Yordan Alvarez hit two home runs and Spencer Arrighetti recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts to help the visiting Houston Astros defeat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 on Saturday.
Alvarez opened the scoring by hitting a solo home run in the top of the first, and then broke a 1-1 tie by hitting a two-run home run in the sixth. The two home runs gave him 24 for the season.
Alvarez has 13 extra-base hits, including six home runs, and 20 RBIs in 68 career at-bats at Boston’s Fenway Park.
Arrighetti (5-10) limited Boston to two runs on two hits in seven innings. His 13 strikeouts were one more than his previous career high.
Alex Bregman and Zach Dezenzo each added a solo home run for Houston, which extended its winning streak to four games. Bregman’s home run, his 16th of the year, gave the Astros a 4-1 lead in the seventh. Dezenzo’s homer came in the eighth, and was the first of his major league career.
Danny Jansen (No. 8) and Masataka Yoshida (No. 7) both had a solo home run for Boston, which were the only hits against Arrighetti.
Boston’s Wilyer Abreu drove in two runs with a two-out single in the eighth that trimmed Houston’s lead to 5-4, but Rafael Devers was stranded at second after he led off the ninth with a double. After allowing the double, Houston closer Josh Hader retired the next three batters to record his 25th save.
The Red Sox went with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Cooper Criswell was placed on the COVID-19 related injured list Friday. Brad Keller (0-3) gave up three runs on six hits in four innings of relief and took the loss.
Jansen led off the fifth with a solo home run that tied the game, 1-1, but Houston regained the lead in the sixth when Alvarez hit his second homer to put the Astros in front 3-1.
After Bregman’s home run stretched Houston’s lead to three runs, Yoshida made it 4-2 when he homered in the bottom of the seventh. Dezenzo’s home run put the Astros in front 5-2 before Abreu’s two-run single in the eighth.