Red Sox bats wake up to beat the Pirates 8-1

Red Sox bats wake up to beat the Pirates 8-1

The Boston Red Sox earned their 11th win of the season on Friday, as they downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-1 in the first of three games at PNC Park.

Boston’s bats working in this one, as Wilyer Abreu and Triston Casas hit solo home runs in the first inning to give Brayan Bello some early run support.

Ceddanne Raffaela in one of his first starts at shortstop committed a fielding error in the first inning, but he scored a run on a fielder’s choice in the top of the second.

In the fifth inning, Rob Refsnyder, who just returned from a toe injury, hit a two-run shot to right center, scoring Abreu.

Rafaela followed in the next inning with a solo home run to left, making it four bombs on the day for Boston.

The Red Sox scored their final two runs in the seventh inning when Enmanuel Valdez doubled, scoring Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshida, making it 8-0.

Boston’s pitching was stellar, with Bello delivering six innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts. Chase Anderson followed up by allowing just two hits in his two innings. Even, Cam Booser, who made his MLB debut, allowed just one hit and one run in his single inning.

The Red Sox are now 11-10 on the season and 8-3 on the road. They’ve set themselves up in position to take the series on Saturday with Kutter Crawford on the mound.