Alex Verdugo and Christian Arroyo were a combined 6-for-8 and starting pitcher Rich Hill didn’t allow a run after the first inning as the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 on Wednesday night.
Verdugo went 3-for-3 with a double, RBI, three runs scored and two walks, while Arroyo finished 3-for-5, scored a run and drove in three more to lead the Red Sox to their third straight win and fifth in six games.
Boston scored three runs in the second and ninth innings.
Hill (5-5) tossed five innings of three-hit, two-run ball with four strikeouts. The 42-year-old southpaw didn’t issue a walk for the second time in his three August outings.
Only one of the Pirates’ six hits came between the first and ninth. Bryan Reynolds went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, including a two-run home run in the second at-bat of the game.
In his first MLB start since July 7, Roansy Contreras (3-3) allowed four runs on six hits and struck out three in six innings as Pittsburgh dropped its sixth consecutive.
The Pirates wasted little time getting on the board against Hill as the Reynolds homer followed Kevin Newman’s first-pitch single into left field.
Boston flipped the score in the second. Verdugo’s single to left and a four-pitch walk to J.D. Martinez set the table for Arroyo’s two-run double past a diving Reynolds in center.
Enrique Hernandez drove home the go-ahead run by sneaking a single through a shift and the right side of the infield.
The Red Sox increased their lead to two as Verdugo shot a one-out double inside the right-field line in the fifth.
Making his first plate appearance since being activated from the injured list (right knee sprain) prior to Tuesday’s series opener, Rob Refsnyder worked an eight-pitch, bases-loaded walk to extend Boston’s lead in the eighth.
In the ninth, Rafael Devers knocked a leadoff double before Arroyo and Kevin Plawecki hit two-out singles to break the game open. Plawecki’s hit drove in a pair.
The Pirates didn’t go quietly as Ben Gamel’s line single to center capped a string of three straight one-out hits in the final frame, but Jeurys Familia got out of the jam and ended the game with a strikeout.
Hill recovered quickly after Pittsburgh jumped in front, retiring 15 of the last 16 he faced to finish his first victory since June 26.
–Field Level Media