BOSTON (AP) - Andrew Benintendi bolstered his All-Star credentials with a pair of doubles and two RBIs in his final game before fan votes are tallied, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to eight games.
Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a pair of RBI doubles and Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run triple as Boston scored five runs in the third and won for the 15th time in 18 games.
Matt Barnes (3-2) got the win with one inning of relief, striking out the side in the seventh after the Rangers had pulled within 6-4 with two runs in the sixth. He was the fourth of five relievers the Red Sox rode to another victory and improve on the best record in the majors.
Rougned Odor homered and Joey Gallo hit a two-run double for the Rangers, who have lost four of five.
Yovani Gallardo (3-1) made it through the first two innings without allowing a baserunner, but ran into trouble in the third.
After entering the inning with a 1-0 lead, Gallardo faced the entire Boston lineup in the third as the Red Sox tagged him for six hits - three of them doubles - and five runs.
Blake Swihart and Bradley started the rally on back-to-back doubles with one out. Gallardo struck out Mookie Betts for the second out, but Benintendi doubled in a run, Martinez singled and Xander Bogaerts hit a triple over the head of Delino DeShields in the center-field triangle to drive in two more and put the Red Sox up 5-1.
Hector Velazquez allowed one run on two hits over the first three innings. Jalen Beeks, recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket earlier Tuesday, pitched the next 2 1/3, allowing three runs on four hits, before he was pulled for Brandon Workman with one out in the sixth and runners at second and third.
Odor, whose homer in the second cleared the Texas bullpen and landed deep in the tunnel in right, singled and Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled before Workman came on to face Gallo, whose double to center scored two to pull the Rangers to 6-4.
Barnes took over in the seventh, Brandon Workman pitched the eighth and Ryan Brasier finished it off with a scoreless ninth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: Catcher Christian Vazquez (broken finger) and IF Marco Hernandez (left shoulder) both had surgery Tuesday. Hernandez will miss the rest of the season and Vazquez is out 6 to 8 weeks, the Red Sox said.
UP NEXT
Rangers: RHP Bartolo Colon (5-6, 4.65 ERA) gets another chance at passing Dennis Martinez as the winningest Latin-American pitcher in major league history. Colon and Martinez are tied with 245 career victories.
Red Sox: LHP Chris Sale (9-4, 2.36) has struck out 11 or more in each of his last four starts.
___
More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
