Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks delivers a pitch in the fourth inning against the Rays on Wednesday in Fort Myers, Florida. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox’ closer competition officially got underway Wednesday at Fenway South, with veteran relievers Aroldis Chapman and Liam Hendriks each making their spring training debuts. Each pitcher threw one inning in relief of starter Hunter Dobbins in Boston’s 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay.

Chapman (335 career saves) and Hendriks (116) are the top two candidates to pitch the ninth with second-year man Justin Slaten (who saved two games last year) also in the mix. Garrett Whitlock will also be part of the back-end mix and could get saves in non-traditional situations. Before Opening Day on March 27, manager Alex Cora wants to know who he can trust with the ninth.

“We’ll get there when we get there. We have guys there who can do the job,” Cora said. “Whit (Garrett Whitlock) always reminds me that he closed the wild-card game a few years ago (in 2021). We’ll try to use him as a multi-inning guy. That’s what he does best.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to have the lead in the ninth in Texas at one point, and somebody’s going to come in and save the game. Let’s see how it plays out.”

Chapman, who was signed to a one-year, $10.75 million contract in early December, got the nod in the third. His performance was … typical Chapman. He flashed a 101 mph fastball but issued two walks, throwing just 11 of his 23 pitches for strikes.

Red Sox pitcher Aroldis Chapman walks off the mound after recording two outs in the third inning against the Rays on Wednesday in Fort Myers, Fla. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Control has always been an issue for the flamethrower, who owns a career 4.7 BB/9 rate. But he thought he was squeezed Wednesday on calls to Rays hitters Josh Lowe and Junior Caminero. Chapman didn’t complete his inning, hitting his pitch count with two outs.

“There were some pitches that could have gone either way. I just didn’t get the call,” Chapman said translator Daveson Perez. “I don’t worry about that.”

The 36-year-old former Yankee has impressed Cora for a multitude of reasons early in camp. First, he’s a physical presence at a muscular 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, often showing up to work at Fenway South before the sun comes up. He’s also someone who has begun to take younger Latin pitchers, like Luis Guerrero, under his wing.

“He used to pitch at 250 pounds, now he’s down to 230 pounds,” Cora said. “He feels like he’s not as rigid as he was before. He’s intrigued by it because he said that throughout his career, he has never thrown this hard early in camp. It’s usually 92-93 mph. He hit 99 the other day. I’m intrigued by it and he is, too. We know that if he throws more strikes, he’s going to be a lot better. That’s his main focus and he feels like where he’s at now with his body, that’s going to be possible.

“Leadership is important. Obviously, the language barrier comes into play. To have a dude on that side of the ball that’s Latino, he’s going to help those guys. He has a few rings to show, too.”

Chapman has recorded just 29 saves over the last three years (on four different teams) after logging at least 30 in the eight full seasons before 2022. Last year in Pittsburgh, he didn’t assume the full-time ninth inning role until late. When he did, he pitched well, recording 10 of 11 save chances after Aug. 31.

Hendriks pitched the fourth inning, hitting 95-96 mph while working around a one-out single. He punctuated the outing by striking out Taylor Walls on a diving breaking ball and celebrated it with a loud scream and fist bump as he came off the mound.

It’s Feb. 28, but it was still a big moment for a pitcher who overcame cancer in 2023, only to need Tommy John surgery and miss the second half of that season and all of 2024.

Hendriks was encouraged by his velocity, which was better than it had been in live batting practice sessions thanks to an adjustment to increase arm speed.

“I didn’t see a 92 (mph), which was nice,” he said. “Velo was good. Kill pitch wasn’t quite there just yet … First one in a while and it’s nice to get that one out the way and under the belt and we can move on from here. Having to come in after Chapman, everything looked like a changeup anyway.”

Entering camp fully healthy, Hendriks looked like the favorite to win the closer role. That still may be the case, though Chapman is a real challenger and Slaten may be as well.