As Dave Dombrowski laid out his vision for how the addition of Doug Fister would give some depth to a pitching staff that desperately needs it, the Red Sox president of baseball operations took the time to comb through the state of the rotation.
The front end wasn’t a concern. Chris Sale’s been a rock all season. That much was obvious. David Price, Dombrowski said, has been making strides since returning last month.
“His stuff is good,” Dombrowski said. “He’s just got to get back.”
Losing the injured Steven Wright was a blow to the back end. Drew Pomeranz had been steady enough since coming off the disabled list in April. Eduardo Rodriguez, on the DL with a right knee injury, was still an enigma.
Advertisement
The real question mark was Rick Porcello. A brutal first half seemed overshadow memories of his Cy Young season a year ago. His ERA was up to 5.05 after getting shelled by the Houston Astros last week, he led the majors with 124 hits allowed, and he hadn’t won in exactly a month.
Health wasn’t the issue. His struggles were a matter of execution. Dombrowski figured Porcello would eventually find himself.
“We know Rick Porcello’s a good pitcher,” Dombrowski said. “We just have to straighten him out. Hopefully, it starts tonight.”
Porcello took a step in the right direction in the Sox’ 9-4 win over the Angels Friday night.
The first step was getting out of the first inning. In 15 starts, Porcello had allowed 11 first-inning runs. In June alone, he gave up nine, nearly matching the total of first-inning runs he allowed in all of 2016 (12). But on Friday, a smooth start set the tone.
He got Cameron Maybin to fly out to start the game. Then, when Kole Calhoun tried to stretch two bases out of a line drive to left, Andrew Benintendi cut him down at second.
Advertisement
“That throw from Benny was huge,” Porcello said. “Just a little thing like that can get you rolling and kind of help you out a little bit.”
With two outs, Porcello got Albert Pujols to whiff at a 2-and-2 two-seamer and he settled in from there.
Over 6⅓ innings, Porcello piled up eight strikeouts (one shy of his season high), allowed eight hits, and gave up just one walk to break up a string of four straight losses over his past five starts.
“It was, to me, vintage Rick Porcello,” said Sox manager John Farrell. “The sink had returned to his two-seamer, and it’s a tribute to the amount of work he continues to do. He had crisp stuff throughout.”
Porcello got plenty of support from the Red Sox offense. Sandy Leon went 3 for 4 with a homer and four RBIs, Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with an RBI, Jackie Bradley Jr. went 2 for 3 (his eighth multihit game this month), and Hanley Ramirez hit his 10th homer of the season.
The Sox staked Porcello to a three-run lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI double by Bogaerts and a wild pitch by Angels starter Alex Meyer that allowed Bogaerts to score.
From there, Porcello put together one of his better outings of the season.
He threw 73 of his 102 pitches for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 27 batters he faced.
Advertisement
Coming in, opponents had a .372 average against Porcello the first time through the order, the highest against any major league starter. The Angels went 2-for-9 (two singles) the first time through. Porcello pitched at a noticeable faster pace, finding a rhythm and keeping innings quick.
“I think that’s something that he’s been working at for the better part of the season is to create a little bit more tempo,” Farrell said. “I think he sees the benefits from other guys as they’ve picked up the pace.
“I don’t think Rick has ever been a methodical worker out there, but it is a little more crisp, a little more timely and tonight when he’s got his good location, he’s able to dictate not only the tempo of the game but the at-bat from hitter to hitter.”
The first run Porcello allowed came on a fourth-inning mishap. With two outs and Albert Pujols on second, Andrelton Simmons jumped on a first-pitch fastball and shot it through the left side of the infield. Lumbering on the basepaths, Pujols stopped at third as Andrew Benintendi came up with the ball in shallow left.
Benintendi still fired home. His throw one-hopped on the foul side of the third-base line. Leon went to scoop it but missed, and Pujols raced home as the ball scooted to the backstop.
Leon was charged with the error, but in the Red Sox dugout, first base coach Ruben Amaro Jr. was going over the play with Benintendi.
Advertisement
The mental mistake ended up being inconsequential. Ramirez hit a two-run home run down the right-field line.
The Sox tacked on two more in the sixth when Leon shot a first-pitch fastball into the Red Sox bullpen for another two-run homer that put the Sox up, 7-1.
Porcello didn’t leave the mound without some damage, though. In the seventh, he gave up a one-out double to Ben Revere on a strange chopper in front of the third-base bag that was the start of some trouble. A batter later, Porcello left a two-seamer over the plate to Martin Maldonado, who laced it to deep center field over the glove of Bradley for an RBI triple. Then, after a mound visit, Cliff Pennington lifted a deep fly ball to center field for an RBI double that made it 7-4.
With that, Porcello’s night was done.
“An encouraging start on his part,” Farrell said.
But the Sox offense still had nails to hammer in the eighth. Leon shot a double down the left-field line for his third hit of the night, driving in Bradley and Mitch Moreland to pad the lead. Leon’s three hits matched a season high. The four RBIs tied a career high.
“Big night for Sandy,” Farrell said. “If there’s a guy that continues to grind away, it’s Sandy.”
The Sox are tied for first place in the AL East with the Yankees. And on a night when they looked back to honor the career of David Ortiz by hanging his number on the right-field facade, they also were able to look forward and see a sign of an important piece of their pitching staff possibly starting to slide back into place.
Advertisement
“It’s always hard to come back in four days and completely correct what you’re trying to correct, but that was definitely a step in the right direction,” Porcello said. “What’s most important is you get out there and just compete and stop thinking about all that crap and just go out there and execute pitches.”
Box score: Red Sox 9, Angels 4
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julienbenbow.