Red Sox Notes: Early Angels Home Runs Hold Off Boston Comeback

The Boston Red Sox nearly flipped the script on a disastrous start Monday night.

Richard Fitts simply didn’t have it and the Angels took advantage with home runs from Zach Neto, Mike Trout and Jo Adell in the first innings in a six-run frame. Boston rallied in the middle frames before ex-Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen finished a 7-6 win for the Angels.

“Horrible,” Fitts told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “I feel like our team did enough to win tonight, outside of me. I feel terrible about it. Put us in a terrible spot, not just for this game but for games to come with our bullpen too. Nobody hates this more than I do.”

“Fastball command was off,” Cora said. “Just off. Some pitches up in the zone, they put some good swings on. … They did a good job against him in the first inning.”

The Red Sox offense certainly did not roll over in this one and still outhit the Angels 11-8. Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers set the tone at the top of the order with four combined hits (three doubles) at the top of the order while Carlos Narvaez and Romy Gonzalez added timely run-scoring hits in the middle frames.

“They fought it,” Cora said. “They put some good at-bats in the middle innings. Put some pressure on them late, but it just didn’t happen. From the third inning on, the at-bats were a lot better.”

Boston continues to let momentum slip away in series openers coming off stretches of strong play. The Red Sox did not capitalize on the energy of a series win in Atlanta when they returned to Fenway Park Monday night.

“It’s been like that the whole season,” Cora added. “We played well in Kansas City and the first one in Detroit was a tough one. Got into Tampa, the first one was a tough one. We’re not that far off, I truly believe that. We have to make sure we start off series the right way. That’s how you do it. We did it in Atlanta. We won the first one and we won the series. That first game, that first inning of series, we have to be better. There’s two aspects, pitching wise, that caught my attention throughout the season: first inning and the bottom of the lineup. We have to be better in that. Hopefully tomorrow’s the start.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s Angels-Red Sox game:

— The Red Sox fell to 6-16 in one-run games this season. That’s the most losses in this category in the majors.

— Boston only trails the Colorado Rockies (10-50 this season) for the most games with starting pitchers tallying less than five innings with 22 such occurrences.

— The Angels became the first team in Fenway Park history to hit three home runs in the first inning.

— The Red Sox and Angels continue their series Tuesday night at Fenway Park. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.