BOSTON — Red Sox starter James Paxton on Friday pitched in a major league game for the first time since April 6, 2021. He felt several emotions before the start, the 138th of his career.
“Honestly, it kind of felt like my debut all over again after it being so long,” the 34-year-old Paxton said. “All those emotions. You’re nervous. You’re excited. All that. And just focus on getting ready for the game and giving everything I had out there.”
Paxton allowed just two runs, four hits and one walk while striking out nine in 5 innings. But the Red Sox lost 8-6 to the Cardinals at Fenway Park when Kenley Jansen blew a ninth-inning save opportunity.
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Paxton threw 87 pitches and was ready to keep going.
“I thought I was going to keep on going,” Paxton said. “But he (manager Alex Cora) said it was time to turn it over and that was fine. It felt good to have gotten through my first start back. And felt pretty good about it.”
Paxton underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2021. A Grade 2 lat tear ended his comeback attempt last season. He then began this season on the 15-day injured list because of a strained left hamstring.
He gave up a two-run homer to Nolan Arenado in the first inning, then settled in nicely.
“I felt like myself out there again,” Paxton said. “It was really nice to be pitching in a big league stadium again with all that adrenaline. The fans were fantastic out there. And just had a lot of fun doing it.”
Cora called it “fun to watch.”
“He looked like the guy that was pitching in Seattle a while ago,” Cora said.
Paxton posted a 3.42 ERA in 102 starts for Seattle from 2013-18.
“The fastball was playing,” Cora said. The breaking ball got better throughout the outing. The cutter, he dotted a few of those. He was in control.”
The southpaw threw 53 four-seam fastballs, averaging 96.3 mph and topping out at 97.8 mph, per Baseball Savant. He added 20 cutters and 14 knuckle-curveballs.
He got 10 whiffs with his fastball and two with his curveball.
“The stuff was really good from the get-go,” Cora said. “For his first one at this level, with that stuff, we’re very pleased. I know he’s very pleased. So let’s get ready for the next one.”
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Paxton will start again next Friday in San Diego.
“It was awesome to get back out there,” Paxton said. “To compete with these guys, it was great.”