All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Angels, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Wacha dominates: The presence of just two hitters -- Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout -- make the Angels a handful for an opposing pitcher, but Michael Wacha wasn't intimidated by LA's dynamic duo. Or by anyone else in their lineup, for that matter. Wacha pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits -- all of them singles, two of the infield variety -- to stretch his record to 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA. Wacha retired 15 of the 20 batters he faced and allowed just one baserunner to reach second base. Thanks to a couple of double plays made behind him, he faced the minimum number of hitters in four of his five full innings. It marked the fourth straight time that Wacha gave the Red Sox at least five innings. He's now allowed two runs or fewer and four hits or fewer in each of his five starts for the Sox this season. That's the longest such streak for a pitcher beginning his Red Sox career.
Martinez begins to lock in: J.D. Martinez recently missed seven of 10 games with an adductor strain, and the Sox felt his absence, struggling to score runs. Martinez returned to the lineup Sunday in Baltimore and supplied a grand slam in the ninth inning. He added another homer, a solo shot in the eighth inning, providing the Red Sox with some late-inning padding. He also lined out hard to center and singled to right in the fourth inning. He's tied for the team lead in RBI with 13, and is second on the club in extra-base hits with 10. "Even when I'm not playing, I'm still, in my brain, pretending I'm playing,' said Martinez. "Studying and still going to the cage. I was able to hit (while missing games), fortunately enough it doesn't bother me when I hit -- just when I run. So I was able to stay in the rhythm of things, I think.''
Homers start to come: In addition to the homer from Martinez, the Sox got a deep solo blast from Rafael Devers in the fourth inning. That gives them homers in three of their last four games, including each of the last two. There was a stretch on the recent road trip where the Sox went five games without hitting a single homer and they had just two in a span of 10 games. But beginning with Christian Arroyo's homer Friday night in Baltimore, the Red Sox are least averaging a homer a game over the last four. That kind of production isn't going to make anyone forget the 1927 Yankees, but at least it's a start for a team that came into Tuesday's night homestand opener that had scored four runs or fewer in 10 of their previous 14 games.
TURNING POINT
In the top of the third inning, with the game still scoreless, Michael Wacha retired the first two hitters he faced before temporarily losing the strike zone and issuing back-to-back walks. That brought Mike Trout to the plate, not exactly the guy you want to see with men on base. Worse, Wacha continued to struggle, falling behind 2-and-0 to Trout. But pitching coach Dave Bush came out to the mound and seemed to help Wacha get back into his delivery. Wacha worked his way back into a more favorable count before getting the three-time MVP swinging, leaving two men on base. The Angels got one baserunner in scoring position after that.
TWO UP
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Bradley was mired in an 0-for-11 skid coming in, but smacked two doubles in his first two trips -- one the other way, off the left field wall, and the other pulled down the line.
Ryan Brasier: Brasier seems to be settling into the role of eighth inning set-up man. He retired the Angels in order with two swinging strikeouts.
TWO DOWN
Trevor Story: True, Story did deliver a big sacrifice fly to the deep center field in the seventh, but was otherwise 0-for-3 and still doesn't look at all locked in at the plate with his average down to .208.
Kike Hernandez: Hernandez, too, remains lost offensively. He was 0-for-4, grounding into a double play in the fourth inning and made the final out of the inning in three of his four plate appearances.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I didn't even know what my pitch count was at the time...Really, I trust Cora with everything.'' Michael Wacha, on being lifted with a three-hit shutout and just 60 pitches.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The shutout was the second for the Red Sox this season. The first was April 16 vs. Minnesota, also by a score of 4-0.
* Red Sox starters have allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of the last 12 games.
* Over their last 17 games, Red Sox starters have posted an ERA of 2.91.
* Rafael Devers committed his first error of the season.
* Devers is also the only player in the big leagues with two hitting streaks of nine games or more this year.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Angels play the middle game of the series Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m., with RHP Garrett Whitlock (1-1, 0.54) matched up against TBA.
