Major League Baseball
Boston 4, Chi. White Sox 1
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, August 5, 2017
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 75°
Umpires: Home - Mike Estabrook, 1B - Dan Bellino, 2B - Jerry Layne, 3B - Marvin Hudson
Attendance: 36599

BOSTON -- Drew Pomeranz continues to be a model of consistency for the suddenly surging Boston Red Sox.

The left-hander, a trade deadline pickup by Boston last season who came to town with a balky elbow, has left that all in the past and is behind only Cy Young candidate Chris Sale in the rotation.

"He's throwing the ball extremely well," Boston manager John Farrell said after Pomeranz won his fifth straight decision -- over 10 starts -- to help the Red Sox to their fifth straight win, a 4-1 decision over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night. "He feels good physically and another quality start on his part."

With David Price hurt through much of the season, Steve Wright lost for the year early and 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello a 14-game loser to date, Pomeranz's consistency has been a major factor in this team being three games ahead of the New York Yankees in the American League East.

"Those are hard to replace," Farrell said of the consistent efforts. "Any time you get a guy who's going to the mound every fifth day and pitching as effectively as Drew is ..."

He has lost once since May 14 and has allowed two or fewer runs in eight of the 10 games without a loss.

Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit two-run homers in the first two innings and Pomeranz (11-4 and already matching last year's career-high win total) pitched into the seventh. Blaine Boyer and Craig Kimbrel (26th save) finished up -- and the last-place White Sox, losers of 22 of their last 26, committed a baserunning blunder in each of the last three innings.

"My pitches have been really consistent," Pomeranz said. "My control has been consistent with them for the most part. Tonight, my curveball came back and was really good."

He gave up a home run to Tim Anderson on the second pitch of the game and that was it.

"It kind of woke me up a little bit," he said of the homer, Anderson's third career leadoff home run, second this season. "I locked in and started attacking it from there.

"It's all about not letting it snowball into something else. You give up the homer, get rid of it and start to worry about the next guy."

He left after giving up his sixth and seventh hits around an out in the seventh. Anderson then hit a liner to right off Boyer and Mookie Betts doubled Nicky Delmonico off first as the White Sox started their embarrassing final three innings.

Jose Abreu was thrown out trying for a double in the eighth and Kimbrel picked Leury Garcia off first after hitting him with a pitch to start the ninth.

"We out-hit them -- seven singles -- but a couple of base-running miscues today," said White Sox manager Rick Renteria.

Benintendi and Bradley both hit their 13th homers of the season off James Shields (2-4) and that was enough for the Red Sox to continue their streak.

"As the calendar's turned we've had a few things turn offensively as well," said Farrell.

The home run was the 15th of his major league career for Benintendi, who has bounced back after taking a couple of days off to get his head together. It was his first against an American League team at Fenway Park.

His 57 RBIs this season are the most by a Red Sox rookie since Brian Daubach had 73 in 1999.

Shields went on to work six innings in falling to 9-14 lifetime against the Red Sox. He came in with an ERA of 9.00 over his previous five starts, but an unearned run in the first inning made this a quality start.

"I made two bad pitches tonight. That's how I feel," he said. "That's a good lineup over there overall. To keep them to five hits isn't too bad, but unfortunately we lost."

NOTES: Red Sox LHP Chris Sale, talking to Chicago media about his former team, said, "They could be pretty darn good here in a few years." ... The Red Sox activated RHP Joe Kelly (hamstring) from the 10-day disabled list and optioned RHP Austin Maddox back to Triple-A Pawtucket. ... RHP Reynaldo Lopez, the White Sox's top prospect, could be recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to start Friday night. GM Rick Hahn said Lopez will pitch in the minors Sunday and a decision will be made Tuesday. ... Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia (knee) is expected to come off the DL Tuesday, his first day eligible. ... Boston DH/1B Hanley Ramirez (oblique) was out and is day-to-day while C Sandy Leon (knee) is set for his first start in eight games Sunday. ... RHPs Mike Pelfrey (Chicago) and Doug Fister (Boston) are a combined 4-14 as they face each other Sunday. Pelfrey is 3-9 and Fister is 1-5 and coming off ending his personal 10-game losing streak. ... RHP Carson Smith, coming back from Tommy John surgery, made his first rehab appearance -- at Double-A Portland -- Saturday. He walked three in his inning but came out feeling fine.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Chi. White Sox   Boston
James Shields Player Drew Pomeranz
Loss W/L Win
6.0 IP 6.1
6 Strikeouts 8
5 Hits 7
4.50 ERA 1.42
Hitting
Chi. White Sox   Boston
Tim Anderson Player Andrew Benintendi
2 Hits 2
1 RBI 2
1 HR 1
5 TB 5
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Chi. White Sox 8 1 11 .250 12 10 1 1 0 1
Boston 5 2 13 .167 9 8 4 2 1 1