Ceddanne Rafaela ripped a pair of RBI doubles as the Boston Red Sox spoiled Justin Verlander’s return to the rotation with a 4-1 victory over the host Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon.
After dealing with neck discomfort, Verlander was activated from the 15-day injured list ahead of Wednesday’s game to make his first start since June 9.
Boston didn’t welcome the 41-year-old veteran back kindly in the rubber match of a three-game series, as Jarren Duran opened the contest with a double and scored on Triston Casas’ one-out single to put the Red Sox up 1-0.
Alex Bregman got hold of a 3-2 sinker and cleared the left-field wall to lead off the home half of the first, forging a 1-1 tie.
But Rafaela then gave Boston a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, smacking his first run-scoring double of the afternoon in the second inning. The Red Sox had a chance to do more damage, but Wilyer Abreu popped out to strand runners on second and third.
Verlander (3-3) settled down after that, though, going on to last five innings. He gave up two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out six.
Rafaela doubled again in the seventh to drive in Masataka Yoshida.
It looked like Houston was going to at least draw even in the seventh after Mauricio Dubon and Jake Meyers advanced to second and third, respectively, on a wild pitch with no outs. Reliever Greg Weissert struck out Jon Singleton, but he then walked Trey Cabbage to load the bases.
Bregman followed with a lazy flyout in foul territory before Brennan Bernardino took over on the mound and fanned Yordan Alvarez to end the frame.
David Hamilton proceeded to add insult to injury with a solo shot in the top of the ninth to give Boston a 4-1 edge.
Chris Martin worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the inning for his first save of the year. Reliever Josh Winckowski (4-1) got the win.
Boston starter Cooper Criswell yielded one run and four hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and fanned four.
Yainer Diaz and Dubon each had two hits as the Astros lost back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game skid from Aug. 3-5.