ANAHEIM -- The Red Sox lost their starting pitcher early, but a combination of effective relief pitching and a 10-hit offensive performance secured a 7-5 victory over the Angels on Sunday to complete a series sweep at Angel Stadium.
Starter Ranger Suarez left the game with two outs in the bottom of the third inning due to left adductor tightness. With the Red Sox holding a 5-3 lead at the time of the departure, interim manager Chad Tracy turned to the bullpen to finish the game.
"When you have to go in the third inning -- and we were very, very fresh down there -- [it] helps, but they were phenomenal. They did an outstanding job," Tracy said.
Five Boston relievers combined to limit the damage, preserving the lead by allowing just two runs on three hits over the final 6 1/3 innings to protect the cushion.
Greg Weissert entered first, retiring all four batters he faced while striking out two over 1 1/3 innings. Tyron Guerrero followed with two scoreless, hitless innings, issuing one walk and striking out one. Garrett Whitlock completed the seventh inning, striking out two in a perfect frame of relief.
Justin Slaten took over in the eighth and ran into two-out traffic after allowing a double to Donovan Walton and an RBI single to Jo Adell, but he struck out Wade Meckler swinging to escape further damage and limit the Angels to one run. Aroldis Chapman closed out the ninth, working through a solo home run by Zach Neto to secure the final out and complete the sweep.
The collective pitching performance protected an early lead built entirely on multi-run homers. After the Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first, Jarren Duran tied the contest in the second with a two-run home run to center field, his 13th of the year.
"It felt really good," Duran said of the blast. " It's been frustrating [lately]. [So it was a] relief to hit the ball hard and not find somebody's glove."
One inning later, Willson Contreras hit a three-run home run to put Boston ahead 5-3. The blast marked Contreras’s 20th home run of the season, representing the seventh time in his career he has reached the feat.
"Man, seven out of 10 [years], it feels good," Contreras said. "This year has been good to me. Of course I've been doing my homework, I put the work in the cage and my mindset is still there. ... It feels good to already have 20. I'm not putting pressure on myself to reach some number. I'm just trying to play every single day like it's my last game."
Boston added critical insurance in the top of the seventh. Anthony Seigler and Ceddanne Rafaela hit consecutive singles and executed a double steal before Wilyer Abreu drove Seigler home with a sacrifice fly. Masataka Yoshida followed with an RBI single to bring in Rafaela.
The victory moves the Red Sox to a highly productive 8-2 stretch over their last 10 games as they navigate a multi-city road trip leading into the All-Star break.
"It's really good," Contreras said of starting the trip with a sweep. "We've been playing really good baseball for the last two weeks. It's really impressive the way we are going as a group to our business. We're going through every starter ... and trying to keep the momentum going."
For Tracy, the sweep marks the most complete performance from the club since he assumed managerial duties.
"I think overall this is the best. Not just the series, just the complete package of the offense that we're getting now," Tracy said. "We're scoring runs early, we're scoring runs on starters, giving our starters a chance to pitch with leads. ... You go into the road trip knowing you got a nine-game kind of sprint to the All-Star break. ... This is a good start.”