Former Hog Andrew Benintendi bright spot for Sox, hits first home run

DETROIT — For most of the Boston Red Sox, Sunday was a day to forget.

It wasn’t a great success — they lost 10-5 to the Detroit Tigers — but rookie Andrew Benintendi is going to remember it for a long time.

Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) struck out in his last at-bat Friday night, then went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts Saturday. When Tigers starter Justin Verlander got him again in the third inning on Sunday, he knew he needed to fix something.

“When you strike out five straight times, you have time to think about how the pitchers are attacking you,” Benintendi said. “I thought I had a pretty good idea what I should be expecting.”

Benintendi led off the sixth inning with a triple off Verlander, the first of his career.

Then in the seventh, Benintendi connected for his first home run, a drive off Shane Greene.

“That was pretty cool, especially because my family was here to see it,” he said. “I wasn’t sure it was going to get out until I saw J.D. [Martinez] give up on it.”

Boston Manager John Farrell thought the two big hits were one of Boston’s few bright spots.

“It’s always good to see a kid hit his first homer, because it gets that off their mind,” Farrell said.

RAYS 8, RANGERS 4 Logan Forsythe (Razorbacks) homered after missing four games because of back spasms, and host Tampa Bay beat Texas to take two of three from the AL West-leading Rangers. Forsythe hit an opposite-field, threerun shot off Martin Perez (8-9) in a five-run fourth that made it 6-2. Drew Smyly (Little Rock Central, Razorbacks) allowed 4 runs and 5 hits over 6 2/3 innings to go 4-0 in his past six starts.

ROYALS 2, TWINS 1 Danny Duffy won his 10th consecutive decision, Eric Hosmer doubled in the go-ahead run and host Kansas City beat Minnesota.

ASTROS 5, ORIOLES 3 Dallas Keuchel (Razorbacks) allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts through eight innings, Yulieski Gurriel got a hit in his major league debut and Houston beat host Baltimore.

INDIANS 3, BLUE JAYS 2 Jose Ramirez hit a two-run home run off Brett Cecil in the eighth inning and host Cleveland beat Toronto.

ANGELS 2, YANKEES 0 Albert Pujols had three hits and scored twice on singles by Andrelton Simmons, leading Los Angeles past visiting New York.

WHITE SOX 4, ATHLETICS 2 Jose Quintana pitched into the eighth inning for his career-best 10th victory and Jose Abreu homered for the second consecutive game to lead host Chicago past Oakland.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ROCKIES 11, CUBS 4 Nolan Arenado broke out of a slump in a big way, hitting two home runs and driving in six runs to boost host Colorado over Chicago.

DODGERS 4, REDS 0 Chase Utley homered on the fourth pitch of the game, 20-year-old Julio Urias won his third consecutive decision and visiting Los Angeles beat Cincinnati.

CARDINALS 9, PHILLIES 0 Mike Leake pitched seven innings and hit a two-run single and visiting St. Louis homered four times to rout Philadelphia.

BRAVES 7, NATIONALS 6 (10) Jace Peterson hit a tiebreaking home run in the 10th inning off Shawn Kelley to lift Atlanta past host Washington in a game delayed 1 hour, 4 minutes in the bottom of the eighth.

MARLINS 3, PIRATES 2 Christian Yelich homered in the first inning, Miami added two unearned runs and the Marlins rallied past visiting Pittsburgh.

PADRES 9, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Luis Perdomo ended a three-start losing streak, Travis Jankowski and Alex Dickerson homered, and host San Diego beat Arizona for a four-game split.

METS 2, GIANTS 0 Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia combined on a three-hitter and Yoenis Cespedes homered off Jeff Samardzija, leading visiting New York past San Francisco.

INTERLEAGUE

BREWERS 7, MARINERS 6 Keon Broxton and Chris Carter homered and Scooter Gennett had an RBI single during a four-run ninth inning, and visiting Milwaukee beat Seattle to end a sixgame losing streak.

Sports on 08/22/2016

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