Romy Gonzalez, Trevor Story and Abraham Toro each homered to propel the Boston Red Sox to a 7-3 victory over the visiting Houston Astros on Saturday.
Gonzalez hit a solo home run in the first inning, Story gave the Red Sox a 4-2 lead when he hit a two-run homer in the third and Toro extended the lead to 6-2 with a two-run home run in the fourth. All three long balls came against Houston starter Colton Gordon.
The Astros received a two-run home run from Christian Walker, his second homer in as many games.
Gonzalez, Story, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder each had two hits for the Red Sox, who had 10 hits in the win. Victor Caratini collected four of Houston’s 14 hits.
Reliever Justin Wilson (3-1) earned the win after recording the final two outs in the fifth. Boston’s Walker Buehler struggled in his start, giving up three runs on nine hits while walking three and not recording a strikeout in 4 1/3 innings.
Gordon (4-4) gave up six runs on seven hits in four innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Boston won the first two games in the three-game series, and extended its winning streak to four games.
Shortstop Jeremy Pena was not in Houston’s lineup after cramping in the 10th inning of Boston’s 2-1 victory on Friday. Pena came off the 10-day injured list (ribs) earlier Friday. Carlos Correa, acquired from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, played shortstop after agreeing to move to third as part of the trade.
Walker’s home run handed the Astros a 2-0 lead in the first, but the home runs by Gonzalez, Story and Toro helped Boston take a four-run lead.
Houston made it 6-3 when Yainer Diaz drove in Carlos Correa with a single in the fifth, but Story’s RBI double in the seventh scored Refsnyder and pushed Boston’s lead to four.
Jordan Hicks struck out Correa with the bases loaded for the final out of the eighth inning.
–Field Level Media