Michael Wacha threw a three-hit shutout to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
The 10-year veteran recorded just his second career complete game. His previous one, also a three-hit shutout, came against the New York Mets when pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals on July 18, 2017.
No Angels baserunner reached third base, and only two — Shohei Ohtani in the first inning and Matt Duffy in the sixth — reached second base. Wacha struck out six and walked one while making 105 pitches.
The loss was the Angels’ 12th in a row, equaling the longest in any one season in club history. They dropped the final 12 games of the 1988 season, then lost the first game in 1989 for a club-record 13 consecutive losses.
The Angels’ biggest scoring threat against Wacha (4-1) came in the first inning. Ohtani singled without one out, and Mike Trout followed with a single, ending a hitless streak of 26 at-bats, the longest of his career.
However, with runners on first and second and one out, Wacha got Jared Walsh to line into a double play, Ohtani getting doubled up at second base.
The Red Sox quickly scored the only run of the game against Angels starter Noah Syndergaard (4-4). Alex Verdugo led off the second inning with a single, and he was still at first two outs later when Christian Vazquez hit a line drive into the left-center-field gap.
Trout, Los Angeles’ center fielder, was able to grab the ball before it reached the wall, but he missed the cutoff man, his throw going over the head of shortstop Andrew Velazquez, and instead went to second baseman Luis Rengifo at the second base bag.
That allowed Verdugo, who was running on the pitch, to score all the way from first. Syndergaard was able to avoid any further damage and get through six innings.
Syndergaard gave up one run on five hits and one walk, striking out three and making 99 pitches.
–Field Level Media