Richard Fitts started his Major League career by pitching at least five innings without giving up an earned run in each of his first three games. The former Helena High School and Auburn standout was the second pitcher in the history of the American or National League to do that since earned runs became an official statistic in 1912.

But the Boston Red Sox did not win any of those games during Fitts’ September 2024 callup.

But on Monday night, the Red Sox did win with Fitts on the mound, and Boston’s 9-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park gave Fitts his first MLB pitching win.

The right-hander got the first 17 outs before leaving with two on and two out in the sixth with the Red Sox leading 5-1. The two runners scored before reliever Chris Murphy got out of the inning.

Fitts yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out six.

“This is a big accomplishment for me,” Fitts said, “but, hopefully, it’s the first of many.”

Fitts won in his 12th big-league outing. All were starts, and Boston lost the first 10 of those games. In Fitts’ previous outing, the Red Sox defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-3. Fitts had worked the first three innings when the game was suspended due to rain. The contest was completed the next day with reliever Brayan Bello getting the pitching win with five innings of one-hit relief.

Fitts became the second Red Sox pitcher to go without a pitching victory across the first 11 starts of his career. The first was Jack Russell, who made 12 starts during the 1926 and 1927 seasons before getting the win in No. 13. But Russell also pitched out of the Boston bullpen and already had a victory in relief by that time. Russell would go on to represent the Washington Senators at the second MLB All-Star Game in 1934.

In his first 11 starts, Fitts had an 0-4 record with a 3.33 earned-run average. In 48.2 innings, he yielded 45 hits and 16 walks and struck out 31.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Fitts had pitched well enough to win before Monday night.

“He’s been good for us, really,” Cora said after Monday night’s game. “I mean, he gives us a chance to win almost every time. I remember two bad ones – the last one last year and one against Anaheim. The rest solid. Good velocity, mixing up the offspeed pitches. He’s good. He’s a good pitcher, and he gave us a chance to win tonight.”

After his four-game audition in September, Fitts opened the 2025 season in Boston’s rotation. Three starts in, a right pectoral strain kept him out of the lineup between April 12 and May 27, and Fitts returned without taking a rehab assignment.

However, after Fitts gave up five earned runs in one inning against the Los Angeles Angels on June 2, the Red Sox sent him to the minors for one start with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and three with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox. Fitts rejoined the Red Sox rotation on June 25.

“It’s felt like a roller coaster,” Fitts said. “I feel like I’m on an uphill climb and then all of a sudden hit an obstacle. But I feel like I’m in a good spot right now. And all the work I’ve been putting in this year, I think, is building. And it’s just going to get better as we keep going.”

Boston’s fourth consecutive win lifted the Red Sox to 47-45 in the 2025 season. Boston trails the Toronto Blue Jays at the top of the AL East standings by 6.5 games and is two games behind the Seattle Mariners for the American League’s final wild-card spot.

At Helena, Fitts was a member of the Huskies’ AHSAA Class 6A baseball championship team in 2017, although he missed most of that season with an injury. In 2018, Fitts struck out 102 while posting a 1.68 ERA, and Helena returned to the state-championship series. But Hazel Green took the 6A title for that season.

In three seasons at Auburn, Fitts had a 6-6 record with a 5.54 ERA in 40 games, including 14 starts. In 117 innings, he struck out 104 batters.

Fitts left Auburn after the New York Yankees selected him in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB draft. The Yankees traded Fitts and two other players to the Red Sox on Dec. 5, 2023, to obtain outfielder Alex Verdugo.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.