Ceddanne Rafaela crushed a two-run home run in the seventh inning to lift the Boston Red Sox past the visiting Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Friday to begin a three-game weekend series.
The 23-year-old shortstop’s 15th homer of the season woke up a Boston (71-70) offense that had recorded just three of its five total hits to that point in the game.
Rafael Devers went 2-for-4 and Triston Casas also had an RBI for the Red Sox, who snapped a five-game losing streak, returning home following a three-game sweep by the New York Mets.
Chicago (32-110) wasted starter’s Davis Martin six inning of one-run ball. After Matt Foster *0-1) replaced him in the seventh, Enmanuel Valdez walked after a 12-pitch plate appearance with one out, setting up Rafaela’s towering drive over the Green Monster.
Zack Kelly (6-2) pitched a scoreless inning of relief to earn the victory after Nick Pivetta struck out six and allowed just one run across the first six frames.
Boston’s bullpen allowed just one hit over the final three innings, with Josh Winckowski pitching a perfect ninth to record his first save of the season.
A scoreless first inning saw both teams strand two on base before the visitors cracked the scoreboard on Jacob Amaya’s two-out RBI single to left in the second. Lenyn Sosa had lined a leadoff double that rolled to the base of the Green Monster to set up the opening run.
Martin hit both Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida with pitches in consecutive at-bats to begin the fourth, then Casas produced the tying run with a single to left field.
However, the chance of a big inning for the Red Sox ended when Valdez, who had singled in his previous at-bat, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The White Sox managed singles in three straight innings from the third through fifth, but Pivetta posted zeroes for the remainder of his outing. He struck out the side around Chuckie Robinson’s two-out single in the fourth and benefited from a double play to face the minimum in the sixth.