Christian Arroyo had three hits and three RBIs, Alex Verdugo reached base five times and 42-year-old Rich Hill won for the first time in nearly two months as the Boston Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 on Wednesday night.
The Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games and got back to .500 at 59-59. Boston is four games behind Toronto in the race for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
Arroyo hit a two-run double and scored on Kike Hernandez’s sacrifice fly in the second inning as Boston permanently took the lead 3-2. Arroyo also singled in a run in a three-run ninth that broke the game open.
Over the last two weeks, Arroyo has emerged as the Red Sox’s regular second baseman. Verdugo was 3 for 3 with two walks from the cleanup spot.
Hill (5-5, 4.68 ERA) allowed two runs on three hits in five innings, turned aside four for his first win since June 26th.
Rich did need to climb a “Hill” early as Kevin Newman led off the first inning with a single and Bryan Reynolds followed with a two-run homer into the Center Field bullpen. The Pirates then went scoreless until the ninth inning as their losing streak reached six games.
As an 18-year veteran, Hill was able to keep his composure after the rough start.
Quickly down 2-0, Hill bounced back to retire the next 12 batters before Rodolfo Castro singled leading off the fifth inning. The Red Sox went ahead 3-2 an inning later.
The Red Sox increased their advantage to 4-2 on Verdugo’s RBI double in the fifth.
Pittsburg Rookie Roansy Contreras was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis prior to the game and allowed four runs on six hits in six innings with four walks and three strikeouts. The 22 year-old is 3-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 56 innings pitched this season.
Boston broke the game open in the final two innings against the Pirates woeful bullpen. Pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder drew a bases-loaded walk from Eric Stout in the eighth and then Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run double in the ninth to bump the lead up to 8-2.
Ben Gamel hit an RBI single for the Pirates in the bottom of the ninth snapping their scoreless drought.
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