Red Sox fans got their first look at Hirokazu Sawamura on Friday.
Boston signed the Japanese relief pitcher in February. He was throwing in Japan before making his way to Florida to prepare for his first Major League Baseball season.
Sawamura entered the game in the fifth and quickly retired the first two batters he faced, but he then surrendered a double and three straight walks to force a run in.
After the game, he thought he knew what went wrong.
“I was nervous, but in a good way,” Sawamura told reporters through a translator. “I think I was trying to do too much out there on the mound.”
There likely will be kinks to work out throughout spring training while Sawamura adjusts to life in the big leagues. But there’s still a few weeks until Opening Day to get everything sorted out.
