Red Sox Complete Sweep Of Royals, Win MLB-Best 62nd Game

Rick Porcello tossed seven strong innings and Andrew Benintendi went 4-for-5 at the plate as the Red Sox completed a sweep of the Kansas City Royals and won 7-4 at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday.

With the victory, the Red Sox extend their winning streak to six games and maintain their two-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East.

Porcello allowed three runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out nine in seven innings.

He ran into trouble in the bottom of the third, allowing back-to-back singles to Drew Butera and Whit Merrifield. The two scored on a line drive double to left field by Jorge Bonifacio.

Porcello gave up a line drive single to Alex Gordon to start the bottom half of the fourth. Gordon advanced to third on a wild pitch from Porcello and scored on a single to center field by shortstop Adalberto Mondesi.

Royals pitcher Heath Fillmyer walked Mitch Moreland with the bases loaded in the fifth, forcing in a run and tying the game at 3-3.

Benintendi, who had his third career four-hit game, scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts in the same inning.

Before he struck out in the eighth, Benintendi had reached base in 10 straight plate appearances, including going 2-for-2 with four walks on Saturday.

The Red Sox scored three more runs in the seventh. Moreland and Eduardo Nunez contributed RBI singles, while Bogaerts hit a run-scoring double on a sharp ground ball to left field.

Porcello allowed a single by Butera to start the bottom of the seventh and Merrifield followed up with a double to left, advancing Butera to third. The Royals catcher would be stranded there though, as Porcello struck out the next two batters and got Duda to fly out to center to end the inning.

Boston records it's MLB-best 62nd win of the season and finishes its road trip going 7-2. The Red Sox return to Fenway to open a three-game series with the Rangers (40-51) on Monday night.

Eduardo Rodriguez (10-3, 3.84 ERA), who is coming off an impressive start against the Nationals on Independence day, will get the start against Rangers lefty Mike Minor. Rodriguez pitched six scoreless innings of three-hit ball against Washington.

Minor (6-4, 4.63 ERA) has allowed three runs or fewer in five straight games.