After taking their five-game winning streak to Chicago, the Red Sox have now lost two straight as the White Sox defeated the Red Sox 3-1 Tuesday night. The Red Sox are now 5-3 on their nine-game road trip.
White Sox starter Jose Quintana shut down the Red Sox, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, none until the seventh inning. The Red Sox scored their lone run in the eighth on an RBI ground out from Dustin Pedroia.
Red Sox starter Felix Doubront tossed arguably his best game of the season, but it wasn't good enough as he suffered his second loss of the season. The left-hander went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while walking two. He had very good command, something he's struggled with this season. His one big mistake came in the fifth inning when he allowed a two-run home run to Jeff Keppinger. Alex Wilson allowed one run in 1 2/3 innings of relief, while Andrew Miller came on for one out in the eighth.
Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz, Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava all hit safely for the Red Sox, while Pedroia's 12-game hit streak was snapped as he went 0-for-4.
The teams will close out their three-game set Wednesday night (8:10, NESN) as Clay Buchholz will take to the mound for the Red Sox and be opposed by Hector Santiago, as right-hander Chris Sale was scratched with a mild case of tendinitis in his left shoulder.
What they'll be saying: The Red Sox offense couldn't get anything going, which seems to be the case of late, particularly when the team dropped nine of 11 games. They didn't record a hit until Ortiz's broken bat single in the seventh. The team has struggled with runners in scoring position, but didn't really get many opportunities Tuesday, going just 1-for-6 ... The lack of offense spoiled a good outing from Doubront, who had been struggling of late. He needed just 85 pitches in the six innings, which was an encouraging sign as pitch count has been something he's been battling all year.
