Carlos Narvaez came through with a pinch-hit, two-run single and Trevor Story hit a solo home run to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-4 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
It was a 3-3 game until Narvaez delivered his pinch-hit single with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Nate Eaton and Rob Refsnyder scored on the play.
Story’s home run traveled 306 feet, and was originally ruled a foul ball when it popped out of right fielder Jhonkensy Noel’s glove and fell into the crowd. The Red Sox challenged, and it was ruled that the ball hit the foul pole when it came out of Noel’s glove.
It was Story’s 23rd home run of the season and extended Boston’s lead to 6-3 in the sixth inning. He had three of Boston’s 14 hits.
Brayan Bello (11-6) allowed three runs on six hits in five innings to earn the win. He struck out four and walked three. Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his 28th save.
Refsnyder, Eaton, Romy Gonzalez and Roman Anthony each had two hits for Boston.
Kyle Manzardo hit a solo home run for Cleveland, which received three hits from Steven Kwan.
Erik Sabrowski (0-1) took the loss after he gave up two runs on two hits and walked two in one-third of an inning.
Parker Messick got the start for the Guardians, and was tagged for three runs on nine hits over 3 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out two.
The Red Sox led 2-0 after one inning. Anthony advanced from third on a Messick balk, and then Alex Bregman scored on a Gonzalez single.
The Guardians took a 3-2 lead by scoring three runs in the second. After a C.J. Kayfus single drove in Josh Naylor, Brayan Rocchio’s two-run single allowed Nolan Jones and George Valera to score.
Connor Wong scored on Story’s single in the bottom of the second to make it 3-3.
After the Red Sox took a 6-3 lead, Manzardo’s 24th home run trimmed Cleveland’s deficit to 6-4 in the eighth.
