Richard Bleier Return Presents ‘Good Signs’ For Red Sox

Red Sox reliever Richard Bleier took the mound for the first time in nearly two months Tuesday night and Boston manager Alex Cora was pleased with what he saw.

The 36-year-old left-hander hadn’t pitched since May 21 after he was placed on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Boston reinstated Bleier off the injured list ahead of its three-game road series against the Oakland Athletics.

“He looked better. He looked a lot better,” Cora told reporters of Bleier after Boston’s 3-0 loss at Oakland Coliseum, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.

Bleier came on for the eighth inning and struck out two batters with 13 of his 17 pitches going for strikes. He also allowed one hit and intentionally walked Aledmys Díaz.

“You can see with the swings, there were some sinkers down in the zone against lefties that kept them off balance,” Cora told reporters. “You can see the takes were not as comfortable early in the season. That’s a good sign.”

Prior to landing on the injured list, Bleier had a 5.85 ERA in 20 innings across 19 games.

The 36-year-old was one of three Red Sox pitchers Cora praised following the verdict with Chris Murphy and Joely Rodríguez also performing well in the loss. Boston was shut out with five hits in the contest, which had Cora pointing to more of an underwhelming offensive night.

The Red Sox will try to claim the series Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:37 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.