Jackie Bradley JR. had the big hit in helping the Red Sox defeat the Houston Astros 7-5 in 12 innings on Sunday evening. You may have missed that, because it actually happened around 1 AM on Monday morning. Heath Hembree pitched three scoreless innings after closer Craig Kimbrel gave up a game tying two run homer to Colby Rasmus in the ninth inning.
On Monday evening, Bradley did it again, when he blasted a home run in the seventh inning of a 1-0 Red Sox victory over the Atlanta Braves. Rick Porcello threw 6.1 innings of shutout baseball. He struck out six, walked two, while only allowing four hits. Porcello has started the season with four wins and has an ERA of 3.51. Kimbrel bounced back by retiring the side in order in the ninth inning, including striking out two. The Red Sox and Braves will play one more game in Atlanta, with David Price on the mound for the Sox this evening at 7:10 PM. The teams will travel to Boston after the game tonight to play two games (Wednesday and Thursday) in Boston.