Walks come back to hurt Sox in comeback attempt

BOSTON -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora was in a good mood Thursday morning. Where was his optimism coming from, despite so many predictions of another last-place finish in the American League East?

"Because the season starts today, right? That’s the way it works,” Cora said. ”We’ve got work to do, but today's Day 1. We feel like we did a lot of stuff in Spring Training that is going to translate to the season.”

There are still 161 games left for the improvements to happen, but Opening Day was not pretty for the Red Sox. Actually, it was pretty wild -- this 10-9 loss to the Orioles included a furious comeback that fell just short.

In the first five innings alone, Boston pitchers issued eight walks, two wild pitches and a hit batter while allowing four stolen bases. On the day, there were nine walks, allowing the Sox to tie an ignominious team record for the most on Opening Day -- matching 1926 against the Yankees and ‘66 against the Orioles in a 13-inning game.

“We’ve got to do a better job,” said Cora. “All around, it wasn’t a great game. The score is what it is. We were one swing away from winning this, but overall there’s a lot of stuff that we saw today that we didn’t do in Spring Training, and we’ve got to be better.”

The Sox will have their next chance to be better on Saturday, when Chris Sale soaks in being able to make a start in April for the first time since 2019. But before getting to Sale, Boston played the type of game it is trying to stay away from.

One of Cora’s biggest hopes for the 2023 Red Sox is for the pitching staff to be a strike-throwing machine.

It is a big reason why they acquired veteran Corey Kluber, who got the nod on Opening Day. Though Kluber isn’t the elite stopper he once was, his control is typically pinpoint. But it wasn’t on Thursday.

The veteran righty lasted just 3 1/3 innings while allowing five runs on six hits and four walks on 80 pitches (48 strikes).

“Less than ideal, I guess,” said Kluber. “It didn’t turn out the way I would have hoped for, but it’s just one of hopefully many more. So we’ll work on making the next one better.”

While the four walks were unusual for the righty, it matched his total from Opening Day last season for the Rays. After that first start in 2022, Kluber didn’t walk more than two in his next 30 starts.

If it was just Kluber who took a walk on the wild side, the chances of a Boston comeback would have been greater.

But Zack Kelly walked two while getting just two batters out when he came on in the top of the fourth trying to get Kluber out of a jam. And Ryan Brasier’s fifth inning -- which included two walks, a hit batter, three stolen bases and three runs -- was a dagger.

“There’s no excuse for two walks and a hit by pitch, even if you give up no runs,” Brasier said. “It just can’t happen.”

Give the Red Sox credit for this though. Down 10-4 after seven innings, they swarmed back for three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth.

Masataka Yoshida, making his much-anticipated MLB debut, had his first two career hits, including an RBI single. And the left-handed hitter had a chance for a storybook ending when he came up in the ninth with two on and one out, a chance to be the walk-off hero in what would have been an Opening Day comeback for the ages. Yoshida hit one up the middle for what looked like a game-ending double play, but the Orioles gave Boston a reprieve when shortstop Jorge Mateo made a throwing error to first, allowing Alex Verdugo to score to make it a one-run game.

Then Adam Duvall, another new acquisition, had his chance to be the hero, but he went down on three nasty pitches by Orioles closer Felíx Bautista.

Ballgame.

If there was a bright spot to Opening Day, it’s that Boston’s revamped lineup looks like it will play.

“A lot of energy,” said Justin Turner, another vet making his Boston debut. “We played with good fight today. The guys kept taking punches and kept going, and [we] kept punching back and gave ourselves a chance to win a game in the ninth inning. I’m proud of what we did. We just fell a little short.”