BOSTON — Left-hander Rich Hill came on in relief for the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night and became the only active player to appear in a major league game in each of the last 20 seasons.
Hill replaced starter Kutter Crawford with two outs in the seventh and struck out Toronto center fielder Daulton Varsho with a runner on second to end the inning. The 44-year-old Hill, who is in his fourth stint with the Red Sox, received a nice cheer from the crowd and a handshake from manager Alex Cora when he returned to the dugout.
He came back out for the eighth inning with Boston trailing 2-0 and retired all three batters he faced on a strikeout and two grounders.
Hill joined Tim Wakefield as the only pitchers to appear for the Red Sox at 44 or older.
He became the oldest player to appear in a major league game since the Mariners‘ Ichiro Suzuki (45) in 2019, and the oldest pitcher since the Rangers‘ Bartolo Colon in 2018.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.