Andruw Monasterio and Ceddanne Rafaela homered and Payton Tolle delivered six shutout innings to lift the visiting Boston Red Sox to an 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
The Red Sox stretched their winning streak to four while earning their ninth victory in the past 11 games.
Monasterio and Rafaela collected two hits apiece, including second-inning home runs against Chicago starter Noah Schultz (2-6). Willson Contreras had a two-run, ninth-inning double among his two hits, while Jarren Duran punctuated a four-run ninth with his second hit, an RBI single.
Tolle (5-6) set the tone for the Red Sox pitching staff, scattering two Sam Antonacci singles over six innings. He walked one and struck out six while allowing only one White Sox baserunner to reach scoring position.
Chicago remained one game ahead of Cleveland atop the American League Central despite its fourth loss in six games. The White Sox avoided a shutout when Kyle Teel drove in a run on a seventh-inning forceout. Justin Slaten struck out Jacob Gonzalez and Tristan Peters with runners on the corners to end the threat.
Schultz — a rookie left-hander, as with Tolle — needed 33 pitches to escape a scoreless first inning in which he stranded the bases loaded.
Boston, however, reached him for three runs in the second, rallying after Schultz fanned Duran to begin the inning. Monasterio opened the scoring with a solo home run to left. Three batters later, Rafaela smacked a two-run blast to make it 3-0.
The Red Sox extended the lead to 4-0 in the fourth as Duran scored on Connor Wong’s sacrifice bunt.
Schultz allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings. He walked three, struck out three and hit one batter. He has lost four straight starts.
Antonacci finished 3-for-4 to pace Chicago and stop a three-game hitless streak.
