ANAHEIM, Calif. — Rick Porcello threw his first complete game in nearly two years to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
Porcello (14-2) gave up two runs on five hits while making an economical 107 pitches to win his sixth consecutive start. He’s also won eight decisions in a row, his last loss coming on May 17.
Porcello pitched to contact, striking out only three and walking none, helping keep his pitch count down. He retired the Angels in order in the first, third, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. He finished the game by retiring the final 11 batters he faced.
It was Porcello’s first complete game since Aug. 20, 2014, when he shut out Tampa Bay while pitching for Detroit.
The Red Sox had only seven hits, two of them coming from Xander Bogaerts, who had an RBI double in the third inning and a two-run homer in the seventh, the latter giving Porcello some late-inning breathing room.
Angels starter Tim Lincecum (2-5) bobbed and weaved his way through five innings, giving up four runs and five hits. He was hurt most, though, by his inability to throw strikes. He walked a season-high six batters. Lincecum could not find the strike zone at the outset, throwing eight straight balls to begin the game, walking Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia. But he retired the next three hitters — Bogaerts, David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez — to escape.
The Angels took a lead with two runs in the second against Porcello after Albert Pujols and Daniel Nava began the inning with a single and double, respectively. Andrelton Simmons drove in the first run with a groundout and Carlos Perez drove in the second with a two-out single to put the Angels up 2-0.
Lincecum’s wildness caught up with him in the third when he walked both Betts and Pedroia again, this time with one out. Bogaerts doubled in one run and Ortiz singled home another to tie the game at 2-2.
In the fourth, the Red Sox turned a leadoff single by Aaron Hill into a run, Betts driving it in with a sacrifice fly for a 3-2 Boston lead.
When he gave up a solo homer to Jackie Bradley Jr. to lead off the sixth, Lincecum was done for the night. Pujols had two of the Angels’ five hits.
With the win, the Red Sox gained a game on first-place Baltimore in the American League East, moving to within 1 1/2 games of the Orioles. They are also one game behind second-place Toronto, but remain in the second wild-card spot, 1 1/2 games ahead of Houston.