After being outscored 20-3 over the first two games, the Red Sox were just looking to stave off a San Diego sweep.
But in order to do so, the lineup would have to attack a virtual unknown in Matt Waldron, Major League Baseball’s only active knuckleball pitcher.
“None of these guys have seen a knuckleball probably, not that I know,” Alex Cora said Sunday morning. “If you see it high, let it fly, I guess. That’s basically the thing, right? If you see it low, let it go.”
With homers from Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran, the Red Sox emerged victorious, 4-1. Waldron exited after 4.1 innings, charged with four runs, three earned, on six hits, a walk, and three strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches – including 32 knuckleballs – 48 for strikes, and had one pitch-timer violation.
“We did some good things offensively. It’s a different mix, we haven’t seen that (in) years,” Cora said with a chuckle.
To some extent, the beauty was in the attempt; a knuckleballer taking the mound at Fenway was a moment bigger than the box score. As children, Waldron and his twin brother taught themselves Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball grip in their backyard, after being fascinated by it in a video game. The pitch sat on the shelf throughout the righty’s college career and early years in the minors, before the Padres encouraged him to bring it out of retirement, and enlisted Wakefield to offer guidance. When the beloved Red Sox pitcher-turned-broadcaster passed away suddenly last October 1, the final day of the season, Waldron, like so many others, was devastated.
As such there was a heaviness in the air that had nothing to do with the intense humidity when Waldron’s first pitch of the game was a 75.1 mph knuckleball. But then, it was down to business. Duran saw two of knuckleballs in the four-pitch leadoff at-bat, and provided a scouting report to the dugout after grounding out on a four-seamer.
“I’m so glad he threw it the first pitch of the game so that I could see what it looks like, but I mean, that thing’s nasty,” Duran said. “The game plan for me was to just honestly see it above my eyeballs, because if it’s up there, I’m hoping it’s not going to move as much.”
In his first at-bat, Devers watched two knuckleballs go by, then sent a four-seamer soaring over the Green Monster for a 2-0 lead. His 18th home run of the year was his 437th career extra-base hit, tying Manny Ramirez for fifth on MLB’s all-time list for Dominican-born players under 28 years old. He’s five hits away from career No. 1,000, and four home runs away from passing Jason Varitek at 11th on the Red Sox all-time home run list.
“The early runs obviously help a ton from Raf,” said an appreciative Josh Winckowski, who pitched five shutout innings. “He’s unbelievable. I remember sitting in the bullpen the other day, that one that flew over us seemed like it was still, going up. He’s a really, really special player.”
Waldron’s knuckleball yielded an unearned run in the third – Wilyer Abreu raced home on a passed ball to extend the lead to 3-0 – and leading off the fifth, Jarren Duran turned another one into a 109.6 mph home run, the hardest hit of the game, past right-field’s Pesky Pole.
“We didn’t really want to swing at the knuckleball because you know, it’s a really hard pitch to hit, but we got it up and it wasn’t moving as much when it was up, so we just put some good swings on it,” said Duran.
Making his first big-league start since May 2, Winckowski had a banner day. For the second time in his career, the right-hander matched his career-high five shutout innings. He held the potent Padres offense to four hits and one hit batsman, struck out one, and didn’t issue a walk.
“We needed a good start,” Cora said, alluding to how the Padres shelled Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck in the first two games.
“I’m not surprised, I mean that guy works as hard as anybody on here,” Duran said. “He came out here and shoved today.”
“It feels really good,” Winckowski said. “You definitely don’t take it for granted or take it lightly. It’s a huge deal starting games for the Boston Red Sox.”
With an improved changeup and an early lead, the righty mostly breezed through his afternoon. When he didn’t, the infield defense picked him up immediately. Enmanuel Valdez ignited a double play to erase Bryce Johnson’s leadoff single in the third, and David Hamilton did the same after Winckowski hit Jake Cronenworth to open the fourth. When Ceddanne Rafaela made a diving catch to ensure the game would remain scoreless after five, Winckowski raised his glove in the air in appreciation as he walked off the mound. He now owns a 1.15 ERA over four starts this season.
“I kind of figured out something a little bit down at Triple-A,” Winckowski explained. “(I) was throwing changeups that were like literally just a ball, ball down, and was like almost never ever getting swings on it, so we kind of just started trying to throw it in the zone at all times, and it’s been, turned into like a high-percentage strike pitch for me and that gets a lot of ground-balls.”
Both teams collected eight hits – including two apiece from Devers, Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida – and wasted ample opportunities. Boston was 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, leaving six men on base. San Diego went 1-for-8, also stranding six.
The Padres didn’t get on the board until they faced Justin Slaten in the seventh. As lightning crashed around the ballpark, Jackson Merrill knocked a one-out double off the Monster, and Ha-Seong Kim drove him in with a double shot just fair down the left-field line. It would be their only run of the day, as Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen delivered their customary one-two punch in the eighth and ninth.
Thus, a tumultuous June ends on a high note. The Red Sox went 15-10 over the course of the month, including 12-8 down the stretch. Their longest losing streak in over a month – three games – is officially over. They’re an MLB-best 13-1 on Sundays. Devers has homered four times in five games, and Jansen is perfect in his last 12 save opportunities.
“We’re a lot better than what people thought,” Cora said. “We’ll take that, but at the same time, we need to keep improving.”
“I think we’re doing a good job staying in the moment, not getting too high when we’re playing well and too low when we struggle,” the manager continued. “The one thing I do believe is, because of the youth and athleticism, we’re not gonna go through stretches that – it might happen, because that’s the nature of the game – but losing five, seven games in a row, because on a nightly basis, somebody that is a freak athletic-wise can take over the game.”
“I think we’re in a good spot. We had our bumps and bruises, but like, we’ve shown some really good things,” said Duran, noting their several comeback victories, a recent development. “I think going into the second half, we’re really figuring out where we are as a team and what we can do really well, and I really like the spot that we’re in.”