FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Red Sox wore green jerseys, the Twins wore green caps, and Matt Shoemaker got belted around for the first time all spring. All three circumstances felt a little odd on Wednesday.
Shoemaker, who allowed only one run in his first 6⅓ Grapefruit League innings, surrendered seven runs, all of them driven home on a pair of long home runs, and Boston romped to a 9-1 St. Patrick's Day victory at JetBlue Park.
"Had to face some adversity, which is always good, especially in spring training," Shoemaker summed up his three-inning, seven-hit start. He retired five of the first six batters he faced, three by strikeout, but then loaded the bases with a pair of line-drive singles. When he tried to sneak a changeup past Red Sox first baseman Bobby Dalbec, Shoemaker knew right away he'd made a mistake.
"As soon as I threw it … But that's good to work through, you know?" Shoemaker said of Dalbec's grand slam, the third home run he's hit against Twins pitching this spring. "You get two outs and they spray some singles around the yard. You've just got to work through it. … I hung a pitch, and he got it."
An inning later, singles by J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts presented another challenge, and this time Rafael Devers made Shoemaker pay, blasting a three-run homer to left-center on "a pretty good pitch," according to the pitcher.
Boston also added runs against relievers Shaun Anderson and Alex Colomé. The Twins' lone run scored after a Willians Astudillo double; he came home when Luis Arraez bounced into a double play.
Minnesota takes its final off day of the Grapefruit League season on Thursday, and plays its first night game of the spring Friday (5 p.m., FSN) in North Port against Atlanta.
