Wacha wondrous again
Another strong outing in shutout victory
Among the surprises of the first month of the Red Sox season, the absence of their offense ranks at the top.
But the emergence of Michael Wacha as one of their best starters isn’t far behind.
Wacha continued a dazzling start to his Boston career with another strong effort, tossing 5 2/3 shutout innings — and getting some help from great defense behind him — to lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 victory over the Angels on a cold and dreary Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
The reeling Red Sox haven’t had many reasons for optimism after losing their last four series and coming off a dismal road trip that included several painful losses. But the dominance of their starting rotation is one — and Wacha has certainly surpassed expectations so far.
Signed to a small deal before the lockout, the Red Sox were hoping the veteran could rediscover the potential he showed when he was one of the more intriguing arms in the game earlier in his career. They couldn’t be happier with the results so far. Through five starts, Wacha has a 1.38 ERA — the fifth-best mark in baseball and third in the American League.
“It’s been great. I feel good on the mound,” Wacha said. “There’s definitely things I can keep working on, but the first month was good. It’s all about building off this next start and continuing to take that into the next one.”
On Tuesday, he silenced a dangerous Angels lineup with great efficiency, needing just 60 pitches to record 17 outs. By pounding the strike zone like he did, the Angels were swinging early in counts and the Red Sox’ defense — particularly Xander Bogaerts — was making plays behind him, including a pair of double plays.
Wacha needed just 12 pitches to get through the first two innings and only really faced trouble once, in the third inning. He issued back-to-back two-out walks to No. 9 hitter Andrew Velazquez and leadoff hitter Taylor Ward, creating a dangerous situation against Mike Trout.
But it didn’t come back to haunt him. Wacha fell behind to Trout 2-0 — requiring a mound visit from pitching coach Dave Bush and catcher Kevin Plawecki — before battling back, striking out the three-time MVP with back-to-back swings and misses on his changeup.
“That was big time right there,” Wacha said. “(Mound visit) calmed me down a little bit, and was able to make some pitches there to get out of that jam.”
Wacha wasn’t at all in trouble in the sixth, when he retired the first two batters of the inning.
But after allowing a twoout single to Trout, who advanced to second on a throwing error by Rafael Devers — the third baseman’s first of the season — Alex Cora elected to take him out after just 60 pitches — his lowest pitch count of the season — to put Jake Diekman in for the lefty-on-lefty matchup with Shohei Ohtani.
Cora didn’t consider keeping Wacha in despite how well he was pitching and a low pitch count.
Wacha understood the decision.
“I trust Cora with everything,” he said. “Our bullpen came in and was lights out. It was really fun to watch them lock it down like they did.”
Wacha and the bullpen’s shutout performance were more than enough for the struggling Red Sox offense, which only scored four runs but looked to make an encouraging step in the right direction. Rafael Devers crushed a 437-foot homer off Noah Syndergaard in the fourth, and J.D. Martinez gave the Red Sox their third multi-homer game of the season with a solo shot in the eighth, his second homer in as many games.
The Red Sox are now 4-1 in games Wacha has started this season, and 6-13 in all others. For the 32-year-old, the strong start has been a continuation of where he left off at the end of last season, when he produced a 2.88 ERA in his final seven games.
Chaim Bloom and Co. saw what he did and bet on it continuing. So far, his one-year, $7 million is looking like a bargain.
“We talk about what he’s doing this season, but what he did towards the end of the season last year was impressive and caught our attention,” Cora said. “So far, he’s been great.”