Red Sox Pitcher Lone Bright Spot In Loss To Angels

The Boston Red Sox are in a slump. On Wednesday, they lost to the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep.

Richard Fitts took the ball for his first start following a stint in Triple-A Worcester as he rehabbed a pectoral injury. He made two starts with the Red Sox after returning from injury, but was never fully built up with the big league club.

It was an up-and-down outing for Fitts, but the ups outweighed the downs. His final line reads four innings, two earned runs, six strikeouts, and one walk.

The first inning was a struggle for the righty, which put him behind the eight ball for the rest of the outing. After recording a quick out, he jumped ahead of both Christian Moore and Mike Trout, but couldn’t put them away and allowed both to reach base. He escaped the inning unscathed, but threw 27 pitches, many of which were in high-leverage situations.

Fitts topped out at 77 pitches in Worcester. His first inning alone accounted for about 35% of that total. He cruised through the second and third innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth. With one out, he hung a slider to Jo Adell that was hit into the seats. Travis d’Arnaud followed him with a home run of his own to tie the game at two.

Through the entire outing, his stuff was excellent. His fastball averaged 96.6 mph, 1.6 mph higher than his season average. The added velocity paid dividends as he recorded a gaudy 26.6% swinging strike rate with the pitch.

His breaking pitches were effective as well. His slider generated two whiffs, and his sweeper returned three. Strike throwing wasn’t an issue for Fitts, but a high-stress first inning limited his length.

The loss concludes a nine-game West Coast road trip in which the Red Sox went 3-6. The team returns to Fenway Park on Friday to take on the Toronto Blue Jays.