The Boston Red Sox got just what they needed from righty starting pitcher Michael Wacha in the second game of a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
Wacha tossed five 2/3 innings, keeping the Orioles’ offense scoreless. The 31-year-old veteran walked just one while striking out four in the 4-3 win.
Wacha, who missed the entire month of July recovering from right shoulder inflammation, reflected on his latest outing, while also attributing his bounce-back success to his rehab work during his stint on the injured list.
“I was just trying to get as deep as I could,” Wacha said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I know that we used some of our bullpen guys out there yesterday, and some extended roles. … Today we felt comfortable, it’s just stick to our plan and go out and attack these guys and hopefully get them out as quickly as possible.”
Wacha added: “While I was on the IL, continue to work on things that I need to work on, so whenever I got back here, they’d be cleaned up. Just trying to pick up where I left off. … Overall, I felt pretty good out there.”
That’s now back-to-back strong showings from Wacha, who tossed seven shutout innings on Aug. 14 against the Yankees — his return from spending over a month on the IL.
Wacha now sits at 8-1 on the season, with a 2.28 ERA in 15 starts as a member of the Red Sox.
