BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s hopes of making a surge in the standings during a 10- game homestand before the All-Star break have unraveled into a skid that has the Red Sox mired alone at the bottom of the AL East.
The Chicago White Sox got a tiebreaking, two-run homer from Conor Gillaspie in the sixth inning and pulled away for an 8-3 win over the struggling Red Sox on Tuesday night.
It was Boston’s fourth straight loss and seventh in eight games.
Manager John Farrell said it’s been more of a combination of factors than anyone particular during the stretch.
“The win/loss is the common thread. There have been different scenarios that have emerged inside of each one,” Farrell said. “I can’t say that there’s one area of our game that has been the root of where things have gone in this homestand.”
That was certainly the case Tuesday night. The Red Sox, who had two hits Monday in a 4-0 loss to the White Sox, scored three runs in the fifth to tie it at 3-all, only to see the lead disappear on Gillaspie’s two-out homer just inside the pole in right field the following inning.
Boston did manage to snap Chicago pitchers’ streak of 22 scoreless innings — after leaving the bases loaded in the first and fourth innings.
“We’re just not very consistent. When we do score runs, we haven’t pitched the way we wanted to and when we pitched the way we need to we haven’t scored runs. That’s not a good formula,” catcher David Ross said. “We’re putting our work in, trying to get better. We need to get better.”
John Danks (8-6) started with four shutout innings Tuesday before Boston’s rally in the fifth. Chicago went ahead to stay with two in the sixth and then added three runs in the ninth.
Brandon Workman (1-3) allowed five runs, three earned, and eight hits in seven innings for the Red Sox. He left the game with Boston trailing 5-3, then Chicago added three runscoring extra-base hits in the ninth.
The Red Sox, the lowest-scoring team in the American League, failed to score after loading the bases in the first and fourth. They finally got to Danks, 5-1 in his past seven starts, in the fifth.
Brock Holt led off with a triple. Dustin Pedroia and Napoli followed with run-scoring doubles and Xander Bogaerts tied it with an RBI single.
• Who: Chicago White Sox at Boston Red
Sox.
• Where: Fenway Park.
• When: 7:10 p.m. tonight.
• Starting pitchers: Chicago (Chris Sale
8-1) vs. Boston (Rubby De La Rosa 2-2).
• TV: NESN.
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