FINAL: Red Sox 4, Astros 1 - Rafaela Clutch Hitting and Bullpen Powers Boston to Taking 2 of 3

The Red Sox defeated the Houston Astros 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Boston concludes a successful road trip taking two of three from Houston and goes 4-3 on the road trip. 

Ceddanne Rafaela came up with a clutch hit in the second inning with an RBI double that made it 2-1 Boston.

 He later came up in the seventh inning with a big RBI double adding an insurance run making it 3-1 Boston. 

The other big story today was the Boston bullpen who had six pitchers make scoreless appearances. The turning point in the game was in the seventh inning when Greg Weissert got into trouble after giving up some hits and walking the number nine hitter loading the bases. Alex Cora went to Brennan Bernardino with two outs and the bases loaded and got Yordan Alvarez to strike out to get out of the jam. 

Luis Garcia retired the Astros in order in the 8th inning and Chris Martin recorded the save in the ninth inning. The Boston bullpen has pitched 8.1 scoreless innings in the last two games. 

Cooper Criswell made his first start since July 23rd in Colorado and went 4.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run and 4 K. Criswell did his job and did well for his first career start versus the Astros. 

David Hamilton added another insurance run in the ninth inning with a solo home run making it 4-1. 

Houston got their lone run in the first inning on an Alex Bregman homer that tied the game at one. 

The Red Sox will be back in action on Friday night when they return home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks with Brayan Bello getting the start for Boston at 7:10 p.m. 

_____________________________

WHO: Red Sox (66-59) at Houston Astros (68-57)
WHEN: 2:10 p.m.
WHERE: Minute Maid Park, Houston.
SERIES TO DATE: 1-4 (0-3/1-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.56) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.95)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLBN, WEEI-FM 93.7
LIVE BOX
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Duran CF
Abreu RF
Casas 1B
Devers 3B
Refsnyder LF
Yoshida DH
Wong C
Hamilton 2B
Rafaela SS

SP Cooper Criswell

ASTROS
Bregman DH
Alvarez LF
Diaz 1B
Pena SS
Caratini C
Meyers CF
Dubon 2B
Whitcomb 3B
McCormick RF

SP Justin Verlander 

WHAT'S UP

 The Red Sox won last night to even this 3-game series at HOU, 1-1.                   

 They're 3-2 in their last 5 games, 5-5 in their last 10, 10-10 in their last 20, and 13-17 in 30 games since the All-Star break.      

The Red Sox last night snapped a 7-game losing streak against the Astros which began on 8/28/23... It was their longest losing streak ever against the club (previous high: 3 games, 4x      

Boston's starting pitchers have tossed at least 5.0 innings in 9 of their last 12 games, including 5 quality starts...The 3 starts in that span shorter than 5.0 innings were by Bernardino (0.2 IP, 0 R), Winckowski (3.0 IP, 1 R), and Paxton (0.2 IP due to injury).                   

 They've allowed 3 R or fewer in 10 of those 12 games, posting a 3.72 ERA (23 ER/55.2 IP) in that span.      

The Red Sox rank 2nd in the AL and 6th in the Majors in stolen bases (120)...David Hamilton ranks 2nd in the AL with 32 SB, while Jarren Duran ranks 3rd with 31. Duran and Hamilton are just the 3rd pair of Red Sox teammates to steal 30+ bases in a season, and 1st since Harry Hooper and Tris Speaker did so in 1910 (also Harry Lord/Tris Speaker in 1909).         

Cooper Criswell is making his first career start today versus the Astros. 

Criswell was activated from the COVID-19 related IL on 8/16 and tossed 3.1 innings of relief that night at BAL (6 R)...Last started on 7/23 at COL (7.0 IP, 0 R).   

Triston Casas has gone 7-for-20 (4 R, HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB) since being reinstated from the 60-Day IL on Friday at BAL...Missed 98 games from 4/21-8/15 with a left rib strain.