The Boston Red Sox limped into their series with the Los Angeles Angels.
Though it's still early in the Major League Baseball season, the Red Sox suffered a disheartening series sweep to the Rays over the early portion of the week. As Tampa Bay was making history, Boston was going the other way in a series where everything seemed to go wrong.
Their reward for dealing with that series? A quick turnaround against the two best players in the sport. That's bad news for the Sox, right?
Well, not quite.
Boston took a 5-3 win off Los Angeles on Friday night, benefitting from a performance that was equally ugly to that of the Red Sox at Tropicana Field. It was a complete reversal of fortune, and one that Kiké Hernández was glad to be on the winning end of.
"We played a tough series in Tampa where nothing went our way," Hernández said postgame, per AppleTV+. "(On Friday), things kind of went our way in a couple of different ways. It felt good to be on the other side of things this time. We pride ourselves on being a team that plays the game hard and runs the bases hard all the time, and tonight that paid off."
The game was a first-hand look at why LA has been so mediocre despite rostering Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, as the Angels routinely gifted the Red Sox added opportunities and free runs throughout the middle innings of the contest. Anthony Rendon, who makes more money than both Ohtani and Trout this season, made a pair of errors to keep the Red Sox up to bat -- ultimately leading to three runs for Boston.
It was a welcomed change of pace for the Red Sox.
Here are some more notes from Red Sox-Angels on Friday:
-- Hernández was at the forefront of those fortune reversals, as he put together a 2-for-4 performance at the dish, plating a run and scoring one himself. The 31-year-old entered the contest batting .114 with a pair of home runs. He spoke about
"(I'm) putting in a lot of hard work each and every day," Hernández said. "Showing up every day, being a professional. Early in the season, we're coming off a tough series in Tampa, it's nice to win the first game."
-- Kenley Jansen struck out Trout, Ohtani and old friend Hunter Renfroe to secure his third save of the season. Trout and Ohtani now have a combined 11 strikeouts against the righty in 17 at-bats. Jansen is just six saves away from 400 in his career.
-- The Red Sox improved to 16-4 (.800) when wearing their Nike City Connect Series uniforms with the win, including 10-2 since the start of 2022, per Red Sox public relations' Raleigh Clark.
-- Tanner Houck was fine in his outing, striking out six and allowing two runs across four innings pitched. His four walks are what hurt him, and helped make it a 14th consecutive game without a quality start for the Red Sox to open the season. Boston starters have a combined 6.57 ERA across 63 innings.
-- Boston's rotation appears to be set for the remainder of the series. Brayan Bello was revealed as the likely starter to oppose Ohtani on Presidents' Day, following Saturday and Sunday's respective starters Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock.
-- The Red Sox will return to NESN on Saturday for the second of a four-game set against the Angels. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage.
