FINAL: Red Sox 9, Philadelphia Phillies 3 - Eight Extra Base Hits Propel Sox to Series Win

The Red Sox (35-34) win the rubber match against the Philadelphia Phillies (46-22) by a final score of 9-3.

Boston made sure to take charge early on in this one, putting up four runs in the second and fourth innings against Aaron Nola, one of baseball's best pitchers. Every Sox batter got a hit tonight for a total of 14 hits, eight of which being for extra bases. Seven doubles were hit, with Jarren Duran and Enmanuel Valdez getting two each. Tyler O'Neill hit the lone home run of the game, a three run blast off the light tower on the monster to give the Sox an 8-3 lead in the fourth. The four runs that were scored in the fourth all came with two outs in the inning.

Tanner Houck was amazing once again, this time against the best team in the NL. He pitched six innings, giving up only three runs on eight hits, and he struck out five. Brad Keller went three innings out of the bullpen, earning a save. He gave up only two hits, and struck out 3.

My Player of the Game: Tanner Houck - Houck did give up a bases clearing double in the top of the third to make it a one run game, but he never wavered after that. He kept the Sox lead for the rest of his outing behind the great run support supplied to him tonight.

Tomorrow night, the Red Sox will start a weekend series against the best team in the AL, the New York Yankees. That game was originally going to start at 7:10 p.m., but was moved to 6:30 p.m. so we can watch the Celtics win the finals. Probable starters for tomorrow's game are Luis Gil (8-1, 2.04 ERA) and Brayan Bello (6-3, 4.78 ERA)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                __________________________________

WHO: Philadelphia Phillies (46-21) at Red Sox (34-34)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: 1-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Aaron Nola (8-2, 2.77 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Houck (6-5, 1.91 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran LF
David Hamilton SS
Tyler O'Neill RF
Rafael Devers 3B
Masataka Yoshida DH
Enmanuel Valdez 2B
Reese McGuire C
Dominic Smith 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF

SP Tanner Houck

OPPONENT

Kyle Schwarber DH
Nick Castellanos RF
Bryce Harper 1B
Bryson Stott 2B
Edmundo Sosa SS
David Dhal LF
Whit Merrifield 3B
Garrett Stubbs C
Johan Rojas CF

SP Aaron Nola

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox defeated the Phillies last night, 8-6, to even the 3-game series. The Sox trailed 4-0 through 3 innings before scoring 1 run in the 4th and 5 runs in the 5th. Enmanuel Valdez pinch-hit in the 5th and hit a go-ahead 2-run double...David Hamilton hit a 2-run HR in the 6th inning to extend the lead to 8-4.

The Red Sox have won 2 of their last 3 games...They're 5-5 in their last 10 and 15-15 in their last 30. At 34-34, the Sox own MLB's 12th-best record. This marks the 17th time this season Boston has held a .500 record: 1-1, 2-2, 7-7, 9-9, 10-10, 19-19, 22-22, 24-24, 26-26, 27-27, 28-28, 29-29, 30-30, 31-31, 32-32, 33-33, 34-34.

Tonight's starter, Tanner Houck, leads MLB pitchers in fWAR (2.9) and leads the AL in ERA (1.91). Over the last 21 seasons (2003-24), the only other Sox starter to record an ERA that low through their first 13 starts was Clay Buchholz in 2013 (1.61).

During June, the Red Sox lead the AL in AVG (.278), OBP (.349), and stolen bases (11)...They rank 3rd in the AL during the month in SLG (.455) and OPS (.804).

Rafael Devers leads MLB third basemen in SLG (.555), OPS (.928), and wRC+ (152), and ranks T-2nd in HR (13)...He ranks 6th in the AL in SLG and OPS.

Among outfielders, Jarren Duran ranks 7th in MLB (5th in the AL) in fWAR (2.5)...He ranks 2nd among the group in DRS (9), and T-6th in assists (4; T-3rd in AL). Duran leads MLB in triples (10)...He ranks T-3rd in the AL in doubles (18), T-4th in XBH (33), and 6th in SB (15). In 10 June games, he's batting .357 with a 1.072 OPS, 12 runs scored, and 4 SB (15-for-42, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 6 BB).

David Hamilton leads qualified AL rookies in AVG (.296), OBP (.348), and SB (13), while ranking 2nd in SLG (.472) and OPS (.820). Hamilton has recorded multiple hits in 5 of his last 6 games, batting .385 with a 1.116 OPS, 5 runs scored, and 4 SB in that span (10-for-26, 3 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI).