Major League Baseball

Red Sox complete 4-game sweep on Braves' throwing error

Published May. 29, 2014 10:34 p.m. ET

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BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox were charging out of the dugout before the winning run reached home plate.

After a 10-game skid, winning sure feels good.

Atlanta's third error in the last two innings allowed Jackie Bradley Jr. to score from second as the Red Sox rallied to beat Atlanta 4-3 on Thursday night for their fourth consecutive win.

"They contributed with some balls in play on the defensive side of things," Boston manager John Farrell said. "Just a good comeback win overall."

Boston trailed 3-1 before tying it with a pair of runs in the eighth then won it in the ninth.

Bradley and Brock Holt drew back-to-back walks off closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1). Xander Bogaerts followed with a hard grounder to Chris Johnson at third base for an infield single. Johnson stopped it and made a strong throw but second baseman Tommy La Stella missed the catch with Holt bearing down.

Bradley hadn't even scored yet when the Red Sox began rushing out of the dugout.

"The arrow's pointing in the right direction," Bradley said.

Bogaerts was credited with a single and the error was initially charged to Johnson. The official scoring on the play was changed later and the error charged to La Stella.

The change mattered little to the Braves, who had no errors before taking a 3-1 lead into the eighth.

"You play this game long enough, things like that are going to happen," said center fielder B.J. Upton, who had one of two errors for the Braves in the eighth. "We'll get by it and be ready to play tomorrow."

Koji Uehara (1-1) picked up the win after eight solid innings by starter Jake Peavy for the Red Sox, who completed a four-game sweep in the home-and-home series with the Braves.

"It's just unfortunate. I felt like we were making good pitches at the end and the balls were just dropping in," Atlanta starter Mike Minor said. "They're a tough team. I feel like every four games we played them, they battled back every time. It's kind of expected out of them to battle back."

Minor also pitched well, holding Boston to one run on seven hits in seven innings. Minor didn't walk a batter and struck out three.

Jason Heyward homered and Freddie Freeman drove in a run and scored once for the Braves, who lost their fourth in a row and fifth in six games.

Atlanta led 3-1 when Holt led off the eighth with a bloop single to left off reliever David Carpenter. He went to second when left fielder Justin Upton took his eye off the ball and it bounced past him. Bogaerts followed with an RBI single and Dustin Pedroia reached on a slow roller up the middle that was called a hit.

A.J. Pierzynski followed with another single to center that B.J. Upton let get by him for the second error of the inning, allowing Bogaerts to score and tie it at 3-all.

"I had it lined up right in the middle of my body and went to field it. The grass just kind of took it away from me," B.J. Upton said.

Atlanta had just gone up 3-1 with a run in the top of the eighth. B.J. Upton led off with a single to left and scored when Freeman followed with a double off the wall in left-center.

Heyward's homer with two outs in the third gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead. The Braves added a run in the fourth when Freeman led off with a walk, advanced to second on a balk and scored on Evan Gattis' single.

Boston cut the lead to 2-1 with a run in the fifth when David Ross doubled and scored on a two-out double by Holt.

Peavy allowed three runs on eight hits in eight innings. He struck out four and walked one.

NOTES

Boston returns to American League play Friday when Tampa Bay visits Friday with LHP David Price (4-4) facing Boston righty Brandon Workman (0-0). ... Boston DH David Ortiz did not start because of a sore right calf, a move manager John Farrell called precautionary. Ortiz pinch hit in the eighth and drew an intentional walk with two outs. ... Boston 1B Ryan Lavarnway left the game in the sixth with a sore left wrist. ... ... Atlanta SS Andrelton Simmons returned to the lineup missing Wednesday's game with an inflamed right ankle