Rich Hill couldn’t follow up on his Aug. 27 appearance, but the Red Sox still made it an exciting night at Fenway Park.
Boston beat the Texas Rangers on Thursday thanks to a Rob Refsnyder walk-off single. Hill didn’t earn a decision, as the 42-year-old southpaw went four innings against the Rangers. He struck out two batters but walked four and gave up four runs off five hits.
“He struggled with command,” Red Sox manager AlexCora told reporters on Hill’s performance, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They do a good job putting the ball in play. We managed. They didn’t crush the ball, but they scored eight. Obviously the big homer by (Adolis) Garcia in eighth. But they just kept putting the ball in play. (Corey) Seager, who is a slugger. He’s a hard-hitting shortstop. He goes the other way with a fastball. Then, two strikes, puts the ball in play again, hits a double. And that’s something they’ve been doing. I got friends over there. We talked about offense a little bit, and it’s something that as a team, they’re preaching, and they move the ball around, they put pressure on you, running.”
Thursday’s performance was a sharp contrast to Hill’s previous start against the Tampa Bay Rays when he turned back the clock and struck out 11 batters in seven shutout innings. The performance was remarkable even for his Red Sox teammates, and Hill gave a frank review of his latest start.
“My outing was not very good,” Hill told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It was a great team win, unbelievable comeback. We never gave up, never quit, continued to fight. It was awesome to see. It was a great moment for (Refsnyder) at the end, that was awesome to see everybody piling on him after getting that hit . It was awesome. The way those guys — the at-bats we had, Franchy (Cordero), the way he played at first base, big plays at first base. Tommy (Pham) in left field, some really nice catches, and obviously, the way that guys continue to just move the line was something that was really, really fun to watch.”
Speaking more on his outing, Hill added: “Just execution, executing, poor command. I think these are obviously nights that it was just an incredible team win. In here watching it, it was just really exciting to see. The way (Rafael Devers) came through, (Kiké Hernández), J.D. (Martinez), Christian (Arroyo), everybody just continued to pass the torch, so to speak. I pitched like crap, but the way we fought back and the bullpen came in and did a nice job. We got in position there in eighth, and obviously, in the ninth and was able to make it a really exciting comeback.”
The Red Sox are expected to maintain their rotation, and Hill is set to start again against the Rays on Tuesday at Tropicana Field.
