The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, June 6, 2018 * the Boston Globe
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The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, June 6, 2018 * The Boston Globe Steven Wright in a word: ‘Outstanding’ Peter Abraham When Steven Wright walked out to the mound in the first inning at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, it was his first start in the majors in a little more than 13 months. But in his mind, it had been so much longer. Wright had not started a game with complete confidence in his abilities since Aug. 5, 2016, at Dodger Stadium. Wright threw a shutout that day, baffling the postseason-bound Dodgers with his knuckleball. Wright was selected to the All-Star team that season but didn’t get into the game. The performance against the Dodgers almost made up for it, he was that good. The satisfaction didn’t last even 48 hours. Wright was used as a pinch runner two days later and wrenched his right shoulder diving back into second base. Because of the injury, Wright started only two more games that season. When he reported for spring training in 2017, Wright’s shoulder had recovered, but he injured his left knee and made only five starts before undergoing season-ending surgery. The recovery lasted into this season and he was on the disabled list for the first month of the season. Wright then served a 15-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy for a December arrest. The Red Sox had long since filled their rotation and needed him only as a reliever. Wright pitched well and earned a chance to face the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. Not much had changed since that start against the Dodgers. Wright worked seven strong innings as the Red Sox beat the Tigers, 6-0, before a crowd of 34,762. “First couple of innings I felt a little antsy, a little excited, nervous,” Wright said. “It’s been about a year and a half since I’ve gone out there healthy.” Wright allowed two hits, walked three, and struck out six. Working with Christian Vazquez, he used an occasional fastball to keep the Tigers from locking in on his knuckleball. “Outstanding,” manager Alex Cora said. The 42-19 Sox have won three straight and six of their last eight games. With Drew Pomeranz going on the disabled list, they also have a new starter — at least for a while. Wright is 2-0 with a 1.57 earned run average and has pitched 16 consecutive scoreless innings. He should provide good contrast in a rotation that has three hard-throwing lefthanders. “We definitely need Drew,” Wright said. “I think he’s going to be a huge factor going forward. I’ll do whatever they want me to do in the meantime. I just want to pitch.” The first inning was the biggest challenge for Wright. Leonys Martin drew a five-pitch to start the game then tried to score when Nick Castellanos lined a double off the wall in left-center. Andrew Benintendi fired in to Xander Bogaerts, and he threw Martin out at the plate, Vazquez making a quick tag. After Miguel Cabrera walked, Wright retired Victor Martinez on a popup and struck out Jeimer Candelario. Only two other Tigers reached base against Wright. He retired the final 13 batters he faced and 17 of the last 18. Wright used tempo to his advantage, working quickly and throwing 57 of 96 pitches for strikes. It reminded Cora of his time playing behind Tim Wakefield, one of Wright’s knuckleball mentors. “Grab it and throw it. I get you or you get me,” Cora said. It surely didn’t hurt that Detroit played a doubleheader against the Yankees on Monday as the Sox were off. Wright returned from Houston ahead of the team on Sunday and was well rested for his start. But the way he pitched, any team would have been in trouble. Rookie Artie Lewicki, Detroit’s starter, didn’t get through the fourth inning. He allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks. Benintendi led off the first inning with a single and was initially called out stealing second. That was overturned on review. That proved significant when J.D. Martinez homered off the light tower in left-center. It was his 20th of the season to go along with 52 RBIs. Remember when Fenway Park’s expansive right field was supposed to be a poor fit for Martinez? He has a 1.206 OPS and 13 home runs in 108 at-bats at home. “For me, I don’t care,” Martinez said. “I’m not going to change my approach. I’m going to go up there and try to drive the ball up the middle, to right-center, and be me.” Martinez reached on a two-base error to start the fourth inning. Singles by Mitch Moreland (2 for 4) and Eduardo Nunez scored a run. Brock Holt walked to load the bases and another run scored when Rafael Devers grounded into a double play. The Sox scored two more runs in the fifth inning. Bogaerts led off with a home run into the Red Sox bullpen. He has nine, one fewer than all of last season. Bullpen catcher Mike Brenly sprung off the bench and caught the ball with his hat. Martinez, Moreland, and Nunez followed with singles to load the bases. Holt grounded to second to drive in one run but that was it. Devers was intentionally walked to load the bases and Vazquez grounded into a double play. We saw the return of the knuckleballer at Fenway on Tuesday Nick Cafardo Steven Wright looked very much like the 2016 Steven Wright on Tuesday night. He threw a dominant knuckleball for seven innings that the Detroit Tigers could not reconcile bat with ball. That’s the way it used to be. That’s the way it was long before a right shoulder strain sent him to the DL on Aug. 15, 2016, which was not long after he pitched a shutout against the Dodgers. He was injured while being used as a pinch runner. Then came the horrible knee surgery in which he underwent cartilage restoration and missed the bulk of 2017. Then came the long, grueling rehab, complete with setbacks. Then came the awful domestic abuse charge. Then came more rehab and a slow spring training and early-season rehab assignment. And finally, after physical, emotional, and mental distress that nearly tore his life and career apart, he was back. The journey has been long, and met with the worst moments of his life. Wright has emerged, however, simply happy to have his life and his career back to normal. The 33-year-old righthander has pitched well out of the Red Sox bullpen. And when Alex Cora needed a starter Tuesday after a long stretch of games, Wright pitched two-hit shutout ball in a 6-0 win. As it turns out, he will stay in the rotation after the Red Sox placed Drew Pomeranz on the 10-day disabled list with a tired left arm. It will give Pomeranz a chance to regroup, while allowing Wright to give the Red Sox a completely different look than the other four starters on the staff. “First couple of innings I felt antsy and nervous and a little excited,” Wright acknowledged. “It’s been a year and a half since I’ve gone out there healthy and thrown. But then [the defense] made that unbelievable relay [to get a runner at the plate] in the first inning, and I was able to calm down a bit. It was definitely nice to get back out there.” He walked Leonys Martin to lead off the game. He allowed a double to Nick Castellanos to left-center but the relay went from Andrew Benintendi to Xander Bogaerts to Christian Vazquez and Martin was out at home on a nice swipe tag by Vazquez. Wright walked Miguel Cabrera, but Victor Martinez popped out and Jeimer Candelario struck out looking. He was pretty dominant in the next six innings. “Well it’s a slow pitch but it doesn’t ever do the same thing twice in a row,” said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. “He did a nice job. I don’t think too many of our hitters have seen knuckleballs, especially the younger guys. So it was an experience for them. Maybe they’ll be better next time. But that’s not an easy art. You need a tennis racket to hit those things sometimes.” With a light rain falling, it usually means trouble for a knuckleball, but not on this night. “It wasn’t a factor.” Wright said. “If it had kept raining it might have been a factor, but it wasn’t raining that hard by the time I got out there.” And even in walking a pair of batters in the first inning, Wright knew not to panic. He’s been there before where the pitch isn’t doing what it’s supposed to and all of sudden it started clicking again. “I knew I was overthrowing,” Wright said. “There was a lot of emotion out there, good emotions but I have to keep them in check. It was August of 2016 the last time I’ve gone out there healthy. As the game went on, I knew walks are part of the knuckleball, but I was able to slow down things down.” Did he ever doubt he could return healthy? “I knew that I could. It’s such a long rehab especially from the shoulder to the knee surgery.