Red Sox’s Alex Cora Praises Triple-A Coaching Staff For Recent Work

The Boston Red Sox have had a rotating cast in their pitching rotation over the last week, calling on some prospects to fill in for some injured starters.

It’s fair to say things have worked out.

Kutter Crawford and Josh Winckowski, both still holding on to their prospect status, put together scoreless starts for Boston over this week. Red Sox ,anager Alex Cora made sure to give praise to his Triple-A pitching coach Paul Abbott following Winckowski’s first major league win on Wednesday night.

“What (Abbott) is doing down there in Triple-A is worth mentioning,” Cora said as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s really good and we stay in contact with him. We make adjustments and we prefer these kids to come in here and pitch this way. We expected them to do a good job because stuff wise, they’re really good.

“(Major League coaches) have been really good about it and just kind of simplifying the game plan. When they come up, the most important thing is pounding the strike zone and today (Winckowski) did and outstanding job.”

With Garrett Whitlock and Nathan Eovaldi unable to return from the injured list until next week, Boston will likely look for one more start each from their young pitchers.

They’ll look to complete the series sweep over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday afternoon. Pregame coverage on NESN begins at 12:30 p.m. ET with “Red Sox First Pitch” followed by “Red Sox Gameday Live.” First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET.