44-year-old Hill back with Sox, pitches in 20 straight seasons

BOSTON -- Red Sox left-hander Rich Hill had to stop a handful of times, becoming emotional after his journey back to the Major Leagues was completed on Thursday night.

“It was great,” he said, pausing a few times as his voice choked up following Boston’s 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays at Fenway Park. “It was good. There’s a lot of people to thank to get to this point.”

The 44-year-old Hill retired all four batters he faced, recording career strikeouts Nos. 1,424 and 1,425 by getting Daulton Varsho and Addison Barger to whiff on sweepers.

In pitching Thursday, Hill has now appeared in a game in each of the last 20 seasons.

“It’s pretty special,’’ he said of the milestone. “I think just effort and work. Everybody asks, 'What’s the secret?' It’s work. Just keep putting in the days, one drop in the bucket every day.”

Hill spent the summer coaching his son Brice’s last season in Little League before working his way back to the Majors.

Making his fourth career stint with the Red Sox, he entered with a runner on first and two outs in the seventh, before fanning Varsho to end the inning.

Hill induced groundouts from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Spencer Horwitz in the eighth, before striking out Barger to end his night.

“His stuff has been the same for like seven years,” manager Alex Cora said. “He spins it, he’ll throw it in the zone and make you look away as a lefty, then he has that good fastball. I think it was a good one for him, first one, close game, runner on first two outs to get his feet wet.”

Cora went on to say that it’s certainly not an experiment. They expect Hill to help a lot as they attempt to get a playoff spot.

“He’s not here just to hang out. He’s here to contribute. For people that [think] this is for a guy just to play 20 years straight in the big leagues -- no, we believe he can get people out,” he said. “We’ll use him every way, two innings or open or get lefties out, all of the above. He’s ready to do that.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider had a special feeling watching Hill work on Thursday.

“Gotta love him, man,” said Schneider, who caught Hill in the Cape Cod League more than two decades ago. “I laughed when he came in. ... I give him all the credit in the world for still doing it. He’s like a baseball version of Tom Brady right now in New England.”

But Hill knows the club’s goal of grabbing a postseason berth is what matters. After the loss, Boston fell 3 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the AL’s third and final Wild Card spot.

“Being around this clubhouse the past couple of days, seeing the way these guys work, putting in the time, gotta get back on [Friday] in Detroit to get back after it,” Hill said. “That’s kind of been the heartbeat of this clubhouse, continuous grind throughout the season and that’s one thing I’ve certainly seen in the last couple of days.”

Hill now hopes to see a September to remember along with his teammates, this time back to the playoffs.

“To get here and play at this level is everybody’s dream,” he said. “I love the game. It’s been good to me and good to my family.”

He can’t wait to be a part of what he hopes will be the joy of playoff baseball in Boston.