BOSTON -- Asked about Brayan Bello’s season debut on Monday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora thought that his young righty would be ready to go six innings.

On his way off the podium on Sunday morning, Cora also offered this with a most hopeful tone in his voice.

“Yeah, Whit [today], too,” Cora said.

Ask and you shall receive. Garrett Whitlock, making his second start of the season, provided the best and longest outing by a Boston rotation member this season, leading his Red Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Angels.

Before Sunday, no Sox starter had gone more than five innings, marking the first time in the club’s history that happened in the first 15 games of a season.

Whitlock went seven innings, holding Los Angeles to three hits and one run while walking two and striking out five. He threw 99 pitches (61 for strikes).

“We needed an outing like that,” said Cora. “We needed at least six. We were very short in the bullpen. And he did an amazing job. Good fastball, good tempo. Offspeed pitches were great. I think he got a few swings and misses on a slider, which is something new. Just what we needed. He was really good today.”

With one under their belt, the Red Sox need to string starts like that together. No team -- except for one reliant on openers -- can get by over the long haul with the amount of innings Boston’s starting rotation has been going. Through the first 16 games, the Red Sox have received 74 innings from the rotation, ranking 21st in the Majors.

Sunday, the Sox finally had a game not to bemoan the lack of innings. And they picked a good day for it.

This was a festive occasion at Fenway -- the 2013 “Boston Strong” championship team was honored before the game, one day prior to the 127th Boston Marathon -- and the crowd of 34,790 got treated to a crisp afternoon of baseball that got the Red Sox back to .500 at 8-8.

How crisp? Try one hour and 57 minutes.

With the annual 11:10 a.m. ET contest looming for Patriots’ Day on Monday, this swift game was well-timed for the Red Sox.

“It feels awesome,” said Red Sox designated hitter and first baseman Justin Turner. “I love it. Don’t blink or you’re going to miss something. Again, tip of the hat to Whit for going out and pounding the zone and working fast. The defense plays well when guys work fast and are pounding the zone. l’ll take the 1:57’s all day.”

Without one big swing from Turner, the Red Sox would have been in the losing column. The right-handed hitter mashed his first homer with his new team into the Monster Seats, a two-run shot in the third that stood as the last scoring play for either team.

With the bearded wonders of 2013 getting their just due in the pregame ceremony, perhaps it was fitting that Boston’s most heavily bearded current player had the game-turning hit.

“I’ve got a little catching up to do to catch up with some of those guys’ beards,” said Turner.

Once Turner put the Red Sox in front, Cora had to figure out how to leverage the few relievers he had available. Short-handed as they were, the Sox needed two pitchers to step up in higher-leverage roles than usual.

Kaleb Ort, who picked off a runner at second to end the eighth, did his job. So, too, did Ryan Brasier, who had to get through Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the ninth to pick up his ninth career save.

Kenley Jansen, who was overpowering while saving the first two games of the series, had a planned day off and his team didn’t suffer because of it.

“Yeah, I think for the bullpen, it was huge,” said Turner. “Obviously, when you have to cover a bunch of innings multiple days in a row, it’s tough on those guys, especially with Kenley down today after going back to back. The length there was huge for the ‘pen to take an extra day off.”

After winning the first three games of this four-game set, the Sox are tasked with facing the brilliant pitching version of Ohtani to pull out a sweep.

As daunting a task as it is, the Sox will go into it with a fresh bullpen for a change, thanks to Whitlock.