NORTH PORT, Fla. — It’s been seven months since Marcelo Mayer suffered what turned out to be a season-ending wrist sprain last July in Philadelphia, but Friday’s return proved more than worth the wait.
Mayer hit a home run off Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias in his spring debut, a 381-foot bomb to right field in what was an otherwise forgettable 15-8 Red Sox loss.
“I definitely felt like myself again,” Mayer said. “I think in the offseason when you don’t play you kind of lose part of yourself because this is what we do. So yeah, it was a good moment.”
Mayer went 1 for 3 with the homer while getting the start at second base, the first in what is expected be an extended tryout at the position while the club determines where he and newcomer Caleb Durbin will stick.
Manager Alex Cora said postgame that he was happy with what he saw from the second-year infielder.
“The kid can hit, we know that, actually I liked the last at bat even though he struck out, he laid off some pitches and he got a breaking ball that he swung and missed,” Cora said. “But it was a good day, a really good day.”
Rough day for Bello
Brayan Bello’s second start of the spring did not go well. The right-hander was charged with five runs over two-plus innings, allowing four hits and a walk with one strikeout. In the first inning he allowed a sacrifice fly to Jurickson Profar on the play where Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela collided in left field, and in the second he gave up a solo home run to Andover’s Mike Yastrzemski. But he did not record an out in the third, allowing three straight singles before being pulled after 42 pitches.
All three runners came around to score, and the Braves kept on pounding away at the minor leaguers who came in to clean up the inning, with Ronald Acuña Jr. punctuating the 11-run third with a grand slam.
Duran takes Sale deep
Jarren Duran struggled against lefties at times last season, but he came up huge against one of the best in the game, hitting a 409-foot bomb in the first inning off former teammate Chris Sale. Nathan Hickey, Tyler McDonough, Rafaela and Mayer also homered in the game, and outfielder Braiden Ward went 2 for 3.
Coming up next
Sonny Gray will make his first start in a Red Sox uniform on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins, and Garrett Whitlock, Connelly Early, T.J. Sikkema, Vinny Nittoli and Jacob Webb are all slated to pitch as well. First pitch is 1:05 p.m.
