FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A few hours after Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Martín Pérez, “We do believe there is more there,” the 29-year-old lefty demonstrated what that might be in a dominant performance against the Braves.

Pérez cruised throughout four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out five in Boston's 7-2 win over Atlanta. Of Pérez's 66 pitches, 45 were for strikes.

“Really good. Now everything starts to come together and I’m starting to feel great. I’m able to repeat my delivery and location,” said Pérez.

After the performance, Pérez, who is 56-61 with a 4.71 ERA in his career, enthusiastically endorsed Cora’s opinion that his best season could be the one coming up.

“I think it’s coming, man,” Pérez said. “The way that I prepare in the offseason, and I think you’re growing up every year. And I’ve been around in this business for a long time and I think my mind is there, and like I say, I worked so hard this offseason to just come here and do my job and get people out. I think that’s the most important thing. I’m ready to go.”

What, specifically, did Pérez work on?

“Just trying to stretch my body a lot, work on my legs and my core. Just [in order to] get here and be ready to compete,” Pérez said. “Last year was a short season for us and this year is going to be a long season. The way we have to prepare is different. We’re not going to play 60 games. We’re going to play 162. Just find my way and I think I’m getting there.”

Cora endorsed the Red Sox's signing of Pérez in the offseason after the 2019 season, though he didn’t get to manage him in his first season with Boston.

“I saw him first-hand in ’19. He pitched a game against us at Fenway and his stuff was electric,” Cora said. “One thing about him, when he doesn’t feel right, he's still going to compete, which is very important. We count on him to not only give us innings, but to be a good pitcher. And he was a good pitcher for the Red Sox last year. He had some tough ones and I think the numbers were thrown off because of that.”

Groome's first look
It has been slow-going for Red Sox prospect Jay Groome since Boston made him the 12th overall pick in the 2016 Draft. Due to injuries, and there being no Minor League season last year, Groome has logged just 66 professional innings.

Saturday marked the first Grapefruit League appearance for the 22-year-old, and he allowed one hit and one walk with one strikeout over one inning. Groome is rated the No. 8 Red Sox’s prospect by MLB Pipeline.

“That was good,” said Cora. “Flashed 97, 96 right away. A feel for pitching. I know he fell behind, he hasn’t pitched in a while. The slow breaking ball, the changeup, the fastball, that was a good one. It was good to see him competing at this level. We still have to work. There’s a lot of work with him. But you saw it today stuff-wise.

“We’ve been patient and we’ll keep being patient with him. We’ve got to keep working with him and if he keeps throwing the ball the way he did today, the future is bright.”

Following the game, Groome was optioned to the alternate site along with No. 5 prospect Bryan Mata (righty starter) and No. 12 prospect Ronaldo Hernández (catcher). No. 9 prospect Nick Yorke (infielder), who was drafted out of high school last June, was re-assigned to Minors camp.

Darwinzon improves physique, must improve command
Losing weight during the offseason was a recurring theme for Red Sox players entering this season. The latest to talk about his improved physique? Lefty reliever Darwinzon Hernandez, who said he lost 17 to 18 pounds in the winter.

“If anything, it’s allowed me to be a little bit more flexible, and that’s something that I’ve wanted to be,” said Hernandez, who is 24 and entering his third season. “So in terms of what I do on the mound, how I go out there, it’s all the same thing. But losing the weight did help me become a little more flexible with my pitches.”

Michael Chavis, Christian Vázquez, Yorke and Bobby Dalbec join Hernandez among the players who dropped at least 10 pounds over the winter.

Expected to be a vital part of Boston’s bullpen this season, Hernandez missed time last year due to COVID-19 and a sprained left SC joint. He wound up pitching just seven times. He joins Adam Ottavino, Matt Barnes and Hirokazu Sawamura as Cora’s four most important relievers going into the season.

Hernandez made his first Grapefruit League appearance on Saturday, and it was a mixed bag, as he walked three and hit a batter, but didn’t give up a run over one-plus innings. Command -- or lack of it -- has always been the biggest issue for a pitcher who has electric stuff.

“With Darwinzon, we need him to be aggressive in the strike zone,” said Cora. “As we know, his fastball in the zone is a good one. There’s a lot of swings and misses. We have to be more aggressive. Today wasn’t that. He was wild. But just like the other guys, he got his work in, it was an up and down [day] ... and now we’ll move on to the next one.”

Final roster spot could be ‘tough’ decision
Competition is heating up for the final spot on the bench. Christian Arroyo and Chavis, two of the top candidates, both hit homers in Friday’s win over the Rays.

Arroyo appears to be the front-runner, in part because he doesn’t have Minor League options and Chavis does.

“Better athlete than what I saw on TV,” said Cora. “Actually I recruited Christian for the ’17 WBC, saw him play a little bit. But he was bigger. Now he has done a good job physically. He’s moving well at second and short. Good at-bats. Great competitor. Very hard on himself. Very impressed with the way he goes about his business. Happy that he is performing this way.”

There could be a path for both players to make the roster if Franchy Cordero starts the season on the injured list. The outfielder has just started participating in workouts within the past couple of days after starting camp on the COVID-19 injured list. Non-roster invite Danny Santana got his first at-bats in a game on Friday, but he might start the season on a rehab assignment considering he is coming off major right elbow surgery.

The Red Sox plan on carrying just three bench players so they can go with a 14-man pitching staff.

“Good teams have tough decisions to make and we feel we have a good team. [Arroyo and Chavis] are playing well,” Cora said. “They are versatile. That’s the theme of our Spring Training. We can move them around. Both of them have made adjustments offensively. You can see it with Michael, not because he’s hitting home runs, but he’s actually more disciplined with the pitch up in the zone.

“That’s a good problem to have, right? Some good players battling for a spot and making it hard on us. They are doing their job and we have to make a decision later on.”

Up next
The Red Sox will send projected No. 2 starter Nathan Eovaldi to the mound for Sunday’s road game against the Twins at Hammond Stadium. This is Eovaldi’s second Grapefruit League start, but he did fire three innings in a simulated game earlier this week. Look for him to pitch four innings against Minnesota. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. ET. Watch all the action live on MLB.TV or listen on MLB Gameday Audio.