Red Sox Power To 5-2 Win Over Cleveland
BOSTON -- David Ortiz came within a bad bounce of a potential cycle and drove in three runs, Rick Porcello became Boston's first seven-game winner and Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his hitting streak to 27 games, powering the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.
Ortiz continued his hot first half with four hits, including his 11th home run of the season, and also walked, raising his season RBI total to 37. Needing a triple in the eighth inning for the cycle, he blasted one to the triangle in right-center that likely would have been a triple, but the ball took a bounce to the right and over the fence to become his second ground-rule double of the game.
Porcello (7-2) overcame throwing 56 pitches in the first two innings and went 5 2/3 innings as the Red Sox won their second straight after losing the series opener to the Indians. Five relievers finished up, with Craig Kimbrel notching his 12th save in 13 chances with a perfect ninth inning.
Bradley walked his first time up, then struck out before singling in the fifth to keep his streak going. It was his third straight one-hit game but he walked six times in the weekend series.
Boston's Xander Bogaerts, who came into the game leading the American lead with 60 hits and tied for the lead in multi-hit games with 18, had three singles and an RBI, and Mookie Betts added two hits.
Jason Kipnis singled home both Cleveland runs, tying the game 2-2 in the second inning, while Juan Uribe had a pair of doubles and a walk.
The Red Sox chased Cleveland starter Danny Salazar (4-3) in 4 1/3 innings, the right-hander's shortest outing of the season. He had been 2-0 with a 1.26 career starts against Boston.
Bradley's hitting streak is tied for the sixth-longest in Red Sox history. Meanwhile, the Ortiz homer gave the Red Sox at least one home run in each of their last 22 games, extending a club record. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 2002 Texas Rangers have the record of 27 straight games with at least one homer.
Cleveland's Mike Napoli, a member of the Red Sox's 2013 championship team, finished off a nightmarish first return to Fenway Park as a visitor by striking out his first three times up, giving him eight in a row, and lining out to left. He was 0-for-13 with nine strikeouts in the three games.
Kimbrel has recorded 10 straight scoreless appearances, hitters going 1-for-29 with 14 strikeouts against him in those 10 games.
