Masataka Yoshida hit a grandslam and had six RBI on Sunday afternoon, and Kutter Crawford didn’t allow a run on just one hit in 6.0 innings on the mound as the Boston Red Sox took the rubber match of a three game interleague series with an 11-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
After Boston had their six game win streak snapped with a 10-4 loss on Saturday, Rafael Devers got the Sox off to a good start by belting a two out solo homerun in the top of the first inning off Chicago starter Justin Steele. It is the third homer for Devers post All-Star break that got underway on Friday. They really opened it up in the third with four consecutive hits to begin the frame. Connor Wong doubled, and then Yu Chang and Rob Refsnyder both singled. The Refsnyder single scored Wong. Justin Turner then singled as well to load the bases. Devers struckout, and Adam Duvall popped out to the third baseman in foul territory for the second out. Yoshida made sure his team cashed in though when he took a 2-0 pitch from Steele into the basket that hangs on the rightfield wall for a grandslam and a 6-0 advantage. They added three more in the seventh inning on a two-run triple by Yoshida, and he would come across to score on a wild pitch. Boston capped off their scoring on the day on a two-run homerun by Triston Casas in the eighth. The Cubs (43-49) didn’t get anything going against Crawford during his outing, but would score some runs late off reliever Jake Faria who was just called up the big league roster on Sunday as they were helped by four walks in his 2.0 innings out of the bullpen. The righthander is expected to be designated for assignment back to the minors by the club on Monday.
Yoshida had the huge afternoon at the plate with three hits and his six runs knocked in, and also scored a pair of runs. Refsnyder, Devers, Jorge Alfaro, and Chang all had two hits each. The final line for Crawford who improves to 4-4 was 6.0 innings with no runs allowed, one hit, four walks, and nine strikeouts. Mike Tauchman had two hits for Chicago in the loss, and Nico Hoerner had two RBI. Steele (9-3) suffered the pitching defeat giving up six runs on 10 hits with one walk and six strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Boston (50-44), who is right in the American League wildcard playoff picture, will head West to open up a three game series with the Oakland Athletics in California Monday night at 9:40 p.m. It will be a pair of bullpen games for the Red Sox out on the West Coast to begin the series, and no opener has been announced for game one. Oakland will give righthander Paul Blackburn (1-1, 4.86 ERA) the ball on Monday.
Story by Chris Lessner/Video highlight courtesy of the MLB on YouTube
