Wacha, Red Sox send Angels to 12th straight loss
ANAHEIM, Calif. — When the last out of his first shutout in five years was secured, Michael Wacha pumped his fist and sought out catcher Christian Vazquez for a congratulatory embrace.
Wacha pitched a three-hitter and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat Los Angeles 1-0 on Monday night to hand the Angels their 12th straight defeat.
“Wins like this, yeah, Michael was the star, he was amazing for us,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “But this was a total team effort. A 1-0 game, nine innings, nowadays you don’t see that. I’m just glad that I’m part of it.”
Vazquez hit an RBI single in the second as the Red Sox won their fifth in a row.
The Angels matched their longest slide in a single season, last done to end the 1988 schedule.
Los Angeles star Mike Trout had a first-inning single off Wacha to end an 0-for-26 drought, the longest hitless run of his career.
Wacha (4-1), who hadn’t worked into the eighth inning since 2018, threw 105 pitches, issued one walk and had six strikeouts for his second career complete game in 190 starts and first since a three-hit shutout for St. Louis at the New York Mets on July 18, 2017.
It was the first completegame shutout by a Boston pitcher in three years. The veteran right-hander outdueled Noah Syndergaard (4-4), who went six strong innings for Los Angeles, and lowered his ERA to 1.99 in his first season with the Red Sox.
“You’ve got to have confidence in this game to get it done,” Wacha said. “I feel like with what my pitches are doing right now, and how it’s playing against certain hitters, I felt like if we can get early outs and get the strikeout whenever we need it, things like this can happen.”
Syndergaard gave up five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Trout snapped his slump his first time up, but the Los Angeles offense mustered little else in the opener of a seven-game homestand.
“He’s arguably one of the best players, top three, and maybe the best by the end of time,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said about Trout.
“And today he was taking (batting practice) at 12:30 against guys we had to bring in to throw to him. That tells you about the motivation.”
The Angels appeared to be in business in the first inning, getting consecutive one-out singles from Shohei Ohtani and Trout. But then Ohtani was doubled off second base to end the threat after Jared Walsh lined out to first baseman Franchy Cordero.
“I obviously think we’re playing hard. We’re not winning games right now,” Maddon said. “But I’m not going to denigrate the effort by the guys.”