The White Sox have now won six straight games, even though Tony La Russa tried a few managerial heat checks along the way.
The lineup lacked Tim Anderson and AJ Pollock while starting Yasmani Grandal at first base, all with Dallas Keuchel on the mound.
When Keuchel gave him five scoreless innings, he sent him out for a sixth, in which he left him out for three batters too long.
With Liam Hendriks (overwork) and Aaron Bummer (heading to the IL) unavailable for the ninth inning, he went with José Ruiz and Bennett Sousa over Kendall Graveman.
And none of it mattered. The White Sox instead swept the Red Sox at Fenway Park to rise one game above .500, even though they haven't scored more than four runs a game during this stretch.
The biggest takeaway is that Murphy's Law is no longer just a bar in South Boston. The Red Sox are now 10-19, and after scoring five runs over three games against the weaker sections of the White Sox pitching staff, those who hadn't seen many Boston games this year have a better understanding why.
The Red Sox went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position today, and 3-for-27 for the series. They had a chance to strike damaging blows early and late. In the first, Keuchel issued a leadoff walk as it appeared his control problems tumbled into another start. In the ninth inning, J.D. Martinez almost made the decision to close with Ruíz immediately regrettable with a fly ball that hit off the top quarter of the Green Monster. The Red Sox scored neither time.
Instead, Keuchel threw his best start of the season. That leadoff walk was the only one he issued, he completed six innings by throwing 60 of 92 pitches for strikes, and the Red Sox had particular issues handling his cutter.
Meanwhile, Ruiz bounced back from the leadoff double to get a flared popout and a strikeout on a ridiculously high fastball. He could've faced Jackie Bradley Jr., but La Russa turned it into a battle between Sousa and backup catcher Kevin Plawecki, and Sousa won it with a flyout to left center.
In between, the only other trouble the White Sox encountered was due to La Russa's long leash. Keuchel opened the sixth against the heart of the order by striking out Trevor Story, but Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts singled to put runners on the corners with Martinez coming to the plate.
Ryan Burr was slow to get warming, and so Keuchel faced Martinez. He dodged that threat with getting a weak tapper that scored a run, but Keuchel was happy to get the out on a difficult 1-3 putout. But then he stayed in to face Christian Vazquez, and Vazquez muscled a single to left to score Bogaerts. The White Sox compounded issues by letting Leury García's throw home go through, and Vazquez advanced 90 feet.
And yet Keuchel still stayed in! Ethan Katz came out to the mound instead, probably telling him that lefty Alex Verdugo was his last batter, and Verdugo made it quick by flying out on the first pitch to preserve the White Sox's one-run margin.
The White Sox bullpen suggested it could've been turned to earlier. Ryan Burr pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, and Matt Foster struck out the side in the eighth, including an eight-pitch battle with Devers that had Reese McGuire punching the air on strike three, even though one out remained.
As for the White Sox offense, it only totaled six hits, but it saved half of them for one inning, and that was good enough. The third inning opened with a single by McGuire and an HBP for Josh Harrison. Danny Mendick moved them both over with a sac bunt, which allowed a run to score on a García chopper that Devers couldn't handle.
Luis Robert couldn't get Harrison home, with his comebacker turning into a fielder's choice at second base, but José Abreu picked up his countryman with a double to left field that scored Harrison and Robert (Joe McEwing won a 50-50 play!) for all the runs the White Sox needed, and nothing more.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox were plunked three times, with Harrison taking two of them.
*Keuchel received normal defensive support, with McGuire helping erase a runner on a SHOTHO.
*Grandal stole a base ... on a lefty.
*Jake Burger didn't make a case for surviving the reinstatement of Yoán Moncada from the injured list, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
*A howling wind knocked down a promising García 106-mph rocket to right field, but it also kept Martinez in the park in the ninth.
*Perhaps the White Sox will be more amenable to morning starts after the success at 10:30 a.m. CT this time around.
