Shane Bieber pitched seven strong innings Friday night to help the Cleveland Guardians defeat Boston 5-2 in the start of a seven-game homestand for the Red Sox
Bieber (2-1) limited Boston to two runs on five hits. He struck out four and issued two walks. Reliever Trevor Stephan stranded two runners in the eighth, and Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth to record his eighth save in nine opportunities.
Catcher Mike Zunino and right fielder Will Brennan each hit a solo home run for the Guardians, who raised their road record to 9-5. Zunino's home run was his second of the season. It was Brennan's first home run of the year
Jarren Duran collected three hits for the Red Sox, who had eight hits in the loss. Duran's hits were all doubles. Boston received two hits from Kike Hernandez
Red Sox starting pitching Nick Pivetta (1-2) took the loss. He went five innings and surrendered four runs on five hits. Pivetta walked two and struck out five
Steven Kwan had two of Cleveland's eight hits.
The Guardians took a 3-0 lead by scoring twice in the first and once in the second. Kwan singled and scored on a Josh Naylor sacrifice fly to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead, and Jose Ramirez made it 2-0 when he singled and scored on a Josh Bell double. Cleveland's advantage was 3-0 after a Myles Straw single drove in Brennan
Boston sliced its deficit to 3-1 when Triston Cases walked, took third on a Duran double and scored on a Hernandez single.
Cleveland regained a three-run lead on Zunino's home run, which made it 4-1 in the fourth.
Boston pulled within two runs in the fifth, when Hernandez raced home from third on an Alex Verdugo groundout, but Cleveland increased the lead to 5-2 on Brennan's home run in the ninth.
--Field Level Media