Quinn Priester is one of four players vying for the final two spots in the Red Sox’s starting rotation.

Manager Alex Cora highlighted the importance of throwing strikes when discussing the candidates on Saturday morning.

A few hours later, Priester took the mound and walked both the second and fourth batters of the game. Priester threw 62 pitches, 38 of which were strikes (61.3%). Over 2 ⅔ innings, he allowed three earned runs on six hits, walked three batters, and struck out four.

“Frustrated,” Priester said. “I need to be better. There’s no better way to put it. I think the breaking balls helped me avoid giving up more runs, but ultimately, I need to improve my fastballs. A lot of those runs wouldn’t have scored if I had executed better fastballs. If we throw them well, those balls down the line are foul, and we can keep hitters off balance.”

“It just needs to improve, and it will,” Priester continued. “We’ve got more starts to go, and we’ll keep moving forward to get ready to compete.”

Garrett Crochet will start on Opening Day, followed by Tanner Houck in Game 2 and Walker Buehler in Game 3.

With Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, and Kutter Crawford starting the season on the IL, two rotation spots remain available.

Cora identified Priester, Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, and non-roster invitee Sean Newcomb as the top candidates competing for the open spots.

Priester found it difficult to pinpoint exactly why his fastball struggled on Saturday.

“It’s tough to say. Emotions are high, frustration is high,” Priester explained. “I could think of a million reasons why things went wrong or what might have been off. Maybe the sinker didn’t sink, or the cutter stayed arm-side a few times. But that happens in every start.”

“For now, I’ll let this emotion fuel me in the coming week,” he added. “Once things settle down, I’ll have a clearer sense of what happened and get back to work, ready for the next start.”