Who's starting for Boston on Opening Day? Not Sale

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t ready to officially announce who will get the nod for Opening Day on March 30 at Fenway Park against the Orioles, but he did say that lefty ace Chris Sale won’t pitch that day.

Judging by the alignment of Cora’s Spring Training rotation, Corey Kluber would get the nod.

“There’s a good chance,” Cora said. “I’ll tell you in a few days.”

Sale made his each of his first two starts of Spring Training one day after Kluber. That could lead to Sale pitching Boston’s second game of the season on April 1.

It would be the sixth Opening Day start in the career of Kluber, a two-time Cy Young Award winner. Why not Sale, who has made five previous Opening Day starts in his career, including two for Boston? Coincidentally, the Sox open their season against the Orioles on Sale’s 34th birthday.

“I want him to enjoy [Opening Day] as a regular baseball player, just the whole Opening Day thing and whenever he pitches in the rotation, he’ll pitch in the rotation,” said Cora. “I decided that like a month and a half ago, when we had that conversation.”

However, this isn’t due to any health setbacks for Sale. This was a designed plan by Cora aimed at taking some pressure off of Sale as he aims for his first healthy start to a season since 2019.

The topic came up when a reporter asked Cora on Sunday morning if Sale is his Opening Day starter.

“No, no, no, he’s not,” said Cora. “You can write that one down. He's not. He knows already.”

That said, the Red Sox are enthused with how Sale has come through every checkpoint this spring. In his second Grapefruit League start on Saturday, Sale allowed one hit over three innings, walking none and punching out five vs. Minnesota.

“Yeah, he’s good. Everything is normal. That was good yesterday,” said Cora. “Yesterday, for the first time, he went out of the windup. He added that to the equation. Good slider, good fastball up. It was a good one. He’ll pitch Thursday. We’ll find a way to get four innings back here. It’s an off-day for us. But we’ve got to keep him on the schedule.”

Mayer smokes double in spring debut

On the same day MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 prospect Anthony Volpe batted leadoff for the Yankees, going 2-for-4 with a homer, the Red Sox countered late in the game with their top prospect and shortstop of the future, Marcelo Mayer. It was the first action in Spring Training for Mayer, who was called up for the day as a Minor League extra.

In his second at-bat, Mayer -- Pipeline’s No. 9 prospect -- provided Sox fans with a glimpse of the future when he smoked a double to the gap in left-center in the bottom of the ninth. Mayer was 1-for-2 and didn’t get any action in the field as the rivals played to a 3-3 tie.

“It was cool,” Mayer said of sharing the field with Volpe. “First time I got to see him play. He’s a great player. Looks like a great dude, didn’t get to talk to him but, you know, bright future for the guy.”

The Red Sox feel the same way about Mayer.

“He controls the strike zone,” said Cora. “He understands which pitches he has to swing at and which ones he doesn’t. He uses the whole field. He’s a good player. He had a great season last year. There’s some stuff he still has to work on, but this kid, he’s really good.”

Duvall launches first homer of spring

When the Red Sox signed Adam Duvall in the winter, it was with the idea he would hit for a lot of power this season. The right-handed-hitting veteran shook off his shaky start to Spring Training when he launched a missile over the replica Green Monster in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game. Earlier in the game, he drew a walk. Duvall came into the day 2-for-17.

“Yeah, it starts with the walk,” said Cora. “He’s been working on his timing. His timing has been off and he got a breaking ball in the zone and put a good swing on it. The fact that it stayed fair, it was impressive. I thought he was gonna hook it. We know he's gonna do damage. Some guys, it takes longer than others.”