Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez earned his career-best 18th win, and his teammates rocked San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner on Thursday afternoon, allowing the host Boston Red Sox to salvage one win in the three-game interleague series with a 5-4 victory.
Andrew Benintendi and Christian Vazquez each had two hits and two runs, and Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers accounted for all five Boston RBIs as the Red Sox (80-72), after surviving a wild finish, completed the interleague portion of their schedule with a 10-10 record.
Rodriguez (18-6) became Boston’s first 18-game winner since Rick Porcello won 22 in 2016, throwing six innings of two-hit ball. He held the Giants (74-79) to one unearned run while walking two and striking out 10.
The Red Sox did all their scoring against Bumgarner (9-9) in the first two innings.
Devers and Bogaerts had RBI singles in the first inning after Benintendi had opened the game with a double and Vazquez followed with a walk.
Boston added three in the second in a very similar manner, with four consecutive singles by Benintendi, Vazquez, Devers and Bogaerts. Devers’ hit drove in one and Bogaerts’ hit knocked in a pair to make it 5-1.
After getting an unearned run in the first, the Giants didn’t score again until the eighth, and they nearly erased all of their four-run deficit in the process.
Kevin Pillar’s two-out, two-run double against Marcus Walden got the Giants within 5-3 in the eighth.
The Giants then loaded the bases against Matt Barnes, who won a six-pitch duel with pinch hitter Stephen Vogt, getting a strikeout.
Closer Brandon Workman then came within one ball of blowing a two-run lead in the ninth. He walked Pillar with two outs and the bases loaded to force in a run that trimmed the Boston lead to 5-4.
Workman then went to a full count on Evan Longoria before getting him swinging to wrap up his 15th save.
The Giants had won the first two games of the series 7-6 (in 15 innings) and 11-3.
Pillar finished with three RBIs, and Mauricio Dubon scored twice for the Giants, who were out-hit 10-6.
One day after recording his 2,000th career win, Giants manager Bruce Bochy take his 2,023rd loss.
–Field Level Media
