Red Sox 6, Indians 4
BOSTON -- Hours after introducing Dave Dombrowski as their new president of baseball operations, the Boston Red Sox went out and defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-4 Wednesday night.
Dombrowski, hired by Boston just two weeks after being fired by the Detroit Tigers, saw his new team twice hit back-to-back home runs off 2014 Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber to take a 2-1 series win the battle of last-place teams.
"When you start looking at opportunities that come around, there aren't many opportunities like this that exist," Dombrowski told an afternoon news conference, adding it was an "extreme honor" to get this job.
So far so good in the new regime.
Boston designated hitter David Ortiz (26th of the season, 492nd career) and rookie first baseman Travis Shaw went back to back in the second inning, and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and catcher Ryan Hanigan repeated the feat in a four-run fourth.
Bradley, who just missed a homer his first time up, hit a three-run shot, the career-worst fourth homer of the game allowed by Kluber (8-13).
Joe Kelly (6-6) worked six innings and allowed just an earned run for his fourth straight win. The Red Sox scored 38 runs in those four games, but Kelly allowed only three earned runs over the past three.
He left with a 6-1 lead, but Indians catcher Yan Gomes hit a three-run homer off reliever Jean Machi with two out in the eighth. Junichi Tazawa worked a perfect ninth for his first save of the season, the second of his career.
Boston has scored 62 runs on 89 hits in the first six games of a 10-game homestand. The Red Sox are 4-2 in that span.
Shaw's homer was his sixth consecutive hit.
Kluber, who pitched three complete games in his previous four outings, lasted six innings Wednesday, and he matched his season high by allowing six runs. He struck out nine, walked one and yielded six hits.
Michael Brantley, the Cleveland left fielder serving as the DH for the third straight game because of a shoulder injury, had three hits. He went 7-for-13 in the series.
Ortiz, batting .500 during a 10-game hitting streak coming in, led off the second inning with his 20th home run since June 11 -- a towering fly ball into the visitors' bullpen. Four pitches later, Shaw homered to left field.
Bradley, back in center field with Mookie Betts (and shortstop Xander Bogaerts) resting, made a spectacular over-the-head, twisting catch on a drive by shortstop Francisco Lindor for the second out of the first inning.
Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, hitting .375 with a .656 slugging percentage in his last 10 home games coming in, led off the bottom of the fifth with a long double. After Kluber picked up two strikeouts, Boston right fielder Rusney Castillo singled Sandoval to third. Bradley then hit his third homer of the homestand -- a shot that just made it over the Green Monster.
Hanigan hit the next pitch to complete the second set of back-to-backs homers.
The Indians picked up an unearned run in the fifth, but Kelly's third double-play grounder and an inning-ending strikeout avoided serious trouble.
NOTES: Dave Dombrowski, introduced Wednesday as the new Red Sox's new president, said he would hire a general manager to replace Ben Cherington but added, "I think it's important to know -- and I'm going to talk to a couple of people in the front office very quickly on the baseball end of it -- is that I'm not here to blow up the operation." Dombrowski also said he thought Cherington would stay but understood why he didn't. ... Cleveland's Jose Ramirez played left field for the first time in the majors, with Lonnie Chisenhall in right. The two opened the season as the Indians' shortstop and third baseman, respectively. ... Dombrowski's first act in his new job was to request waivers on RHP Justin Masterson, who was released later Wednesday. ... RHP Josh Tomlin makes his second start since returning from shoulder surgery when the Indians open a four-game series against the Yankees on Thursday night in New York. LHP Wade Miley opens a four-game home series for the Red Sox against the Kansas City Royals.