*Photo from WMFJ.com*
Don't look now, but the Boston Red Sox might be crawling back into the race. Christian Arroyo drove in 3 runs, Alex Verdugo had a 3 hit game, and the Red Sox defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 8-3 victory on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
After a bit of a slide to start August, the Red Sox have picked up the pace lately. This win marks their 3rd straight and 5th win in 6 games. They've gotten back up to .500 with a 59-59 record. The latest win came thanks to a 3 RBI game from Arroyo, and Verdugo, who had 3 hits and walked twice, never getting out at the plate all game.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Verdugo and Arroyo that "Alex did a really good job today, he recognized patterns, put together good swings and was patient in certain at-bats. Arroyo had some really good at-bats. It was a good one for us."
Bryan Reynolds started the scoring in the first inning. He hit a two run home run to center field, putting the Pirates ahead 2-0 early on. In the top of the second, Arroyo hit a two run double, followed by an RBI single from Kike Hernandez to put the Red Sox ahead by a 3-2 score. Verdugo added an RBI double in the 5th inning to make it a 4-2 lead for Boston.
Once the 8th inning came around, the Red Sox made their lead 5-2 thanks to Rob Refsnyder drawing a bases loaded walk, forcing in Verdugo. An RBI single by Arroyo and a two run single from Kevin Plawecki in the top of the 9th made it 8-2. The Pirates got one back on a Ben Gamel single, but they couldn't score again.
Verdugo said of how the game progressed that "Starting pitching is huge. For us, it’s big to hold leads, right? We gave up two early, got three back right away and we held them. That’s one of those things that it just gives the hitters confidence, kind of gets us back out there saying ‘Hey, let’s add on.'"
Getting the start for the Red Sox was Rich Hill, who got the win in this one. Hill allowed two runs on 3 hits, striking out 4 hitters over 5 innings of work. Ryan Brasier came on and worked a scoreless 6th, followed by two innings from Hirokazu Sawamura. Jeurys Familia handled the 9th to close it out.
It was Roansy Contreras who started for the Pirates. Contreras had a bit of a shaky outing, being charged with 4 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks in 6 innings pitched. Duane Underwood Jr pitched 1 1/3 innings, Eric Stout pitched 2/3 of an inning, and Yohan Ramirez worked one inning.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Contreras's start that "You see a lot of young starters that that happens and they end up throwing four, and he was able to bounce back and continue to execute pitches and went out in the sixth and was efficient, too. So I think that was really encouraging, because that's not easy to do, especially when your fastball's not as consistent as you would like."
Up next, the Red Sox and Pirates conclude their series on Thursday night. Josh Winckowski draws the start as the Red Sox look for the sweep, while JT Brubaker gets the ball for the Pirates.
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