James Paxton made his first Major League start in nearly three years on Friday night, with his last appearance coming on April 6, 2021 while still with the Seattle Mariners.
While the 34-year-old southpaw was brilliant on the mound in his Red Sox debut, Boston lost the opener of the three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals, snapping a six-game winning streak at Fenway Park.
"He looked like the guy that was pitching in Seattle a while ago," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on NESN's postgame coverage. "The fastball was playing, the breaking ball got better throughout the outing, the cutter; he dotted a few of those. He was in control."
Paxton, who missed most of the 2020-22 seasons due to injury and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, went five innings while giving up just two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out nine of the 20 batters he faced.
"Honestly, it kind of felt like my debut all over again. You know, after being out so long," Paxton said on NESN's postgame coverage. "All those emotions, you know, you're getting nervous, you're excited, you know all that and just focus on getting ready for the game and giving it everything I had out there."
Despite the team being unable to pull out the win, Paxton was happy just to be on the mound pitching in front of his teammates.
"It was awesome to get back out there to compete with these guys," Paxton said on NESN's postgame coverage. "It was a long time. I was just focused on finding my rhythm out there and letting it rip and it felt really good coming out."
Paxton told reporters that he thought he was going to continue pitching deeper into the game, but Cora had other plans for the lefty.
"It was his first (start), and we got to be careful with him," Cora said. "He's here for the long run, up for one start. So we're very pleased with the way he went about it with the stuff he had and his next one is Friday. So he'll be ready for that."
Here are more notes from Friday's Red Sox-Cardinal's game:
-- The Red Sox hit back-to-back home runs for just the second time this season when Enmanuel Valdez launched his second of the season in front of his parents, and Connor Wong followed up with a bomb of his own. The last time Boston went back-to-back was on April 23 with Justin Turner and Masataka Yoshida going yard.
-- Kenley Jansen recorded his second blown save when he gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. Cora told reporters he felt the emotions over the past couple of days after Jansen collected his 400th career save might have played into the tough inning for the closer.
-- The Red Sox will look to bounce back against the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon with Chris Sale expected to make the start for Boston. First pitch for the interleague play is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, along with an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
