BALTIMORE – On a night the Red Sox pieced it together from a pitching standpoint – going with a bullpen game for the second time this season – some bolts of offense were needed to make the strategy work.
One came from Roman Anthony early, as the prized rookie belted the first leadoff homer of his career five pitches into the game. He became the youngest player (21 years, 104 days) in team history to start the first inning by going deep.
And another smoldered off Jarren Duran’s bat and over the wall in center field for a go-ahead three-run homer that led the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Orioles in the opener of a four-game series on Monday night at Camden Yards.
Anthony and Duran combined for 827 feet of home runs, per Statcast.
For Anthony, who now has six career homers, this one earned him a piece of Red Sox lore.
“That's pretty cool. It’s good. I like that. Sweet. Thanks for letting me know. That’s great,” Anthony said.
Perhaps just as important as Anthony’s homer was his single to right in the fifth that set up Duran’s clutch shot.
The Red Sox didn’t score for the rest of the night, and they didn’t need to, as it turned out.
The reason for the bullpen game was the removal from the rotation of the struggling Walker Buehler. Opener Brennan Bernardino did his job, firing a scoreless first inning.
Bulk righty reliever Richard Fitts came through as well after some struggles in his first couple of frames. However, there was concern for Fitts (four innings, two hits, three runs, three walks, six strikeouts), who departed the game with right biceps tightness after just one pitch in the sixth inning.
“I felt a couple things on the warmup pitches and just kind of pulling on the bicep a little bit. I kind of knew that my outing was coming to a close, so I just wanted to get through what I could,” said Fitts, who earned the win. “And I threw the first pitch of that inning and felt way worse than it did in the warmups. And yeah, it was just the bicep.
"We're going to evaluate tomorrow, but I'm feeling pretty good about it.”
The Red Sox played on. And they got stellar work from the rest of the bullpen to hold on for a win that improved their record to 4-1 on this all-American League East eight-game road trip through New York and Baltimore.
Garrett Whitlock didn’t blink after allowing a leadoff double to Gunnar Henderson in the eighth. Instead, he punched out the next three batters in succession, giving a clean handoff to closer Aroldis Chapman.
“It felt good,” said Whitlock. “I feel like the last couple of times where the guys started on second with no outs [in extra innings], he's ended up scoring. So I'm kind of glad that I finally held him. It sucks that I put him in that position, but at least this time I didn't let him score.”
As for Chapman, he is just roaring through his first season with the Red Sox, looking like his best self at 37 years old. Backed by his 25th save in 27 opportunities, Chapman lowered his ERA to 1.06. He required just seven pitches, throwing four of them for strikes.
“Obviously Chappy is doing Chappy things,” said Whitlock. “It's a lot of fun to watch Chappy do what he's doing. It’s special. He's a fantastic guy, a fantastic teammate, and I’ve been really happy to be lucky enough to play with him.”
While Whitlock and Chapman have carried the Red Sox home on many occasions this season, this one was more of a group activity.
“To be honest, I think it's like the whole ‘pen,” Whitlock said. “I feel like we take pride in us being a staff, and I’m just proud of the way that we're going about it.”
Though Red Sox manager Alex Cora pushed all the right buttons on a night his bullpen got all 27 outs, he looks forward to going back to the more conventional approach on Tuesday, when Lucas Giolito takes the mound.
“It’s a tough game to manage, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “Fitzy did an outstanding job. Bernie did, too. [Steven] Matz was huge. And Whitlock, after the double, that was amazing. And Chappy finished it off.”