Roman Anthony hit his first career home run at Fenway Park en route to his sixth multi-hit game in his last nine, as the Boston Red Sox rolled past the Colorado Rockies 9-3 in the opener of a three-game series on Monday night.
Anthony was 3-for-5 and scored twice to lead a 14-hit Boston attack, which earned Richard Fitts (1-3) his first career major league win after allowing just three runs (two earned) in 5 2/3 innings.
Ceddanne Rafaela and Romy Gonzalez completed the night with eighth-inning homers for the Red Sox, who have now won four in a row and six of their last seven.
Austin Gomber (0-2) was charged with five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings for Colorado. Ryan McMahon went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
After Colorado leadoff hitter Tyler Freeman and Boston counterpart Nate Eaton were both caught stealing following first-inning hits, the Rockies drew first blood in the second. Thairo Estrada reached on an error, leading to an unearned run when Brenton Doyle lined an RBI single into center.
The Red Sox quickly got the run back and then some in the bottom of the second, as Trevor Story and Carlos Narvaez reached on consecutive fielder’s choices — the latter of which kept all runners safe due to McMahon’s throwing error from third — to set the table.
Boston’s big go-ahead hits came from the next consecutive batters. After Wilyer Abreu dropped a game-tying double deep into the left field corner, Abraham Toro flipped the score when he ripped a two-run two-bagger down the line in right.
After Fitts settled into his outing by facing the minimum over 11 batters between the second and fifth innings, his offense broke open the game in the fifth as Gonzalez’s wall-ball triple preceded Anthony’s two-run shot to deep center.
Chris Murphy relieved Fitts following a Mickey Moniak single and an Estrada double in the sixth, and Colorado got back into the game thanks to Michael Toglia’s fielder’s choice grounder and a RBI single by McMahon.
Anthony and pinch hitter Jarren Duran restarted the Boston offense with back-to-back singles in the seventh, with the latter plating a run. Narvaez followed two batters later with an RBI knock of his own.
–Field Level Media
