Roman Anthony’s 1st Fenway HR breaks ice in 9-3 Red Sox win

Colorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle raced back back back but the Fenway Faithful already knew what he was about to be forced to accept Roman Anthony s first Fenway home run was long gone feet at mph to be precise The Red Sox rookie s second big-league blast but first at the ballpark he ultimately gets to call home landed among the jubilant fans nestled in the left-field corner of the bleachers Anthony s homer headlined a night of wild firsts for the Red Sox Starter Richard Fitts picked up his first big-league win Batting in Rob Refsnyder s place in the bottom of the seventh Jarren Duran picked up his first-ever pinch-hit RBI And when all was announced and done the Red Sox triumphed - We kept going and we didn t stop manager Alex Cora reported The Rockies may have arrived at Fenway with a - record but they didn t make things easy for their hosts Left-hander Austin Gomber yielded five runs four earned on seven hits but he largely had a handle on the Boston bats in his innings After giving up a three-spot in the second though only two runs were earned thanks to an error by third baseman Ryan McMahon Gomber settled back in until two outs in the fifth when Anthony stepped up to the plate One batter later Refsnyder singled Gomber s night was over The mood in the ballpark promptly turned incredulous in the top of the sixth when the Red Sox thought they d escaped a jam only to be ordered back onto the field by the umpires Only two ball clubs entered Monday with more than errors this season and they were the ones playing at Fenway that night Fitts got two quick outs to begin the inning but his night came to an end when he gave up a single to left-fielder Mickey Moniak and a double to second baseman Thairo Estrada Batting against left-hander Chris Murphy Michael Toglia hit into a fielder s choice and though Estrada was right in Nate Eaton s path the third baseman didn t apply the tag After both managers took their turns speaking with the umpires the inning restarted with a run on the board for Colorado McMahon s RBI single plated another before Murphy struck out Brenton Doyle to end the frame for good Moments later a scoring change reattributed the two runs to Fitts Over innings he yielded three runs two earned on five hits one walk and six strikeouts He threw pitches for strikes He s been good for us Really good Cora lauded Gave us a chance to win almost every time I remember two bad ones the last one last year and the one against Anaheim The rest solid Good velocity changing mixing up the off-speed pitches He s good he s a good pitcher and he gave us a chance to win tonight But to paraphrase the immortal words of Annie Get Your Gun anything the Red Sox could do the Rockies could do better Which in this development meant giving up runs The Red Sox put the challenge out of reach in the bottom of the eighth on solo homers by Ceddanne Rafaela and Gonzalez It was Rafaela s third contest in a row with a home run Gonzalez s traveled feet making it not only the longest home run of his career but tying Angels star Mike Trout for the longest homer at Fenway this season Boston tallied hits and gave up seven Gonzalez Carlos Narv ez and Wilyer Abreu contributed two hits apiece but Anthony led the way with three his sixth multi-hit performance in his last nine games He s a good performer good hitter Cora mentioned of Anthony That s why he s playing every day Gonzalez also earned his manager s praise but not for the home run He had a hell of a competition at second base in the present day Cora lauded He did an amazing job He s very versatile He s a good performer he s a good runner and I m glad that he s playing for us Garrett Whitlock Brennan Bernardino and Jorge Alcala pitched the remainder of the encounter combining for scoreless innings The Red Sox are - and have won four games in a row