Following a 5-2 homestand highlighted by a four-game series sweep of the rival New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox will begin a nine-game road trip on Friday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
The trek will take the Red Sox to the All-Star break.
Boston rookie Jake Bennett (2-3, 3.27 ERA) will make his seventh major league start in the series opener and will oppose fellow left-hander Reid Detmers (3-5, 3.88).
Bennett has allowed just one earned run and seven hits over 12 1/3 innings in his last two starts while striking out 12. He comes in off a 4-1 victory over the Yankees on Saturday, when he held New York hitless until Max Schuemann drilled a 412-foot homer to center with two outs in the fifth. Bennett allowed three hits over 6 1/3 innings, with two walks and three strikeouts.
“He was awesome,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He was really good. Did it with a lot of balls in play and only a few strikeouts. A lot of weak contact, ball in play, used his defense.”
Bennett has yet to face the Angels in his young career.
Detmers, who is 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA in nine career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox, will start Friday for Los Angeles, which will try to bounce back from a three-game sweep by the Mariners in Seattle.
Detmers comes in off an impressive June that saw him go 1-0 with a 2.27 ERA in five starts. He allowed just 17 hits in 31 2/3 innings and struck out 30.
Boston had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped with an 8-1 loss Tuesday to Washington and then fell 10-2 to the Nationals on Wednesday.
“Call it a really good homestand (that) that could have been a great homestand,” Tracy said.
The Red Sox, last in the American League East, will begin the trip — which also includes three-game stops in Chicago against the White Sox and New York against the Mets — 6 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
“We’re in a much better position than we were (before the 5-2 homestand),” Tracy said. “We got a day off (Thursday). We haven’t had one in a while. Rest, recover, and then try and go have three really good series on the road, see if you can win a few series, and put yourself in a better position leading into the break. That’s the mindset.”
The Red Sox will have to do a large chunk of games without first baseman Willson Contreras, who found out Thursday that he received a seven-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his part in benches-clearing brawl with the Nationals on Tuesday. Outfielder Nate Eaton received a three-game ban.
Contreras has played 82 of his 83 games this season at first base and leads Boston in almost every offensive category, including home runs (18) and RBIs (53). He is expected to appeal the suspension, which likely would not be heard until Monday after the holiday weekend. He is eligible to play until the appeal decision has been made.
The Angels, last in the AL West, flew home Thursday night following a 1-0 loss to the Mariners. Seattle’s Bryce Miller carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Nolan Schanuel blooped a single among three defenders in shallow right.
Walbert Urena also had a no-hitter through five innings for Los Angeles before giving up a leadoff double into the gap in right-center to J.P. Crawford, who later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Cal Raleigh.
This will be the final home series for the Angels before the All-Star break. They have won four straight home series.
“We’ve got to keep playing,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe told The Orange County Register. “We’ve got three months left to this. It’s a good vibe in here. We enjoy playing with each other and coming to the field every day. We’ve just go to keep playing.”
–Field Level Media
