Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking three-run home run in the fifth inning as the host Boston Red Sox defeated the Miami Marlins 5-2 when the rain-shortened game was called in the middle of the sixth inning on Friday night.

Play was halted at 9:19 p.m. ET after Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino's inning-ending strikeout of Miami's Isan Diaz to complete the top of the six. The game was officially called after a one-hour, 25 minute-rain delay.

J.D. Martinez drove in a pair of runs for Boston. Martin Perez (3-2) allowed two runs on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts over five innings for the Red Sox.

Boston won for the sixth time in eight games after dropping two of its last three.

Jorge Alfaro hit a two-run home run for Miami. Marlins rookie Cody Poteet (2-1) surrendered a season-worst five runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six in 4 1/3 innings.

Miami has lost two straight after winning four of its previous five games.

Alfaro's first homer of the season gave Miami a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Martinez tied it for Boston with a two-run double in the third. Poteet had not allowed a run in 14 prior innings over two-plus starts before Martinez's double.

Marwin Gonzalez walked to lead off the Boston fifth and advanced to third on Hunter Renfroe's double. After Enrique Hernandez popped out, Verdugo launched his seventh homer of the season to give Boston a 5-2 lead.

Miami center fielder Starling Marte went 1-for-3 with a strikeout in his return from a non-displaced rib fracture. The former All-Star hit second in the Marlins' lineup in his first game since April 18.

Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers (6-2, 1.75 ERA) opposes Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (5-2, 4.39 ERA) in the second of a three-game weekend series on Saturday.

--Field Level Media