BOSTON—Kutter Crawford pitched a career-high seven innings, Connor Wong had three hits, and the Boston Red Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 6–2 on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.
Crawford (2–1) allowed two runs on four hits—including a home run by Giants backup catcher Tom Murphy—and two walks with six strikeouts as the Red Sox won their fourth straight game.
“That was good,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said of Crawford’s outing. “He worked hard in the offseason to get to this point. Big strikeout to end the sixth. Good stuff, good fastball. He earned the right to go out there and try to get three outs.
“Very proud of him,“ Mr. Cora continued. ”He’s been awesome, absolutely great. He got hit hard in the middle of the game, but that’s part of it, right? He threw a lot of strikes with good stuff, and he maintained his stuff throughout the outing.”
The right-hander’s previous career high was 6 1/3 innings on April 17, 2023, against the Los Angeles Angels.
“Really satisfying,” Crawford said. “I can’t think of a better feeling than to get through seven, give your team the best chance to win, and help the bullpen out while you’re at it.”
Chris Martin and Greg Weissert each pitched a scoreless inning in relief for Boston.
Wong was 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Jarren Duran also reached base three times for Boston, with two walks and his fourth triple of the season.
San Francisco’s Daulton Jefferies (0–2) pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
“He’s getting behind some guys,” Giants Manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s normally a strike-thrower. He walked a couple and gave up some hits, but got behind in some counts. And, as you saw, he was missing low with quite a few pitches, and took a little while to find the strike zone. And when he did, he was behind, and they got some good swings off him.”
The Red Sox scored two runs in the third when Ceddanne Rafaela singled, Duran walked, and Rafael Devers hit an RBI double. Rob Refsnyder then grounded out, scoring Duran.
Boston added two runs in the fourth when Wong led off with a double and scored on Enmanuel Valdez’s double. Duran’s stand-up triple scored Valdez.
Dom Smith, whom the Red Sox signed just before the game after he was released by Tampa Bay on Tuesday, had an RBI single in the fifth.
Murphy led off the third with his first home run of the season, giving the Giants a short-lived 1–0 lead.
