Red Sox 6, White Sox 1

 

As of last night, the Boston Red Sox are no longer the worst team in the AL East.

Peyton Tolle pitched six innings of shutout, two-hit baseball, striking out six and giving up only one walk. Tolle is the first Red Sox pitcher since Dennis Eckersley in 1978 to make at least four starts of 6.0-plus innings while allowing zero earned runs in a single season.

Meanwhile, both Monasterio and Rafaela homered in the first to give Boston an early, 3-0 lead. Wong made it 4-0 in the fourth with a sac fly, and then in the top of the ninth, Contreras, Gonzalez, and Durran added all the insurance one could want with a pair of RBI doubles and a single. 

That's four straight wins for the Sox, a feat they've only managed once before this season when they swept the Yankees. Since that series against New York started back on June 25, the Red Sox have gone 9-2, and finally (finally!) out of the AL East basement. They're now in fourth place, a half-game ahead of Baltimore and 12½ back from the Rays, who beat the Yankees last night. 

Rooke Jake Bennett (3-3, 3.10) will face the White Sox tonight for the first time in his short career (he only came up to the majors on May 1). He'll be opposite Chicago's Davis Martin (9-3, 3.08), who's started twice against Boston. Last year, he went six innings against the Red Sox, striking out six but also giving up six hits (one earned run) in an 11-1 Chicago blowout. 

Let's hope for better results tonight.