Red Sox 5, Angels 2

 

The 2026 Boston Red Sox apparently are road warriors. Setting aside their improbable four-game home sweep of the Yankees, they're 13-27 in Fenway, but .500 (21-21) on the road. They evened up, or "equalized" as our World Cup friends like to say, their road record last night with a 5-2 win in Anaheim.

Jake Bennett pitched a fine game, lasting a full 7⅔ innings and had a no-hitter going through four. He struck out six batters before finally giving up a homer and a one-run single in the eighth. Whitlock finally got us out of the inning, and then . . . Then, Aroldis Chapman took over in the ninth and set a new major-league record for the most strikeouts (1,364) by a reliever in MLB history.     

Meanwhile, on the other side of the plate, Duran had two RBI hits, Gonzalez hit a two-run double, and Durbin hit a homer in the fifth.

Tonight, the formidable Sonny Grey (9-1, 2.69) starts for Boston against the Angel's Sam Aldegheri. Gray is a career 4-4 against the Angels, and in his last appearance against them, playing for the Cardinals, he struck out nine but gave up five runs.  Aldegheri has only pitched two innings against the Sox, a middle-relief stint back on June 5 last year, resulted in two unearned runs, in a see-saw Red Sox victory, much to the delight of a fictional little girl.