BOSTON (AP) — Jarren Duran hit an inside-the-park homer, Lucas Giolito pitched six effective innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Sunday to avert a three-game sweep.
In a tight race for one of three American League wild cards, the Red Sox won for the eighth time in 11 games.
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Boston Red Sox pitcher Aroldis Chapman, second from left, and catcher Carlos Narváez, right, celebrate with teammates and coaches after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Alexander Canario (29) high fives third base coach Mike Rabelo after hitting a home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez, left, and Aroldis Chapman (44) shake hands at the end of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Fans cheer as Boston Red Sox's Jarren Duran runs to home plate to score after hitting a three-run in field home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Boston Red Sox's Jarren Duran reacts after hitting a three-run in field home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Alexander Canario hit a solo homer over the Green Monster for Pittsburgh, which had won nine of 12.
Duran’s three-run homer into the Fenway Park triangle in right-center field capped a four-run fifth against starter Mitch Keller (6-13), pushing Boston ahead 4-1.
Coming off his best start of the season, when he went eight shutout innings last Tuesday in a victory over Baltimore, Giolito (10-2) gave up a run and three hits. He struck out six and walked five.
Aroldis Chapman got three outs for his 27th save.
Giolito breezed through the first three innings with the help of center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who made a diving catch. But the right-hander walked the bases loaded in the fourth before uncorking a wild pitch that gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
Roman Anthony had an RBI groundout for the Red Sox in the fifth. Rafaela drove in a run with an infield single in the sixth.
Pirates third baseman Cam Devanney, who grew up about 45 minutes away in Amherst, New Hampshire, made his major league debut and went 0 for 3 with a walk.
Duran hit a line drive into right-center and the ball got past Canario, who tried to cut it off from right field. It rolled into the Fenway triangle, where it caromed off the side wall of Boston’s bullpen and briefly got past center fielder Oneil Cruz as the speedy Duran raced around the bases.
Because of Nick Gonzales’ error at second base to start the Boston fifth, all four runs off Keller were unearned.
Pirates: Open a three-game series at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Red Sox: RHP Brayan Bello (10-6, 2.99 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday afternoon against Cleveland. LHP Parker Messick (1-0, 0.66) goes for the Guardians.
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Boston Red Sox pitcher Aroldis Chapman, second from left, and catcher Carlos Narváez, right, celebrate with teammates and coaches after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Alexander Canario (29) high fives third base coach Mike Rabelo after hitting a home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez, left, and Aroldis Chapman (44) shake hands at the end of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Fans cheer as Boston Red Sox's Jarren Duran runs to home plate to score after hitting a three-run in field home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Boston Red Sox's Jarren Duran reacts after hitting a three-run in field home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.
The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
