SEATTLE — Reliever Jorge Alcala, who the Red Sox acquired in a trade with the Twins last Wednesday, reached 99.7 mph with his heater and threw a perfect inning in his Boston debut Tuesday.
Alcala’s performance was one of the few things that went well for Boston in an 8-0 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
“Good fastball. The breaking ball is real,” manager Alex Cora said.
The 29-year-old righty threw 15 pitches: nine curveballs and six four-seam fastballs.
He got two swings and misses with his curveball. He averaged 98.0 mph with the heater. He threw the three fastest pitches by a Red Sox pitcher in the game (99.7 mph, 98.7 mph, 98.6 mph).
Alcala was added to the roster Friday but did not pitch in his first four games with Boston.
“Good to pitch him tonight. … The bullpen threw the ball well but that was good,” Cora said. “So now he got his feet wet and we’ll use him correctly and I think he’s gonna contribute.”
Alcala got a pop-out to first base, a strikeout swinging and groundout to shortstop in his perfect seventh inning.
It’s interesting he didn’t throw any sliders, which was his second most used pitch for the Twins this season but a pitch he struggled to command.
Opponents went 8-for-39 (.205 batting average) against his four-seam fastball and just 3-for-21 (.143) against his curveball with the Twins. But opponents were 7-for-18 (.389) against his slider.
Cora mentioned both his fastball and curveball as being important pitches when Alcala joined the team Friday.
The righty struggled this season for the Twins with an 8.88 ERA in 24 ⅓ innings but he posted a 3.24 ERA in 58 ⅓ innings last year.
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