Benintendi Bashes Birds For Two Home Runs, Red Sox Earn Series Split With Orioles

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

       BALTIMORE (AP) – Andrew Benintendi hit two home runs, Chris Sale pitched six innings to earn his sixth straight win and the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 Sunday for a split of the four-game series between AL East rivals.

        Boston broke a sixth-inning tie by scoring two unearned runs on a throwing error by catcher Francisco Pena, and Benintendi’s second homer made it 6-3 in the seventh.

        Benintendi also hit a solo shot in the third and singled in a run in the ninth. It was the first career multihomer game for the rookie, who entered in a 1-for-21 skid.

        Sale (7-2) struck out nine to increase his major-league leading total to 119.  

        Chris Tillman (1-3) kept the Orioles even until the sixth when Pena’s errant throw to third after a pitch with the bases loaded allowed two runs to score. 

        AP-WF-06-04-17 2058GMT