The secret here is: “throw strikes.” This first-inning mound visit wasn’t that helpful in getting Marco’s act together, but at least it gave him a break. Although things started out promisingly enough with Marco striking out Rob Refsnyder (who I swear is a real person), he slogged through the rest of his first frame. As you can see from the bug in the image above, he was already at 28 pitches here. After his initial strikeout, Marco walked Rafael Devers on seven pitches. Two batters later, Xander Bogaerts had a hot shot down the right field line for an RBI double.
Stars—they’re just like us (if we also lost to Boston again, this time 4-3)!
