Will Middlebrooks hit an RBI single with the bases loaded, capping a tworun rally in the eighth inning that sent the Boston Red Sox over the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 Wednesday night for a sweep of the two-game interleague series.
David Ortiz and Mike Napoli also drove in runs for the World Series champion Red Sox, who reached .500 for the first time since the fourth game of the season.
Skip Schumaker hit a two-run homer for Cincinnati, who lost the opener to Boston 4-3 in 12 innings.
Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, the Red Sox scored against two relievers.
Mike Napoli drew a one-out walk from Manny Parra, J.J. Hoover (1-4) walked pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes and A.J. Pierzynski’s ground-rule double tied it at 3. Jackie Bradley Jr. was intentionally walked before Middlebrooks sent a hard grounder up the middle.
Craig Breslow (2-0), who also got the win in Tuesday’s game, pitched one hitless inning. Koji Uehara struck out the final three batters for his eighth save.
Cincinnati starter Mike Leake pitched seven strong innings and was in line for the win before Boston rallied. He gave up two runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out four.
Boston’s Jake Peavy allowed three or fewer runs for the sixth time in seven starts, giving up three runs on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
The Reds took a 3-2 lead in the seventh when Roger Bernadina bounced a slow groundout to second against reliever Chris Capuano with the bases loaded.
In the bottom half, left fielder Chris Heisey made a nice inning-ending running catch on Shane Victorino’s liner into the gap with the tying run on second.
Boston tied it with a pair of runs in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Ortiz and RBI double by Napoli. It could have been worse for Leake, but Grady Sizemore bounced to second with runners on second and third and, after an intentional walk, Bradley Jr. hit an inning-ending grounder.
Schumaker, who came off the 15-day disabled list on Saturday after being sidelined since spring training with a dislocated left shoulder, homered in the third after Heisey had a leadoff double.
Notes — Boston manager John Farrell didn’t start shortstop Xander Bogaerts to “get another left-handed bat in the lineup.” Switch-hitter Jonathan Herrera took his spot and batted ninth.
• Who: Boston Red Sox at
Texas Rangers.
• Where: Global Life Park at Arlington
• When: 8:05 p.m. Friday.
• Starting pitchers: Boston (Clay
Buchholz 2-2) vs. Texas (Yu Darvish
2-1).
• TV: NESN.
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