Here are the takeaways as the Red Sox closed their series against the Guardians with a 4-2 victory, spurred by Xander Bogaerts’ heroics.
The Big Picture
For five innings, the Red Sox threatened to waste an excellent outing by Kutter Crawford. The 26-year-old allowed just three hits and one run on a homer by José Ramírez in the fourth, but his teammates mustered nothing for the first five frames. When Cora pulled the plug on Crawford’s outing with two outs and a runner on second in the sixth, the Red Sox’s offense looked uncomfortably anemic.