Rich Hill pitches for Red Sox in 20th major league season

BOSTON -- 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 past 20 seasons.

"There's a lot of people to thank to get to this point," the left-hander said as he struggled to manage his emotions in the clubhouse after the 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays. "Putting in the work, the effort to get back. ... I've always loved doing it. I'm fortunate to be able to do it."

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 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 age 44 or older. A Milton, Massachusetts, native who pitched in college at Michigan, Hill has appeared for 13 different major league teams.

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 (45) in 2018.

"Gotta love him, man," said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, who caught Hill in the Cape Cod League more than two decades ago. "I laughed when he came in. ... I give him all the credit in the world for still doing it. He's like a baseball version of Tom Brady right now in New England."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.