Red Sox eager to build momentum in opener vs. Pirates

The Boston Red Sox will visit the Pittsburgh Pirates for the opener of a three-game series on Friday night, and both teams have rested bullpens and some much-needed momentum.

Boston ended a five-game losing streak with a 7-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday in the finale of a four-game set. The win allowed the Red Sox to avoid being swept in a series for the first time since mid-June (against Toronto).

Boston was nursing a 1-0 lead when Caleb Durbin hit a grand slam in the eighth inning. Rookie Payton Tolle gave up two hits over eight innings before Greg Weissert pitched the ninth, hours after being recalled from Triple-A Worcester.

"We needed a deep start, (and Tolle) got a great deep start," Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. "We needed a win, and (Tolle) gave us a win. He was awesome. ... He's been really good and we're gonna need him to keep doing that down the stretch, but it was a really good outing."

Tolle retired the last 17 batters he faced in the longest outing of his MLB career.

"I just try to do what I can on any given day and was fortunate enough to have a deep one today," Tolle said.

As good as Tolle was, Pittsburgh's Braxton Ashcraft was even better in his team's 13-1 triumph over Miami on Thursday. Ashcroft needed only 85 pitches to throw a complete game, giving up three hits and striking out 10 batters to help the Pirates end a three-game losing streak.

"He's an All-Star, man," Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. "He earned that in the first half. Certainly did today coming off some tough losses. To (pitch) the way he did today was outstanding."

Rafael Flores hit a pair of three-run homers for the Pirates, and Jared Triolo and Jacob Gonzalez also went deep.

Flores started behind the plate because Endy Rodriguez was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday morning with hip inflammation.

Pittsburgh has lost seven of its eight series since the All-Star break, but Ashcraft shined on Thursday.

"I think it's going back to my identity of trying to be in the (strike) zone as much as I can, filling the frame up, forcing people to swing the bat and expand when I need to," he said. "You're gonna have ebbs and flows in the season. These last two weeks have been one of those times you may want to forget a little bit, but you don't want to forget all of it. You want to look at the things you did well, celebrate those things, (and) look at the things you did not do so well and go to work on those.

"I think you saw the product of hard work, putting your head down and not paying attention to what's going on externally. ... I think it's the start of something really cool down the stretch."

Boston left-hander Jake Bennett (7-5, 3.17 ERA) will take the mound on Friday for his first career start against the Pirates. He allowed four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings in his last outing, a 7-3 loss to the Athletics on Saturday.

Pittsburgh is expected to start right-hander Bubba Chandler (5-8, 4.26 ERA) in his first career appearance against Boston. He won his second straight start on Saturday, scattering three hits over six scoreless innings in a 9-0 victory over the New York Mets.

--Field Level Media