Triston Casas homers, hits RBI double to lead Red Sox past Giants 3-2 for fifth straight win

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Baseball Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As a player for the Dodgers, Red Sox manager Alex Cora witnessed more than his share of towering drives over the fences by home run king Barry Bonds.

Triston Casas hit a shot to left-center that Cora considered one of the best ever seen in San Francisco.

“Any time I can get my name mentioned with Barry Bonds, it’s awesome,” Casas said.

Moved up in the batting order, Casas homered and hit an RBI double to back Kutter Crawford, and Boston beat the Giants 3-2 on Friday night for its fifth straight win.

“I played here a lot of games and I saw one of the great ones dominating from like 2000-2004,” Cora said. “That ball he hit to left-center, that’s one of the best home runs I’ve seen here and I saw many. I think I saw 500, 600, 700.”

Second baseman Justin Turner delivered the defensive gem of the night to save at least one run in the seventh. He backhanded a two-hopper by pinch-hitter Blake Sabol and flipped the ball while falling to the ground to shortstop Yu Chang for the force out on Patrick Bailey. Josh Winckowski then struck out the last two batters.

Turner played second for just the ninth time this season, and he was booed at every chance by Giants fans as an ex-Dodger.

“It was just kind of in the moment,” Turner said. “I was joking earlier, I’m glad it wasn’t too low so I didn’t have to bend over too far. I don’t think I can get down there anymore. It ended up being a pretty big play.”

Crawford (5-5) dueled with Giants ace Logan Webb (8-9), striking out seven with one walk, while allowing one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings.

Crawford surrendered only Michael Conforto’s RBI single in the sixth.

Casas, batting sixth, doubled in a run in the second and hit his 16th homer for a 2-0 lead in the fifth.

Pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder provided a key insurance run for the Red Sox on his RBI single in the eighth before Joc Pederson homered in the bottom half.

Kenley Jansen, the fourth Red Sox reliever, worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 23rd save. Boston swept a quick two-game home series with the Braves and then moved a season-best nine games over .500 at 56-47 on Friday.

Giants prospect Marco Luciano singled leading off the sixth for his first major league hit after being called up Wednesday to face Oakland. His parents flew in from the Dominican Republic and got to see the milestone Friday.

TOUGH STRETCH

The Red Sox began a grueling stretch of 32 games in 34 days — not that Cora is counting the games as a whole because it would be too daunting looking at it that way.

“No, I’m not playing that game. We’ve got six in a row, we get an off day. I know we get an off day this week,” Cora said. “Then after that it’s 10, then an off day, then 14. I know the schedule.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: LHP Chris Sale cane out of his live batting practice throwing session well and is likely to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday as he works back from inflammation in his pitching shoulder. … C Reese McGuire (strained right oblique) will catch back-to-back nine-inning rehab games Saturday and Sunday with the hope he will join the Red Sox next week. … SS Trevor Story (elbow surgery) isn’t ready to join the team on this road trip. … The club will reassess RHP Corey Kluber (inflamed pitching shoulder) after he “didn’t feel great after the last one,” according to Cora. … Boston planned to activate new RHP reliever Mauricio Llovera on Saturday after acquiring him from the Giants this week.

Giants: RHP Keaton Winn began experiencing soreness in his throwing elbow after his last start and is scheduled to be examined Saturday by team orthopedist Dr. Ken Akizuki. … SS Brandon Crawford didn’t come off the injured list as he had aimed to do — his first day eligible — but went through a extensive workout to test his inflamed left knee. … OF Mitch Haniger has begun baseball activities like throwing and hitting as he recovers from a fractured right forearm and isn’t limited in his lower half for running workouts. … 2B Thairo Estrada also is increasing the intensity each day of his baseball activities while recovering from a broken left hand.

UP NEXT

Lefty James Paxton (6-2, 3.46 ERA) takes the mound Saturday for Boston, while San Francisco had yet to announced after the game opener RHP Ryan Walker (3-0, 2.70) would start.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports