Garrett Richards produced his first double-digit strikeout game in three years and Rafael Devers delivered the tiebreaking RBI single in the sixth inning to lift the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 2-1 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday.
Bobby Dalbec homered in the third inning for the Red Sox, who have won three of four. Jeff McNeil homered in the second for the Mets, who have dropped five of seven.
Richards (1-2), who signed with the Red Sox in February but entered Tuesday with a 6.48 ERA after his first four starts, allowed seven hits and walked none in seven innings. It was his longest outing of the season.
The 10 strikeouts were his most since he whiffed 11 on April 21, 2018, when he was pitching for the Los Angeles Angels against the San Francisco Giants.
Richards retired the first five batters before McNeil homered into the second deck in right field. The right-hander later wriggled out of jams in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
Michael Conforto (2-for-4) doubled with two outs in the fourth and went to third on a single by J.D. Davis before Richards struck out McNeil. In the fifth, James McCann was thrown out trying to extend a leadoff single, and Kevin Pillar was caught stealing for the final out.
After the Red Sox took the lead against David Peterson in a seven-pitch span in the top of the sixth — Enrique Hernandez hit a leadoff double and scored on the single by Devers, the lone Boston player with two hits — the Mets put two on with two outs in the bottom half before Davis flied out.
Boston’s Matt Andriese tossed a perfect eighth and Matt Barnes earned his fifth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Peterson (1-3) took the hard-luck loss after allowing two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out three over six innings.
The contest was the opener of a two-game series.
–Field Level Media