One of the biggest question marks for the Red Sox (24-16 overall, 12-11 home) coming into the 2021 season was the bottom of their lineup-granted you could say that for basically any other team in MLB history. Tonight at Fenway Park in their series opener against the Angels (16-21 overall, 8-12 away), Boston's offense was actually carried by their No. 8 and No. 9 hitters for a change: right fielder Hunter Renfroe was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two runs scored while first baseman Bobby Dalbec had a clutch two-run bomb of his own in the seventh inning which gave the Sox a 4-3 lead and that is how it would end. This could be the start of a nice win streak as the Red Sox won back-to-back games while LA has dropped its last three games in a row.
Boston's starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (6+IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, 7 Ks, 0 BBs) and Angels starter Griffin Canning (6 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks, 2 BBs) were essentially a draw so it came down to a battle of the bullpens in the late innings. Former Red Sox great Jose Iglesias hit an opposite field two-run double in the top of the seventh that scored third baseman Anthony Rendon and first baseman Jared Walsh to make it 3-2 Angels. Dalbec answered in the bottom of the seventh with his two-run homer (his 4th of the season) that went high over the Green Monster then bounced off the Draft Kings sign. Boston's set-up man and closer were both lights out as Northeastern's Adam Ottavino pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts for his eighth hold of the season. Not to be outdone, UConn's Matt Barnes nearly pitched an immaculate inning (3 strikeouts on 9 pitches) as he struck out the side on 11 pitches for his ninth save of the season.
Renfroe opened the scoring with a two-run missile in the second inning that went to the first row of the bleachers in straight away center field. His fifth homer of the season gave Boston the 2-0 lead that they would carry until the sixth inning when the most exciting player in baseball-Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani-hit an opposite field home run of his own that cleared the Monster for his American League best 11th homer of the season. It was his first career home run at Fenway so I bet that he will remember that one forever even if it came in a loss for his crappy team. Seriously, what a waste that he plays for LA (for instance, any of the other four California clubs would be much appealing) which has been stuck in neutral for the better part of the past decade.
One of the key facets of this win was that LA's other superstar-center fielder Mike Trout-was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts including a bogus called third strike that Ottavino got on him to end the eighth inning. Trout is at least part robot so naturally he didn't even argue with home plate bozo, I mean umpire Ron Kulpa. Tomorrow afternoon (4:10, NESN) Red Sox pitcher Martin Perez (0-2) continues his quest for his first win of the season while the same could be said for Angels pitcher Dylan Bundy (0-4). Boston is two games ahead of New York (21-17) for first-place in the AL East and they are tied with Oakland (24-16) for the second-best record in the AL, trailing only Chicago (23-14) who has played three less games than them. The Red Sox have scored the second most runs in MLB (203), trailing Houston by only one.
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