Rick Porcello fired a solid five innings Tuesday night, and Steve Pearce knocked in three runs as the Boston Red Sox continued their recent dominance over the National League with a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park in Atlanta.
Porcello allowed a second inning solo homerun to Kurt Suzuki to make it 1-0 Atlanta, but was his only blemish. Boston loaded the bases in the fourth with no outs against Atlanta starter Sean Newcomb but couldn’t score. Porcello led off with a single to help his own cause as the Sox would load the bases again with one out in the fifth, and Newcomb walked Xander Bogaerts to tie the game 1-1, ending his night on the hill. Pearce would single in a run, and Eduardo Nunez grounded out to score another one to put Boston up 3-1, all charged to the Braves starter.
Boston (96-44), added on as Pearce hit a two run single in the sixth. Pearce had three of the Red Sox eight hits, as they outhit Atlanta 8-4. Ian Kinsler, JD Martinez, and Bogaerts all had one hit each. Suzuki had two hits to lead the 76-62 Braves. In their last 42 interleague games, Boston has won 34 of those contests (34-8, .809 win %).
Porcello (16-7), allowed just one run, two hits, one walk, and five strikeouts in the 5.0 inning effort. The bullpen was solid once again behind the starter, as the combination of Steven Wright, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier, and Heath Hembree didn’t allow a run on two hits in 4.0 innings with four strikeouts. Newcomb (11-8), went 4.1 innings, allowing three runs, four hits, five walks, with two strikeouts.
The magic number is now six for the Red Sox to clinch a playoff spot, and 15 to clinch the American League East division title. Boston goes for the three game sweep on Wednesday afternoon at 12:10. A bullpen game for the visitors, as Hector Valazquez expects to go the first few innings. He will be opposed by Mike Foltynewicz for the Braves.
