Bennett Dominates, Cheng Delivers as Boston Blanks Chicago 5-0

Jake Bennett threw seven shutout innings and Tsung-Che Cheng drove in two runs as Boston handed Chicago a 5-0 loss on July 8. The damage was done fast and it was done ugly — three of Boston's five runs came courtesy of Chicago's own pitcher.

The game turned in the third inning and it turned hard. Cheng singled to center to score Duran, and that single swing shifted the home win probability from 58% to 45% — a 13-point crater that Chicago never climbed out of. Rafaela followed immediately with a double to center, scoring Cheng and pushing Seigler to third. Then Chicago's pitcher Martin did the rest of the damage himself, uncorking two wild pitches that each allowed a run to score, pushing Boston to a 3-0 lead before the inning was even finished. Three runs, two hits, and a pitcher losing the strike zone — that's how you lose a ballgame before it starts.

Boston wasn't done. In the fourth, Narváez singled to right to score Yoshida and push Durbin to third, and then Cheng — already the story of the third — singled to right again to score Durbin and make it 5-0. Cheng finished 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Rafaela went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Durbin went 2-for-3 and scored. This looks like a lineup that was locked in from the jump, and Chicago's pitching staff had no answer for it.

Bennett, meanwhile, was the quieter half of a dominant performance. He went 7.0 innings, allowed just 4 hits and 1 walk, struck out 4, and gave up zero earned runs. Jovani Moran handled the eighth with a perfect inning — no hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts. The only Chicago bright spot was Luisangel Acuña, who went 2-for-2, but Boston's pitching never let that matter. The story of the night was a Red Sox team that scored early, scored often, and then handed the ball to a starter who made it all hold up with ease. Chicago, for its part, appears to be a team that can't afford mistakes — and tonight they made several.