BOSTON — It was not vintage Steven Wright, but it was good enough to win.
Wright allowed three runs in five innings, all unearned due to passed balls, and the Boston Red Sox bullpen finally held up, in a 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.
Matt Barnes, Junichi Tazawa and Craig Kimbrel combined for four innings of one-hit relief, with Kimbrel getting his 13th save.
David Ortiz singled in two runs, Mookie Betts knocked in two runs, and both Blake Swihart and Travis Shaw added RBI as the Red Sox (33-23) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Swihart’s RBI single in the second inning made it 1-0 and Boston never lost the lead.
Swihart, who was 1 for 1 with two walks and a run, left the game in the seventh inning after slamming into the wall along the left-field line, trying to catch a foul ball. He injured his left ankle and was undergoing further evaluation.
Wright (6-4) allowed only three hits but also issued five walks. He needed 111 pitches to complete five innings.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second. Shaw broke out of an 0-for-10 slump with a wall-ball double. He advanced to third on a groundout and scored when Swihart grounded a single through a drawn-in infield.
In the third, Dustin Pedroia walked and Xander Bogaerts smoked a double off the center-field wall. Ortiz singled them both in.
After Toronto (30-27) scored once in the fourth, Boston answered with Betts’ line drive single to right, scoring Bradley for a 4-1 lead.
Catcher Ryan Hanigan had his usual trouble catching Wright’s knuckleballs, allowing three passed balls, the worst one coming in the fifth inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, Michael Saunders struck out on a knuckleball that got by Hanigan. Saunders beat Hanigan’s throw to first base – and both runners scored because Wright forgot to cover home.
Shaw’s wall-ball single scored Bogaerts in the fifth. Toronto got one off Barnes in the sixth (walk, wild pitch, stolen base, RBI groundout).
But Boston answered, with Swihart scoring from first on Betts’ double into the left-field corner. Swihart was initially called out, but Boston challenged and the call was overturned.
NOTES: Hanigan (strained neck) left the game after six innings … Swihart appeared to catch the foul ball on which he was injured, but Toronto challenge the play and the call was reversed to a foul ball. … Pedroia and Ortiz extended their hitting streaks to 12 games, the longest active streaks in the majors.
Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:
kthomas@pressherald.com
Twitter: ClearTheBases
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