The Boston Red Sox entered Sunday's afternoon battle against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a chance to earn a series sweep, and they did just that with a 6-1 victory at PNC Park.
Boston's pitching staff was impressive again despite having to use Josh Winckowski, a reliever in 2024, to start the game.
Winckowski pitched 3 1/3 innings allowing just one run on three hits. Cam Booser, Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Chase Anderson followed with 5 2/3 scoreless innings of four-hit baseball.
The Red Sox offense wasn't reliant on the home run for what felt like the first time this season. Instead, they recorded six hits.
Rob Refsnyder (1-for-3 with a walk) scored the first run for Boston in the third inning, bringing Ceddanne Rafaela home. Wilyer Abreu (3-for-5) brought in two runs, one in the third and one in the sixth, extending his on-base streak to 10 games. Reese McGuire, coming off of the bench, scored two on a bloop single to left after taking over for Tyler Heineman.
Boston got their final run of the game in the eighth inning, as Jarren Duran moved to third on a disengagement violation and scored on a fielding error by Pittsburgh's shortstop O'Neill Cruz.
The Red Sox have improved to 13-10 on the season and 10-3 away from Fenway Park. They'll have Monday off before opening a series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
