PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kutter Crawford allowed one run in six strong innings and the Boston Red Sox defeated the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Saturday.

Crawford (1-0, 0.66 ERA) struck out six and walked three. The 28-year-old right-hander gave up a season-high seven hits after not allowing more than three hits in any of his previous four starts. He yielded two hits in each of his last three starts and has allowed three runs in 27 1/3 innings this season.

“Honestly, I like these starts a lot,” Crawford said. “I take pride in competing and trying to work out of situations like that.”

Boston entered the series having lost seven of 10 games before taking the first two of the three-game set. Pittsburgh lost its fifth straight game, and eighth in the past 10 games, after opening the season 11-5.

“I didn’t think our approach was bad often today,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s just when we had some crucial at-bats, in those situations, we didn’t really execute our plan.”