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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BOSTON – One of Helena’s very own got his welcome to the big leagues as he is now officially a member of one of the country’s most storied sports teams.

Richard Fitts made his first start for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Sept. 8 at historic Fenway Park in Boston.

He did not earn a decision in the 7-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox, but he went 5.2 innings without allowing an earned run, working his way around six hits, a walk and two unearned runs while striking out two batters.

Fitts said that he was glad he could share the milestone moment with his family, who were in attendance on Sunday.

“Today was really special, just because I got to share it with my family,” Fitts said. “I’m really honored to be a Red Sox today, and hopefully for a long time.”

Fitts was called up from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday night to make his first career start the next day against the White Sox.

He started strong, earning a fly out while facing his first big league batter, and he picked off the only runner that he allowed in the inning.

That first inning success allowed Fitts to shake off the jitters and play his game the rest of the way.

“The first pitch, I was trying to throw it as hard as I can in the zone,” Fitts said. “And after he just fouls it back, I’m like, ‘OK, I’m a big leaguer, I deserve to be here, and I’m going to do everything I can to help the team win.”’

From there, he continued to battle back against Chicago’s offense and got out of the first five innings unscathed despite surrendering multiple hits.

In the process, he turned around a one-two-three inning in the third and got a ground ball into a double play to end the top of the fourth, battling back from back-to-back singles to start the inning.

However, in the top of the sixth, first baseman Triston Casas committed a fielding error that put Zach DeLoach on second and spelled the beginning of the end for the Red Sox.

Luis Robert Jr. followed that with a single, and Andrew Benintendi drove DeLoach home a ground out to tie the game at 1-1.

Fitts got the next batter to fly out before he was pulled from the game with two outs in the top of the sixth.

While the pitcher who replaced him surrendered an RBI single on the next batter, neither that run nor the DeLoach run were charged to him as the Red Sox went on to lose the game 7-2.

Ahead of his debut, Fitts was the No. 13 prospect in the Boston farm system.

He came over to the Red Sox organization in December 2023 in a rare trade between them and the rival New York Yankees. Boston sent outfielder Alex Verdugo in exchange for Fitts and two other right-handed pitchers.

Fitts was drafted in the sixth round by the Yankees out of Auburn in 2021. In 2023, he was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year after going 11-5 with a 3.48 ERA and 163 strikeouts as a member of the Double-A Somerset Patriots.