This Player Has Been ‘Pleasant Surprise’ For Alex Cora, Red Sox

While the Red Sox have dealt with injuries along their starting rotation, other members of Boston’s pitching staff have stepped up.

This includes Chris Murphy, who made his Major League Baseball debut June 7. The 25-year-old earned his first big league win Sunday night when he limited the New York Mets to one run on three hits over 3 2/3 innings at Fenway Park. Murphy, who pitched at least two innings in all eight of his Red Sox outings to date, currently carries an impressive 1.80 ERA.

Although Alex Cora and company obviously saw enough potential in Murphy to give him a shot in The Show, the Red Sox manager admittedly didn’t expect the 2019 sixth-round pick to be this effective on the hill.

“Murph has been amazing,” Cora told reporters after Boston’s 6-1 victory, per MLB.com. “Since we moved him to the bullpen in (Triple-A) Worcester, he’s been able to throw strikes. There’s certain days he’s all over the place, but his stuff plays. He has a good fastball. He can get righties out. It’s been a pleasant surprise for us.”

Murphy had a pretty subdued reaction to stymying a talented Mets lineup en route to a Red Sox series win. The San Diego product simply thought it was “pretty cool” to pitch well on the primetime stage.