The Boston Red Sox opened Sunday afternoon in a hole, but they kept chipping away until the game belonged to them. By the end, Boston had erased a three-run deficit, beaten the San Francisco Giants 5-4 at Fenway Park, and finished off a three-game sweep that pushed the club to its third straight win.
San Francisco jumped on Jake Bennett right away. Rafael Devers walked in the first, Willy Adames singled, and Bryce Eldridge and Victor Bericoto followed with back-to-back RBI singles to put the Giants ahead 2-0. Jonah Cox added to the damage in the second with a 384-foot homer to left-center, making it 3-0 before Boston had settled in.
That edge didn’t last long. Nick Sogard got the Red Sox moving with a 415-foot solo shot over the Green Monster in the bottom of the second, the second home run of his major league career. It also capped a big weekend for the versatile infielder after his game-tying double in Saturday night’s three-run ninth-inning rally.
Boston kept pressing in the third. Jahmai Jones led off with a triple, and Ceddanne Rafaela brought him home with a single to center, cutting the Giants’ lead to 3-2 and waking up the Fenway crowd.
The comeback was completed in the fourth, and once again the bottom of the order did plenty of the heavy lifting. Sogard doubled and scored on Connor Wong’s liner to left field.
Wong was initially called out at the plate, but the Red Sox challenged and got the ruling overturned to tie the game. Mickey Gasper, batting for Jones, then drove in the go-ahead run with a double to right.
Rafaela followed with his third hit of the day, scoring Gasper to make it 5-3.
That stretch summed up Boston’s afternoon. Sogard finished 2-for-3 with two extra-base hits, two runs and an RBI.
Wong had two hits. Gasper delivered the deciding RBI after starting the game on the bench.
Rafaela went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and his 17th stolen base, raising his batting average to .289 while continuing to produce from the No. 2 spot. Boston ended with 11 hits, though it left seven runners on base and went 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Bennett’s outing followed the same pattern as the game itself: rough early, steadier later. After giving up the three runs in the first two innings, the left-hander held San Francisco scoreless over his next four frames.
He worked seven innings total, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk. Bennett struck out six and threw 65 of his 84 pitches for strikes.
He improved to 8-6 with a 3.49 ERA.
The Giants made one more push in the seventh after Boston committed two throwing errors on the same sequence, pulling within a run. Bennett got out of it without allowing the tying score.
Tayron Guerrero handled the eighth, working around a single, and Aroldis Chapman finished it in the ninth. Chapman retired the side in order and struck out Cox to lock up his 29th save. He lowered his ERA to 1.85 as Boston completed the sweep.
The Red Sox took all three games from San Francisco after winning Friday 6-4 and Saturday 3-2. Boston is now 71-59 and remains six games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East, with the New York Yankees also ahead in the division.
Next up is a three-game series against the Miami Marlins, starting Monday at 6:40 p.m. ET. Ranger Suárez is set to start the opener, with Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray scheduled for the final two games.
Boston stumbled early Sunday. It just never stopped answering back.
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