BOSTON _ JC Ramirez delivered just the performance he and the Angels needed on Saturday night.
Ramirez gave up one run in six innings of the Angels' 6-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the Angels' season, Ramirez had been showing some cracks lately. He had allowed at least four runs in three of his previous four starts, which was giving some reason to wonder if the too-good-to-be-true story might be coming to an end.
And in the second inning on Saturday, this game wasn't going so well either. Ramirez gave up a leadoff homer to Mitch Moreland, then a single to Andrew Benintendi. An out later, he hit Jackie Bradley Jr. on the foot.
The Red Sox were rallying, and his pitch-count was climbing.
After that, though, Ramirez got Christian Vazquez and Deven Marrero on groundouts, the first of 11 in a row he retired. Although he needed 39 pitches to get through two innings, he still lasted six innings and did not give up another run.
Ramirez gave up a leadoff double in the sixth, but then retired three in a row, punching his fist after getting Moreland on a grounder to strand the runner in scoring position.
Ramirez finished allowing just four hits and no walks. He struck out five.
Offensively, the Angels chipped away at embattled David Price, who has become a lightning rod for criticism among Red Sox fans because of his injury issues and struggles on the mound.
The Angels scored single runs against Price in the first, fourth and sixth, with Martin Maldonado and Eric Young Jr. contributing two-out RBI hits and Luis Valbuena hitting a sacrifice fly.
After Price was out, the Angels padded the lead to 5-1 with two runs against Fernando Abad. Cameron Maybin drove in one with a double. Maybin then stole third, his league-leading 23rd, and scored on a balk.
The Red Sox plated two runs in the ninth and brought pinch hitter Chris Young to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, but Blake Parker struck him out swinging to end the game.
