Milton’s Rich Hill back with Red Sox

Rich Hill was a reliever for the Red Sox from 2010-12 but has returned to the team as a starter. 2012 FILE/ELAINE THOMPSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rich Hill, a 35-year-old lefthander from Milton who was pitching for the independent Long Island Ducks a couple of months ago, is back in the big leagues.

“The road always led back to Boston for Rich Hill,” Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo said Tuesday.

It appears Hill will be the sixth pitcher in Boston’s six-man rotation for the remainder of the season.

Hill’s recent story is inspiring. He had a strong spring training as a reliever for the Washington Nationals and a strong April in Triple A, but was released in June. Hill spent some time at home and then started working out with Milton’s American Legion team.

“It was awesome and fun to hang out with those guys for a couple of weeks and do some teaching, which was a lot of fun,” Hill said. “As I went on for a couple of weeks with the Legion team, I just said maybe I should start stretching out to go to independent ball. I convinced myself I wanted to start again.

“The opportunity came along with Long Island and I went down there and threw a 75-pitch bullpen [session] for the manager [Kevin Baez] and we decided to go for it. It was great. I was surprised how good the baseball was. I didn’t know what to expect. When you hear independent league it comes with a little bit of a stigma. There’s a lot of talent there. It was good for me.”

Red Sox scouts, as well as scouts from other teams, watched his two starts. He went five no-hit innings his first time out. In his second start, he went six-plus innings and struck out 14.

Hill, who blamed himself for being released by the Nationals because he couldn’t decide on an arm angle, decided over the top was the way to go. He’s been able to throw an effective 12-6 curveball, and added a changeup and cutter to go with a fastball that’s registering 92-94 miles per hour.

And he’s healthy.

“Health is everything,” said Hill, who has recovered from Tommy John surgery in 2011, as well as another procedure to clean up his pitching shoulder. “I thought I’d hook on with some team again because of the way I was throwing pain-free.”

In 40 relief appearances for the Red Sox from 2010-12, Hill was 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA, the best in team history among those with at least 15 innings pitched.