Jake Bennett and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout and Tsung-Che Cheng had a pair of RBI singles as the visiting Boston Red Sox earned a 5-0 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.
Boston won for the 10th time in 12 games while improving to 5-0 on a nine-game road trip entering the All-Star break.
Bennett, a rookie left-hander, stymied skidding Chicago, which has lost five of seven. Luisangel Acuna singled twice against Bennett (4-3), who held the rest of the White Sox lineup to just two base hits while spacing one walk and four strikeouts in seven innings.
Chicago went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position as Bennett threw 53 of his 81 pitches for strikes.
Boston pitching retired the last 13 Chicago batters in a row. Greg Weissert and Jovani Moran followed Bennett with separate perfect innings.
White Sox ace Davis Martin remained winless since June 10, struggling to complete four innings after a strong beginning.
Martin needed just 21 pitches to retire the first six Red Sox but slumped from there while falling to 9-4.
Boston rolled to three runs in the third inning despite losing two infielders to injury. Second baseman Anthony Seigler (right trap contusion) and first baseman Willson Contreras (left foot contusion) were banged up in short succession.
Seigler collided with Chicago catcher Kyle Teel while scoring on a Martin wild pitch to make it 3-0 with Contreras at bat. Moments later, Contreras fouled a ball off his foot before flying to center. He left the game in the bottom of the inning.
Cheng lined an RBI single to open the scoring and came around on a Ceddanne Rafaela double.
Carlos Narvaez and Cheng delivered successive run-scoring singles in the fourth to stretch the advantage to 5-0.
Martin yielded five runs and six hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Caleb Durbin and Rafaela had two hits apiece for the Red Sox.
Four Chicago pitchers notched nine strikeouts in five innings of shutout relief. Trevor Richards had four strikeouts over two innings.
–Field Level Media
