Adley Rutschman and Jarren Duran each homered to help the Boston Red Sox extend their winning streak to five games by beating the visiting Los Angeles Angels 5-2 Monday afternoon.
After Duran opened the scoring with a home run to lead off the bottom of the second, Rutschman hit a three-run homer later in the inning to extend Boston’s lead to 4-0. Both home runs came against Los Angeles starter Grayson Rodriguez (4-7), who was pulled after he allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in four innings.
Duran collected two hits in the victory. His home run was his 20th of the season. Rutschman’s home run was his 12th of the year and fourth since being traded from the Baltimore Orioles.
The Red Sox (80-65) received five scoreless innings from starter Brayan Bello (6-7), who limited the Angels to four hits, walked two and struck out seven.
Garrett Whitlock pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his third save, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Moises Ballesteros had three hits, including a solo home run, for Los Angeles (54-90), which has lost five of its past six games and has not scored more than three runs in any of the five losses. The Angels stranded eight runners and were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Boston went up 5-0 in the third, when Caleb Durbin scored on Eli White’s infield single. Durbin and White each had two hits in the victory.
Ballesteros’ home run, his eighth of the season, trimmed Boston’s lead to 5-1 in the sixth. The home run came against reliever Wyatt Olds.
The Angels made it 5-2 in the eighth. Wade Meckler led off the inning with a walk, moved to third on a Ballesteros double and scored when Christian Moore grounded out to shortstop.