Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels Pick & Prediction MAY 24th 2023
Jacob Hoffman
James Paxton will be on the mound for the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., something that both the left-hander and the organization couldn't be sure would ever happen just a few months ago.
Paxton made his first two starts with the Red Sox earlier this month, a year and a half after he signed with the club as a free agent. The Red Sox inked a deal with Paxton in December 2021 even though he was expected to miss the entire 2022 season because of Tommy John surgery.
The Red Sox paid Paxton $6 million in 2022 essentially to rehab the former Mariner and Yankee. However, the club declined an option to pay him $13 million per season in both 2023 and 2024. Paxton, though, had a player option of $4 million to stay in Boston for 2023, and he grabbed it.
"For me, I was just trying to get my feet back under me again in the big leagues," Paxton said. "These guys (the Red Sox's training staff and medical team) knew me really well, rehabbing me all year last year, and they did a fantastic job of that. I felt comfortable with this group. I just felt like it was the right group to get me back on my feet in the big leagues."
Paxton might have been able to get more on the open market, but after a conversation with his agent Scott Boras, the 34-year-old Canadian made the call to stay.
"It wasn't the longest conversation we ever had," Paxton said. "It was just, 'Look, you haven't pitched in a couple of years, now you feel comfortable there. This is about getting you back on the mound again and getting you to feel good.' I just felt like this was the right place, and (Boras) agreed.
"There's also that piece where I felt like I owed it to the team to pitch here."
He is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two starts this season, including his first victory since Aug. 15, 2020, when he allowed just one run and five hits in six innings against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
Paxton has pitched well against the Angels in his career, going 4-3 with a 2.43 ERA in 12 career starts. He will try to help the Red Sox avoid being swept by the Angels after losses in the first two games of the series, 2-1 on Monday and 4-0 on Tuesday.
Left-hander Tyler Anderson (1-0, 5.27 ERA) will make his ninth start of the season for the Angels. He won his first start on April 2 against the Oakland A's, but he has received a no-decision in all seven starts since then. In his most recent outing, on Thursday in Baltimore, Anderson gave up three runs and six hits in five innings.
He is 0-0 with a 7.56 ERA in two career starts vs. Boston.
Anderson has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his past four starts, including his longest outing of the season on April 28 when he gave up one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out a season-high seven.
"That was his best one," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "This is what we saw last year (when Anderson pitched for the Dodgers, going 15-5 with a 2.57 ERA). Located very well. Changeup was really good. He added a couple ticks of velocity. I thought he was really good."
The Red Sox will hope they can muster more offense against Anderson than they did in the first two games of the series. Boston produced one run, six hits and four walks while striking out 16 times in the two defeats.
--Field Level Media
Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels Recap MAY 24TH 2023
Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Zach Neto homered, Tyler Anderson pitched six strong innings and the Los Angeles Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 7-3 victory on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif.
The home runs by Trout and Ohtani marked the 26th time they have homered in the same game. Trout socked his 362nd career long ball, moving him past Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and into 85th place on the all-time list.
Trout and Ohtani are tied for the team lead with 12 homers, but Neto's third of the season was the biggest hit of the night. Neto hit a two-out, three-run homer in the second inning for a 4-0 lead, and the Red Sox never got closer than four runs the rest of the way.
Neto also singled and doubled in the game, finishing with three of the Angels' seven hits in the game.
Anderson (2-0) gave up one run on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts, earning his first victory since his first start of the season on April 2 vs. the Oakland A's.
The Angels' pitching staff allowed just four runs total in the series.
Red Sox starter James Paxton (1-1) retired the Angels in order in the first inning, including strikeouts of Trout and Ohtani. However, the hosts got to him in the second.
Hunter Renfroe led off with a walk, went to third on a double by Brandon Drury and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Gio Urshela.
Paxton struck out Luis Rengifo before Chad Wallach. Neto then was first-pitch swinging, and he homered on a 94 mph fastball.
Paxton gave up Ohtani's homer in the third inning, and the lefty was finished after that frame, having allowed five runs on four hits and three walks. He fanned five.
The Red Sox scored their first run of the game against Anderson in the fourth inning. Masataka Yoshida hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out double by Enrique Hernandez.
Trout's two-run homer off Nick Pivetta in the bottom of the fourth increased the Angels' lead to 7-1.
Conor Wong homered in the seventh inning for Boston's second run of the game.
--Field Level Media