It had been 767 days since James Paxton’s last start in the majors.
Back then, he had just returned to the Seattle Mariners after two seasons with the New York Yankees. On April 6, 2021, he made his season debut, threw 1.1 innings, and departed with left elbow discomfort.
Since then, he’s had Tommy John surgery, signed a contract with the Red Sox, suffered a season-ending Grade 2 lat tear in his first rehab game last summer, and missed the first several weeks of the ongoing season.
Finally, on the 768th day, he took the mound again during an 8-6 loss to the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
The veteran southpaw’s rehab games had been a very mixed bag, with far too many walks and earned runs, and after more than two years out of the game, expectations were low.
That made it easy for him to clear the bar. Over five innings in his season debut (and Red Sox debut), Paxton held the St. Louis Cardinals to two earned runs on four hits, issued a walk, and struck out nine. His velocity was consistent, and he induced 12 swings and misses. Even with the two-run homer to Nolan Arenado in the first inning, it was an impressive season (and Red Sox) debut.
“That was fun to watch,” manager Alex Cora said. “He looked like the guy that was pitching in Seattle a while ago.”
“I felt like myself out there again,” Paxton said with a smile. “It was really nice to be pitching in a big-league stadium again, with all that adrenaline.”
“Honestly, it kind of felt like my debut all over again,” he added. “After it being so long, all those emotions, you know? You’re nervous, you’re excited.”
The good vibes continued in the bottom of the fifth when Enmanuel Valdez led off with a 381-foot go-ahead home run, and Connor Wong followed with a 420-footer to dead-center.
When Valdez made his major league debut on April 19, his first call was to his father, who told him, “We finally made it.”
Unfortunately, the rookie’s call-up happened so quickly that his parents were unable to get to Boston in time. On Friday night, they were finally able to come see their son in a major league game, just in time for his second career homer.
If only the story of this game ended there.
But things took a sharp turn into bad-vibes territory in the following frame. Paxton felt like he could’ve pitched another inning, but his manager decided it was better to be safe than sorry with the newly-returned starter.
It turned out, they’d end up being sorry for different reasons. Josh Winckowski took over and immediately gave up a 408-foot home run to Willson Contreras, followed by three straight singles. Paul DeJong hit into a double play to re-tie the game, but the damage was done, and so was Winckowski.
Richard Bleier replaced him and gave up a go-ahead RBI double to Lars Nootbaar before finally getting out of the inning. The southpaw continues to struggle against lefties, who are 9-for-19 against him this year.
On the whole, the Red Sox lineup has been markedly quieter this week. Entering Friday night’s game, they’d scored 16 runs over their last four games, after plating 33 runs over the previous four.
They entered the game 21-7 when they score four or more runs, and tagged legendary Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright for four earned runs on seven hits.
Even so, the home team struggled to get out of their own way.
It’s not that they couldn’t hit; they collected nine hits to the Cardinals’ 14. But the home team also went 1-2-3 in each of the first three frames, and hit into three inning-ending double plays by the end of the sixth. By game’s end, they’d had six 1-2-3 innings.
Thanks to an RBI double by Rafael Devers and a game-tying ground-out by Raimel Tapia, the Red Sox took a one-run lead into the ninth, and turned to their closer. But fresh off earning his 400th career save in the previous game, Kenley Jansen wasn’t his usual dominant self. He walked the leadoff batter on four straight pitches, gave up a game-tying single to blow the save, then gave up his first home run of the season, a towering shot by pinch-hitter Nolan Gorman.
Tommy Edman was 0-for-4 before following Gorman’s homer with a double, and he was the last batter Jansen faced before Cora called for Ryan Brasier. In a ‘Freaky Friday’-esque switcheroo, Brasier proceeded to get three quick outs.
At least the Red Sox aren’t concerned about Jansen being injured. He took a few days off with back discomfort a couple of weeks ago, but this time, his manager said it was just a rough outing, possibly tied to his significant career milestone earlier in the week. Jansen became just the seventh pitcher in MLB history to reach the 400-save mark on Wednesday night, and was honored on the field alongside his wife and children before Friday night’s game.
“(Bad games) gonna happen, right? The last two days have been very heavy emotionally,” Cora explained.
The flame-throwing Ryan Helsley remained in the game for the bottom of the ninth, and overpowered the Red Sox. The righty began the frame with 10 consecutive pitches of at least 100 mph, and struck the Boston batters out 1-2-3.
It’s a frustrating loss on many levels. The Cardinals came to town with a 13-25 record, the Red Sox were 19-0 when leading after eight innings. In many ways, it was a winnable game; they’ve won several like it this year.