There were encouraging signs from the Boston Red Sox’s offense on Friday night, and the team will look to build on that performance when it hosts the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon.

Jarren Duran’s three-run home run was the big blow in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday. The home run, Duran’s second of the season, erased a 1-0 deficit in the third inning.

Duran entered the game hitting .170. His home run came after Carlos Narvaez drew a walk in an 11-pitch at-bat and Caleb Durbin singled.

“Whenever a guy has an at-bat like that, you kind of wear down the pitcher, see some more pitches,” Duran said. “You always have to tip your cap to (Narvaez). That guy is a stud, and every time he goes to the plate he has a great approach.

“I just got a pitch I could handle,” Duran continued. “I was just trying to get the job done, just tie the game by getting an RBI from third base … just do my job, and I happened to run into a homer right there.”

Boston also received three hits — a double and two singles — from Roman Anthony, who began the game in a 4-for-31 slump. It was Anthony’s first multi-hit game since April 15, and his first three-hit performance since Opening Day. He entered the weekend hitting .209.

“He looked good today,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He stayed off pitches out of the zone. I saw him chase a little bit in the last couple of games, which I’m not used to seeing with him. I think it was a big step in the right direction for quality.”

Despite the positive signs from Duran and Anthony, Friday’s game was the 18th time Boston has scored three runs or less in a game this season. The Red Sox are 4-14 in those games.

Right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (3-0, 2.00 ERA) will take the mound for Houston on Saturday. He’s 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in two career starts against Boston.

Left-hander Connelly Early (2-1, 2.84 ERA) is Boston’s probable starter. He will face Houston for the first time.

The Astros were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 in Friday night’s loss. Houston scored on a solo home run by Carlos Correa, who had three of his team’s 11 hits.

“Today is one of those days where we pitched really well, then we don’t hit,” Correa said. “Sometimes we hit and we don’t pitch well. We’ve just got to find the perfect balance where we’re all in sync and just doing everything at the right time.”

Houston left at least one runner on base in seven of the nine innings.

“We were one swing away,” Houston manager Joe Espada added. “But we pitched really well. Mike (Burrows), Bennett Sousa and Bryan King gave us a shot. That’s all you can ask for. Mike settled down after that one inning (when Duran homered). Really pitched through some tough stretches there and gave us an opportunity, but just one swing away and sometimes that happens.”

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay right-hander Griffin Jax may be taking a new step in his career on Saturday evening when the Rays meet the San Francisco Giants in St. Petersburg, Fla.

For the second time this season, the career reliever will make a start and perhaps get settled into what could be a new role.

Jax, 31, said he is aware of the possibility of pitching every fifth day.

“This is an organization that’s had some success doing this in the past,” said Jax, a third-round draft pick in 2016. “We’re going to see how I respond to increasing workload, but I think, all in all, it’s going to be the right decision.”

Jax (1-2, 6.35 ERA) has a 1.68 WHIP across 11 1/3 innings this season. He likely will open in front of fellow right-hander Jesse Scholtens after the club’s 3-0 shutout of the Giants on Friday night.

Jax has no record with a 1.23 ERA in eight career appearances against San Francisco.

The Rays and manager Kevin Cash could use the help on their pitching staff, though it has produced its two shutouts this season in the past three contests.

Tampa Bay’s rotation took a big hit Friday when the team announced that right-hander Ryan Pepiot would have season-ending hip surgery.

“It’s unfortunate,” Cash said. “It’s a guy that made (31) starts for us (last year) and that we were hoping was going to be available at some point. It just didn’t look like it was going to turn in the right direction.”

Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz, who had the game-winning RBI on Friday, left the series opener with left side tightness. He is day-to-day.

After being swept in its three-game series in Philadelphia, San Francisco arrived in the Tampa area at 2:30 a.m. ET — and the Giants played like it.

The Giants lost their fourth straight game and were shut out for the seventh time, tops in the majors.

San Francisco general manager Zack Minasian joined the team in Florida for the series and expressed his support for first-year manager Tony Vitello, adding that the season could eventually get pointed in the right direction.

“I try not to make too much out of three games; that’s a small sample,” Minasian said of the sweep in Philadelphia. “I wish I was thick-skinned enough to say I don’t worry about it, but I think it’s just the nature of these positions. You’re always wanting to do better as a front office. We always want to make a positive impact.

“But I think a lot of it goes back to the fact that there is preparation, a lot of hard work and you just hope and are confident that things will turn.”

The starting pitcher the last time the Giants won, right-hander Landen Roupp (5-1, 2.55 ERA) will look to end the team’s skid on Saturday.

Roupp beat the Miami Marlins last time out, 6-3 on Sunday, yielding three runs in 7 2/3 innings for his fourth consecutive win.

He has a 9.00 ERA without a decision in one start and one relief appearance against Tampa Bay.

–Field Level Media

After a slow start to the season, the Philadelphia Phillies have a simple — and obvious — goal under interim manager Don Mattingly.

“We’ve got to win ballgames,” right-hander Zack Wheeler said after the Phillies defeated the Marlins 6-5 on Friday night in Miami. “You can’t get too far behind. The Braves are a really good team, and they’re already a good bit ahead (in the National League East). So we’ve got some catching up to do, but we’re playing better baseball right now. And like I said, it starts with the staff.”

The Phillies will aim for their fifth consecutive win on Saturday afternoon when they meet the Marlins in the second game of a four-game set. The four wins have come under Mattingly, who took over when Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson was fired Tuesday amid a 9-19 start to the season.

Wheeler, in just his second start this year, held the Marlins to one run over six innings. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm — two veterans who have struggled — came up with big hits.

“There are so many guys with track records here that you know are going to hit,” Mattingly said.

And pitch.

“It seems like over the past few years the starting pitching has been the strength, and there was times, obviously earlier this year, it wasn’t as good as you’d like,” Mattingly said. “But it’s starting to iron itself out.”

Miami’s Otto Lopez enjoyed a big night, going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. The Marlins attempted a late comeback, as they rallied from a 6-1 deficit with three runs in the eighth and another run in the ninth, but their late surge fell just shy.

“We see with the group, day in and day out, they will just continue to hang in there,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “We came up short, but I loved how we were able to finish that one off.”

Now the Marlins will take aim at Philadelphia starter Andrew Painter (1-2, 5.25 ERA), who will look to rebound from a bumpy start his last time out.

In his fifth major league outing, the 23-year-old right-hander gave up a career-high five runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-3 loss to Atlanta on April 24. Painter allowed nine hits, walked two batters and struck out only one of the 28 batters he faced.

Painter actually had things under control — two runs allowed through five innings — before giving up three runs in the sixth.

Painter will face the Marlins for the first time. His counterpart, right-hander Max Meyer (1-0, 3.30 ERA) has pitched against the Phillies only once, allowing five runs in 5 1/3 innings in his major league debut in 2022.

Fast-forward to the current season, and Meyer has yielded three runs or less in all six of his starts. He gave up just an unearned run in five innings Sunday against the San Francisco Giants. The Marlins lost 6-3, and Meyer took a no-decision.

In essence, Meyer’s last start was the opposite of Painter’s, as McCullough pulled Meyer after five frames despite a relatively low pitch count (77).

“I thought Max had done his job, gotten us through five. We thought we had the right combination of guys to get to (closer Pete Fairbanks), but the game quickly turned on us,” McCullough said.

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media