Former Red Sox reliever John Schreiber on returning to Fenway Park, 'It's a little weird'
John Schreiber returns to Fenway Park for the first time since his spring training trade sent him to the Royals. While standing in front of his locker in the visitors clubhouse, Schreiber reflected on his time with the Red Sox and possibly pitching this weekend against his former teammates.
“It’s a little weird,” Schreiber said of his return to Boston to face the Red Sox. “That was my first time getting traded in my career. It’s nice being back and being able to see old teammates and see how they’re doing. It’s really fun to play here; I’m excited to be back.”
Schreiber has struggled of late, and the Royals are hoping he can look a lot like the reliever from April. In his 14 games, the Michigan native posted a 0.68 ERA with nine strikeouts and three walks over 13 1/3 innings. Since then, he’s pitched to a 6.52 ERA in May and 6.48 in June, and the Royals need him back to pitching in high-leverage spots as the team pushes towards the postseason.
“I’m going to go out there and focus on executing pitches,” said Schreiber about the potential of pitching in front of the Fenway crowd. “I’m going to try and put up a zero and try and hand it off to the next guy. That’s the game plan every time I go out there, and I’m not going to treat it any different being back.”
Schreiber pitched better in his last outing on July 10 in an 8-5 win over the Cardinals, striking out two in a clean inning.
"There's going to be ups and downs throughout the season with everybody," said Schreiber. "It's really hard to continuously put up really good numbers, year after year. Everybody knows that as a player, you just go out there and work on stuff to get back to where you want to be mentally, mechanically, and physically. That's what I've been doing the last couple of outings, and they have been pretty good. I've been feeling good, and I feel like I've been in a good spot."
The bullpen has been the team’s biggest weakness and should be the biggest target at the trade deadline. Following Seth Lugo's rough outing on Saturday, Kris Bubic, who is just off the injured list, tossed two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and striking out two batters. Veteran righty Nick Anderson went an inning of relief, striking out two. Schreiber was not needed on Saturday but could get an opportunity in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
With the Royals in the thick of the wild card hunt, Schreiber will look to put the past two months behind him, and if he does, it’ll give Royals skipper Matt Quatraro the high-leverage reliever the team thought they were acquiring in the spring.
