Red Sox 44-Year-Old Hurler Draws Manager's Praise: 'He's Here To Contribute'

Things got off to a promising start on Thursday...

Aug 29, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) hands over the ball to relief pitcher Rich Hill (44) in the seventh inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox suffered a forgettable 2-0 loss at the hands of the last-place Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night, but it wasn't without a memorable reintroduction.

The Red Sox lineup simply couldn't touch Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis, who has been the most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball in August. Francis plowed through the Boston lineup for seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit, a soft single by Nick Sogard in the sixth.

The loss dropped Boston to 3 1/2 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the American League wild card race, so it's hard to remember the game in a positive light. But the triumphant return of baseball's oldest pitcher was something for the Red Sox to smile about.

44-year-old Rich Hill, the Massachusetts native pitching in the big leagues for the first time since October 2023, took to the mound in the seventh inning Thursday night at Fenway Park.

Hill pitched as well as he could have hoped in his first start back in the big leagues, though he unfortunately wasn't able to help the Red Sox score any runs. He struck out Daulton Varsho on a nasty sweeper to bail out Kutter Crawford in the seventh, then tossed a clean eighth inning.

While it's a feel-good story on some level for the oldest player in MLB to make a comeback midseason, this is no publicity stunt by Hill and the Red Sox. Manager Alex Cora made that abundantly clear Thursday night.

“He did an outstanding job,” Cora said, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “He’s not here just to hang out, he’s here to contribute. For the people that think this is kind of just like for a guy to play 20 years straight in the big leagues, no. We believe he can get people out and he did an amazing job.”

Though his average fastball velocity hovered around 86 miles per hour, Hill certainly looked effective. He threw his sweeper 55% of the time and none of the Blue Jays hitters, particularly the lefties, seemed to have a read on it. He generated three of his four whiffs on the night from the sweeper.

It's hard to know exactly what Boston expects from its eldest hurler moving forward, but the initial boxes have certainly been checked.

Hill can still get outs at the big-league level. Now, the question becomes how many outs he can get, and how meaningful those outs can be to the Red Sox's playoff chances.

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