Rich Hill is a Massachusetts native who grew up playing baseball, so he knows what Patriots' Day means to the Red Sox and Boston.
The left-hander actually has a very strong connection to the regional holiday, and when he takes the ball Monday morning at Fenway Park, it will be an extra special, emotional moment for the 42-year-old.
Hill will start the series finale against the Minnesota Twins. It will mark his first outing since his father, Lloyd Hill Sr., died at age 94 on Friday. Patriots' Day was quite special for the elder Hill, who ran the Boston Marathon 37 times.
"Being there at some of them for his finish and seeing him come after the marathons, he loved it," Hill told The Eagle-Tribune. "He loved the tradition and everything with the Boston Marathon."
Like anyone with ties to Massachusetts or Boston, Marathon Monday means even more after the horrific tragedy that unfolded at the finish line in 2013. Hill, a native of Milton, Mass., surely was aware of the emotionally charged environment, and he'll have even more on the line when he toes the rubber looking for his first win in a Sox uniform since 2015.
"It's going to be a great day," Hill told The Eagle-Tribune. "A lot of symbolism that day for (Hill's father)."
