Red Sox Notes: Astros Rookie ‘Outstanding’ In Fenway Park Debut

The Red Sox knew they'd need to put runs on the board Saturday.

Nick Pivetta was skipped in the rotation, meaning Boston needed to rely on the bullpen heavily against one of the more top-heavy lineups in baseball. Josh Winckowski, Brad Keller, Zack Kelly and Chris Martin did a fine enough job keeping things within reach, but the whole "scoring" thing proved to be troublesome.

Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti was having none of it.

"He was good. He had a good fastball, good changeup," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said postgame. "He did an outstanding job of keeping us off balance."

Arrighetti set a new career-best with 13 strikeouts over seven innings in the win Saturday, surpassing his prior career mark of 12 -- which was set in his previous start. It was a dominant performance from the 24-year-old, who started with a 21.00 ERA and has worked it all the way down to a 5.14.

Boston thought it would be able to ride a hot lineup Saturday. It just didn't account for the emergence of a young star on the national stage.

Here are more notes from Saturday's matchup between the Red Sox and Astros:

-- Yordan Álvarez improved upon his incredible career numbers at America's Most Beloved Ballpark, belting a pair of home runs at the field in which he's now slashing .463/.569/1.024 in 11 games.

"It seems like he likes hitting here, keeps things close and shoots it up the other way," Cora said postgame. "He's the closest thing to David... very, very similar to David Ortiz."

-- Zach Dezenzo belted his first big league home run off Zack Kelly in the eighth inning. It proved to be the game-winning swing.

-- David Hamilton and Jarren Duran each stole a base against Houston, which means they remain tied for the team lead with 29.

"It's a great race," Cora said. "We'll see what happens at the end. These guys are dynamic, and if they keep going that means they're getting on base. It's good for us."

-- The Red Sox and Astros will conclude their three-game set Sunday, with first pitch from Fenway Park scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.