Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder homered Thursday in his return from a strained left oblique, helping Boston secure a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles to complete their first four-game sweep of the O’s since August of 2018.
Romy Gonzalez‘s go-ahead single in the eighth inning proved to be the difference for Boston which went 7-1 on its eight-game road trip.
Trevor Story also homered for the Red Sox who lead the New York Yankees by a game for the American League’s top wild card.
Refsnyder missed 12 games with the oblique strain. The 34-year-old came into the day hitting .272 with six homers and 22 RBI in 54 games before serving as the designated hitter for Thursday’s series finale.
Alex Jackson went deep for Baltimore, which went 1-7 on its homestand against Houston and Boston. The last-place Orioles are a season-high 18 games out of first place in the AL East.
Roman Anthony drew a leadoff walk in the eighth against Rico Garcia (0-1), moved to second on Story’s one-out grounder and scored when Gonzalez ripped a single to left.
Garrett Crochet surrendered two runs in six innings for Boston. He struck out seven to raise his season total to a majors-best 214, two more than Detroit’s Tarik Skubal.
Jordan Hicks (2-7) then pitched a scoreless seventh. Garrett Whitlock got Boston out of a jam in the eight by striking out pinch hitter Dylan Beavers with two runners on to end the threat. Steven Matz worked the ninth for his second save.
Baltimore starter Cade Povich gave up solo home runs to Story in the first inning and Refsnyder in the fourth. He allowed two runs in five innings and struck out five.
The Red Sox also placed first baseman Nathaniel Lowe on the paternity list prior to Thursday’s game and activated right-hander Justin Slaten from the 60-day injured list. Boston also optioned lefty Jovani Moran to Triple-A Worcester.
Boston swept a four-game series from Baltimore for the first time since Aug. 10-13, 2018.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Devers hammered a sweeper over the right-field wall, and Freeland took exception to Devers’ celebration, shouting at him as he neared first base.
That caused several players to charge toward the infield, where Chapman appeared to make contact with Freeland. Adames also was in the middle of the scrum.
The umpires restored order before sorting out the situation and announcing the ejections. It did not appear that any punches were thrown.
Devers waited at first base while the umpires were meeting and then trotted around the bases several minutes after he actually hit the homer.
The Giants had to shuffle their defensive infield after the two ejections, moving Devers to third base for the first time since he was traded to the club from the Boston Red Sox in June. Christian Koss moved from second base to shortstop, Casey Schmitt entered the game at second base and Dominic Smith entered at first.
Devers’ 30th homer also ended a skid for the Giants — sort of. He is the first San Francisco player to hit 30 homers in a season while wearing a Giants uniform since Barry Bonds in 2004, but he hit his first 15 long balls with the Red Sox.
Ohtani’s solo shot off prospect Bubba Chandler (2-0) was the second-hardest hit homer in MLB this season at 120 mph. It was home run No. 46 for Ohtani this season and the hardest-hit ball of his MLB career, according to ESPN Research.
Playing his 294th game with the Dodgers, he became the fastest to reach 100 home runs in team history, ahead of Gary Sheffield (399). It took him 444 games to hit 100 home runs with the Angels.
After the home run, Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-out RBI single and Andy Pages led off the next inning with his 24th homer, tying it 4-4.
Chandler gave up three runs and six hits in four innings of relief. The 22-year-old has two wins and a save in his first three major league appearances.
Dennis Santana walked Miguel Rojas and gave up Ohtani’s second double to start the ninth before retiring the next three batters for his 12th save.
Clayton Kershaw yielded four runs, four hits and a pair of walks in the first inning. He recovered to last five innings, denying the Pirates of another hit while giving up two walks over the final four.
Anthony could be seen grabbing at his lower back on a swinging third strike in the bottom of the fourth inning. He did not take the field in the top of the fifth, with Nate Eaton replacing him in right field at Fenway Park.
Anthony’s absence would be significant for a Red Sox team that entered Tuesday night just 2½ games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Anthony has been a catalyst to Boston’s resurgence since his June callup, with the 21-year-old hitting .291 with an .861 OPS, eight home runs and 31 RBIs entering Tuesday.
Anthony entered the season as baseball’s No. 1 prospect. He has since signed an eight-year, $130 million extension with the team.
Teammate Marcelo Mayer, who entered the season as baseball’s No. 6 prospect, joined the big league club before Anthony in May but has since had season-ending wrist surgery. Kristian Campbell, the third of Boston’s touted prospects, opened the season as the club’s starting second baseman but was sent down to Triple-A Worcester in June after some early struggles.