Don't expect Tyler Thornburg to jump into the eighth and ninth innings out of the gate.
That's the message Red Sox manager Alex Cora passed along when making his weekly appearance on the Dale & Keefe Show Thursday afternoon.
"I feel that (Thornburg is a) great addition. Obviously, this guy was dominant when he was in Milwaukee and I know a lot of people were waiting for him to come back," Cora said. "I don't know if you guys pay attention, Heath Hembree is becoming one of our best relievers. If you look at the month of June I think he struck out 30 guys in 14 innings, and we've been using him kind of like a bridge to get to (Matt) Barnes and Joe (Kelly)."
Cora added, "Now with Tyler, I see him in the same role and obviously the more he throws and if he dominates, he's going to grow into being one of those guys late in games. But he can help us get the ball to those three guys late in the game. Come in, if there's a lefty his breaking ball and that fastball up plays and he can get them out and then he can give us one more inning. And we're going to have to be careful at the same time, but we can combine him with Heath and I do feel that we're going to have another capable guy of getting outs in the middle of the game and get us to that last third, which is very important."
It was interesting to note Cora's mention of Hembree's emergence. Although the righty did allow a run on two hits Tuesday against the Nationals, the appearance was an example of who overpowering his stuff has been, notching strikeouts for all four of his outs. In his 10 2/3 innings throughout June, Hembree one hit while striking out 14.
As for Thornburg, he was a guy who went nearly two months in the second half of 2016 without giving up a hit to a right-handed batter.
For more on how good Thornburg can be, click here.
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