The first Fenway Friday of 2023 was a tale of two middling starts and a strong finish for the home team, with some unexpected help from the visiting Los Angeles Angels.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Boston Yellow Sox (they’re wearing the City Connects on Friday and Sunday) battled back to win 5-3. The sold-out series opener of the four-game was their first victory since last Sunday in Detroit.
“We can breathe now,” manager Alex Cora half-joked after.
Starters Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval began the game with oddly similar outings. After giving up two runs on a double to former teammate, Hunter Renfroe, in the first inning, Houck settled in for three scoreless frames. Notably, he didn’t allow a hit to two of Major League Baseball’s biggest superstars, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
It did, however, take him 90 pitches to get through four innings, and he only threw 56 for strikes. Over four, he allowed four hits, two earned runs, walked four, and struck out six. It could’ve been better, but it definitely could’ve been worse. Luckily for him, the lineup has scored a combined 28 runs over his three starts this season.
Sandoval looked mostly sharp through three (or did the Boston bats just look dull?), but he and his teammates gifted the Red Sox a pair of runs in the fourth, and he exited the game before recording the last out of the inning. In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up two unearned runs on three hits, walked three, struck out six, and hit a batter. He also threw 90 pitches, but 52 for strikes, and induced 12 swings and misses to Houck’s 11.
Josh Winckowski continues to be quietly dominant in his new relief role. His first pitch of his outing was the hardest of the game, a 96.4 mph sinker to Trout.
“I’m very pleased with the results,” Cora said. “He put in the work this offseason, delivery, his body, his mind. … I know Garrett [Whitlock] has been helping him a lot. The stuff is really good, he’s not getting caught up in the swing and misses, he’s just trying to throw strikes, as many as possible.”
Kenley Jansen entered for the ninth, and after striking out Trout, Ohtani and Renfroe, he exited with his 394th career save.
“That Trout one, the cutter? That was impressive,” the manager lauded. “You got to see him when he throws his sessions, you know, he’s intense.”
The veteran closer matched Winckowski’s peak velocity. In general, he’s throwing harder than he did last year, but his manager doesn’t seem surprised.
“His stuff is kind of like, invisible,” Cora said, promptly launching into anecdote. “I faced him in 2011, and I used to make contact. And he threw me one that I took, and I swung at two, and he reminds me all the time. His velocity is impressive.”
Also impressive was Rafael Devers, who torched his sixth home run of the season around the Pesky Pole, giving the Red Sox their first lead of the game. He’s the sixth player in franchise history to collect six or more home runs in the team’s first 14 games of the season, and the first since David Ortiz in 2006.
“He’s been slowing down and taking pitches, and that’s what he needs to do,” Cora said. “Obviously, our offense is around him … hopefully, the rest of the guys start swinging the bat. Kiké (Hernández), I think, is getting there.”
Hernández was in an 0-for-28 slump before snapping it with a double versus Tampa Bay earlier in the week. He recorded an RBI double in the fourth inning on Friday night to put his team on the board and extend a fledgling streak to three consecutive games with at least one RBI.
But the bulk of Boston’s run production was handed to them on a silver platter. Other than Devers’ solo shot, the Red Sox scored four of their first five runs on a pair of errors, a passed ball, and partially due to a wild pitch. They went hitless in the sixth inning, but added two runs to bump their lead to 5-2.
“If you give the opposition more than 27 outs, at one point, they’re gonna make you pay, and we did that,” Cora said.
The Angels haven’t really lived up to their potential in years, or rather, have failed to build around and capitalize on the prowess of Trout and Ohtani. That was abundantly clear on Friday night; their lineup out-hit Boston’s 11-5, but went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 men on base.
On the other hand, the Yellow Sox were 1-for-12 RISP and stranded 10.
Still, a win is a win.
Cora wouldn’t say for certain if Masataka Yoshida is going to play on Saturday, but “if not tomorrow, Sunday.”
Trevor Story began throwing this week, and said it felt great. The next step in his rehab will be swinging a bat.
Adam Duvall is going to have weekly X-rays on his fractured wrist, and Zack Kelly is going to continue getting tests done on his elbow.
Next up
Game 2 is at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday, but fans should be in their seats earlier for special pre-game ceremonies centered on One Boston Day, the 10th anniversary of the Marathon bombing, and Jackie Robinson Day.