Making his first start of the season, Franklin Morales excelled in his five-inning outing, helping lead the Red Sox to a 7-4 win over the Cubs in the teams' series finale in Chicago. Morales only allowed two runs on four hits, striking out nine while not walking a batter.
Morales failed to earn a win after the Cubs tied the game in sixth inning, scoring an unearned run against Sox reliever Matt Albers. But the performance by the lefty helped the Red Sox stay around until they ultimately erupted for a three-run seventh inning, which was highlighted by Ryan Kalish's RBI single and a suicide squeeze from Daniel Nava, scoring Kalish.
Nava, who also came away with a single, entered the game in the fifth inning when Scott Podsednik was sidelined with a groin injury.
Also helping pace the Red Sox offense were David Ortiz -- who slammed his 16th homer of the season with a solo shot in the fourth inning -- and Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia managed two hits, including a first-inning double that got the scoring started for the Sox.
With the win the Red Sox climb back to .500 at 33-33.
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Links:
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[2] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox