Boston's Stewart gets demoted after awful debut
Boston Red Sox right-hander Zach Stewart made a historically poor first impression Wednesday night.
Acquired two months ago in the trade that sent Kevin Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox, Stewart allowed more runs than any pitcher in his Red Sox debut since 1903.
Only four batters into the game, he already had given up four runs en route to a nine-run, 10-hit throttling in a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
The first four batters reached base on Mike Trout's single, an RBI double by Torii Hunter, Albert Pujols' RBI single and Morales' blast to the right field bleachers. The Angels scored again in the second inning on Erick Aybar's leadoff double and a two-out single by Hunter, then added four more runs in the third inning on doubles by Morales, Alberto Callaspo and Aybar and a two-run homer by Chris Iannetta.
"I just left a few pitches up. That was basically the tell-tale of the whole game," said Stewart, informed after the game that he's being sent back to the minors to accommodate the return of reliever Daniel Bard, although he likely will get another opportunity with the Red Sox once rosters expand next month. "Too inconsistent. Those guys are too good of hitters to leave that many pitches over the plate."
