Red Sox: Four home runs boost Boston past Braves

BOSTON — Senior Circuit abuse, that’s what this has become.

One can only imagine what galaxy the Red Sox’ record might exist in were they to play in the National League. Maybe their success would not translate over a larger sample size, but as inter-league affairs go, Boston has made a living off beating NL teams.

Friday night, the first-place Red Sox continued their mastery over the Senior Circuit with a 6-2 victory over the first-place Braves here. It marked the first time the teams had met with both in first place since June 2002.

Atlanta won then, so the Sox are even. Boston is 5-1 in its last six games, 7-2 in its last nine, 13-7 in its last 20. So much for the theory that, aside from their hot start, the Red Sox are just a .500 team.

Boston is 19-4 versus National League teams since the start of last season.

Boston got home runs from J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland to come back from an early 2-0 deficit. Eduardo Rodriguez put the Sox in that hole, then pitched his way out of it to earn the win. He is 5-1, and Boston is 9-1 in his 10 starts.

Rodriguez exists in a hailstorm of hits, walks and base runners. His starts are like outtakes from the movie “Twister,” yet he is wearing a Kevlar uniform so far in 2018.

In this instance Rodriguez went barely more than the minimum to get the win. He worked 5-2/3 innings and allowed nine base runners. The bullpen helped a lot as Heath Hembree, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes and Craig Kimbrel got the last 10 outs in scoreless fashion.

“Slow in the beginning” is how manager Alex Cora described Rodriguez’s night. “He had a better mix throughout the game made adjustments. His last few (starts), although he hasn’t gotten to where he wants to go, he’s made progress.”

Atlanta took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth behind Julio Teheran, who fell to 4-2. However, Martinez and Bogaerts hit solo home runs in that half inning as Boston tied the game.

The Sox went ahead for good in the fifth via a one-out triple by Jackie Bradley Jr. and sacrifice fly by Andrew Benintendi. Bradley appears to be making progress at the plate, but it is glacial. He is 5 for 17 (.294) in his last five games with three hits for extra bases.

Still, he struck out Friday night for the 12th game in a row and has fanned at least once in all 16 games he has started in May.

“We do feel offensively we will be better,” Cora said. “We have some guys who struggled in the first part of the season, they’re working at it and getting better. You can see the progress with Jackie; obviously Dustin (Pedroia) coming in is gonna help.

“We think offensively that, no doubt about it we’ve done an outstanding job, but we’re gonna be better.”

The Red Sox had one hit through three innings off Teheran. It was a leadoff single by Moreland in the second. A two-out walk to Brock Holt put runners at first and second, but Christian Vazquez flied to center to end the inning.

Martinez led off the fourth with his 16th home run of the season, a sizzling line drive that hit the shelf on top of the left field wall. After Moreland flied to right, Bogaerts hit one well beyond the confines of the ballpark and into troposphere to make it a 2-2 game.

After going ahead in the sixth, Boston extended its lead in the seventh, adding two more runs via a homer. This time,  Betts sent a two-run shot over the left field wall, with Holt, who led off the inning with a bunt, scoring ahead of him.

Moreland hit one into the center field bleachers in the eighth, giving him a 2-for-4 night as the new, official, first-string first baseman.

It was a good start for him and another just-good-enough one for Rodriguez.

—Contact Bill Ballou at william.ballou@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.