Durbin's 379-Foot Shot Does All the Damage in Boston's 2-1 Win
Caleb Durbin hit a two-run homer to left in the fourth inning, and that was essentially the whole ballgame. Boston beat Chicago 2-1 on July 9, with Durbin's blast accounting for both Red Sox runs.
The game turned on a single swing. With Romy González already on base in the fourth, Durbin drove a 379-foot home run to left, scoring González and putting Boston up 2-0. The win probability swung from 53% in Chicago's favor to 32% the moment that ball left the yard — a 20-point shift that effectively decided the outcome. Durbin finished 1-for-4 with the homer, 2 RBI, and a run scored. González went 1-for-3 with a run. That's the box score in miniature: Boston did just enough, and the White Sox never caught up.
Chicago made it interesting in the fifth. Andrew Benintendi reached on an infield single to the catcher, scoring Luisangel Acuña and cutting the deficit to 2-1, with a runner moving to second. That's as close as the White Sox would get. Colson Montgomery was Chicago's most consistent bat, going 2-for-4, but the offense couldn't manufacture the tying run when it mattered. Acuña went 1-for-2 with a run scored, and Benintendi's 1-for-2, 1-RBI line was the only real damage Chicago managed against Boston's pitching staff.
On the mound, the story of the night was Boston's bullpen finishing what Patrick Sandoval started. Sandoval went 4.1 innings, allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 5 — serviceable, not dominant. Anthony Kay gave Chicago 5.1 innings with 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts, which looks like a quality start that simply ran into one bad pitch to Durbin. Jordan Hicks was sharp in relief for Chicago — 1.2 innings, no hits, no runs, 2 strikeouts — but the deficit was already baked in. Garrett Whitlock closed it out for Boston with a clean inning: no hits, no runs, 2 strikeouts. With the All-Star break arriving next week, this appears to be exactly the kind of tight, low-margin win Boston needed heading into the pause — and exactly the kind of loss Chicago, a team that could use a reset, would rather forget.