Hector of a starting roll
Another gem wins it for Sox
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A year ago Hector Velazquez was a 28-yearold rookie freshly signed out of the Mexican League and slated for depth duty with Triple-A Pawtucket.
Yesterday afternoon, he was yet another dominant starting pitcher in the Red Sox rotation.
First it was Chris Sale who starred on the mound. David Price might have been even better. Rick Porcello got it done on Saturday. And Velazquez shined in Game 4 of the season.
Four starters and 24 innings of two-run ball later and the Red Sox wrapped up a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field and completed the fourgame season-opening set with three wins.
“Pretty impressive,” said pitching coach Dana LeVangie. “Talented group. Keep them healthy, treat them the right way throughout the season, it could be pretty special.”
Velazquez threw 52 ⁄3 innings of one-run ball, striking out five and giving up just five hits and a walk to complete a historic string of Red Sox starting pitching to begin a season. It was the first time in the franchise’s 118-year history that their first four starters each allowed one run or fewer.
The right-handed Velazquez had an ERA over 4.00 for five straight years in Mexico until 2016, when he posted a 2.47 with a career-high strikeout rate of 8.2 batters per nine innings. The Red Sox signed him last spring training and he went on to record a 2.92 ERA in eight big league outings and a 2.21 for the PawSox.
“Honestly, it’s been a dream,” Velazquez said. “I appreciate every day that I get to be here. Looking around at all of the teammates I have in this locker room, I see them all as idols. I feel truly fortunate to be here.”
The Rays may not be the best-hitting team in the majors. They’re batting 34-year-old Denard Span leadoff and 32-year-old Carlos Gomez third.
But Velazquez, who has solid stuff but nothing overpowering, did his job.
Making the start for the injured Eduardo Rodriguez, he allowed just one free pass while mostly coming right at the Rays with a steady dose of low-90s fastballs and changeups. His aggression cost him only in the second inning, when he left a 92-mph heater up in the zone and Brad Miller rocked it into the right-field stands to put the Rays up 1-0.
Velazquez may not throw 100 mph but he has an “ability to locate, to change speeds, to clone pitches on both sides of the plate so if they’re sitting fastball and get an off-speed pitch in the same location, he has deception both ways,” LeVangie said. “Once he cleaned that up in the third inning, he started getting on a roll.”
The Red Sox offense was scrappy, getting on base in each of the first seven innings, including the first four against young Rays starter Jacob Faria.
But they stranded runners in each of those innings and didn’t break through until the fifth, when J.D. Martinez was up with two men on and roped an 0-2 splitter to left field for a run-scoring single, his first RBI since the Red Sox signed him to a five-year, $110 million contract. And it knocked Faria out of the game.
The Sox loaded the bases in the sixth and Rafael Devers lined an RBI single to right field to give them the lead. But third base coach Carlos Febles made a risky call to send Brock Holt, who was thrown out easily by Gomez in right field. Martinez then struck out to end the threat.
The Sox head to Miami for a two-game series with the Marlins starting tonight with Brian Johnson is on the mound trying to extend the run of dominant starting pitching.
“Our starting pitching has done an outstanding job,” manager Alex Cora said. “It was amazing. Outstanding. We put good at-bats today, squared some balls up. Should’ve scored more runs. As long as the defense is there, we make the plays, we’re going to hang in close games and be able to win.”