Red Sox Notes: James Paxton Returns With Solid Outing In Boston Win

The Red Sox defeated the lowly Athletics on Friday night by use of the small ball. On Saturday, Boston pummeled Oakland again, this time by the long ball.

Boston recorded nine extra-base hits and scored 10 runs against Oakland pitching, scoring three in the first inning.

Getting the lead early for James Paxton’s return from paternity leave was appreciated by the southpaw.

“It’s great seeing these guys swinging the bat so well,” Paxton told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Always nice pitching with a big lead.”

The American League Pitcher of the Month for June didn’t appear rusty depite being in the hospital for a week following the birth of his daughter, going six innings for the Red Sox giving up just two runs on six hits.

“It was a little bit weird not being able to come in here and playing catch offsite,” Paxton said. “I was able to go out there (in the game) and do what I needed to do.”

With over 56 innings pitched, Paxton enters the All-Star break with a 5-1 record, striking out 64 batters, and walking just 14 with an ERA of 2.73, — pretty stellar numbers for a pitcher who spent the entire 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and other injury setbacks.

“It feels really good now,” Paxton said. “I feel in a really good place mentally on the mound attacking hitters and feeling real good out there.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was pleased with Paxton’s outing despite having a little bit more rest than he normally would have in the rotation.

“He had a good one,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Good fastball. Good command on his pitches. He understands what he needs to do.

“(The Oakland batters) put some good at-bats on him today. Fouled off a lot of pitches and hanging there with him, but we needed six (innings) today and he did an amazing job.”

Here are more notes from Saturday afternoon’s Red Sox-A’s game:

— Brandon Walter pitched three innings to secure the win for Boston and capture his first career save. The 26-year-old threw 77.1% of his pitches for strikes (27-of-35 pitches) allowing one run on three hits while striking out three.

“It’s cool to have that accomplishment and be able to celebrate in (the clubhouse) with the team,” Walter said on NESN’s postgame coverage.

— Boston had five players record multiple hit in the win. Masataka Yoshida, Alex Verdugo and Triston Casas all recorded two hits, while Jarren Duran and Christian Arroyo each had three.

“I think when you put the ball in play, good things do happen,” Arroyo said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… We’re just playing a good brand of baseball right now.”

— The Red Sox have won four straight games and seven of their last eight while improving to 31-10 when scoring first, 42-13 when recording four or more runs in a contest, 34-21 when hitting at least one home run and 16-11-2 in series play this season, including 9-6-0 at Fenway Park.

— The Red Sox will look to sweep the A’s in the series finale on Sunday before heading into the All-Star break. First pitch from Fenway is slated for 1:35 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.