Contreras Crushes 421-Footer, Red Sox Rout Angels 8-1
Willson Contreras ended this game in the first inning. His 421-foot three-run shot to left swung LAA's win probability from 36% to 17% before most fans had settled into their seats.
Boston wasted no time. In the first, Contreras launched a 421-foot homer to left, scoring Seigler and Abreu to put the Red Sox up 3-0 — and that win-probability collapse, from 36% to 17% for the Angels, tells you everything about how lopsided this felt from the jump. LAA answered in the second when Josh Lowe went the other way with a 437-foot shot to center, cutting it to 3-1 and giving the home crowd something to hold onto. That turned out to be the last good moment of the night for Los Angeles.
The story of the game was Sam Aldegheri's inability to command the zone. The Angels' starter walked four batters in just four innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 1 hit — a line that looks like a man fighting himself as much as the opposing lineup. Boston didn't need to do much damage to capitalize; Aldegheri handed them the runway. In the fifth, Wilyer Abreu doubled to right, scoring Rafaela and Seigler to push it to 5-1, and then Romy González followed immediately with a 368-foot homer to left that plated Abreu and made it 7-1. Two swings, four runs, ballgame effectively over.
On the mound, Sonny Gray was exactly what Boston needed — efficient and sharp. He went 6.0 innings, allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run, walked 2, and struck out 7. That's a vintage Gray outing: not overpowering, but controlled enough to let the offense do its work without burning the bullpen. Jovani Moran added a clean 1.0 inning of relief, striking out 2 without allowing a hit or a walk. Ceddanne Rafaela added a late RBI double in the eighth to cap the scoring at 8-1. Boston's lineup looks deep and dangerous right now — five different players drove in runs, and Anthony Seigler crossed the plate twice without even recording an extra-base hit. That kind of lineup depth appears to be a real problem for opposing pitchers. The Angels, meanwhile, will need to figure out what went wrong with Aldegheri before his next start.