Garrett Richards has struggled mightily of late, but bounced back with a win Friday night.
The Red Sox pitcher gave up three earned runs across five innings with four strikeouts and only one walk in Boston's 11-5 walloping of the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park.
Richards has been vocal about his slump, and admitted to developing a new pitch amid Major League Baseball's crackdown on the use of foreign substances. And after earning his first win since May 19, and in turn ending the first half of the season on a high note, he's hopeful this only will lead to a strong second half.
"That's kind of my mindset," Richards said over Zoom after the win. "The last five starts or so have been kind of a figuring out period of time for me while still trying to stay aggressive and still pitch, and give us a chance to win. I'm starting to figure out some things, mindset-wise, physically, kind of everything. I was pleased with the amount of strikes I threw tonight. I only had the one walk, obviously I wanna limit those. I held runners pretty good tonight. (Christian Vázquez) and the boys played a great game behind me, and the offense speaks for itself. Any time the guys are putting up runs like that it makes my job easier. It's just a great team win."
The offense certainly helped make Richards' outing a bit easier, but it still was one of the better performances he's had of late. If he can build off this outing and contribute every five days to the rotation, it only will bode well for the Red Sox moving forward.
