Red Sox rout Angels in series finale to win two of three
Chase McGuire drove in a career-high five runs, Tyler O’Neill hit his third home run of the series and the Boston Red Sox finished off an opening 10-game trip with a 12-2 victory over the Angels on Sunday.
Tanner Houck (2-0) allowed four hits in six shutout innings and struck out seven. The right-hander became the first Boston pitcher to go at least six innings with seven or more strikeouts in each of his first two outings of a season.
“He threw strikes, he moved the ball around and made pitches. He’s in a good spot right now,” manager Alex Cora said of Houck. “We needed him to go deeper than five and he did that. And then the offense hit pull-side homers. It was a good day overall and a great road trip.”
Reid Detmers matches his career high with 12 strikeouts as four Angels pitchers hold the Boston Red Sox to three hits in a 2-1 victory.
David Hamilton and Rafael Devers also homered for Boston, which went 7-3 on the trip and opens at home on Tuesday against Baltimore.
Angels slugger Mike Trout averted a shutout in the eighth inning with his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot to left.
McGuire had a three-run homer in the sixth that extended Boston’s lead to 7-0. He also drove in runs with a grounder in the eighth and a base hit in the ninth.
O’Neill, acquired in an offseason trade with St. Louis, tied with the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts for the major league lead in homers with five. O’Neill also became the first player to have at least five home runs and five walks in their first nine games with the Red Sox.
After going deep twice in Friday’s 8-6 victory, O’Neill put a sinker from Chase Silseth (0-1) over the wall in left-center for a solo shot to make it 3-0 in the third inning. It was the second time in three days the Red Sox hit three home runs in an inning.
Hamilton, called up on Saturday after Trevor Story was placed on the 10-day injured list with a dislocated left shoulder, opened the scoring in the third when he drove Silseth’s high fastball off the out-of-town scoreboard above the fence in right-center for his first big-league homer.
With it bouncing back onto the field, the ball was in the dugout by the time Hamilton crossed the plate.
“Definitely not trying to do that, but ran into one and it got out,” Hamilton said. “First one. Can’t put that into words.”
Two batters later, Devers drove a splitter over the shrubs in center field.
Silseth allowed three runs and three hits in five innings with seven strikeouts.
Losing Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers is a sore point for some Angels fans, but they remain intensely loyal despite the team missing 10 consecutive postseasons.
Angels manager Ron Washington was pleased Silseth was able to rebound after the tough third inning.
“He salvaged a good outing. When he left the game we were still it. We just couldn’t shut him down and we couldn’t score any runs,” Washington said.
The Red Sox sent 10 to the plate during their four-run ninth. Ceddanne Rafaela had the key hit with a two-run, bases-loaded single.
Up next for the Angels: Left-hander Tyler Anderson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will start Monday’s series opener against Tampa Bay.
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