BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A five-run ninth inning propelled the visiting Chicago White Sox to a 7-2 win over the Boston Red Sox, salvaging the finale of a three-game series on Sunday.
Chicago (33-111) broke open a 2-2 game with five runs on five hits against Boston reliever Zack Kelly (6-3), who recorded just one out while facing seven batters in the ninth.
Singles by Andrew Vaughn and Lenyn Sosa, who both went 2-for-4, put two aboard with one out before Dominic Fletcher knocked in the go-ahead run on a double inside the left-field line.
Jacob Amaya’s knock into right two batters later plated an insurance run. Zach DeLoach’s hard grounder to right scored two more and Luis Robert Jr., who had three hits, delivered a deep sacrifice fly.
Fraser Ellard (2-2) got the win in relief for the White Sox, who had lost 20 consecutive starts by Chris Flexen.
Flexen struck out six and allowed two runs on two solo home runs across six innings.
Connor Wong (3-for-4) and Wilyer Abreu (2-for-4) each doubled and homered to lead the Red Sox (72-71).
Richard Fitts, who allowed two unearned runs on six hits in a 5 2/3-inning start, and Luis Guerrero both made their MLB debuts on the mound for Boston.
The Red Sox went scoreless in the first after Jarren Duran was tagged out at home on a relay and Abreu was caught stealing third base to end the threat. Wong’s two-out homer an inning later did get Boston on the board.
Fitts faced just a batter over the minimum through the first three innings, having picked off a runner in the first and worked around Vaughn’s leadoff single to post another zero in the second.
The White Sox had something brewing with two hits to begin the fourth, but Fitts and shortstop Trevor Story combined to start a 1-6-3 double play to escape trouble.
DeLoach’s grounder eluded Boston first baseman Triston Casas for an error and rolled into the right-field corner to begin Chicago’s sixth inning against Fitts.
Robert’s single and Benintendi’s RBI grounder tied the score, then Lee’s chopper through the infield landed just past relief pitcher Greg Weissert’s reach to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.
Boston tied it when Abreu crushed his 15th homer of the season to right-center field to make it 2-2 in the home sixth. The damage could have been greater if not for right fielder Fletcher’s dive to rob Rafael Devers of an extra-base hit towards the gap.
–Field Level Media