BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story drove in runs in the eighth inning to lift the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds in a suspended game that was completed on Wednesday afternoon.
The first three innings were completed on Tuesday night before heavy rain halted play.
In Boston’s eighth, Abraham Toro hit a one-out single to left before pinch runner Nate Eaton swiped second. Carlos Narvaez’s 4-3 groundball out moved Eaton to third, and Abreu then knocked an RBI single through the right side.
Story followed with a two-out RBI double but got tagged out while slipping around the second base bag.
The two-run cushion was plenty for Aroldis Chapman, who tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning to make a winner out of Brayan Bello (4-3). It was Chapman’s 14th save.
Bello took the mound when play resumed, as starter Richard Fitts was knocked out with the rain. Bello tossed five innings of one-run ball, allowing only a two-run homer to Spencer Steer in the fourth inning that gave Cincinnati a 3-2 lead.
Toro and Abreu each had two hits while Narvaez had two RBIs for Boston, which will go for the three-game series sweep in the nightcap.
The Red Sox had an 8-3 advantage in hits.
Lyon Richardson (0-3) took the loss for the Reds after Scott Barlow blew a save. Sam Moll had struck out four and did not allow a hit across Wednesday’s first two innings, following up three innings of starting work by Brady Singer.
Before the rains came on Tuesday night, the Red Sox held a 2-1 lead after scoring a pair of first-inning runs off Singer.
Jarren Duran and Roman Anthony hit back-to-back doubles, with Anthony’s liner into the left-field corner driving in the first Boston run. After Anthony tagged up on Toro’s fly ball, Narvaez made it 2-0 on a single through the right side.
Fitts retired six straight batters after issuing a leadoff walk, but the visitors halved their deficit in the third. Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand began the inning with consecutive singles, and Benson worked his way home thanks to TJ Friedl’s sacrifice bunt and a Matt McLain RBI groundout.
When play resumed, Steer swung for the fences against Bello, who had been the scheduled Red Sox starter for Wednesday night. The reigning National League Player of the Week knocked his 10th homer to left in the fourth, bringing in Gavin Lux following a walk.
–Field Level Media