Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu each went 2-for-4 and combined for three outfield assists on a strong defensive night as the Boston Red Sox beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Tuesday.
Duran led off Boston’s three-run first inning with his third home run in as many games, the first of which was Monday’s completion of a June 26 contest that was suspended due to heavy rains.
Duran now has 20 long balls on the year and is the first player in major league history to record 10 triples, 20 home runs, 30 stolen bases and 40 doubles in a single season, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Greg Weissert (3-2) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win in relief of Cooper Criswell.
Toronto rookie Will Wagner enjoyed the second three-hit game of his young career, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and his first big-league home run.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho also had multi-hit games for the Blue Jays, with both going 2-for-5.
Duran wasted little time putting the Red Sox ahead, depositing Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez’s (1-6) second pitch of the night over the wall and just inside the right field foul pole.
Boston then restarted the offense with two outs, and Masataka Yoshida knocked a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-0.
Addison Barger’s sacrifice fly to center got Toronto on the board in the third, but the Blue Jays struggled to make a larger dent in the deficit — mainly due to baserunning blunders and strong plays by a Boston defense that committed six errors across two games on Monday.
After Duran caught Guerrero attempting to stretch a single into a double in the first, Joey Loperfido was erased at home on a relay that started with Duran on Wagner’s second-inning double. Ernie Clement was the next victim of the Red Sox outfield, as Abreu caught George Springer’s flyout, then nailed Clement at the plate to end the top of the fourth.
The Red Sox were held to one hit between the second and fourth innings before a three-run fifth, ending Rodriguez’s night with six runs and eight hits on the right-hander’s five-inning line. Rodriguez walked one and struck out three.
David Hamilton and Abreu each had an RBI single in the fifth, while Triston Casas added a run-scoring double.
Wagner and Varsho hit solo homers in the sixth and ninth, respectively.
–Field Level Media