The Orioles dominated the Red Sox on Sunday as Baltimore beat up Boston's pitching early and often.
But not every hurler had a bad game.
Garrett Whitlock was an unlikely hero of sorts in the Sox's 11-3 loss as Fenway Park. The right-hander made his Major League Baseball debut in the third inning after the O's had pushed their lead to 10-0 against Josh Taylor.
Not only did he close out the inning unscathed, but he also pitched three scoreless innings for the Sox. That gave the team some time to regroup and put some runs on the board, too.
Win or lose, it still was a special day for Whitlock, who did not even pitch in 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019.
"It was a dream come true," Whitlock said during his postgame video press conference. "It was an honor to be wearing the Red Sox's name, making that dream come true. I can't thank everyone with the Red Sox enough for giving me a chance."
Alex Cora was impressed with what he saw in Whitlock on Sunday. It was not an ideal situation, to say the least, but the Red Sox manager was proud of how he handled himself on the mound.
"He did an amazing job," Cora said. "We were just trying actually to get JT (Josh Taylor) there, limit the damage and get him a clean inning. To bring (Whitlock) in with the bases loaded in that situation I don’t think is smart. This is a kid that obviously — first time in the big leagues, he hasn’t competed at any level in a few years. So we were trying to make it a clean inning for him, it just didn’t work out. But going back to him, he was good. Under the strike zone, keeps his fastball up, mixed up his offspeed pitches — it was fun to watch."
We cannot wait to see what else Whitlock has up his sleeve.
