Amed Rosario had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run in his return to the starting lineup as the Cleveland Guardians evened their three-game series against the visiting Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in a 5-2 victory.
Josh Naylor went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Josh Bell drove in two runs for Cleveland, which outhit the Red Sox 10-5 and bounced back from a 5-4 loss in the series opener.
Tanner Bibee (2-1) allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings for the win. Eli Morgan, Sam Hentges and Trevor Stephan combined for three scoreless frames before Emmanuel Clase worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 20th save.
Rosario batted second after being held out of the starting lineup for three games due to left knee soreness.
Boston, which finished 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, claimed an early lead on Rafael Devers’ run-scoring single with one out in the first inning.
Cleveland pulled even against Kutter Crawford (1-3) in the second inning when Naylor hit a leadoff double and scored on Bell’s single to right field.
The error-filled fourth inning featured a total of five miscues, including three by the Red Sox. In the top of the fourth, Boston capitalized on Naylor’s fielding error at first base and moved ahead 2-1 when Enrique Hernandez scored from third on the play.
Boston returned the favor in the bottom half of the inning. The Red Sox committed two errors on Jose Ramirez’s grounder to first base, putting runners at first and second with no outs.
Crawford was relieved by Brennan Bernardino after Naylor followed with a run-scoring single, putting runners at the corners. Ramirez then scored when Devers mishandled Bell’s bouncer to third, allowing the Guardians to take the lead.
Crawford gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits with three strikeouts over three-plus innings.
Cleveland tacked on two more runs with two outs in the fifth. Rosario doubled off Justin Garza to score Steven Kwan from first, and Ramirez’s double to right field pushed the lead to 5-2.
–Field Level Media
