Trevor Story celebrates in the dugout after scoring on of a single by Christian Vazquez during the 10th inning of Boston’s 6-5 win Tuesday night over the Angels in Anaheim, Calif. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Those West Coast vibes are working for the Boston Red Sox.
When they needed simple contact to move runners and crawl back into Tuesday night’s game at Angel Stadium, they got it.
When they needed a clutch hit in the 10th inning, Christian Vazquez delivered.
And when an oft-questioned bullpen needed a shutdown inning to seal the game, Matt Strahm stepped up.
The Red Sox grinded their way back and stole a 6-5 win over the Angels in 10 innings, marking the Sox’ sixth straight win and the Angels’ 13th straight loss on the same day the Angels fired their manager, Joe Maddon.
They also lost MVP Mike Trout to a groin injury shortly after Trout homered off Garrett Whitlock in the first inning.
It was a rough day for the Angels, but a fantastic one for the Sox, who are now 15-5 in their last 20 games.
The takeaways:
1. Strahm caps off a magnificent night for the bullpen
Manager Alex Cora pulled a rabbit out of his hat in this one, as he removed Tanner Houck from the game in the 10th inning after Houck had thrown just 30 pitches over two scoreless innings.
Rather than start Houck for a third inning, Cora called on Strahm, who hadn’t thrown a scoreless inning since May 20 and had allowed four earned runs while recording just two outs in two outings since.
With the extra-innings ghost runner on second base and the Sox’ clinging to a 6-5 lead, Strahm generated the back-to-back strikeouts he needed to start the inning, then induced a game-ending groundball to seal the victory in impressive fashion.
It capped off a really nice day for the ‘pen, which gobbled up six innings while allowing one run on two hits, striking out nine.
Cora seems to be favoring Houck in short outings lately. Houck hasn’t thrown more than 30 pitches since May 25. In that span, he’s combined to throw seven shutout innings on just 82 pitches.
2. Garrett Whitlock pitched
And that’s interesting in itself, as each ascending Whitlock start sparks the conversation over his future development.
Will he end up as a starter or a reliever? And which one helps this team more in 2022?
He wasn’t sharp on Tuesday. His location was inconsistent, and it’s why Trout tagged him for a two-run shot in the first inning. Whitlock fell behind 2-0 trying to get Trout to chase high fastballs, then threw two more high fastballs that caught way too much plate as the Angels’ star cranked the second one over the center-field wall.
Whitlock threw just four innings, allowing four runs on six hits, striking out five. He threw just 47 strikes on 71 pitches.
After starting the year with a 0.93 ERA out of relief, Whitlock has a 4.15 ERA through nine starts.
3. Xander Bogaerts is hurt
The most irreplaceable player on the Red Sox’ roster, Bogaerts struck out swinging in the seventh inning and then quickly grabbed for his left shoulder. He stayed in the game to play defense but was replaced by Franchy Cordero his next time up.
The Sox later announced that he exited with left shoulder tightness.
With Christian Arroyo out of the game, Kiké Hernandez was called on to replace Bogaerts at shortstop and made a really nice play to end the game, moving to his left and throwing across his body to get the runner by a hair at first base.
Bogaerts was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts before exiting.
The Sox’ offense was driven by a lot of singles, as they put together 15 hits, 11 of which were singles. Trevor Story singled off the pitcher’s leg to drive in the game-tying run in the seventh, and Vazquez poked a single through the right side to drive in Story as the eventual game-winning run in the 10th.
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