Bogaerts, Devers fuel Red Sox past Indians


Reuters | Updated: 15-08-2019 06:58 IST | Created: 15-08-2019 06:56 IST
Bogaerts, Devers fuel Red Sox past Indians
Image Credit: Flickr

Xander Bogaerts homered twice to lead the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 5-1 win against the Cleveland Indians in the rubber match of their three-game series Wednesday afternoon. Rafael Devers also homered to cap a streak of eight hits in eight at-bats. He went 6-for-6 in a 7-6 win against the Indians Tuesday night, singled in his first at-bat Wednesday and hit a solo homer in the third inning.

Bogaerts had three hits, and Christian Vazquez and Andrew Benintendi contributed two hits apiece for the Red Sox. For the second time in team history, the Red Sox used at least seven pitchers in a nine-inning game and allowed one run or fewer.

Boston starter Brian Johnson went just 2 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run and two hits. He struck out one and walked two. Nathan Eovaldi (1-0) threw two innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.

Indians right-hander Shane Bieber (12-5) was trying to win his third straight start and fifth in six outings since he was named the MVP of the All-Star Game last month. He went six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits, striking out seven and walking one.

Bogaerts crushed a three-run homer in the seventh inning to give Boston a 5-1 lead. Mookie Betts had doubled with one out, and Devers was intentionally walked to bring up Bogaerts. He hit a full-count slider over the fence in left off Nick Goody, who had not allowed an earned run in his past 17 relief appearances.

The Red Sox put runners in scoring position in the first and second innings but didn't score until Devers and Bogaerts hit back-to-back homers in the third for a 2-0 lead. For Bogaerts, it was his 100th major league home run. The Indians got a run in their half of the third, courtesy of two errors by the Red Sox and a run-scoring wild pitch.

Bieber, 24, recorded his 200th strikeout of the season during the game, becoming the youngest Indians pitcher to reach that milestone since a then-21-year-old Dennis Eckersley in 1976.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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