Red Sox to Give Tazawa Another Start

Somewhat buried under the brawl Tuesday night was the story of Junichi Tazawa, who pitched impressively in his first major league start.

So impressively, in fact, that manager Terry Francona told WEEI's Dale and Holley Show that the 23-year-old is "penciled in" to start this weekend in Texas.

Tazawa, who lasted 1 2/3 innings before surrendering a walk-off home run to Alex Rodriguez in his major league debut on Friday, showed he was capable of handling himself on the Fenway mound.

He induced a sure double-play ball, but Nick Green's feed to Dustin Pedroia was off the mark, and the Red Sox failed to record an out. Tazawa again induced a double-play ball, but the transfer was too slow. Both plays resulted in runs scoring, and Tazawa left the mound after the first trailing 3-0.

After that, however, Tazawa looked strong. He recorded six strikeouts, including a pair of punchouts to end the third inning with a runner on third.

"I thought he showed exceptional poise," Francona said after the game. "Then, as he got into the game, he started getting comfortable, he started locating … I thought that was an exceptional performance.