BOSTON - When the Red Sox drafted Matt Barnes in the 1st round of the 2011 MLB Draft, nobody expected it to take 27 MLB appearances with the team before he made his first start.
But there was Barnes on Monday stepping out on the diamond in the 1st inning after spending the beginning of his career as a reliever for the Sox in a time of need.
Going from starter to reliever back to starter is no easy task. There are adjustments both physically and mentally that need to be made in order to be successful, and Barnes, who is being made back into a starter down in Pawtucket, is learning that now.
"I think the two things that jumped out are one, getting through a lineup more than once," Barnes said. "You have to be able to set guys up for a second, third time through. And the second thing is making sure that your arm strength can carry through five, six, seven innings."
Barnes' arm got him through five innings and 102 pitches on Monday, but he ran into trouble the second time through the Indians order. After getting the first out by way of the 'K' - one of seven on the night for Barnes - the Indians got to work. They hit Barnes around for five runs in the 4th inning - a double, a single, a squeeze bunt that scored a run, a walk, a two-RBI double, an RBI groundout, and an RBI single.
That turned a 1-0 Sox lead into a 5-1 deficit. Barnes would allow a solo home run an inning later and finish with a line of five innings pitched, six runs, six hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts.
"I thought my stuff was still good. I thought it was just as good as it was the first time when I went through," Barnes said. "Could had mixed up a little bit more. Like I said, I thought I made some pretty good pitches and I think they just put good swings on them."
Lovullo was happy with Barnes debut as a starter but did point out the "hiccup" in the 4th inning, highlighting the bunt by Abraham Almonte that kind of spiraled things out of control after it was successfully laid down for a single.
Barnes admitted that he at times struggled at knowing when to throw which pitch while he was coming out of the pen for Boston. As the starter, he could throw the fastball, curveball, and even changeup when he felt it was the right time.
While the second time through the order was rough, the first time through went off without a hitch. Barnes said he's never felt better throwing his pitches than he did through those first few frames.
"I thought the fastball command was really good," Barnes said. "The curveball even when I had my last start down in triple-A, the curveball was very good for me as well. I was able to command that pitch pretty much whenever I wanted. Changeup had shown some real progress. I hadn't thrown a ton of changeups coming out of the bullpen, I really didn't know how to incorporate that. So to be able to come back and use that pitch in counts when I need it, fastball counts, I was very pleased with that as well."
The Sox didn't draft Barnes in the first round to be a reliever. They feel he has the stuff to be a Major League pitcher. While Monday's debut could have gone better, there was still reason to be optimistic.