CHICAGO — All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 9-4 win over the White Sox, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Late-inning wins now habit-forming: It's become almost formulaic for the Red Sox this week — fall behind early, muddle through the middle innings, and then turn on the jets in the final three innings. They did Tuesday and Wednesday night at Fenway against the Marlins and continued the trend in the first game of a seven-game road trip. The Sox were without a hit until the fifth and hadn't scored through the sixth. But down 4-0 in the seventh, they began their Lazarus act in the seventh. A pinch-hit single from Blake Swihart got them on the board, a sacrifice fly from Jackie Bradley Jr. cut the lead further and a two-run homer from Mookie Betts tied it. The Sox were off and running, adding five more unanswered runs in the ninth. "It's the same approach as when we're up,'' offered Betts. "You have to keep that confident vibes throughout the dugout and good things will happen. We know we can build together an inning and score any amount of runs. We've shown that.''
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Homers provide big blow: Amazingly, the Red Sox' 11-run seventh inning Wednesday night came without a homer. In fact, the Sox had homered in only two of their previous eight games before Thursday. But in the comeback win over the White Sox, the long ball played a big part. In the seventh, the two-run shot by Betts tied things up, and in the ninth, with the team having taken its first lead at 6-4, a three-run homer by J.D. Martinez effectively put the game out of reach. For Martinez, it was his first homer since Aug. 18, and his first on the road since Aug. 11. How important are homers to the Red Sox attack? Consider that when they homer, they've won 83 percent of the time. And when they hit multiple homers, that percentage only goes up.
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Porcello digs early hole: As it turns out, it's been a good thing that the Red Sox have had these late-inning offensive explosions because they haven't been getting much out of their starting pitchers. In the last three wins, the Sox haven't had a starter go beyond five innings. On Thursday night, it was Rick Porcello's turn to struggle. The White Sox sent eight men to the plate in the first and raced out to a 3-0 lead. They added another run in the second to boost their lead to 4-0. But to his credit, Porcello settled down some and didn't allow any more runs into the sixth, when he was lifted after issuing a leadoff walk. "I was in grind mode after that,'' said Porcello after falling behind 4-0, "just trying to cover as much as I could without giving up any more runs.'' Alex Cora credited Porcello with making some necessary adjustments, but Porcello wasn't about to take any bows. "I was doing the same thing,'' he confessed, "I just didn't give up any home runs. I can't honestly say I didn't do anything different. It's just how it panned out.''
TURNING POINT
In the third inning, Porcello, already trailing 4-0, allowed a leadoff single and a walk, putting two on with no out, as the game threatened to get away from him. But Porcello came back to get Matt Davidson on a called third strike and then got out of the inning on a double-play grounder.
TWO UP
Ian Kinsler: For the third-straight game, Kinsler had a multi-hit game with three singles and seemed to be in the middle of every rally.
Xander Bogaerts: Bogaerts has been one of the team's hottest hitters of late, but even on a night in which he failed to get a hit, he contributed in the field with two great plays in the hole, converting both into outs.
ONE DOWN
Brock Holt: Getting a rare start at first base, Holt was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The win marked the 25th time this season that the Red Sox have scored nine or more runs.
- The Sox improved to 17-10 against AL Central teams this season.
- Martinez extended his hitting streak to nine games.
- In pinch-hit situations, the Red Sox are now 10-for-25 since June 22.