ARLINGTON, Texas — Pitching after much-hyped winter acquisitions Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler and reigning All-Star Tanner Houck, it was rookie Richard Fitts who turned in the best start of the Red Sox’ season-opening series at Globe Life Field. It was so good that manager Alex Cora let Fitts, unlike his three rotation mates, go six innings — and it backfired Sunday.
After escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second by allowing just one Rangers run, Fitts settled in and retired 12 in a row, completing the fifth inning having thrown an efficient 56 pitches. In the top of the sixth, his team took a 2-1 lead thanks to a Wilyer Abreu RBI double and Ezequiel Duran throwing error. With the heart of Texas’ order coming up for a third time, the Red Sox came to an inflection point. But Cora didn’t hesitate to let Fitts — in just his fifth big league start — take the ball again.
“Not at all,” said Cora when asked if he considered making a pitching change. “He was dominating. It was Fitts for six, then go.”
It took four pitches for Texas to tie the game on a Wyatt Langford solo shot into right field. Two batters later, slugger Adolis García took launch, giving Texas a 3-2 lead for good on a day when the Red Sox, once again, couldn’t get anything going when it came to hitting with runners in scoring position.
Fitts took the loss despite pitching very well. He got through six innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four.
“He was really good,” said manager Alex Cora. “Two homers, obviously. That happened in the sixth. But overall, he gave us a chance to win. He has been doing that for a while. He has been throwing excellent. Like I said before the game, he earned a spot. Today was a good one.”
Fitts earned a spot on the Opening Day roster mainly because Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and Kutter Crawford are beginning the regular season on the injured list. But it was also a product of the fact he pitched well in a big league cameo last September (1.74 ERA in 20 ⅔ innings), had a stellar offseason in which he bulked up and then had a great spring (2.45 ERA in 14 ⅔ innings).
On Sunday, he rewarded the Red Sox for their decision by going toe-to-toe with Jacob deGrom, the two-time Cy Young winner who debuted while Fitts was in high school. deGrom tossed five scoreless innings and struck out six in his 2025 dbeut.
“I felt pretty good out there,” said Fitts. “Started out a little slow for me but I started feeling comfortable out there and just tried to get outs. Made a couple mistakes but I’ll learn from them and get better.”
For the Red Sox, the story of the first series of 2025 is a lack of timely offense. Across four games, the club had the lead for just two half-innings (the ninth on Opening Day and the sixth on Sunday). But it’s also, secondarily, a strong showing from the pitching staff.
Boston’s arms combined to hold Texas’ potent offense to 12 runs in four games, with all three losses coming in close games. The bullpen held the Rangers scoreless for 12 total innings, with Justin Wilson and Justin Slaten providing relief Sunday.
“I thought we did a pretty good job this series of throwing the baseball and playing good defense all across the field,” said third baseman Alex Bregman. “Hopefully, here down the road, we’ll give them some more run support coming up. But I was happy with the way they threw the ball.”
Boston will hope things will even out as soon as Monday, when lefty Sean Newcomb makes his club debut on the mound in Baltimore.
“We pitched well,” Cora said. “The bullpen did a good job. Obviously, Garcìa got us again. Two homers, two solo shots, it’s part of it. We’re gonna hit.”
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