The Sports Xchange
Jun 12, 2017
BOSTON -- Dustin Pedroia singled home the winning run with one out in the 11th inning, and the Boston Red Sox pulled out a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.
The Phillies' losing streak reached six in the first of four straight interleague games between the teams in two cities.
Pablo Sandoval, who didn't start the game, led off the 11th with a single, and Deven Marrero ran for him. Sandy Leon sacrificed Marrero to second, and Mookie Betts (four hits) was walked intentionally before Pedroia delivered only his second career walk-off hit -- his first in seven years.
Matt Barnes (5-2) struck out five in two scoreless innings to get the win for Boston (35-28). Reliever Casey Fien (0-1) was the loser after giving up one run in 2 1/3 innings.
Boston overcame a 4-0 deficit.
Hanley Ramirez tied the score with a two-out solo home run off Joaquin Benoit in the eighth inning, taking the struggling Rick Porcello off the hook and denying Jerad Eickhoff his first win since Sept. 21.
Porcello, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, is 3-8 with a 4.67 ERA. Last year on the same date, he was 7-2 with a 3.81 ERA.
Porcello has allowed a major-league-high 114 hits (compared with 72 at this point last season). He gave up four runs in the first inning and another in the sixth. He yielded 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings.
Eickhoff gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings and was in line for the win when Ramirez delivered his ninth homer of the season.
Andrew Benintendi hit a solo homer and stroked an RBI single his first two times up for the Red Sox.
Howie Kendrick had three hits, went 3-for-4 on stolen bases and committed two errors, and Tommy Joseph had a two-run single for the last-place Phillies (21-41).
Porcello almost escaped the first inning -- and the boos -- without any damage when, with runners on second and third with nobody out, he got the next two hitters. But Kendrick stole second before Joseph singled home two runs. Andres Blanco doubled home Joseph and Maikel Franco made it 4-0 with an RBI single.
After hearing the boos, Porcello started pitching better, escaping a two-out jam in the third inning caused by Mitch Moreland's error.
The Red Sox wasted Betts' first double in the first inning, but Benintendi hit the second pitch of the second inning for his ninth homer of the season.
Pedroia's groundout and Benintendi's RBI single made it 4-3 in the third.
Betts tied the score with his third double, but Odubel Herrera then cut Leon down at the plate after catching Pedroia's popup to short center. Aaron Altherr's double and Kendrick's RBI single put the Phillies back on top.
Kendrick stole his second and third bases, but with runners on second and third with two outs, Xander Bogaerts' short-hop stop of an Andrew Knapp shot ended the inning.
NOTES: Red Sox first base coach Ruben Amaro Jr., the former Philadelphia GM, greeted each player he knew as the team stretched before the game, receiving hugs from several of them. He also met with the Phillies media. ... Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy revealed he is battling cancer for the fifth time. He met with the media before the game. ... The Phillies came to town having gone 1-11-2 in their last 14 series against the Red Sox. ... Red Sox LHP David Price pitches at home for the first time since last week's obscenity-laced tirade aimed at the media in New York when he faces rookie RH Ben Lively in Game 2 of the four straight games (two cities) between the teams Tuesday night. Both pitchers are 1-1 in two major league starts this season.