BOSTON -- Brian Johnson pitched the game of his life in his Fenway Park debut here Saturday.

The 26-year-old Johnson -- a 2012 first-round draft pick (31st overall) out of Florida who has overcome quite a bit in the Red Sox system -- hurled a complete game shutout, allowing five hits, no walks and striking out eight.

Boston won 6-0 over the Mariners.

Red Sox fans cheered as he appeared out of the dugout to pitch the ninth.

He struck out Robinson Cano looking to begin the ninth. Jackie Bradley Jr. then made a heck of a catch on a sinking line drive to center field hit by Nelson Cruz. Bradley made another leaping catch to end it.

He became the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a complete game shutout in his Fenway debut since Pedro Martinez (April 11, 1998).

"He's not going to wow you with stuff," PawSox pitching coach Bob Kipper told MassLive.com on Wednesday. "He's not lightning up a radar gun. He never has. His fastball is about command and deception."

Johnson, who spent most of the afternoon pitching in the upper-80s with his fastball, kept Mariners hitters off balance all game long.

The lefty certainly deserved this type of debut at Fenway Park for all he has battled throughout his professional career.

Johnson has experienced a lengthy list of bad luck since the Red Sox drafted him. He fractured multiple bones when a comebacker hit him in the face while he was pitching for the Lowell Spinners at Futures at Fenway during 2012.

He had an elbow injury in 2015. He got carjacked following that season.

He missed about two months of the 2016 season to be treated for depression and anxiety.

For the second time in his pro career, got hit in the head with a comebacker during his 2017 debut at Triple-A Pawtucket (April 8).

The southpaw did receive a little help from his defense.

Mookie Betts reached over the wall and grabbed a home run away from Nelson Cruz during the fourth inning.

Robinson Cano put a charge into a ball to center field but Jackie Bradley Jr. made a leaping catch on the warning track for the second out of the sixth inning.

Johnson vs. his old college roommate

Johnson didn't allow Seattle catcher Mike Zunino, his former Florida teammate and roommate, to reach base.

Zunino went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Weird day for Whalen

Seattle rookie Rob Whalen struggled quite a bit in the first inning. He faced eight Red Sox hitters, gave up three hits (all singles), walked two batters and hit two batters.

But Boston let him off the hook by running into two outs. Dustin Pedroia overslid the third base bag trying to avoid a tag after Xander Bogaerts' RBI single made it 1-0.

Hanley Ramirez, who got hit in the helmet by a pitch, was thrown out at home on Sandy Leon's single that drove in Andrew Benintendi to make it 3-0.

Benintendi had driven in Bogaerts on a single, which had made it 2-0.

Whalen settled in, holding the Red Sox scoreless over the next four innings.

But in a 3-0 game in the sixth, Jackie Bradley Jr. extended the lead when he crushed a home run to right-center field: