Contreras 446-Foot Bomb Breaks Game Open, Boston Tops Anaheim 7-5

Willson Contreras hit a 446-foot three-run homer to left center in the third inning that swung the win probability from 53% in Anaheim's favor to 23% — a 30-point shift that effectively decided this game. Boston never trailed again, finishing 7-5.

Anaheim came out swinging. A first-inning fielder's choice scored Neto, then Jo Adell singled to center to score Guzman, and just like that it was 2-0 Angels before Boston had recorded an out in the field. The early hole looked manageable when Jarren Duran answered with a 422-foot two-run shot to center in the second to tie it, but Zach Neto doubled to center to score Lowe and put Anaheim back in front 3-2. Through two innings, this looked like a slugfest with no clear owner.

Then Contreras happened. With Cheng and Abreu on base in the third, he launched a 446-foot missile to left center that cleared the bases and put Boston up 5-3. That single swing moved the home win probability from 53% to 23% — a 30-point collapse in one at-bat. The story of the night was that Boston never needed another signature moment after that. Starter Ryan Johnson had already allowed 6 hits and 2 earned runs over 4.0 innings, and the damage was done before Anaheim's bullpen could stabilize. On the Boston side, Tyron Guerrero threw 2.0 hitless, scoreless innings, while Ranger Suarez was rougher — 2.2 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs — but by the time Anaheim started chipping away, the deficit was too steep.

Boston extended the lead to 7-3 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Abreu that scored Seigler, followed by a Masataka Yoshida single to left that scored Rafaela. Yoshida finished 3-for-5 with an RBI, quietly one of the more consistent bats in the lineup all night. Anaheim made it interesting late — Adell singled to right in the eighth to score Walton, and Neto capped his 3-for-5, two-RBI night with a solo homer to left center in the ninth to cut it to 7-5 — but that's as close as it got. Neto and Adell both went 3-for-4 or better and look like the two Angels who refused to quit, but the rest of the lineup couldn't generate enough to overcome that third-inning crater. Boston takes this one 7-5.