William Contreras hits 2-run homer and Brewers beat Red Sox 7-2
BOSTON (AP) — William Contreras hit a two-run home run, Christian Yelich had three hits and Bryse Wilson tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Friday night.
Blake Perkins had two hits and two stolen bases for the NL Central-leading Brewers. Wilson (3-1) came in with two down in the first inning and matched his career high with seven strikeouts. Willy Adames and Yelich also drove in runs for Milwaukee, which played the seventh game of a nine-game road trip.
Boston had runners on first and second in the first when Wilson was summoned. He struck out Tyler O’Neill for the final out of the first inning and was rarely tested during his outing.
“There’s still room for better execution. Overall, it was a good outing from start to finish,” Wilson said.
Jarren Duran and David Hamilton each had three hits for Boston, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Dominic Smith homered for the second time since signing with the Red Sox on May 1.
Contreras jumped on a 1-0 pitch from Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford (2-3) and sent it into the second row of Green Monster seats for his eighth homer of the season in the third inning. The two-run shot came one batter after Brice Turang lifted a sacrifice fly that delivered the game’s first run.
The home run by Contreras took out a fan’s popcorn bucket after bouncing off the area behind where the fan was sitting.
“It seemed that it got out of the park in a hurry,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said.
The Brewers chased Crawford in the fifth inning, as Yelich doubled in a run that made it 4-1 and Adames connected for a two-run double.
“Everyone has to respect William, but he has (Yelich) hitting behind him. When he’s hitting, that’s helping everyone,” Murphy said. “There was some good hard contact tonight and we stayed relentless by getting on base.”
Crawford’s ERA jumped from 2.17 to 2.89 after he allowed six runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.
“He had a tough time putting people away. They extended at-bats and credit to them. They’re a good ballclub,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Boston’s first run came in the fourth when Hamilton squeaked one inside the third base bag for an RBI double. Smith’s home run came in the fourth.
Duran led off the bottom of the first with a single that extended his hitting streak to nine games.