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Mike Napoli powers Boston Red Sox to 6-1 victory over Angels

Boston Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli hits a two-run double during the eighth inning of a 6-1 win over the Angels on Sunday.

Boston Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli hits a two-run double during the eighth inning of a 6-1 win over the Angels on Sunday.

(Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)
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Mike Napoli tormented his old team one more time on Sunday, blasting a two-run home run in the second inning and a two-run double in the eighth to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Angels in Fenway Park.

Napoli, the former Angels catcher who was traded away after the 2010 season, went five for nine with four homers and eight runs batted in during the three-game series, including two homers in Saturday night’s 8-3 win.

The slugger now has a .333 career batting average (55 for 165) with 18 homers and 36 runs batted in against the Angels.

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Sunday’s homer, off Angels starter Hector Santiago, traveled an estimated 450 feet, the longest homer in Fenway Park this season. It followed a single by Xander Bogaerts, who tied a career high with four hits.

Napoli was intentionally walked with first base open in the sixth, but with two on in the eighth, he drove a two-run double high off the Green Monster in left-center for a 5-1 lead. Brock Holt followed with an RBI single for a 6-1 lead.

Santiago (3-3) took the loss despite maintaining his stuff over 6 2/3 innings in which he allowed three runs and seven hits, struck out six and walked one with a career-high 124 pitches.

The Angels, who finished 5-5 on a 10-game trip to Baltimore, Toronto and Boston, managed only one run and four hits in eight innings off Red Sox left-hander Wade Miley, who retired the first 14 hitters before giving up a two-out walk to Chris Iannetta and a single to C.J. Cron in the fifth.

Boston pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Holt doubled to right-center, took third on Sandy Leon’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Dustin Pedroia’s sacrifice fly to center.

The Angels cut the deficit to 3-1 in the sixth when Erick Aybar singled to center and scored on Mike Trout’s double into the left-field corner.

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But Pedroia, the Red Sox’s second baseman, and Holt, the third baseman, helped keep the Angels from scoring with diving stops of grounders and throws to first base to rob David Freese and Chris Iannetta of hits in the seventh.

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