Wilyer Abreu went 3-for-4 with an RBI triple while Willson Contreras crushed a three-run home run to highlight a five-run third inning for the Boston Red Sox in a 6-4 win over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Friday.
Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran also had multi-hit games for the Red Sox, who banged out 11 hits in the opener of a three-game series. Boston pitchers allowed only one baserunner over the final 5 1/3 hitless innings, helping the team post its third win in four games.
Red Sox starter Sonny Gray (16-3) worked six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. He struck out six and walked two while tying the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez for the major league lead in wins.
San Francisco’s Drew Gilbert (2-for-3) and Rafael Devers hit back-to-back homers in the fourth.
Devers finished 1-for-3 with a walk in his return to Boston, where he spent the first eight-plus seasons of his career.
Christian Koss produced two hits and two runs for the Giants, who have lost four of their past five games. Logan Webb (8-8) was tagged for five runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings. He fanned two and walked three.
Bryce Eldridge’s two-out RBI single gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Red Sox immediately responded by chasing Webb during their big inning.
Nick Sogard walked before Abreu’s two-out single two batters later set the stage for Contreras to blast a titanic three-run home run to deep left field. The first baseman crushed it 450 feet over the Green Monster.
The line continued moving with Adley Rutschman and Caleb Durbin knocking back-to-back singles before Duran was hit by a pitch. Two runs came in with the bases loaded as Webb walked Andruw Monasterio and plunked Mickey Gasper.
The Giants climbed right back into the game at 5-4 in the fourth. Gray struck out two before Koss doubled and Gilbert sent a two-run homer into the right-field corner. Devers then cleared the fence in straightaway center field.
Gray breezed through the next two innings on a combined 16 pitches.
Abreu provided the Red Sox with insurance in the sixth, ringing a two-out RBI triple over right fielder Jung Hoo Lee’s head and all the way to the warning track. Sogard, who had singled, scored from first.
Erik Miller, who was acquired from San Francisco earlier this month, and Alec Gamboa both followed Gray with 1-2-3 frames. Aroldis Chapman allowed a one-out walk but struck out three in the ninth for his 28th save.
–Field Level Media
