Jarren Duran laced extra-base hits in each of the first two innings and a quartet of relief pitchers worked 4 1/3 scoreless frames to help the Boston Red Sox post a 3-1 win over the visiting New York Mets in the opener of a three-game series on Monday night.
Duran was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run, recording a first-pitch leadoff double in the first and a two-out triple in the second. Boston produced all three of its runs in those opening innings.
Carlos Narvaez also had multiple hits for the Red Sox, who tagged New York starter Kodai Senga (4-3) for a season-high three earned runs to start his eventual six-inning outing. Boston has won two of three since a four-game skid.
Boston’s Justin Wilson (2-0) followed starter Hunter Dobbins with a scoreless inning to post the victory. Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman finalized the bullpen shutout.
Francisco Alvarez and Tyrone Taylor (RBI) each had two hits for New York, which has lost four of five.
Boston’s first two batters reached and scored in the opening inning. After Duran’s leadoff double and a walk to Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman’s groundout up the middle gave the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead. Story doubled the lead with an RBI single inside the first base bag two batters later.
A one-out walk to Narvaez in the second got the Red Sox offense back up and running for a 3-0 lead. Duran delivered the run-scoring blow with two outs, ripping a triple that rattled around in the right field corner.
After Dobbins faced the minimum in the first two frames, Taylor’s third-inning RBI single got the Mets on the scoreboard. Taylor found the grass in left-center field, scoring Alvarez following a leadoff double. Juan Soto grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the New York threat.
The Mets also had golden opportunities to cut into their deficit in both the fifth and sixth. The first of those frames began with back-to-back singles by Alvarez and Jeff McNeil, but Wilson relieved Dobbins to strike out Francisco Lindor with runners on the corners.
Wilson also induced a double-play ball in the sixth.
Slaten retired the Mets 1-2-3 in an 11-pitch eighth before Chapman induced Boston’s third double play of the game to post the save.
