Former Hog helps lead Red Sox
BOSTON—Andrew Benintendi hit a go-ahead, two-run single as Boston scored three unearned runs following a dropped throw by second baseman Brad Miller, and the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Monday in the annual Patriots’ Day game.
Knuckleballer Steven Wright (1-1) allowed three runs—one earned—and nine hits in six innings as Boston won its third straight. Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for a save for the third straight day, his sixth this season.
Blake Snell (0-2) gave up four runs— one earned—and seven hits in five innings. The Rays completed a 1-6 trip that followed a franchise-best 5-2 start.
BRAVES 5, PADRES 4
ATLANTA—Dansby Swanson hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning and Atlanta, boosted by Freddie Freeman’s two home runs and double, beat San Diego for a four-game sweep in its first series at SunTrust Park.
Swanson’s bases-loaded hit fell just in front of diving left fielder Allen Cordoba. The Braves have followed a five-game losing streak with five straight wins.
Freeman had four hits and drove in three runs. His second homer tied it in the eighth.
BREWERS 6, CUBS 3
CHICAGO—Eric Thames homered in his club record-tying fifth straight game and streaking Milwaukee turned back Chicago.
Milwaukee never trailed after Thames hit an opposite-field homer to snap a 3-3 tie in the third inning. Jeromy Burnitz became the first and last Brewers player to homer in five straight games in August, 1997.
Ryan Braun and Jeff Bandy also went deep for Milwaukee, the only team to hit as many as three homers in a game off Chicago starter John Lackey (1-2) last season. The victory was the Brewers’ sixth in the last seven games.
The Cubs lost for a fourth straight time, their worst stretch since a fivegame skid from July 5-9 last season.
Brewers starter Chase Anderson (2-0) pitched five innings of three-run, seven-hit ball to pick up the victory. He walked two batters and struck out five. Neftali Felix pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in as many tries.
INDIANS 3, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS—Danny Salazar finished six innings strong after a shaky start, Michael Brantley homered and drove in two runs and Cleveland beat Minnesota.
Salazar (1-1) struck out seven and retired 15 of his last 18 batters after allowing five hits and one walk over a seven-batter stretch spanning the first two innings. Brantley’s groundout tied it in the third, and Edwin Encarnacion’s single gave the reigning AL champions the lead on their way to only their third win in 10 games.
Then Brantley took Kyle Gibson (0-2) deep in the fifth inning, raising his career average in 13 at-bats against the Twins right-hander to .385 with four RBIs.
Cody Allen loaded the bases in the ninth, but he completed his third save by getting Joe Mauer to fly out to center field.
YANKEES 7, WHITE SOX 4
NEW YORK—Jordan Montgomery took a shutout into the seventh inning for his first major league win, Matt Holliday homered in his return to the lineup and New York romped to its eighth consecutive victory.
Holliday put the Yankees ahead with a titanic three-run shot in a five-run third inning, and Aaron Judge added a tworun homer that chased Derek Holland (1-2) with the score 7-0 in the fifth. New York has rebounded from a 1-4 start with its longest winning streak since a 10-game run in June 2012.
Making his second career start, Montgomery (1-0) immediately found himself in a first-inning jam. But the 24-year-old lefty calmly pitched his way out of it by retiring cleanup hitter Jose Abreu and streaking Avisail Garcia with runners at second and third.