Seven up: White Sox keep on rolling
BOSTON -- For the third straight night, the White Sox used a quick-strike attack as they pushed their winning streak to seven games with a 9-2 victory over the Red Sox on Wednesday at Fenway Park.
Rick Porcello (5-11, 5.81 ERA) was the Boston starter who got rocked early this time, giving up six runs in the first three innings. Chicago starter Jose Quintana meanwhile gave up just two runs over 6 1/3 frames to notch his sixth win.
"That's perfect," said Quintana of Chicago's latest early outburst. "Gives me a lot of confidence to go out to the mound and do my job and keep the game wide open. That's good when you get a lot of runs in the first inning."
Five players had multihit games for the White Sox. Adam Eaton set the tone with a leadoff homer down the line in right in the first while Alexei Ramirez smashed one over the Green Monster in the third.
"In a lot of ways it seems like the team was left for dead a week ago," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Now it has some life and playing good baseball, so you don't know what's going to happen."
Video: CWS@BOS: Cabrera lines a single to knock in Eaton
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Melk-man delivers: Make it seven straight games with a multihit effort from Melky Cabrera, who singled and scored in the first, singled home a run in the second and doubled in the eighth. Cabrera has 18 hits in 33 at-bats over his last seven games, marking him the first White Sox player with seven straight multihit efforts since Magglio Ordonez from July 22-30, 2003.
"I haven't changed anything," said Cabrera through interpreter and White Sox Spanish language broadcaster Billy Russo. "It's just the moment that we are passing through now. Everybody is hitting well and the team is playing well." More >
Video: CHW@BOS: Farrell on pitching struggles in 9-2 loss
Porcello rocked: After showing some hope for a resurgence in his previous three starts, Porcello lost all of that momentum on Wednesday. The righty lasted just two-plus innings, getting tagged for 10 hits and six runs (five earned). Porcello walked one and struck out two.
"I had a bad game," said Porcello. "I elevated some pitches. I fell behind some guys. A couple of walks with some runners on base put guys in tough spots, and I didn't recover." More >
Video: CWS@BOS: Ramirez drives solo homer off Porcello
Is this real? After struggling for most of the first three months of the season offensively, the White Sox continued their July barrage with the bats. They scored two in the first, three in the second and one in the third, sending 22 men to the plate in total. Every starter but Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia had a hit in those innings. More >
Video: CWS@BOS: Napoli drives in Bogaerts on double to left
Napoli on fire: Mike Napoli is making himself attractive to teams in need of a power bat before the non-waiver Trade Deadline. The right-handed-hitting slugger drilled a double and a homer on Wednesday and is in the midst of his most prolonged hot streak of the season. Napoli isn't taking much joy in his individual accomplishments the way things are going for the team.
"It [stinks]. Come here every day, work hard to go out there and try to execute as a team," said Napoli. "We're not getting it done. It's not fun. You need to come in, keep playing hard, play the game the right way, and try to make things turn into good things, positive things on the field. Just got to keep going."
QUOTABLE
"We're trying to reverse the curse of Quintana. It's nice to be able to get some runs for him early and let him settle in and pitch the way he can pitch. It's fun to watch when gets in a groove and starts going with the lead. He's picked us up so many times, kept us in close ballgames, so it's nice to be able to get some runs early and let him have the thought in the back of his mind that he's up five, six runs." -- Eaton, on scoring runs for Quintana, who entered the night with a 2.86 run support average
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Porcello became the first Red Sox pitcher since John Tudor on April 28, 1982, to give up 10 hits in two innings or less.
Video: CWS@BOS: Abreu safe at second after call stands
UNDER FURTHER REVIEW
A safe call at second base stood after the Red Sox issued a manager's challenge in the eighth inning. With Abreu on first, reliever Alexi Ogando made a poor throw to second that forced shortstop Xander Bogaerts to take his foot off the bag before securing the ball, allowing Abreu to advance on the error. He then took third upon seeing that no one had bothered to cover the base.
WHAT'S NEXT
White Sox: Chris Sale (9-5, 2.85 ERA) makes his 20th start of the season and 11th on the road during Thursday night's series finale in Boston. Sale is 7-4 with a 2.05 ERA (24 ER/105 1/3 innings) and 144 strikeouts over his last 14 starts.
Red Sox: Knuckleballer Steven Wright (3-4, 4.78 ERA) gets the start on Thursday as the Red Sox try to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox. This will be Wright's first career appearance against Chicago.
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