BOSTON — Kyle Schwarber homered twice and scored four times, and Chris Sale struck out eight in five innings on Wednesday night to lead the yellow-and-blue-clad Boston Red Sox to their seventh straight win, 12-5 over the New York Mets.
The Red Sox scored in each of the first six innings and have not lost since dropping the opener of a three-game series at Seattle on Sept. 13. They began wearing their Boston Marathon-themed alternate jerseys on Friday, and after sweeping the Orioles they stuck with them through the two-game sweep of the Mets.
The winning streak has lifted Boston from fourth place in the AL East — percentage points out of playoff position — into second and the top AL wild-card spot, with a two-game lead over the Yankees. New York beat Texas 7-3 on Wednesday to move ahead of Toronto, a 7-1 loser to Tampa Bay, in the race for the final wild-card berth.
Sale (5-0) allowed two runs on six hits in his seventh start since returning from Tommy John surgery.
Schwarber scored four times, hitting a solo homer in the first and a three-run shot in the second. In the fourth, he lofted a popup to left that fell in for one of Boston’s six doubles in the game.
Schwarber has nine homers in his last five games against the Mets while playing for the Red Sox and Washington Nationals — four of them off Taijuan Walker (7-11). According to STATS, he’s the first player ever to have nine homers in a five-game span against a single opponent.
Walker allowed six runs on six hits and two walks in two innings. Pete Alonso homered for the Mets, his 35th of the year.
TWO-WAY PLAYER
José Iglesias hit a triple over the head of right fielder Kevin Pillar that yielded a run when second baseman Javier Báez’s relay went into the dugout. He also made a nice stop on Francisco Lindor’s grounder up the middle, then flipped it backhanded to Xander Bogaerts to start an inning-ending double play.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: RHP Phillips Valdéz, the last of a dozen Red Sox players to test positive for COVID-19, has cleared quarantine. Two members of the staff also tested positive during the four-week outbreak.
UP NEXT
Mets: After taking Thursday off, open a three-game series against the Brewers, with RHP Tylor Megill (3-5, 4.57 ERA) on the mound.
Red Sox: Rest up on Thursday for a three-game weekend series against the rival Yankees. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (10-8, 3.58) will face RHP Gerrit Cole (15-8, 3.03).
