Betts homers twice to lift Red Sox over Phillies

PHILADELPHIA » Mookie Betts homered twice and Xander Bogaerts had three RBIs to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 on Wednesday night.

Betts had four hits and drove in three to lead an offensive barrage off Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson (5-5). Boston tagged him for six runs on nine hits in just five innings.

Betts led off the game with a single, had an RBI double in the second, but his biggest hit was a solo home run, his 10th of the season, in the fourth inning after the Phillies had scored three runs to close within 5-3.

He had a chance to get the cycle in the ninth inning, but instead of a triple connected for home run No. 11 to put the game out of reach. It was his eighth career multi-homer game.

Betts was dazzling defensively as well, and made a stellar diving catch in right field to rob Howie Kendrick of a hit in the fifth inning.

Bogaerts was also impressive, with a two-run double off Hellickson in the first and a single that scored Betts in the second. He also had a fine defensive play robbing Hellickson of an infield hit, squashing a potential Phillies rally in the fourth.

Andrew Benintendi drove in the other Red Sox run with a sacrifice fly.

The Phillies scored three runs off Boston starter Brian Johnson in the third inning on a two-out single by Kendrick and a two-run home run by Aaron Altherr, his 10th of the season.

Johnson left the game with an arm injury, but the Red Sox bullpen shut the door on the Phillies, as four different relievers combined to allow just two hits over the final 6 1/3 innings. Hector Velazquez (11) was credited with his first major league win.

The Boston bullpen has now gone 21.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run.

Not much is going right for the Phillies who have the worst record in baseball. They have lost eight consecutive games as well as all eight interleague games this season, matching a franchise record for consecutive interleague losses since games between the two leagues started in 1997.

TRAINER’S ROOM

RED SOX » Starting pitcher Brian Johnson left the game in the third inning with what the Red Sox indicated was left shoulder discomfort. After two strong innings, Johnson lost a lot of velocity on his pitches, leading to the Phillies only offensive outburst of the game.

Recalled prior to the game RHP Hector Velazquez was pressed into emergency duty when Johnson was injured. After getting hammered in his first major league appearance in May, Velazquez was solid against the Phillies.