Red Sox ride hot offense in sweep of Nationals

Trevor Story and Ceddanne Rafaela each homered to help the visiting Boston Red Sox complete a three-game sweep by beating the Washington Nationals 6-4 on Sunday.
Story hit a two-run home run that was part of Boston’s four-run first inning, and Rafaela hit a solo home run in the ninth. Rafaela had three of Boston’s 12 hits.
The Red Sox, who have won five of their last six games, outscored the Nationals 27-9 in the series.
Boston ace Garrett Crochet (9-4) pitched the first five innings and exited with a 4-2 lead. He allowed nine hits, struck out seven and walked two.
Brady House collected three hits for Washington, which posted 12 hits but has lost four of its last six games.
Washington left-hander Shinnosuke Ogaswara (0-1) made his major league debut, but was pulled with two outs in the third after throwing 55 pitches. He gave up four runs on seven hits and struck out two.
The Red Sox led 4-0 five batters into the game. After an RBI single by Roman Anthony and an RBI double by Rob Refsnyder, Story hit a two-run home run. It was his 14th homer of the season and his third in the last seven games.
The Nationals cut Boston’s lead to 4-2 in the third, when they received an RBI double from Paul DeJong and a run-scoring single from House.
The Red Sox extended their lead to 5-2 on a Romy Gonzalez sacrifice fly that allowed Rafaela to score in the seventh.
Boston reliever Greg Weissert walked Luis Garcia Jr. with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-3, but Boston regained a three-run lead when Rafaela homered against Andrew Chafin in the ninth. It was Rafaela’s second home run in as many games and his 11th of the season.
Washington trailed 6-4 after Daylen Lile’s two-out single drove in House in the ninth, but Jordan Hicks retired CJ Abrams on a fly ball to left to end the game. Despite allowing a run in his only inning on the mound, Hicks earned his first save of the season.