Sox in complete control
Porcello’s gem helps beat Angels
RED SOX 6 ANGELS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A sinkerball pitcher may have the visual appeal of a run-first offense in the NFL, picking up four yards at a time in unspectacular fashion but consistently moving the chains. What Rick Porcello has been doing this season surely won’t be confused for pay-per-view entertainment, but it’s been nothing but bliss for the Red Sox, who haven’t lost a game with Porcello on the mound since June 12.
Porcello was as effective as he’s been all season last night at Angel Stadium, allowing only two runs while going the distance for the first time in his Red Sox career in a 6-2 win.
“Rick pitched an amazing game today,” said Jackie Bradley Jr., who homered in the win. “It was a lot of fun playing behind him.”
Porcello’s gem, his first complete game since 2014, snapped the Red Sox four-game losing streak. The Sox have now won each of his last eight starts and are 16-5 overall this season when he takes the ball.
“He’s our stopper,” manager John Farrell said.
Porcello has rarely been dominant during this eight-game run, but he’s used his high-80s sinker effectively while relying on the defense to bail him out at times.
After last night’s win Porcello called the way he was pitching before the DL trip last year “rock bottom” and said he feels completely different this summer.
“I can’t think about that anymore,” he said. “We’re in a good spot now and have to continue to play good baseball and get on a run here.”
Asked about what he thinks of his 14-2 record, Porcello said, “I think about us winning a World Series and that’s all I care about.”
The Angels had only a few hard hits in this one. They took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Albert Pujols singled and Daniel Nava roped a liner into center that took a right turn off the grass and bounced past Bradley in center. Both Pujols and Nava scored in the frame.
Porcello needed some help from Mookie Betts in the sixth. With a runner on first, Betts made a leaping grab at the wall to rob Pujols of extra bases for the final out.
“I knew he had it the whole way,” Bradley said.
Otherwise, the Angels hardly forced Porcello into a sweat. He finished the game on just 107 pitches, allowing only five hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
“Around the sixth or the seventh I looked up and saw what my pitch count was at and felt like with their aggression and command I had tonight, I had a chance,” he said.
The Red Sox gave him plenty of run support, knocking around twotime Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Now 32, Lincecum is 2-5 with an 8.49 ERA in his first season with the Angels.
With Dustin Pedroia on second, Xander Bogaerts, who was 16 years old when Lincecum won his first Cy Young with the Giants, roped a high-and-outside fastball to right field for an RBI double. Bogaerts then came around to score on a single from David Ortiz.
The Sox pushed another run across in the fourth and Bradley lifted a solo homer over the rightfield fence in the sixth.
With Lincecum out of the game, Bogaerts hit a two-run homer in the seventh. It was his 13th long ball of the season.
“Rick has been pretty solid,” Bogaerts said. “He’s with (Steven) Wright up there in the rotation, doing a great job.
“(David) Price threw an awesome game yesterday so that’s a good sign going forward. Just got Eddie (Rodriguez) back. Our pitchers are doing a great job right now it’s just a matter of us winning some more games.”