Benintendi, Porcello lead Red Sox over Braves

March 3rd, 2017
"I saw a lot of pitches the first few games, and now I'm trying to be more aggressive," Andrew Benintendi said. (AP)John Raoux/AP

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner completed three scoreless innings and MLB's No. 1 prospect recorded four hits, including a two-run single during a six-run fourth inning that propelled the Red Sox to a 9-1 win over the Braves on Friday afternoon at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex.
After Braves ace pitched around some potential trouble over three scoreless innings, the Red Sox tortured non-roster left-hander reliever Sam Freeman, who did not retire any of the seven batters faced during the fourth inning. fueled the uprising with a double and Benintendi chased Freeman with his single.
Benintendi capped his productive day by beginning the sixth inning with a solo homer off Braves set-up man , who has struck out four of the seven batters he's faced since the start of the Grapefruit League season.

"I was seeing a lot of pitches the first few games, and now I'm trying to be more aggressive," Benintendi said. "I'm just trying to get my pitch ahead in the count and hit it."
Teheran gained some assistance from his defense as he made his final start before joining Colombia for the World Baseball Classic. Benintendi sent his second double of the game into the left-center-field gap with none out in the third inning. 's bid to score from first was denied when quickly got the ball to shortstop Dansby Swanson, who made a strong throw that beat Hernandez to the plate by a few steps.
"I got to work with some guys on base and get used to some situations," Teheran said. "Now I'm ready to go to the [World Baseball Classic] and get ready for the season. I made pitches whenever I needed to and it was really good."
aided his bid for a spot on Atlanta's bench when he homered in the seventh inning against .
Red Sox Up Next: The Red Sox will travel to Bradenton for a 1:05 p.m. ET start Saturday against the Pirates, who will start right-hander against Boston righty Hector Velazquez. Also scheduled to pitch for Boston are lefty and righties Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, , Jamie Callahan and . The game will be broadcast live on MLB.TV.
Braves Up Next: The Braves will play split-squad games on Saturday, both at 1:05 p.m. ET, as they host the Marlins (live on Gameday Audio) and travel to Clearwater to play the Phillies (live on MLB.TV). R.A. Dickey will start the home game and will continue to work on his slider in his start against the Phillies. Inciarte is scheduled to play in Clearwater, but most of the other regulars are expected to be in the lineup against the Marlins.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.