Major League Baseball

White Sox win 7th straight; beat Red Sox 9-2

Published Jul. 29, 2015 11:14 p.m. ET

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BOSTON (AP) What a difference a week has made for the Chicago White Sox.

Adam Eaton opened the game with a home run, Jose Quintana pitched 6 1-3 solid innings and the White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 9-2 on Wednesday night for their season-high seventh straight win.

''It seems like the team was left for dead a week ago and now it's got some life and is playing good baseball,'' manager Robin Ventura said. ''You never know what's going to happen.''

Rumored to be potential sellers at Friday's upcoming non-waiver trade deadline, the White Sox find themselves in their best stretch this season.

It's their longest winning streak since 2012.

''Our job is to keep everybody together and that's when we play well,'' Eaton said. ''When we're playing well that's when we keep our friends here.''

Eaton and Melky Cabrera both had three hits, including RBI singles. Alexei Ramirez hit a solo homer for the White Sox, who built a 6-0 lead and chased Boston starter Rick Porcello in the third inning.

Mike Napoli homered and drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who have lost 12 of 14.

Quintana (6-9) allowed two runs and six hits, striking out three and walking one. He gave up Napoli's homer into the Green Monster seats in the seventh.

Porcello (5-11) was tagged for six runs and seven hits in two-plus innings, the second time in five starts he's lasted just two innings. He gave up seven runs in a loss at Toronto on July 1.

''Had a bad game,'' he said. ''Elevated some pitches, fell behind some guys, a couple walks with some runners on base. Put them in some tough spots and didn't recover.''

For the third straight game, the White Sox scored in the first inning, grabbing a 2-0 lead. Eaton hit his homer down the right-field line and Cabrera scored when second baseman Brock Holt missed a relay throw from the outfield - with the ball going under his glove and rolling behind him for an error.

''We've been slapped in the face right from the get-go,'' Boston manager John Farrell said. ''Three consecutive nights we find ourselves down multiple runs early in the ball game. Bottom line is we've got to do a better job of pitching, and that's not focusing on the starters - that's focusing on everyone.''

They added three runs in the second. Eaton and Cabrera had RBI singles before Porcello hit Adam LaRoche with a pitch with the bases loaded, making it 5-0.

The White Sox scored nine combined runs in the first inning of the opening two games.

Chicago chased Porcello by opening the third inning with three consecutive hits. Ramirez homered into the first row of Monster seats, Carlos Sanchez doubled and Tyler Flowers singled. Craig Breslow relieved and left the bases loaded.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: INF Emilio Bonifacio was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left oblique. He was hurt grounding out on Tuesday and had to be helped to the dugout.

Red Sox: CF Mookie Betts was placed on the seven-day DL with a concussion after tumbling backward over the bullpen wall Tuesday when he made a catch on the field but had the ball fall out of his glove for an overturned, replay-reviewed homer when he landed. ... 3B Pablo Sandoval left the game because he was dehydrated.

RED HOT MELKY

It was Cabrera's seventh straight multi-hit game. He's collected at least one RBI in each, too. The club said it's the first player since at least 1914 to accomplish both in seven straight games.

''Don't touch that guy,'' Eaton said. ''He will burn you. He's extremely hot right now.''

VIVA DOMINICANA NIGHT

A night after retiring newly inducted Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez's uniform number 45, the Red Sox held a ceremony retiring it again in Spanish. Fans were given Dominican flags and postcard replicas of his Hall of Fame plaque with the words in Spanish. The Red Sox played congratulatory messages from Dominican players around the majors, including Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels.

UP NEXT

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale (9-5) is slated to start the third game of the four-game series on Thursday. He's 7-4 on the road with a 2.05 ERA.

Red Sox: Knuckleballer Steven Wright (3-4), who has been shuttled between Triple-A and the majors, is scheduled to make his seventh start. He did warm up early in Wednesday night's game.