Lucas Giolito shines as Red Sox sweep Astros in dominant 6-1 win

Lucas Giolito delivered a brilliant performance, tossing eight stellar innings to power the Boston Red Sox to a 6-1 win over the Houston Astros, completing a three-game sweep at Fenway Park.

Since a rough June 4 start, he boasts an impressive 2.03 ERA over 10 starts, with only 14 earned runs allowed in 62 innings. His season ERA now stands at a solid 3.57.

On the other hand, the Red Sox responded with a six-run outburst in the bottom half against Astros starter Framber Valdez. The rally began with rookie Roman Anthony’s leadoff double, marking him as the fifth Red Sox player to record 15 doubles in his first 46 career games, joining legends like Ted Williams. Romy Gonzalez walked, and RBI singles from Trevor Story and Ceddanne Rafaela tied and then gave them the lead.

Valdez struggled in a rough inning as mistakes piled up, allowing Boston to score. Errors, a balk, a wild pitch, and a passed ball hurt his performance. Abraham Toro hit an infield single, Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice bunt led to a fielding error by Valdez, and Connor Wong’s sacrifice fly added runs. Rob Refsnyder’s RBI groundout sealed the messy inning. Despite the chaos, Valdez bounced back, pitching two scoreless innings afterward. He ended the game allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits.

Fresh off taking two of three from the Dodgers, Boston’s sweep of Houston pushed them 11 games over .500 for the first time since 2022. Chris Murphy closed out the game with a quiet ninth, as Houston’s offense weakened after their early homer.