Connor Wong and Rob Refsnyder each hit a two-run home run to propel the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
Wong homered in the fourth inning, and Refsnyder belted his home run in the sixth. Jarren Duran had three hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox, who took two of three games in the series and have won seven of their past eight games overall.
Wong extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Cincinnati starting pitcher Nick Lodolo (8-3) had won each of his five most recent starts but left the mound with two outs in the fifth. Lodolo allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits. He walked four and struck out three over 77 pitches.
Cincinnati manager David Bell was ejected in the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes. It was the 30th time he has been ejected during his managerial career, which ties him with Sparky Anderson for the most ejections for a manager in Reds history.
Greg Weissert (3-1), one of eight pitchers Boston used in the game, picked up the win by tossing one scoreless inning of relief. Kenley Jansen recorded his 15th save.
The Red Sox scored four times in the fourth. After Wong’s homer opened the scoring, Boston took a 3-0 lead when Ceddanne Rafaela hit into a fielder’s choice and Romy Gonzalez scored on Jonathan India’s throwing error from second base. Rafaela made it 4-0 by scoring on Duran’s double.
The Reds got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Elly De La Cruz doubled and scored on Jeimer Candelario’s single to left.
Duran’s single drove in David Hamilton to stretch Boston’s lead to 5-1 in the sixth before Refsnyder homered two pitches later.
Cincinnati kept things interesting by scoring three runs in its half of the sixth, which included an RBI double by Tyler Stephenson and RBI singles from Santiago Espinal and Stuart Fairchild.
De La Cruz, India and Fairchild each had two hits in the loss.
–Field Level Media
