Such drama is relatively non-existent once the season begins, for it usually means that best-laid plans simply went awry. But the Red Sox have a tiny little competition brewing, and if performance makes for better drama, then this is a doozy.
Alfredo Aceves, filling in the back end along with Tim Wakefield, threw six strong innings in a 14-1, rain-shortened rout of the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. It will give him a little more ammunition in the "argument" against Wakefield. One of them will be sent to the bullpen when John Lackey returns to the rotation, likely in the first week of June.
If numbers mean anything, Aceves has a beef, even though his sample size compared to Wakefield's is like Jack to the beanstalk. Still, it's worth noting how well he has performed in the role.
In seven career starts, Aceves is 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA. Opponents have just 32 hits in his 37 1/3 innings as a starter. They have a .208 average and a .532 OPS against him when he has thrown more than 75 pitches and a .238 mark with a .524 OPS on their third plate appearance of a game against Aceves.
In his relief outings, Aceves has exhibited similar traits, often getting stronger as the game wears on.
He insisted this spring that that was his calling card, despite the fact that his career had been almost entirely as a reliever.
In 13 career appearances out of the bullpen that have lasted three innings or more, Aceves owns a miniscule 1.58 ERA. Certainly, that has value in the event a starter is knocked out early, which is what made Aceves such a valued member of the 2009 champion New York Yankees, for whom he was 10-1 but made just one start. But that was a team that had four starters make at least 31 starts. The Red Sox have already seen Lackey hit the disabled list early, and will be without Daisuke Matsuzaka for an extended period of time.
There is a need for a starter to step up now, and for some time going forward. Aceves has shown he can.
"It's nice. You plug a guy in and that's certainly, I guess, what you hope for, but it doesn't always happen," manager Terry Francona said. "He went to Triple-A and we told him we wanted to get him stretched out, just in case. Well, just in case happened, and now he's come up here and I think he feels like he has a lot to prove. And he's proving it."
Against the Tigers, Aceves barely broke a sweat, although early run support certainly helped. Utilizing a fastball with movement, a capable cutter, a biting slider and a timely curve, he allowed only a fourth-inning RBI single to Alex Avila. The 28-year-old finished with six strikeouts, one shy of a career high, and showed his mettle with one major escape in the fifth.
A single and a double gave the Tigers two runners in scoring position with one out in what was then a 7-1 game. With its No. 3 and No. 4 hitters coming up, and the dangerous Victor Martinez behind them, Detroit had one last gasp to try to make a game of it.
They never got a ball into fair territory.
Aceves got a weak foul pop off the bat of Brennan Boesch and then reached back to throw a 93 mph fastball past slugger Miguel Cabrera. It was the 80th pitch of the day for Aceves, and also the fastest.
A little old walk was all the Tigers mustered in the sixth and final inning for Aceves, and the man known as "Ace" walked off with a reasonable expectation that he would improve his career record to 16-1.
Whether he has a reasonable expectation that his spot in the starting rotation will remain is another thing. Wakefield starts Friday night, the continuation of an unheralded, but rather intriguing competition that has come in May, rather than March.
