The Boston Red Sox, for the most part, have lived and died with their bullpen this year.
But in the absence of two of their most reliable relievers with the rest of their season on the line, manager Alex Cora is prepared to bring some of his starters out of the pen if necessary with just two games against the Washington Nationals left to make the postseason.
That means Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and even Eduardo Rodriguez will be available Saturday if it comes to that.
"I texted them this morning and I said, 'Hey man, spikes on. Spikes on.' I'm not going to tell you who said, 'Are we taking BP?' So, out of the three guys there's only one guy that doesn't know what spikes on mean, so I live with you guys," Cora told media before Saturday's game.
"But Nick will be in the bullpen today, Nate will be in the bullpen and, of course, Eddie we'll stay away from it. That doesn't mean we're going to use them but they'll have the spikes on, we'll see."
Boston almost gave up a 4-0 lead Friday night in the series opener with Washington after shaky performances from Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino in set-up roles. And after walking two batters in the final inning, closer Hansel Robles added plenty of drama himself.
Garrett Whitlock could be available Sunday after a stint on the 10-day injured list, Cora revealed, but Josh Taylor isn't progressing as quickly as they hoped.
So if the Red Sox find themselves in that scenario again, with two games left to qualify, Cora will be managing his pitching staff aggressively in hopes of extending the season.
