Dan Haren saw his Angels debut cut short in the fifth inning after taking a line drive off the right forearm, and the Red Sox went on to beat the Angels 6-3, behind two home runs by David Ortiz.
Haren was removed with two outs in the fifth inning after being hit by a ball off the bat of Kevin Youkilis. The injury to Haren was diagnosed as a right forearm contusion, and no x-rays were taken tonight. He will be reevaluated by team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum on Tuesday.
Haren allowed two runs on seven hits in his 4 2/3 innings, and took the loss. Haren did have eight strikeouts and no walks, the most strikeouts without a walk ever by an Angels pitcher in their debut with the team.
Clay Buchholz allowed just one run in seven innings for the Red Sox to pick up the victory, his 11th of the season, tying Jon Lester for the club lead. He leads Boston pitchers this year with a 2.71 ERA.
Ortiz hit a solo home run down the right field line off Haren in the third inning to break a 1-1 tie, and added a two-run shot to right center field in the eighth to widen the Red Sox lead to 4-1.
A two-run home run just over the wall by Hideki Matsui off Scott Atchison brought the Angels to within one run in the bottom of the eighth. It appeared a fan may have interfered with Matsui’s fly ball, so the play was reviewed by umpires, who upheld the home run call after replays showed the ball was over the wall by the time the fan touched the ball.
Jonathan Papelbon entered the game after the Matsui home run, and recorded the final four outs for his 23rd save of the season.
Another rough Angels debut was made tonight, by 24-year old Michael Kohn. The 13th round pick of the 2008 draft entered the game, his major league debut, in the top of the ninth inning. He walked his first major league batter, Mike Cameron, and proceeded to retire just one of the four batters he faced, a popped up bunt by Eric Patterson. Kohn was pulled from the game after allowing a two-run double by J.D. Drew off the top of the wall in right field.
Jered Weaver faces ex-Halo John Lackey tomorrow night in the second game of the three-game series.