BOSTON — If only the Red Sox had a few more guys like Michael Wacha, this team might be in the playoff race.
The $7 million signing continues to look like chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom’s best hit on a roster that’s mostly full of misses.
On Saturday, with the Sox in danger of losing a key series against the Orioles that could end their season for good, Wacha turned in another gem to lead the Sox to a 4-3 win at Camden Yards.
It wasn’t until last Sunday that Wacha returned from a six-week stint on the injured list due to a shoulder issue. And what a return it was, as Wacha shut down the American League’s best offense over seven innings, allowing just two singles and striking out nine in a win over the Yankees.
He was almost as good on Saturday in Baltimore, where he held the O’s hitless from the second inning until the sixth and exited the game after 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits while striking out four.
With the bullpen finally fully rested, manager Alex Cora pulled Wacha after just 79 pitches and turned it over to John Schreiber and Garrett Whitlock to finish it off.
Wacha’s change-up was once again filthy, and it made his 93-mph fastball look much more powerful as an O’s team that scored 15 runs one night before suddenly looked lifeless. He allowed just three hard-hit balls (exit velocity of 95 mph or more) all day.
With the win, Wacha is now 8-1 with a sparkling 2.28 ERA on the year. The Sox are 11-4 when he takes the mound.
“You look up and the numbers are real,” Cora told reporters in Baltimore, via NESN. “He’s been great. He’s been five, six, seven innings, when it matters too. We missed him for a while. If you look at when we started struggling, (Wacha) got hurt, Rich (Hill) got banged up, we lost Nate (Eovaldi). Those are three veterans who throw strikes and know how to pitch.”
After Wacha’s 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Saturday, Schreiber entered with two men on base but made quick work of it to end the sixth.
The seventh was nearly a disaster after back-to-back singles by Ramon Urias and Jorge Mateo. Mateo hit an innocent line drive to right field, but Jarren Duran made a bad throw back to second base and it skipped by Xander Bogaerts, allowing the runner to advance to second and third. Urias scored the very next play on an RBI groundout by Kyle Stowers, then Mateo scored two batters later on a wild pitch.
It was an inning like we’ve seen so many times before with this year’s Red Sox team, which continues to have games full of defensive mistakes and questionable plays from the outfield.
But the Sox offense was good enough on Saturday.
It was powered by three hits from Christian Arroyo, who was hitting leadoff for the first time since June 9, and a two-run home run from Kiké Hernandez, who yanked a high fastball over the left-field wall in the sixth.
“That was great, especially after a game like last night,” Hernandez told NESN after the game. “Tough game (on Friday). It would’ve been easy to shut it down and pout all day. But we were able to grind some at-bats, run the pitch count up and, I don’t know if (O’s starter Kyle Bradish) ran out of gas, but his velocity starting dipping a bit and we were able to score enough to beat him.”
Since returning from a two-month stint on the injured list with a hip injury, Hernandez is 4 for 17 with nine strikeouts.
“Yeah we missed him for a while there,” Cora told reporters.
Hernandez told NESN that he wanted to stay in the minors for a longer rehab assignment, but was rushed back to the big leagues.
“It’s tough,” he said. “I missed all that time, and during that time there was a couple weeks off of swinging and there was a three-time ramp-up. I got shut down twice. It’s like going back to zero three times. That was a little tough.
“If it was up to me, I probably would’ve played in a couple more games down in the minor leagues but with the team struggling I had to get back as soon as I felt game ready. Four games were more than enough and I’m just happy to find ways to help the team win.”
With the Sox clinging to a 3-2 lead in the ninth, Duran made something happen with his legs, as he dropped down a bunt for a single and then went first-to-third on a single by Kevin Plawecki. He scored on a double by Arroyo.
Whitlock allowed a run to score on a triple and groundout in the ninth, but finished the game for his fifth save of the season.
