CINCINNATI – (Wire Service Report by Field Level Media) – Boston’s Connor Wong and Rob Refsnyder each hit a two-run home run to propel the visiting Red Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
Wong (No. 7 of the season) homered in the fourth inning, and Refsnyder (No. 3) belted his home run in the sixth. Jarren Duran had three hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox, who took two of three games in the series and have won seven of their last eight.
Wong extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Cincinnati starting pitcher Nick Lodolo (8-3) had won his five most recent starts, but exited the mound with two outs in the fifth. Lodolo allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits. He walked four and struck out three over 77 pitches.
Cincinnati manager David Bell was ejected in the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes. It was the 30th time he has been ejected during his managerial career, which ties him with Sparky Anderson for most ejections by a manager in Reds’ history.
Greg Weissert (3-1), one of eight pitchers Boston used in the game, picked up the win for tossing one scoreless inning. Kenley Jansen recorded his 15th save.
The Red Sox scored four times in the fourth. After Wong’s homer opened the scoring, Boston took a 3-0 lead when Ceddanne Rafaela hit into a fielder’s choice and Romy Gonzalez scored on Jonathan India’s throwing error from second base. Rafaela made it 4-0 by scoring on Duran’s RBI double.
The Reds got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Elly De La Cruz doubled and scored on Jeimer Candelario’s single to left.
Duran’s RBI single drove in David Hamilton to stretch Boston’s lead to 5-1 in the sixth before Refsnyder homered two pitches later.
Cincinnati kept things interesting by scoring three runs in its half of the sixth, which included an RBI double by Tyler Stephenson and RBI singles from Santiago Espinal and Stuart Fairchild.
De La Cruz, India and Fairchild each had two hits in the loss.
–Field Level Media