When he scribbled "Michael Bowden" on that contract, he was officially a major leaguer at age 21. By the end of the night, he was on the podium in the Fenway Park interview room, probably feeling a lot more grown-up and speaking of his nerve-racking debut. That debut ended with his first major league win, an 8-2 decision over the Chicago White Sox in which he went five innings, allowed seven hits and two runs, walked one, and struck out three in 89 pitches.
He admitted that when leadoff batter Orlando Cabrera stepped up in the first inning, his heart was pounding. He said it was inevitable that "I was going to walk the first guy," and he did. But he turned a double play on the next batter, A.J. Pierzynski, when the White Sox botched a hit-and-run. The thumping subsided.
Bowden said he'd never felt his heart beat so hard, from the moment he arrived at the ballpark to the moment he got the double play. Then in the fourth inning, with runners at second and third, two outs, and Nick Swisher up, he fell behind, 3 and 1, but came back to strike him out on a nasty changeup. That was another key moment.
"Not only in that inning, but a couple of [others], I minimized the damage," Bowden said. "It could have been a lot worse than what it was but I made some pitches at the right time and luckily it worked out for the best."
Unfortunately, he'll likely remember the words of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who wasn't impressed.
"He got us on a bad day," said Guillen. "He's OK. He didn't really impress me. He beat a team right now that is not swinging the bat well. The first inning he threw all fastballs. We're a fastball-hitting team and we couldn't get him. When you deserve credit, I'll give you credit. He didn't impress me.
"He was good enough to beat the White Sox tonight."
Nineteen of Bowden's first 20 pitches were fastballs - he felt he needed to establish his best pitch, which Francona said he threw on a nice downward plane. Later, he began incorporating curveballs and changeups. He began to really pitch.
He went with Jason Varitek's game plan, shaking off the veteran catcher just once, on Pierzynski's fifth-inning single.
