Alex Cora spent time in Red Sox ‘war room’ during deadline; ‘People freaking grind, man’; Dustin May to make team debut next week; Fenway Park one of Steven Matz’s ‘favorite’ places to pitch

Breslow didn’t exactly close the door on Matz starting for the Red Sox if the club needs him later on in the season.

“We’re obviously going to do whatever we need to do to try to win games down the stretch here, and if that means getting him stretched out a little bit or taking on a little bit more of a bulk role, then we’ll explore it,” Breslow said.

If the Sox want to stretch Matz out, it shouldn’t take too long for him to build back up. Over half of his appearances out of the bullpen this season have spanned multiple innings. The most pitches he’s thrown in an outing this season was 39 on July 13 against the Braves.

“It’s been good. I’ve enjoyed it,” Matz said to reporters on Friday from Fenway Park about pitching out of the bullpen. “I think I’ve figured out the cadence out there with my routine and everything. I’ve made a couple starts this year, pitched long, pitched short. So I’ve kind of done all roles and it’s been a fun year. And I’m excited to bring that here.”

Matz is in the final year of a four-year, $44 million deal he signed with the Cardinals before the 2022 season. Boston tried to sign the lefty when he was a free agent and said both Nathan Eovaldi and Kevin Plawecki tried to recruit him.

“Fenway is one of my favorite places to come to play as a visitor,” Matz said. “The atmosphere is always awesome. With this team, it’s an exciting young team and a lot of energy, super athletic. So I think it will be really fun.”

The Sox are on the hook for roughly $4.1 million of his remaining salary this season.

May will make his Red Sox debut next Wednesday when he starts against the Royals. The Sox initially announced that he was going to make his debut on Sunday in the series finale against the Astros, but Alex Cora changed his mind due to keeping Lucas Giolito on schedule.

“I talked to (Lucas Giolito) about Sunday,” said Cora. “It was either him pitching Sunday or May. Garrett is going to pitch (Tuesday), so it was going to be a lot of days in between starts, and Gio didn’t like that. I said, ‘I’m just thinking about you—Sunday is an 11:30 (a.m.) game,’ and he said, ‘I’m good. If I survived (the July 4th start) in Washington, I’ll be OK on Sunday.’

“We’ll do that, and then we’ll schedule May for the last one against Kansas City.”

May last started against the Red Sox on July 27 and will go nine days without pitching. He’s expected to join the Red Sox on Saturday.

This season, the tall righty has a 4.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 97 strikeouts, and 43 walks in 19 outings (18 starts) this season.

“In Dustin, I feel like we’ve got a tried and true and battle-tested starting pitcher coming from an organization that’s had a ton of postseason success and somebody who can step into our rotation and add to our pitching group,” Breslow said Thursday evening following the MLB trade deadline.

May has been known for being able to limit hard contact against opposing hitters in the past. This season, he’s in the 14th percentile in average exit velocity (90.8 mph) and 22nd percentile in hard-hit percentage (44.2%) among big league pitchers. He also ranks in the 62nd percentile in ground ball percentage (44.6%); he’s ranked in the 15th percentile for both chase percent (24.8%) and whiff percent (20.3%), according to Baseball Savant.

“I think ultimately what we see in Dustin is a guy who really limits hard contact and keeps the ball on the ground at a strong rate,” Breslow said. “I feel like that’s something that will play well here at our park. Is battle-tested, has premium stuff, and is a bona fide starter that can take the ball for us every five days.”

The lanky right-hander slots into the back of the Red Sox rotation and is an upgrade over Richard Fitts and others the Sox could use in the rotation, who has been up and down all season. He offers elite stuff, but he hasn’t seen the results the Dodgers and he have been looking for this season. His four-seam fastball sits at 95.5 mph and offers a sinker, sweeper, and cutter. May features his sweeper and sinker more than any pitch in his repertoire, and it remains to be seen how the Red Sox plan to use his pitch mix.

Breslow wanted to add “an impact starter” and “not just starting pitching that can take a spot in the rotation” prior to the deadline. He was unable to pull the trigger on a big trade and will rely on May to fill out the back of his rotation.

“I don’t know how much sense it makes to say exactly what he is,” Breslow said. “Ultimately what he does over the next two months and beyond is going to define his time here in Boston.”

The Sox' new righty has thrown 104 innings, which is a career high. In parts of six major league seasons, May is 18-16 with a 3.71 ERA, and in the postseason, he’s 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in nine appearances, six of them coming out of the bullpen.

“He feels good. The stuff has continued to trend in the right direction, so we’ll do everything we can to provide the recovery and resources and monitor workloads the same way we would anybody else,” Breslow said. “But don’t feel like there are kinds of restrictions on usage here.”

Cora spent time at Fenway Park and popped into the war room on Thursday afternoon to see what the Sox’ front office was trying to do before the trade deadline expired.

“It was interesting,” said Cora. “I’ve never been in the room while that’s going on, and it was a great learning experience. (There were) a lot of people.”

Cora applauded the front office for their hard work throughout the day.

“People freaking grind, man,” he said. “I just saw part of it, and they’ve been grinding for weeks. A lot of phone calls, a lot of moving parts. It’s crazy, to be honest with you. It was fun to watch. I didn’t have to make decisions; I was just sitting on the couch and looking at people. It was a good learning experience.”

The Sox' skipper said the final hour of the deadline was chaos as the Red Sox sent two prospects to the Dodgers for May.

“It was like it feels, like that,” he said. “Like (you’re seeing on) social media...very fast, very fast. Then you’ve got the MLB Network, and it’s like, ‘Holy shoot.’ The last five minutes is like, wow...New Year’s Eve.”