Red Sox 4, Nationals 3: Porcello, Betts do the damage in Washington

WASHINGTON --- Rick Porcello was only too happy to help himself Monday night at Nationals Park, an unlikely two-way standout who powered the Red Sox to victory beginning the latest series of interleague play.

Porcello pitched and hit Boston to a 4-3 triumph over Washington, doing almost all the required damage at the plate with one swing and turning in a quality start over six innings.

Mookie Betts crushed a solo home run leading off the seventh that turned out to be the [...]

WASHINGTON --- Rick Porcello was only too happy to help himself Monday night at Nationals Park, an unlikely two-way standout who powered the Red Sox to victory beginning the latest series of interleague play.

Porcello pitched and hit Boston to a 4-3 triumph over Washington, doing almost all the required damage at the plate with one swing and turning in a quality start over six innings.

Mookie Betts crushed a solo home run leading off the seventh that turned out to be the game winner, but Porcello carried the Red Sox to that point. Craig Kimbrel’s second four-out save in his last three outings was required to push Boston over the finish line, as the second leg of the three-city road swing kicked off in the nation’s scorching-hot capital.

“That’s baseball right there,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I’ve always believed if there’s somebody in that batter’s box with a bat they always have a chance. Pitchers are going to make mistakes, you’re going to put a good swing on it and run into something.”

That the victim of Porcello’s first RBI in nine years was a fellow Cy Young Award winner was a rather pleasant surprise for the Red Sox. His three-run double to left field in the bottom of the second came off former Detroit teammate Max Scherzer, the Nationals ace and potential All-Star Game starter for the National League here at his home park in two weeks. That staked Boston to a 3-0 lead they never relinquished, with Washington cracking three solo homers in reply to come up just short.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Porcello said. “I know he’s got a good fastball, but I just got lucky. He got to the top of his windup and I told myself, ‘Start swinging.’ And hit it.”

Mitch Moreland singled, Brock Holt was hit by a pitch and Jackie Bradley Jr. drew just the 11th intentional walk of his career to give Porcello a prime run-producing chance with two outs in the second. He fell into an 0-2 hole before Scherzer left a 96 mph fastball belt-high on the inner half, and Porcello smoked a drive to the warning track in left that cleared the bases. It was the first time he’d drive in a run since a pair of singles knocked in two against the Pirates in June 2009.

“The one thing about Rick – and you guys know it – is he’ll compete,” Cora said. “Even in the second at-bat I told him to just take three pitches, and he couldn’t help himself.”

“That’s just Rick’s personality,” Betts said. “No matter what it is, he’s going to compete. Playing cards, playing ping-pong – whatever it is, he’s going to compete.”

Betts looks more and more like the player who tore through opposing pitching in the season’s first two months. He has reached base safely in 25 of his last 52 plate appearances entering Monday and already had a walk in his pocket when he dug in against Brandon Kintzler in the seventh. Betts hammered a 1-2 sinker 430 feet to left center, the ball clearing the visiting bullpen and settling in front of a bleacher pavilion.

“No matter what I’m doing I go out there and just try to get one base and score some runs,” Betts said. “Essentially, that’s how you win the game.”

The Nationals had the market cornered on homers before Betts made his deciding swing. Anthony Rendon hit the first pitch of the fourth to deep left, making it 3-1, and Daniel Murphy hit the first pitch he saw with one out in the sixth to the bleachers in right. That made it a 3-2 game, and Boston’s lead was shaved to one run again when Joe Kelly allowed a second-deck shot to right by Bryce Harper leading off the eighth.

Kimbrel was summoned with the go-ahead run at the plate and two outs in the eighth, inducing Michael A. Taylor to fly out to shallow right. The right-hander worked around a two-out walk in the ninth to pick up his 25th save, the eighth straight season in which he’s reached that mark.

Scherzer allowed more than two earned runs for just the second time in his 18 starts this season. The right-hander held the Red Sox to a pair of singles over his final four innings of work and became the 11th pitcher to notch 1,000 strikeouts for two different teams (Tigers) when he fanned Andrew Benintendi to lead off the fifth.

“You want to put the ball in play, get a hit and score some runs because it’s Max Scherzer,” Porcello said. “Not a lot of runs are scored off him. There’s only so much you can do. I got lucky and got that hit.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25