Red Sox Starter Once Again Proves Invaluable Role In Boston’s Depth

The Red Sox devoted themselves over the last year to solidifying starting pitching depth to further support the rotation.

That’s been further emphasized this season with three starters — Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford — starting the season on the injured list. Richard Fitts moved into the rotation as a result, then joined the injured list with a pectoral injury. Hunter Dobbins factored into that depth group and rose to the occasion again for his second MLB start.

Dobbins already made a good impression with five solid innings on Sunday Night Baseball in a blowout win over the St. Louis Cardinals on April 6. The Red Sox prospect took the ball again Friday against the Chicago White Sox. He attacked with a good arsenal to induce 11 swings-and-misses. Dobbins completed six innings with just three hits and one run allowed with six strikeouts in the 10-3 victory for the Red Sox.

“He’s a good pitcher,” Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s got good stuff. He has command of the fastball, which is very important in this level. He used it inside, outside, up, down, in the zone. He uses his secondary stuff when he needs to. You saw it, today was about the fastball. He was ahead in the count most of the night and gave us more than enough.”

“I felt a lot more settled in that round than the first go,” Dobbins told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… I try to work fast. I’ve found that I pound the zone a lot better when I’m at that fast tempo. It takes the pitch clock out of it, having to worry about that and think about it. I like to get the ball and throw the ball as quick as I can.”

Boston’s right-hander gave a pair of winning outings in his first two big-league starts in a spot role. He’ll factor in plenty down the stretch and should be a valuable arm when the Red Sox need him to compete.

Dobbins appears to be a good luck charm for the Red Sox. They’ve scored a total of 28 runs in his two starts this season.

“Maybe it’s Hunter, that he’s here and he brings the bats, right?” Cora joked.