FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Alex Cora was asked pregame how he sees the competition for the club’s No. 5 starter job, the Red Sox manager urged patience. It’s still early in camp, he said, and they haven’t reached a point where one bad outing is necessarily going to take anyone out of the running.

Even with that being the case, there’s no question that Johan Oviedo’s first impression could have been better.

Acquired this past fall from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Jhostynxon Garcia trade, Oviedo struggled with his command in his spring debut. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound right-hander walked three batters over 1 2/3 scoreless innings in Wednesday’s 5-3 win over Minnesota Twins, landing 15 of his 33 pitches for strikes while allowing one hit with one strikeout.

“Not the worst but definitely not the best,” Oviedo said. “Got the first one out but looking at the good things about it. Got ahead just couldn’t finish, got to keep working on the shapes and keep getting better this spring.”

“Erratic,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Good stuff, we’ve got work to do, but it’s good for him to get his innings in and move on.”

Oviedo quickly ran into trouble in the bottom of the first when he hit Byron Buxton with a pitch and walked Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner to load the bases, but he was able to draw an inning-ending double play from Ryan Jeffers to escape the jam unscathed.

Things got hairy again in the second when he issued a leadoff walk and single, and then after drawing a lineout Oviedo allowed the two men to reach scoring position on a wild pitch.

Oviedo finished his outing by striking out Gio Urshela, and having reached his pitch limit he handed the ball off to minor leaguer Jay Allmer, who preserved his scoreless line by drawing an inning-ending foul out to strand the two runners on base.

Following the outing Oviedo said his goal was to get ahead in the count and work on his breaking pitches, though he acknowledged he wasn’t as sharp as he felt during his last live batting practice.

“Not the greatest, my live was better compared to today,” Oviedo said. “Today I was getting ahead strike one, but after strike one I’d lose it a little bit.”

Oviedo entered camp as the presumed favorite to win the No. 5 job, but he will face stiff competition from top prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, each of whom pitched well in their first spring outings. Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, who missed all of last season due to injury, entered spring as possible options but are behind the others in their progression and may not be ready in time for Opening Day.

Rodgers injured

Second baseman Brendan Rodgers left the game in the bottom of the fourth after injuring his right shoulder reaching for the ball following a diving stop. Rodgers, a former Gold Glove winner who is trying to make the team as a non-roster invitee, said later that the initial tests were promising and that his shoulder had good stability and strength, but also that it was “pretty sore” and he hopes he’ll feel better when he wakes up on Thursday.

Prior to the injury, Rodgers was 1 for 1 with a two-run single. Jarren Duran went 2 for 3 and Carlos Narvaez, Wilyer Abreu and Andruw Monasterio each drove in runs.

Eagle-eyed Anthony

Roman Anthony has drawn considerable praise for his understanding of the strike zone, and his mastery was on full display in the top of the second when he successfully challenged a strike call on an 1-1 changeup that the ABS system determined was 0.3 inches below the zone.

“Yeah, I felt like it was a ball,” said Anthony, who went 1 for 4 with a double. “Just feel like I have a good feel for the zone and that was one of those ones to me where it was fast, there was no doubt, so I ripped it and got it right.”

Though Anthony said challenges will be deployed more strategically based on how the game is playing out in the regular season, he said Red Sox hitters have been encouraged to use challenges.

“It’s been encouraged this spring to get a feel for it, get a feel for where your zone is and use it, right?” Anthony said. “Not shy away from it so during the season on that same one we feel iffy about we’re pretty sure of it.”

Narvaez had two successful challenges behind the plate, and fellow catcher Matt Thaiss went 1 for 2 on his challenges.

Whitlock, Slaten dominate

Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten were both in regular season form on Wednesday. The two top set-up men each threw a scoreless inning, with Whitlock sending the Twins down 1-2-3 with a strikeout while Slaten allowed one hit with one strikeout.

Left-hander Jake Bennett, who was acquired from the Nationals in a prospect-for-prospect trade this past offseason, allowed one run on three hits over 1.1 innings but averaged 95.3 mph on his fastball, topping out at 96.

Coming up next

Garrett Crochet will make his first start of the spring Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays at JetBlue Park, and he will be followed out of the bullpen by Aroldis Chapman, Greg Weissert, Jovani Moran, Payton Tolle, Wyatt Olds and Devin Sweet.

Chapman will also be making his spring debut, and Tolle will likely throw two to three innings as he continues to compete for a rotation spot.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.