Red Sox complete sweep of Rockies, 10-2

The competition – and stakes – will ratchet up for the Red Sox with their four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays starting on Thursday, but the Sox at least took care of their business over the last week. On Wednesday, the Sox completed the three-game sweep of baseball’s worst team, the Colorado Rockies, who have win just 21 times in 93 tries, with a 10-2 victory at Fenway Park, getting pitching, hitting (15 knocks) and defense in the process. This sweep comes on the heels of their three-game sweep of the National League’s second-worst team, the Washington Nationals. They got another strong outing from Lucas Giolito, who threw six shutout innings on 92 pitches with six strikeouts and no walks. The Sox got homers from Carlos Narvaez (8), Wilyer Abreu (18), Romy Gonzalez (5) and Jarren Duran (8) while Masataka Yoshida got a three hits and an RBI in his return from a long stint on the injured list. They have now won eight of their last nine games and have scored six or more runs in their last six games. What becomes of this team is still to be determined, but it may give us a baseball season yet. After a squandering a two-on/no-out advantage in the first, Narvaez got the Sox on the board when he tagged Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela for a no-doubt homer over the Monster seats in the second, a solo shot. The Sox hit Senzatela hard a couple more times in the inning. Yoshida, making his season debut following major shoulder surgery, ripped a solid single to center in the next at-at and then Gonzalez hit the ball to the deepest part of the park but center fielder Brenton Doyle ran it down in the warning track and Senzatela escaped without further damage. The Rockies threatened in the top of the fourth but Giolito got out of it thanks to a dandy play to end the inning. After Tyler Freeman led off with a base hit, Michael Toglia ripped a two-out double high off the left-center wall. Duran played the carom perfectly, hit relay man Trevor Story and Story in turn gunned down Freeman trying to score from first. Narvaez plated another run in the bottom of the fourth. After hitting a double into the right-field corner, he took third on a Senzatela balk and then came home on a Yoshida hit that glanced off a pulled-in Toglia’s glove at first. Wilyer Abreu pushed the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth when, with Roman Anthony aboard, he deposited a 3-1 Senzatela pitch into the Sox bullpen. The Sox nicked reliever Ryan Rolison for a run in the sixth when he issued a walk to Romy Gonzalez, who took second on Marcelo Mayer’s fielder’s choice and then came around on No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s single to right. Reliever Isaiah Campbell gave up the shutout in the eighth inning when he surrendered a one-out, two-run homer from Kyle Farmer into the the first row of the Monster seats, but Gonzalez got those runs right back in the bottom of the inning. Then Duran made it another laugher with a three-run shot…. With activation of Yoshida from the 60-day injured list, it created some challenges with extra outfielders and DH possibilities. With Yoshida going into the lineup as DH, that moved Roman Anthony to left field, Duran to center and it put Cedanne Rafaela, who’d been riding a six-game hit streak during which he had a three-game home run streak, to the bench. Rob Refsnyder was also on the bench. “We’re going to mix and match. It’s a good day for him,” said manager Alex Cora. “He’s been running around for a while. I know he’s been batting well. One day on the bench isn’t going to stop him from hitting. We actually avoid him from getting tired. He’ll get him ready for (Thursday). We can use him as a defensive replacement or pinch hitter today. But that’s the way we’re going to do it. One of the days one of the lefties is going to start against a righty and he’ll help us late in games. Everyone’s on board. Everyone understands what we’re all about and what we’re trying to accomplish and there’s no complaints.”… Cora said that there’s a good chance that Alex Bregman, on the injured list since May 24 with a quad strain, will be available this weekend against Tampa Bay. “I trust our medical staff, I trust all those guys over there. I trust the player, too,” said Cora. “One thing about him, he’s not going to put himself in position to jeopardize his season and our season. If we decide it’s this weekend, everybody feels it’s because he’s ready.”… INF/OF Nate Eaton was optioned to Worcester after Tuesday’s game.