A honorable trip to the Hill
Sox starter represents his father well despite results
If his dad hadn’t taught him some important lessons, maybe Rich Hill would’ve chosen a different path on Monday morning.
It would’ve been justifiable if Hill asked to skip the Marathon Monday start, a game typically reserved for rookies and first-timers, not 42-year-old veterans with 20-year-old routines their bodies rely on.
Hill’s father, Lloyd Hill Sr., died on Friday at the age of 94. He ran 37 marathons in his life. The services will be held Wednesday. And if Hill wanted to skip this start and take a moment to mourn with his family, all of New England could’ve found sympathy and understanding.
But the stars aligned for him to be the first Massachusetts-born pitcher to start for the Sox on Patriots Day. The results were secondary.
Hill did not perform up to his standards and took one on the chin as the Minnesota Twins clobbered the Red Sox, 8-3, in front of 32,514 at Fenway Park.
“It’s going to be a long week,” Hill said afterwards. “It was a tough weekend. But the job is to be a professional and show up and no matter what circumstances there are outside of the clubhouse, or outside of the lines, you show up and you’re a pro.
“That’s something that I learned from my dad.”
Manager Alex Cora didn’t seem terribly concerned about the results; this game was about Hill.
“It just didn’t work out, but I can’t even imagine the emotions and the feelings and everything,” Cora said. “Like I told him, we’re very proud of him, we’re family, we’re here for him and for him to go out there and compete, that was good enough.”
Hill got off to a cold start and never really recovered.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa had been held hitless in the series until he smoked a hanging curve up the middle for a single in the first inning. Two batters later, Hill threw an 88-mph fastball down the middle and chest-high for Kyle Garlick, who blasted it over the Green Monster for a two-run shot.
It was the same thing in the third inning, when Hill left a hanging curveball over the center of the plate for Jorge Polanco, who went top shelf to left field for another two-run shot.
The Sox squeezed 4 2/3 innings out of Hill but it wasn’t pretty. Hill allowed four runs on six hits and two walks, striking out two. He threw 79 pitches, mostly fastballs and curves. Through two starts, he’s now allowed seven runs in nine innings.
“I’ve got to throw the ball better, that’s all,” Hill said. “I know that this is a game of results and that loss is on me and we came up short because I didn’t set the tone right away.”
But it’s too soon to pull the plug on a guy who continues to defy time. His career looked dead in the water in 2009, when the 29-yearold Hill had a 7.80 ERA over 14 games with the Orioles. Tommy John surgery derailed him again in 2010. After bouncing around for few years but never finding his stride, he used a short stint with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League to get him back to the bigs. He returned to the Red Sox in 2015, making four brilliant starts that led to the resurgence of his career.
From 2015 through 2021, his 3.17 ERA ranked seventh among 107 pitchers with at least 600 innings in that span.
The Sox signed him to a $5 million deal and they aren’t going to give up on him after two rough starts, especially given what he was going through on Monday.
“You signed up to do this,” he said. “The things that come with it outside of it are understandable for everybody. But when we get out there and we have to perform, that’s what we are. We’re performers. Bring that aggressive attitude every time we go out there, no matter what the situation might be. Those are lessons I learned growing up.”
Cora was hesitant to give Hill the start, for several reasons.
“I can’t even imagine how that works,” Cora said. “I lost my dad when I was 13 years old so I have no idea. For him to compete and he did compete, he gave us a chance. It’s one of those games you see where you’re at, and the balancing act of what we want to accomplish today and what we have still on the schedule and for him to give us 4 2/3 innings, the way we started, was great.
“Everyone was proud of him in this clubhouse. I told him, ‘thank you for competing, we’re very proud of you and we’ll get them next time.’”
Hill’s dad was a longtime educator at Quincy High School. Lloyd Hill Sr.’s resilience inspired his son to compete on Monday.
And while Rich Hill isn’t happy with the way he performed, that he was out there at all was worth celebrating.
“Watching my dad and growing up with difficult times that he had, he always showed such great composure through difficult times when he may have had to do presentations or speak at the school or any kind of functions,” Hill said. “I used the word professional. He’s always a pro.”
Said Cora: “Obviously, Lloyd lived a great life. For his son to go out there and compete the way he did, he should be very proud.”