Whitlock earns win in his return from the IL

PHOENIX -- It wasn’t the ideal start that Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock wanted in his first outing off the injured list with ulnar neuritis in his right shoulder, but the game had the ending he was hoping for.

Whitlock’s ninth pitch on Saturday resulted in a solo home run to Ketel Marte that sailed into the visitor's bullpen in right field. The good news for Whitlock? There was still plenty of baseball left, and he took advantage of that.

After giving up a single to Christian Walker in the first inning, Whitlock retired his next 12 consecutive batters. He finished by throwing 92 pitches over five frames, striking out four, giving up three hits and the lone run to Marte in Boston's 2-1 win over the D-backs at Chase Field.

Having Whitlock back is critical for the Red Sox’s success in their rotation, which is composed of two other young pitchers in Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello and veterans Chris Sale and James Paxton.

“He’s really good, and this is where we’re at,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The three kids and the two veterans … and there's two kids in the bullpen that are really good too. Structure-wise, this feels good.”

The Red Sox have invested in Whitlock. They took him from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, signed him to a four-year extension worth $18.5 million in April 2022 after a strong showing in the bullpen -- he was plugged into the rotation shortly after -- and, most recently, moved two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to the bullpen with Whitlock’s return looming.

Before landing on the IL, Whitlock saw mixed results in his first three starts that resulted in a 6.19 ERA, making his performance even more critical in his return. Whitlock said the key to continuing to thrive is his changeup. He threw 35 changeups on Saturday, which resulted in three strikeouts and 21 swings and misses.

“That was the big difference between before [when] I was working on it, and then now,” Whitlock said. “I just got to keep focusing on that and keep working on that.”

Through three innings, Whitlock didn’t have any run support, but that changed in the fourth. With runners on the corners and one out, Kiké Hernández singled in Masataka Yoshida to tie the game at 1-1.

One batter later, Reese McGuire stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. A mighty swing would’ve been preferred to break open the game. Instead, McGuire unexpectedly dropped a bunt that went 42 feet toward first base to give Boston what would become the game-winning run.

Cora looked pumped on the broadcast when the run scored, but there might've been some shock mixed in as McGuire called that play on his own.

“[You] just see what happens and hope for the best, right? And that's the beauty of this game,” Cora said. “You let ballplayers make plays.”

McGuire was ready to pounce on that first pitch, as he was expecting D-backs reliever Kyle Nelson to throw something hittable in the zone, but resulted in a slider down and away that McGuire whiffed on. Nelson did end up throwing a slider in the zone on the following pitch, and McGuire laid down the textbook bunt that scored Triston Casas.

“I think in that moment, it just really felt like we needed to take the lead [in whatever] way that was,” McGuire said. “My thought was to hit a ball in the air and get a sac fly. And then the game plan changed in my brain and I just felt like, ‘Let's just get one down and get a run across.’”

The result held up, and Boston's bullpen played a big role as they did not give up a run.

Kutter Crawford pitched 2 1/3 innings and made an athletic play in the eighth. He hustled to a ball hit by Gabriel Moreno and made a diving throw to Casas to get Moreno out at first. But the valiant effort resulted in Crawford suffering a right ankle contusion. Chris Martin threw two-thirds of an inning and Kenley Jansen came in for the save.

The Red Sox’s week started with a four-game losing streak. Now, they have the chance to end it with a sweep of the D-backs on Sunday and a happy flight home to Boston.