Xander Bogaerts belted his fifth career grand slam to cap a seven-run eighth inning as the visiting Boston Red Sox posted a 9-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Mitch Moreland drove in his second run with a go-ahead RBI single to start the eighth-inning uprising for the Red Sox, who erupted for nine runs in the third inning of Saturday's 15-2 romp.
J.D. Martinez and Eduardo Nunez each had an RBI single and Brandon Workman (2-1) tossed one scoreless inning to pick up the win as Boston recorded its sixth victory in seven games to move within one game of .500.
After the Red Sox erupted for 15 runs and 21 hits on Saturday, they recorded just two and five, respectively, before Rafael Devers had an adventure on the bases with one out in the eighth inning.
Devers made a wide turn following his single off the left-field wall against Kelvin Herrera (0-2), prompting shortstop Tim Anderson's throw that got away from first baseman Jose Abreu. Devers raced all the way to third on the errant throw before coming around to score on Moreland's RBI single to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
The Red Sox loaded the bases before Nunez's swinging bunt rolled up the third-base line to plate rookie Michael Chavis. Caleb Frare relieved Herrera and issued a bases-loaded walk to Andrew Benintendi before Juan Minaya entered the game and saw Bogaerts send his 0-1 changeup over the wall in left field to cap the scoring.
Chicago trimmed its deficit to 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Ryan Cordell crushed a first-pitch fastball from starter Rick Porcello over the wall in center for his third homer and first since April 18. The blast snapped a streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings for Porcello dating back to April 25.
Abreu evened the contest in the sixth inning by sending Porcello's 2-2 changeup over the wall in center field. The homer was the team-leading eighth of the season and 154th of Abreu's career, tying him with Bill Melton for eighth place on the franchise's all-time list.
--Field Level Media
Boston | Chi. White Sox | |
Rick Porcello | Player | Dylan Covey |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 4.2 |
7 | Strikeouts | 2 |
5 | Hits | 5 |
3.00 | ERA | 3.86 |
Boston | Chi. White Sox | |
Mitch Moreland | Player | Jose Abreu |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 5 |
.667 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Boston | 9 | 1 | 13 | .273 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
Chi. White Sox | 6 | 2 | 12 | .176 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |