O'Neill hits two of Boston's five homers to topple Angels

ANAHEIM -- Nothing came easy for the Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium.

They lost shortstop Trevor Story to injury. Their defense melted down at the most inopportune time. Their previously dominant bullpen blew a lead not once, but twice.

But in the end, Jarren Duran and Tyler O'Neill came through to bail them out.

O’Neill homered twice, Duran hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the top of the eighth inning and the Red Sox beat the Angels 8-6 for their fifth consecutive victory.

“We didn't stop playing, and that's a good sign,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We talk about last year when we were in August, and it's not that we stopped playing, but we didn't compete the way you need to compete at a certain level here to be successful. And regardless of the hit-by-pitches and the losses and the errors, we kept competing.”

The Red Sox hit five homers in the game, none bigger than Duran’s.

Duran, who went to high school about 15 minutes west of Angel Stadium at Cypress High, drilled a 99 mph fastball from reliever José Soriano an estimated 409 feet over the center-field fence to snap a 6-6 tie and put the Red Sox ahead for good.

It was Duran’s first career hit at Angel Stadium and came with his friends and family packed down the right-field line.

“To be honest, I put so much pressure on myself because there's been people that have never seen me get a hit in person,” Duran said. “... It was kind of a relief for myself in a way, just putting so much pressure on myself.”

O’Neill and Triston Casas led off the second inning with back-to-back homers and Reese McGuire added a two-run shot later in the frame to stake the Red Sox to a 4-0 lead. After the Red Sox blew the lead, Duran put them back ahead with his homer, and O’Neill hit his second homer of the game in the ninth to give the Red Sox needed insurance.

Boston stretched its lead to 5-1 in the sixth and appeared firmly in control before its defense committed errors on back-to-back plays to let the Angels back into the game.

Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela dropped Taylor Ward’s liner to center to lead off the inning. On the next play, second baseman Enmanuel Valdez couldn't catch Rafael Devers’ throw on a double-play turn. Miguel Sanó was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and two batters later, Logan O’Hoppe launched a grand slam off Josh Winckowski to tie the score.

The grand slam snapped a stretch of 17 consecutive scoreless innings for the Red Sox’s bullpen.

“That was a bad inning,” Cora said. “We put [Winckowski] in a tough spot. He threw a strike and they hit a home run.”

Valdez gave the Red Sox the lead back with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, but the bullpen was again unable to hold the lead. Chris Martin, who had not allowed a run in his previous 24 appearances dating back to July 30, served up an RBI single to Sanó to allow the Angels to tie it up.

That set the stage for Duran and O’Neill to power the Red Sox to victory with their late homers. Kenley Jansen retired the side in order in the ninth for his third save.

The win, while satisfying, came at a cost. Story left in the fourth inning after diving for a Mike Trout one-hopper and landing hard on his left shoulder.

Story was not in a sling after the game and will have an MRI on Saturday.

“Obviously did something to the shoulder there. [It's] pretty painful,” Story said. “We didn't get images yet so … not trying to put any words on it yet because we don't know for sure. Just kind of landed all the body weight on the shoulder there and yeah, it didn't feel good.”