Red Sox Pitching Prospect Reflects On Feel-Good Debut Vs. Yankees

The Boston Red Sox quickly addressed their Friday night bullpen meltdown in the Bronx, opening the door for the out-of-the-blue promotion of left-handed pitcher Zach Penrod for Saturday afternoon's battle with the New York Yankees.

Penrod, once a member of the Texas Rangers organization after going undrafted in 2018, spent three years playing independent baseball in the Pioneer League fighting to keep the dream of his long-awaited big league debut intact. That dream came to life when the 27-year-old was called upon to pitch in the eighth inning of Boston's 7-1 victory over New York, giving Penrod the opportunity to shine on the brightest stage and deliver an impact in the most critical stretch of the 2024 season.

"It means the world," Penrod told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "We're a team in the playoff race and everything. I came up here to contribute as much as possible and I want to continue doing that. I think the important thing is to just go out there and let my best stuff show, and I think I did that today and I'm very happy with it."

Penrod tried to not let the emotions pour out of him after returning to Boston's dugout following a clean eighth inning.

"I took a deep breath," Penrod said. "Guys told me to enjoy it and all I could do was just hold it all in for a while, but still take it all in and enjoy it."

Boston entrusted Penrod to supply a bail-out performance with a runner in scoring position and nobody out, and the left-hander rewarded that very trust. Penrod struck out back-to-back New York batters -- Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- before drawing an Anthony Rizzo infield pop-up to escape the inning with ease. The Red Sox reliever, who spent most of 2024 pitching with Triple-A Worcester and clawed for a second shot at reaching a big-league mound, left an impression in a huge spot.

"Zach came in, he's a big leaguer, got some strikeouts," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "... It was good. Eight days ago, (the Penrod family) had a baby, so today's his second-best day of his life. That's the way we present it today. Very calm on the mound. Then when he got the third out, he sat down in the dugout and he broke down. He broke down. We've had so many stories about that (in) the last few years -- independent baseball, released, Tommy John -- and then they show up to Yankee Stadium and they get three outs. That's the cool thing about this."