BOSTON -- Three weeks into the season, Red Sox manager Alex Cora now has a set structure in the bullpen, and he plans on sticking with it unless something unforeseen happens.

In the late innings with a lead, the three pitchers Cora will go to are Matt Barnes, Adam Ottavino and Darwinzon Hernandez.

Barnes is the closer and will most often enter with a clean ninth. However, there will be times when he is asked to do a little more, such as when he got six outs in an extra-inning win over the Rays on April 6.

Preferably, Ottavino will come on for a clean eighth, but Cora will also ask the veteran righty to get the team out of a dirty inning at times. He can also close on days Barnes needs a rest.

Hernandez, a lefty with electric stuff, is still a work in progress when it comes to command, as evidenced by his six walks in six innings so far this season. But there is enough there that Cora trusts him when the game is hanging in the balance.

“He struggled early on with command, but as you know, he’s going to pitch high-leverage situations for us,” said Cora. “And we’re very comfortable with Darwinzon, Adam, and Barnesy right now, if we have the lead in the seventh, those are the guys you’re going to see. I think his fastball is getting better compared to Spring Training, and compared to last year. I do believe the swings-and-misses will start coming.”

If the Red Sox are going to keep notching the comeback wins that have been a staple in their strong start, some of the lower-leverage relievers need to gain more consistency.

Most prominent among them is lefty Josh Taylor, who was a pleasant surprise for Cora and the Sox in 2019, but struggled last season after getting COVID-19 and is off to a rough start this season.

In Wednesday’s eventual 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays, the Sox trailed by just a run when Taylor came on in the top of the ninth. His outing put the game more out of reach for Boston, as he gave up three hits, two walks and two runs in one inning.

Cora often repeats a piece of advice manager Terry Francona gave him in his playing days about not “chasing wins during the week.”

What that means is that when the team is down a run or two, you need to skip the highest-leverage relievers and go to other relievers. And that’s why Cora went to Taylor on Wednesday instead of Hernandez in that spot.

“We can’t go to Darwinzon in that situation, down one, trying to chase wins. If we’re gonna [get] a win, J.T. has to do the job,” Cora said. “So far, he hasn’t done it. Velocity is there, slider is OK. I do believe he’s avoiding the strike zone. When you do that, then it’s bases loaded, one out. Get ahead and bury the guys. That’s what you’ve got to do and he hasn’t done it so far.”

Righties Hirokazu Sawamura and Austin Brice are other pitchers Cora will go to when the Sox are down a run or two in the late innings. A rookie -- albeit one who had a decade-long career in Japan -- Sawamura could have the opportunity to pitch his way into higher-leverage situations.

Matt Andriese and Garrett Whitlock have carved out important roles of going multiple innings in the early-to-middle portion of a game when the starter struggles.

Ottavino: Mr. Professional
Ottavino has not only established himself as one of Cora’s top weapons in the bullpen, but he’s proven to be someone who helps in more ways than just pitching.

“We're very pleased, and it's not only what he does in between the lines, it’s what he does in the bullpen and the communication with other guys,” Cora said. “He's made us better, you know, not only roster-wise but as far as the communication and things to look for scouting-wise. He's been amazing, he's been great for us.”

While there was an obvious competition between Barnes and Ottavino for the closer’s spot in Spring Training, Ottavino didn’t sulk when Barnes won the job. In fact, he somewhat encouraged Cora to make Barnes the closer.

“I’ve been in that situation where I’ve been the guy that’s been the guy in the place and then have a new guy come in and kind of take that role, and I didn’t really want to cause any waves or anything like that,” Ottavino said. “I could see that meant a lot to him, so I basically told Alex, ‘It’s not vital for me. I’ll do the job, I would love to have it, but at the same time, I understand that I can do other roles and help this team, too, so whatever decision you make, I’m going to be comfortable with it.’ That’s pretty much all I wanted to convey.”

Kiké critique
Cora was excited about installing Kiké Hernández as his leadoff hitter to start off the year, but the results have been mixed so far. On the plus side, Hernández has been solid against right-handed pitchers (.280/.321/.480, two homers). However, the right-handed hitter has struggled against lefties (.192/.214/.346). This has been a bit of a reversal of what you would expect.

In his career, Hernández has an .812 OPS against lefties, but his OPS is just .679 against righties.

Cora thinks Hernández has been overanxious at the plate at times. That showed in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s loss when he swung at a 3-1 pitch out of the strike zone. A walk in that spot would have brought the potential tying run to the plate. Instead, Hernández was retired and the rally sputtered.

“He gets to the 3-1, 2-0 counts, and he gets big,” said Cora. “In Spring Training, he was hitting line drives all over the place. I mean, he’s hitting the ball hard. We know that. But he hasn’t been able to control the strike zone when he’s ahead in the count. We knew that coming into the season. We talked about it. We’ve been talking about it.”