Chris Bassitt gave the Orioles two-plus innings and 40 pitches this afternoon in his debut against the Red Sox in Fort Myers. And he left with a smile, mostly because he was amused by Wilyer Abreu’s full-count challenge on a called third strike.

Bassitt also enjoyed the three ups and how he felt physically in an 8-7 win at JetBlue Park.

Abreu immediately began tapping his helmet and walking to first base before the call was overturned, much to Bassitt’s amusement. The veteran right-hander knew what was coming.

Bassitt was charged with another run after leaving the game, when replacement Jeisson Cabrera surrendered a single to Trevor Story and homer to Willson Contreras that cleared the replica Green Monster in left field.

“He looked right where he needed to be,” manager Craig Albernaz told the assembled media.

Cabrera threw 30 pitches in two-thirds of an inning, 10 fewer than Bassitt. Allan Castro greeted another minor league pitcher, Zane Barnhart, with a two-run single. Castro was thrown out at second base.

Bassitt allowed two runs and two hits with two walks. Twenty-three of his 40 pitches were his sinker. He broke out six of his eight pitches through the second inning.

“It’s just building pitch count right now,” Bassitt told the media. “Facing an inner-division team, you’re not going to game plan for them and throw a specific way, so to speak. So today was all about throwing a bunch of heaters, different types of heaters, and just building arm strength.”

Bassitt is a soft-contact guy and he gave up a two-out run in the first inning on Contreras’ fly ball double high off the Green Monster and Caleb Durbin’s 211-foot bloop single into right field at 74.6 mph. Ten of Bassitt’s 15 pitches were strikes.

The contact was harder in the second but Enrique Bradfield Jr. made a terrific lunging catch in right field to rob Kristian Campbell after Carlos Narváez’s leadoff walk. The exit velocity was 106.9, but Bradfield broke back immediately and made the play.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out to second baseman Thairo Estrada at 98.6 mph.

The Orioles tied the game in the top of the second on Samuel Basallo’s leadoff single into center field at 109.5 mph, Heston Kjerstad’s double off the left field wall and Estrada’s RBI groundout in his first appearance with his new club.

Left-handers hit .209 against Suárez, but the Orioles started six of them today.

They had to face Aroldis Chapman in the fourth inning and he retired only two batters. He came out after 18 pitches.

Basallo walked and Kjerstad singled against Chapman.

This was a theme today. Basallo had a two-run double in the fifth and he scored on Kjerstad’s single. They were a combined 5-for-5 with a walk and three RBIs.

Kjerstad is batting .429 (6-for-14) with a 1.181 OPS this spring.

“What Heston’s showing right now is what he’s capable of,” Albernaz said.

Basallo kept checking his right hand in the third after being hit while trying to block a pitch in the dirt, but he stayed in the game. He’s determined to keep throwing scares into the team, as well as trying to nab would-be basestealers.

Bradfield reached on an error in the third inning and appeared to swipe second base, but he was called out. He reached on a bunt single in the fifth, his 80-grade speed forced a throwing error, and he hustled to third base.  

Statcast clocked him at 30.5 feet per second.

Bradfield, who leaves camp to play for Team Panama, walked and scored in a three-run sixth that gave the Orioles an 8-7 lead. Weston Wilson doubled at 103.5 mph, and two walks loaded the bases. Minor league pitcher Jacob Webb, not the former Orioles reliever, threw back-to-back wild pitches to tie the game and Bradfield scored on Jud Fabian’s grounder.

Dylan Beavers doubled for the second time today.

Albert Suárez made his second spring appearance and first in relief, and he struck out two while retiring the side in order in the fourth inning. He was charged with an unearned run in the fifth after a leadoff walk and throwing errors by Blaze Alexander at shortstop – following his diving backhand stop – and Basallo on a pickoff attempt.

Left-hander Luis De León, ranked by Baseball America as the organization’s No. 5 prospect, didn’t let a ball out of the infield while retiring the side in order in the sixth and bringing a sense of order to a spastic game. He threw only five pitches, all for strikes.

Anthony Nunez retired three consecutive batters in the seventh, getting back-to-back strikeouts with a 96 mph fastball and his cutter, after the first two Red Sox reached base on an infield hit and error. Cameron Foster stranded a runner in the eighth to maintain his 0.00 ERA after three appearances.

Alex Pham went walk, strikeout, strikeout, walk and strikeout, on a full-count cutter, to record the save.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers starts Tuesday afternoon against Team Netherlands at Ed Smith Stadium. The Orioles are off Monday.