Red Sox Beat Cubs, Reds Down Cardinals

By ESPN

Marco Hernandez's hustle paid off in a big way for the Boston Red Sox.

Hernandez scored the go-ahead run on Pedro Strop's wild pitch in Boston's four-run eighth inning, helping the Red Sox beat the sloppy Chicago Cubs 6-2 on Sunday night.

The Red Sox took two of three in the lively weekend series that featured a strong showing for Cubs fans, chants in support of each side and the World Series trophies that ended long title droughts for the once-frustrated franchises.

"This was a high-build series, a competitive series, certainly," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "A good series win for us that was needed."

Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer for Boston, which had dropped four of five before the weekend set against Chicago. The Red Sox got two more runs on shortstop Addison Russell's throwing error in the eighth that bounced past first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

"It was fun," Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. "I felt like there was a lot more Cubs fans here than I expected. It was fun to kind of listen to the fans go back and forth."

Kris Bryant hit a solo homer for Chicago, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. The Cubs closed a nine-game road trip at 5-4.

Boston has won 19 of its last 22 interleague series in Fenway.

Hernandez led off the eighth with a grounder to Rizzo, who relayed the ball to reliever Koji Uehara (0-2). But a hustling Hernandez was safe at first in a bang-bang play.

Uehara appeared to break off the mound late.

"I got there as quick as I could, the runner was just faster," he said through a translator.

Xander Bogaerts and Benintendi then singled, loading the bases. Strop came in and bounced a 2-2 pitch to Ramirez, bringing Hernandez home. Mitch Moreland's grounder scored a run before Russell's error allowed two more to score.

Chicago looked as if it might be able to escape after Strop struck out Mookie Betts with the bases loaded for the first out. But the wild pitch led to the big inning.

"I thought Stropy did a great job, striking out Betts, wild pitch, but other than that he did a really nice job in there," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Then we made another mistake to make it really look ugly at the end."

Matt Barnes (3-0) worked one scoreless inning after completing his four-game suspension for throwing behind the head of Baltimore's Manny Machado. Craig Kimbrel got the final three outs.

Chicago trailed 2-1 before Jon Jay scored from second after reliever Joe Kelly bounced a pitch past Christian Vazquez in the seventh.

Jay's headfirst slide beat Vazquez's throw to Kelly after the catcher couldn't find the ball for a few seconds. He was originally called out, but the call was challenged.

After playing the first two games in summer-like temperatures, the teams took the field to a chilly 47 degrees.

That didn't seem to affect the distance of Ramirez's homer, estimated at 440 feet after it completely left Fenway over the Green Monster seats in the first.

On Saturday, he had one estimated at 469, the longest at Fenway this season.

Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez struck out nine over six innings, allowing one run and five hits.

Chicago's Kyle Hendricks gave up two runs and three hits in six innings.

Reds 5, Cardinals 4

Adam Duvall is not about to reveal his secret.

The slumping Cincinnati outfielder hit three doubles and a single Sunday, helping the Reds to a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Duvall began the day in a 4-for-35 skid. He spent several hours working in the indoor batting cage after Saturday's game was postponed by rain -- and discovered a flaw.

"Let's just say I corrected it," Duvall said. "I can't talk about it, or give details."

"But, I was seeing the ball great today," he said.

Duvall tied a career high with four hits and raised his batting average 33 points to .247.

"He had a huge day," Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. "There is always that feeling, even in the times when he's struggling, that the next day he's going to come in and bust out and do some damage. He just doesn't concede to the struggles."

Joey Votto hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning for the Reds, who had lost eight of their previous nine games.

Votto's bases-loaded single came off Trevor Rosenthal (0-1). Votto had been 0 for 5 with three strikeouts against the hard-throwing reliever.

"We've just got to continue to chug along and get better," Votto said. "Games like this are how you set a tone."

Wandy Peralta (1-0) picked up the win by tossing a scoreless seventh inning. Closer Raisel Iglesias threw two innings to record his fourth save in as many chances. It was his second two-inning save of the season.

Duvall, Eugenio Suarez and Scott Schebler drove in runs in the three-run seventh to tie the game.

Devin Mesoraco singled sandwiched around walks to Tucker Barnhart and Billy Hamilton to load the bases against Rosenthal in the eighth. Votto followed with a two-strike single up the middle.

"We never stopping fighting," Duvall said. "It was a satisfying win."

St. Louis starter Mike Leake gave up one run on eight hits over seven innings. He is 0-3 against his former team in six career starts.

"They've always been a pesky team," Leake said. "Every time I face them, it seems like they're a little more into it."

RAIN GO AWAY

The Cardinals have had three games postponed due to the rain so far, their most ever in the month of April. Saturday's contest with Cincinnati was called. No makeup date has been announced.

Tigers 7, White Sox 3

The Detroit Tigers got two things they needed Sunday afternoon.

They put up big runs, got four scoreless innings from their bullpen and ended a four-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

"We've been quiet with the bats, but we got two in the ninth yesterday, so maybe that was the turning point," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "We were much better today, and the pitching held on for us."

Jordan Zimmermann (3-1) picked up a sloppy victory, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks in five-plus innings. He struck out five and gave up one homer.

Miguel Gonzalez (3-1) allowed seven runs on a career-high 14 hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out one as the White Sox lost their six-game winning streak.

"I was up with every pitch, and they were barreling up every mistake I made," he said. "I just need to flush this one and move on."

The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first on Jose Abreu's RBI triple

Justin Upton's fifth homer tied the game in the second. He then led off the fourth with a single, moved to second on Alex Avila's hit and scored on Jim Adduci's double to left-center field.

John Hicks made it four straight hits with an RBI single off Gonzalez to make it 3-1, and Adduci scored when Iglesias grounded out. Nick Castellanos finished the inning with an RBI single to make it a four-run game.

Melky Cabrera answered with an RBI single in the fifth, pulling the White Sox within 5-2, but Iglesias' two-run double in the bottom of the inning put the Tigers up by five.

Todd Frazier led off the sixth with a long homer, but Chicago couldn't score against Blaine Hardy and three other relievers.

Sunday, April 30 Scoreboard

Baltimore 7, New York Yankees 4 (F/11)

Toronto 3, Tampa  Bay 1

Cleveland 12,  Seattle 4

Detroit 7, Chicago  White Sox 3

Miami 10, Pittsburgh 3

Washington 23, New York Mets 5

Milwaukee 4, Atlanta 3

Houston 7, Oakland 2

Minnesota 7, Kansas City 5

Cincinnati 5,  St. Louis 4

Los Angeles Angels 5, Texas 2

San Diego 5, San Francisco 2 (F/12)

Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Philadelphia 3

Arizona 2,  Colorado 0 (F/13)

Boston 6, Chicago Cubs 2

Monday, May 1 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at Boston, 6 p.m.

Toronto at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Chicago  White Sox at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Milwaukee at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

San Francisco at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.