Saturday night at Fenway in Boston, the Red Sox claimed their first win of their ten-game homestand, beating the Angels 7-2 after falling to the Angels Thursday 5-7, and Friday 0-7. Saturday’s Sox win is their first win since April 7, when they grabbed a 12-2 win against the Angels on the road at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. In their first three games of their ten-game homestand the Sox were swept by the Baltimore Orioles.
Bottom of the first Saturday night, Wilyer Abreu scored to give the Sox a 0-1 lead after Masataka Yoshida grabbed a single off a 92.6 mph four-seam fastball from Griffin Canning. Triston Casas connected with an 88.2 mph changeup from Griffin Canning to hit a two-run homer, his third homer of the season to extend Boston’s lead to 3-0, and then Ceddanne Rafaela connected with a 92.9 mph four-seam fastball Enmanuel Valdez scored to extend Boston’s lead to 0-4.
Bottom of the second, Boston extended their lead to 0-6. First, Wilyer Abreu hit an 88.6 mph changeup from Griffin Canning and David Hamilton scored, and then Masataka Yoshida connected with an 86.9 mph slider from Canning and Wilyer Abreu grabbed his second run of the night.
Angels owned their two runs at the top of the third with Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer, his fifth homer of the season.
Boston grabbed their seventh run of the game after Jarren Duran hit an 87.1 mph slider from Canning and it was caught by Taylor Ward, but David Hamilton scored to own his second run of the night.
Saturday morning the Sox announced that they had placed infielder/outfielder Romy Gonzalez on the ten-day Injured List, retroactive with a left wrist sprain, and recalled Cooper Criswell from Triple-A Worcester to fill Gonzalez’s spot on the active roster.
Criswell, who was selected by the Angels in the 13th round of the 2018 first-year player draft, last played at Fenway June 3, 2023 as a relief for Tampa.
Saturday, Criswell, who has pitched ten innings over two starts in Triple-A Worcester, made his Red Sox debut starting for the Sox. He threw 83 pitches and 55 were strikes. He allowed five hits, allowed two runs in only one of his four innings pitched, and walked one.
Top of the first, Criswell struck out Nolan Schanuel with a 77.1 mph sweeper. Top of the second he struck out Brandon Drury with a 76.4 mph sweeper. Top of the he struck out Nolan Schanuel with an 89.2 mph sinker, and top of the fourth he struck out Zach Neto with a 78.5 mph sweeper.
Criswell said after his outing Saturday, “It felt pretty good, second and third inning. There were a few too many pitches than what I would have liked, but the bats got it going early and got some runs up on the board early. And that just gives you that much more confidence. D-ham had a good play in the second to get out of that base is low to jam, so it felt good.”
When Criswell was asked how much easier was to settle in when you get four runs in the bottom of the first there, he said, “I mean, it gives you that much more confidence to get out there and attack the hitters. Obviously, like I said, I wish it would have been a little quicker innings there in the second and third after we scored. But all in all, it was nice to put up a zero in that second and third. Obviously, the homer in the fourth left that 3-2 slider just up, so.”
When asked about his opportunity to play with the Sox on Saturday and what does with it, Criswell said, “Yeah, for sure. Just come up here and compete. Anytime you get that ball, just give your best effort and try to give the team the best chance to win. Today, we came out on the winning side, and it was a good team win.”
When asked how difficult it is to just come into a spot where he’s trying to impress and not have time to prepare, Criswell said, “Yeah, I mean, it’s tough. But I feel like I’ve been doing that the past three years, kind of, just up and down. So I’m kind of used to it. Like I said, whenever you get that opportunity, just come up here and compete and give the team the best chance to end the week. Even sweeter to go against them?
When what he meant by “Even sweeter to go against them,” Criswell said, “Yeah, it was nice to draft by them, and DFA, it was nice to get a start against them.”
Wilyer Abreu finished Saturday recording multiple hits in back-to-back games after beginning the season 2-for-18 over his first 8 games.
Enmanuel Valdez exited the game following the sixth inning with a left thumb contusion. Following the game when Red Sox Manager Alex Cora was asked about Valdez and Cora said, “He should be okay. He’s not starting tomorrow, so I think he’ll benefit from that. We’ll check on him tomorrow morning, but he should be okay.”
With Saturday’s win, the Sox improved to 3-2 versus the Angel this year and 23-15 since the start of 2018. The two clubs meet again on Sunday at 1:35 pm EDT with Brayan Bello starting for the Sox.