BOSTON _ For all of the progress Alex Meyer had made in harnessing his stuff, there were bound to be setbacks. Development is rarely a smooth process.
After a month in which he had mostly pitched well, including the best outing of his career in his last time out, Meyer had another hiccup in the Angels' 9-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
The Red Sox and Fenway Park provided, respectively, a tough opponent and a charged environment, and Meyer didn't respond well initially.
Meyer, who pitched six scoreless innings in his last start, endured a nightmare in the first inning this time. He walked the first two hitters, threw two run-scoring wild pitches and gave up three runs. He needed 38 pitches to grind through the inning, to the delight of the Fenway Park fans still buzzing after the pregame ceremony to retire David Ortiz's number.
On the bright side, Meyer didn't cave under the pressure.
He retired 10 hitters in a row to get into the fourth, before the Red Sox finally knocked him out. He gave up a double to Andrew Benintendi and then a two-run homer to Hanley Ramirez, who dropped one just inside the pole, 302 feet down the right-field line.
After two more singles, Meyer was finished for the night, charged with five runs in 31/3 innings. He did not walk another batter after the second hitter of the game, though.
There were a couple other positive signs out of the Angels pitching staff, despite the loss.
Huston Street pitched for the first time since July 31, 2016, having missed the end of last season with a knee injury and the start of this one with a strained lat. Street pitched a perfect inning, on 11 pitches, and his fastball was 88-90 mph.
Between Meyer and Street, Eduardo Paredes made his major league debut.
The 22-year-old right-hander got seven outs in the first seven batters he faced _ one hit was erased on a double play _ but then he issued his first career walk and gave up his first career homer, Sandy Leon's two-run shot in the sixth.
Those insurance runs, which put the Red Sox up 7-1, proved to be significant, because in the top of the seventh the Angels scored three runs. Ben Revere doubled, Martin Maldonado tripled, Cliff Pennington doubled and Kole Calhoun doubled, collaborating to cut the Red Sox lead in half.
Jose Alvarez then gave up two runs in the eighth. Alvarez has allowed 13 earned runs in his last 14 innings.
