The Red Sox granted starting pitcher Garrett Richards some early run support and it ultimately proved enough as Boston earned a 7-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Boston.
The Red Sox compiled 13 hits as a team with four batters — Kiké Hernández, Alex Verdugo, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers — recording multiple hits.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 26-18 while the Blue Jays fell to 23-18.
Here’s how it went down:
GAME IN A WORD (OR TWO)
Fast start.
Boston’s offense got off to a hot start and it ultimately was more than enough to earn the win.
ON THE BUMP
— Garrett Richards faced some early trouble before bouncing back in a big way.
Richards started off the game by allowing a lead-off walk, two straight doubles and another walk. Richards would turn it around, though, before he was pulled after going 6 2/3 innings.
Richards allowed a one-out walk in the second before a double play got him out of it. He allowed a lead-off double in the third before recording three straight outs. So while Richards never retired the side in order, he benefitted from plenty of defense en route to a good start.
Richards finished the game allowing two runs on seven hits. He threw 99 pitches (64 strikes) and struck out five while walking four.
— Garrett Whitlock came on for the final out of the seventh but allowed a two-run homer to the first batter he faced. It gave Richards his second run allowed (after a two-out single) and cut Boston’s lead to 6-3 after seven full frames.
— Adam Ottavino took over in the eighth and didn’t allow a runner to reach scoring position.
— Josh Taylor picked up the save in the ninth after allowing just one walk.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox got the bats going early en route to five runs on six hits in the first.
Verdugo and J.D. Martinez went back-to-back in the top half as Boston had each of its first five batters record hits. Verdugo, No. 2 in the order, belted a two-run homer to score Hernández, who led off the game with a single. Martinez then recorded his 11th homer of the season as the very next batter.
Later in the first, Bogaerts, the No. 4 batter, ripped a single and eventually scored on a Christian Vázquez fielder’s choice. Devers, batting No. 5 in the order, belted a double to left field before scoring on a two-out double by Bobby Dalbec.
— Hernández led off the second inning with a homer to left field, which measured 391 feet, to give Boston a 6-1 lead. It was his fifth blast of the season.
— Vázquez hit Boston’s fourth home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. It provided some extra insurance and gave the Red Sox a 7-3 lead.
— Hernández finished with three hits and was a triple short of the cycle.
— Verdugo, Bogaerts and Devers each recorded two hits. Boston finished with 13 hits as a team.
TWEET(S) OF THE GAME
There were a lot of hard-hit baseballs in the first inning, and then Franchy Cordero recorded the hardest-hit ball of the Red Sox season on a sixth-inning double.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will face the Blue Jays in the third and final game of the series Thursday with first pitch set for 7:37 p.m. ET. You can watch it on NESN.
