Jackie Bradley, Jr. drove in a pair of runs and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six shutout innings for his 10th win, as the Boston Red Sox finished off a three game sweep with a 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Wednesday.
Boston moves to 30 games over the .500 mark for the first time this year at 59-29 and continues to dominate interleague play. Bradley Jr. broke a scoreless tie in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly in foul territory for an RBI. A wild pitch by Ryan Madson in the same inning allowed Eduardo Nunez to score to double the lead to 2-0. JBJ added some insurance with an RBI double in the ninth to finish off all the scoring. Mookie Betts, JD Martinez, Rafael Devers, and Nunez all had two hits each as Boston stays up by one game in the A.L. East over the NY Yankees. The Sox also improve to 35-11 in interleague play since the start of the 2016 season, the best in the majors.
Rodriguez (10-3) allowed only three hits, one walk, and had six strikeouts. Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly both pitched a scoreless inning each, and Craig Kimbrel got his 26th save despite giving up two ninth inning hits, getting two strikeouts in the inning. Matt Grace and Brandon Kintzler pitched five innings of scoreless relief for Washington, after starter Erick Fedde left with shoulder inflammation after delivering a pitch to the leadoff hitter in the the top of the second. Madson (2-4) ended up the loser for the 42-43 Nationals.
Boston returns to action Friday at Kansas City at 8:15 to open a three game set with the Royals. Chris Sale (8-4) toes the rubber for Boston, against Jason Hammel (2-10) for KC.
