After the Boston Red Sox snapped the Cleveland Indians' five game winning streak on Saturday night, the Red Sox got past the Indians once again. After blowing out the Indians 9-1 on Saturday, the Red Sox defeated the Indians by a final score of 5-2. 

Rick Porcello took home his seventh victory of the season, while Danny Salazar took home his fourth loss of the season. Craig Kimbrel also notched his 12th save of the season. 

With the victory and the loss from the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox move to 27-17 and are now in a tie for first place in the AL East. With the loss and the win from the Chicago White Sox, the Indians are 22-19 and slide to 2.5 games behind the surging White Sox. 

Both offenses get going early

After Porcello got out of trouble after allowing back-to-back one out singles from Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor, the Red Sox offense was tasked with surprisingly one of the greatest pitchers so far in 2016, Danny Salazar. The fast throwing right-hander entered the game 4-2 with a 1.80 ERA, .157 opposing batting average, and 61 strikeouts in 50 innings. 

However, a day after scoring nine runs off Trevor Bauer and the Indians, the Red Sox offense was hot yet again. After the suddenly hot Mookie Betts grounded out to begin the inning, Dustin Pedroia walked and Xander Bogaerts hit his league-leading 61st hit. David Ortiz followed, and he laced a hit to right field to bring home Pedroia. 

The next batter, Hanley Ramirez, hit a rocket up the middle that hit off Salazar's left ankle. Bogaerts would score, and Ramirez made it to first safely. Salazar got up very slowly and the trainers came out for some time, but the right-hander remained in the game, and struck out Travis Shaw and Blake Swihart later in the inning with the bases loaded.

Similarly to the first game of the series, Jason Kipnis and the Indians would bounce right back for a successful inning of their own in the second. With two outs, Juan Uribe had a good at bat and doubled, Rajai Davis was hit, and Carlos Santana walked. Porcello was showing evident command issues, and had a very high pitch count in the second inning. Kipnis followed with a bloop single, scoring both Uribe and Davis. Porcello got Lindor to ground out to end the inning, but the inning took a lot of his stamina and performance. 

However, David Ortiz and the Red Sox offense would come right back to get to Salazar in the second. Betts recorded a one out single and Bogaerts recorded yet another single, bringing up Ortiz with two away. "Big Papi" smashed a ball for a ground rule double, which could have scored Bogaerts from first had it not gone over the fence, but it scored just Pedroia from third. Hanley Ramirez flew out to end the inning, and the Red Sox walked away with a 3-2 lead. 

Red Sox secure the victory

Both pitchers would settle down, and not surrender any more runs, but both pitchers did not have their best command during their outings. Salazar quieted the Red Sox offense for the third and fourth innings, but would have more trouble in the fifth. Ortiz opened up the inning with a bang, and crushed his 514th career home run. It brought the score to 4-2, and Ortiz is still enjoying a terrific final season. After the home run, the designated hitter began the game 3-3 with a single, double, and home run with three RBIs.

David Ortiz celebrates after his 514th career home run. Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images North America
David Ortiz celebrates after his 514th career home run. Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images North America

After Jackie Bradley Jr. singled with one away to extend his hitting streak to 27 games, former Red Sox manager pulled the plug of Salazar. It was by far his worst outing of the year as he finished just 4.1 innings allowing four runs, eight hits, three walks, and struck out six. 

Porcello, on the other hand, would not give up a run for the remainder of the game. He finished the day with 5.2 innings pitched yielding five hits, two runs, one walk, and struck out five. 

Xander Bogaerts would get yet another hit and RBI to bring home Betts in the sixth, but the big story for the rest of the game was to see if Ortiz could complete the cycle. After being intentionally walked in the sixth inning, Ortiz was brought up for one last opportunity in the eighth, but got as unlucky as possible. He laced a ball to the deepest part of Fenway Park, and looked like it could be a sure triple. However, after the ball took a hop off the grass and the center field wall, it was led to the bullpen for a ground rule double. He finished his tremendous night, but was very close from history. 

Matt Barnes, Tommy Layne, Heath Hembree, Koji Uehara, and Craig Kimbrel all came on for relief for the Red Sox, and held the Indians scoreless, leading to the win. 

Road ahead

The Indians will travel to U.S. Cellular Field on Monday, and will immediately get into action with a doubleheader on Monday. Mike Clevinger will face off against Mat Latos in game one, while Cody Anderson and Erik Johnson will meet up in game two. 

Boston will enjoy a day off on Monday, and will stay at home on Tuesday for a matchup against the Colorado RockiesDavid Price will look to continue his recent success, while the struggling Jorge De La Rosa will pitch for Colorado in a 2007 World Series rematch. 

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About the author
Oliver P. Gold
A Providence, Rhode Island based sports journalist and blogger with expertise in baseball and basketball. Includes MLB, NBA and NCAA College Basketball. New England sports fan of Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Providence Friars.