Red Sox Record Only Second 1-0 Win Ever Against Angels (61 Seasons)In Both Games, The Left Fielder Scored On A Hit By The Catcher

Michael Wacha: Second Red Sox pitcher ever to throw a shutout in a 1-0 win against the Angels (home or road, any # of hits). Don Aase, Jul 31 1977. This is also Boston's only other 1-0 win in team history against the Angels.https://t.co/tEVIFHOtAO

— Doug Kern (@dakern74) June 7, 2022

Since the July 31, 1977 game was on a Sunday afternoon, I probably listened to it (and watched it if it was on TV).

As noted above, Wacha's shutout is Boston's second 1-0 win against the Angels ever (61 years). In both games:

Boston's catcher drove in the run: Carlton Fisk and Christian Vazquez
Boston's left fielder scored the run: Jim Rice and Alex Verdugo
Boston's shortstop hit a double: Rick Burleson and Xander Bogaerts

The pitching lines are also nearly identical:

Aase:  9-3-0-1-7, 31 BF (allowed 2 singles, 1 double)
Wacha: 9-3-0-1-6, 29 BF (allowed 2 singles, 1 double)

And the times of the two games is only three minutes apart: 2:29 in 1977 and 2:32 in 2022.

One big difference: the 1977 win pushed the Red Sox into first place, .001 ahead of the Orioles. 

It was only the second game of Aase's career (he grew up in Anaheim and dreamed of playing for the Angels). His debut came on July 26 at Fenway, a 4-3 win over the Brewers. He pitched a complete game in that one, too: 9-9-3-2-11. Aase is only one of eight Red Sox pitchers age 22 or younger to pitch a complete game with 11+ strikeouts (and it came in his debut!); three of those eight pitchers did it more than once, with Smoky Joe Wood doing it five times.