NEW YORK -- Through his first three call-ups this season, Matt Barnes didn't exactly shine in his new bullpen role.
In 23 appearances, Barnes, converted from a starter at the minor league level, posted a bloated 6.89 ERA with eight homers allowed in 32 1/3 innings and OPS of .968 for opposing hitters.
But since being called up a fourth time earlier this month, Barnes has begun to turn things around in the big way. In seven games in September, Barnes has pitched eight innings and hasn't allowed a run, while striking out six and keeping opposing hitters to a .385 OPS.
"Fastball command, for me, and getting ahead of hitters,'' offered Torey Lovullo by way of explanation. "(Monday's scoreless inning) was such a good outing for him. He was going fastball-changeup and he went to his go get his curveball after about 10 pitches and it was right there for him.
"I just think that comes from maturity and confidence and understanding the importance of throwing those pitches and executing them. You need to come here fully loaded and he knows what he has to get to and he's comfortable getting there. That's just maturity. That comes from time and experience and being thrown into the moment. Several outings since he's come back at the beginning of September, he's been lights out. And I know he feels very good about himself and he deserves that feeling.''
The Sox had hoped that Barnes could provide them with a power arm in the set-up role earlier, but Barnes had difficulty, often falling behind hitters and suffering the expected results.
Later in the summer, he was shut down because of some elbow soreness, which, as Lovullo reflected, might have been the result of the Sox pushing him and having him go back to the rotation at Triple A when the Sox were running short of starters in the organization.
Boston Red Sox
"I think it's been pretty seamless from a mental standpoint,'' said Lovullo of going back and forth with the roles. ''But I think physically, we ramped him up so quick, that's why he had a little bit of downtime and a little bit of right elbow fatigue. We're looking to simplify that for him and we're talking as a group about direction we want to go in 2016 so we don't run into that situation again.
"But overall, I think he's done exactly what was asked. Young pitchers have trouble switching roles as quickly as he has. But he's had some really bright moments within all of those changes. But as we've simplified things within this past month, he's been pretty special.''