Kutter Crawford tossed six effective innings for the visiting Boston Red Sox, who scored early and never looked back in an 8-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
Crawford (4-7) allowed one run on three hits with seven strikeouts.
Marlins pitcher Valente Bellozo (0-1) gave up five runs on seven hits and fanned eight in his second major league start.
Up by four, Boston padded its lead in the seventh. Tyler O’Neill singled with one out and went to third on Rafael Devers’ two-out single. That brought up Connor Wong, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a ground-ball single that drove in O’Neill for a 6-1 Red Sox advantage. Masataka Yoshida’s base hit to center field brought Devers home, extending the lead to 7-1.
Miami plated a pair in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Zack Kelly.
Jesus Sanchez smashed a fastball 448 feet to center field to lead off the frame. Xavier Edwards singled with one out and advanced to second on a passed ball by Wong. He scored to narrow it to 7-3 when Emmanuel Rivera connected for a two-out single.
Jarren Duran’s 10th home run of the season in the eighth made it 8-3 Boston, which outhit the Marlins 13-7.
After facing seven batters in the first, Bellozo settled down, facing as many over the next two innings combined.
But the Red Sox got to him again in the fourth. Yoshida and Enmanuel Valdez each knocked a single to open the inning. Then, with one out, Ceddanne Rafaela sent a changeup over the left-center field wall to put the visitors ahead 5-0.
Miami, which had one hit through 13 batters across the first four innings, got on the board with its second hit of the night in the fifth. Down 0-2 in the count, Jake Burger belted a solo shot to left-center to cut it to 5-1.
Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first. O’Neill singled and advanced to third on Wilyer Abreu’s double off the center field wall. O’Neill and Abreu then scored when Devers’ single deflected off Burger’s glove into right field.
–Field Level Media