five relievers who followed Whitlock, three have little or no history with the Sox. Strahm and Diekman were making their club debuts, and Crawford was making his second major league appearance. There is much for Cora to learn about them.
As Opening Day was quick to demonstrate, however, he might not always like what he finds.