After a three-run seventh inning ruined their chances for a sweep last night, the Boston Red Sox sent Rick Porcello to the mound to make his first start since being sent to the DL earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox had their ace Chris Sale on the bump, but the Red Sox continued to their peculiar trend: make winning against aces look easy.
Sale allowed the first hit of the game during the first inning when Xander Bogaerts singled on a line drive to left field, but was followed by a strikeout from Hanley Ramírez. The White Sox ace also managed to load the bases in the top half of the third, but ended the inning scoreless again by a strikeout from Hanley.
Meanwhile, Porcello looked sharp in the first three innings, where he didn't allowed a runner to reach first. The Red Sox right-hander allowed his first hit of the game in the bottom half of the fourth when Melky Cabrera doubled with two outs, but was stranded at second base when Avisail Garcia hit a lineout.
Boston and Chicago were found in a scoreless game until the top half of the eighth. Bogaerts singled to right center, and with two outs in the inning Travis Shaw homered to right field to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox would tack on another run in the top of the ninth when Josh Rutledge hit a sacrifice fly to score Blake Swihart, extending the lead to 3-0.
Robbie Ross Jr. replaced Porcello to begin the bottom half of the eight and pitched a scoreless inning to prepare a save situation to Junichi Tazawa. Tazawa took over in the ninth and gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, Melky Cabrera, but eventually retired the side to earn his third save of the season.
Rusney Castillo went 1-4, leaving his batting average above .300, while Bogaerts was 2-for-3 with a run scored. The shortstop now has a 10-point lead among the leading shortstops in batting average.
The Red Sox will have a day off on Thursday while they prepare to face one of the hottest teams in the weekend, the New York Mets. New York will send Matt Harvey (11-7, 2.57 ERA), Jacob deGrom (12-6, 2.29 ERA) and Noah Syndergaard (8-6, 3.19 ERA) to the mound to face the Red Sox, while Boston has only confirmed that Henry Owens (2-1, 4.50 ERA) and Joe Kelly (7-6, 5.18 ERA) will start the first two games of the series.
The Mets pitching staff is one of the scariest in the game, but if the Red Sox continue with their trend of winning against aces, they won't have any problem in New York.