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Barnes worked around a walk to record a hold in Sunday's 4-1 win over the Astros. He struck out two while pitching the eighth inning.

Barnes had a notable loss Saturday when he failed to retire any batters in the ninth inning. Manager Alex Cora on Sunday used Barnes to face the bottom of the Astros order, telling Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald that he can't always have Barnes consistently face the middle of an opponent's order. "We've been talking about this, usage and whatever they call it his role," Cora said. "But people get caught up on the whole closing thing and using the guy in the high-leverage situation, but he needs to face some guys that they're not the 3, 4, 5 hitters all the time. It's a grind for him." Marcus Walden followed Barnes and registered the save for Boston while facing batters 4, 5 and 6. Cora will continue to deploy his late-inning options depending on which part of an opponent's order is due up but there are times when Barnes will get a break.

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