Red Sox ride homers by Duran and Contreras plus stout relief work to 7-5 win over Angels
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11:53 PM on Sunday, July 5
By MIKE DiGIOVANNA
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras homered, and five Boston pitchers combined to give up two runs over 6 1/3 innings in relief of injured starter Ranger Suarez to lead the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday night.
Boston’s eighth victory in 10 games completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who have lost six straight and 12 of 19 since June 14.
Suarez, named to the American League All-Star team Saturday, exited with two outs in the third because of left adductor tightness, an injury he sustained when he jumped for Jo Adell’s chopper over the mound.
The left-hander was followed by Greg Weissert (1-2), Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock, who combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings. Justin Slaten gave up a run in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman allowed a solo homer to Zach Neto in the ninth before earning his 18th save.
The Angels scored twice in the first on Jorge Soler’s grounder and Adell’s RBI single. Boston tied it 2-all in the second on Duran’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center off starter Ryan Johnson (1-4).
Neto’s RBI double gave the Angels a 3-2 lead in the bottom half, but the Red Sox took advantage of Neto’s major league-leading 14th error to score three unearned runs in the third.
Tsung-Che Cheng led off with a bunt single. Anthony Seigler and Ceddanne Rafaela flied out, and Wilyer Abreu hit a routine grounder to shortstop that should have ended the inning.
Neto bobbled the ball for an error, though, and Contreras crushed Johnson’s next pitch for his 20th homer, a 446-foot shot to left-center that left his bat at 112 mph and gave Boston a 5-3 lead.
The Red Sox tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh on Abreu’s sacrifice fly and Masataka Yoshida’s RBI single for a 7-3 advantage.
The Angels scored in the eighth on Donovan Walton’s double and Adell’s RBI single.
Red Sox: LHP Payton Tolle (4-6, 3.39 ERA) faces White Sox LHP Noah Schultz (2-5, 5.86) on Tuesday night in Chicago.
Angels: RHP Jose Soriano opposes Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (7-5, 3.48 ERA) on Tuesday night in Texas.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
