FORT MYERS -- With Eduardo Rodriguez and Steven Wright unlikely to begin the regular season as they each recover from knee surgery, Brian Johnson has a chance to emerge as the Red Sox’ fifth starter.
So far, so good.
Johnson made his second start of the spring on Saturday and threw two more scoreless innings against the New York Yankees to go with the two perfect innings he threw against the Baltimore Orioles last week.
Johnson was strong but Joe Kelly, Heath Hembree and Robby Scott combined to allow five runs in the Red Sox’ 5-3 loss to the Yanks, who kept both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton behind in Tampa.