NEW YORK — Red Sox rookie Richard Fitts arrived at Yankee Stadium on Friday knowing he would likely pitch out of the bullpen, with Tanner Houck likely to be limited due to shoulder fatigue and the bullpen depleted after a few close games in recent days. It wasn’t until he was on the field for batting practice that he was told he would start.
Boston struck out Houck, who arrived in the Bronx with more shoulder weakness than he experienced catching on Thursday, just 55 minutes before the first pitch and brought in Fitts, who made his major league debut on Sunday at Fenway against the White Sox. There were initial jitters – Fitts issued three walks with two outs in the first inning before escaping – but overall the right-hander pitched very well, allowing just two hits in five scoreless innings.
“It was a pretty surreal night,” Fitts said after the bullpen blew a 4-0 lead and ended up losing 5-4. “I was excited to be here. It took me a while to figure out when I was going to start, but I welcomed the challenge. I expected to pitch today. To really get going now is pretty cool to experience this here at Yankee Stadium.”
Fitts, a sixth-round pick of the Yankees in 2021, had long envisioned getting the chance to pitch at Yankee Stadium, a place he had never visited before Friday. Of course, those dreams included pitching for the home team where he spent the first three years of his professional career. The detour came in December, when he was one of three pitchers sent to the Red Sox for Alex Verdugo, who batted ninth for New York on Friday. But the moment was just as special.
“It’s cool,” Fitts said. “Wearing a different uniform is not what I envisioned, but I’m super happy and super grateful to have the opportunity to wear a Red Sox uniform now and hopefully for a long time to come.”
“As I told him, he probably dreamed of pitching here at Yankee Stadium for the last few years,” added manager Alex Cora. ”He did. But it was for us.”
It looked like Fitts would have a brief outing in the first inning when he gave free passes to Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton to load the bases for Jazz Chisholm Jr. Then a 101.3 mph, 359-foot flyout allowed Fitts to escape.
“That’s something I don’t want to do often, walk three guys in an inning,” Fitts said. “Or walk three guys in general. I just had to step back and pitch against a tough lineup. I pitch to my strengths and do what I can to get outs.”
He came into the game well from there, allowing just two baserunners over the next four innings while throwing 90 pitches as the Sox built a lead. Considering he was only named as a starter shortly before the game began, it was an impressive start.
“He knew he was going to be a big part of the game tonight, and he was,” Cora said. “The kid walks three guys in the first inning and five after that. Good stuff. He was able to slow the game down and it was fun to watch him pitch tonight.”
Widely considered one of the organization’s top rotation prospects, Fitts has yet to allow an earned run in 10⅔ innings of major league work. He will likely have a chance to continue his major league audition in the final two weeks of the season.
“There are things he’s going to improve as he develops,” Cora said. “The changeup/split is getting better. The fastball is good. There was one at-bat against Judge where he fell behind 3-1 and wasn’t afraid to throw the four-seamer.”
