Cubs sweep Red Sox, blast Boston 16-9 in a slug fest

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Slug fest at Fenway Park!

Red Sox lose!

The Chicago Cubs attacked Boston starter Brandon Workman (1-2) early and got more than enough insurance over the course of a four hour, 19 minute affair to defeat the Red Sox, 16-9 on Wednesday night at Fenway Park. The loss spells a three-game sweep at home for the Sox, now nine games under .500 after taking the broom from one of the weaker teams in the National League.

The Cubs pounded out 19 hits in the contest, victimizing Workman for three scores in the first frame on a Justin Ruggiano two-run blast and a Starlin Castro RBI single. Workman, who left pitches up in the zone throughout his stint, was eventually touched for six runs on five hits and three walks, with two strikeouts, in just four innings.

Felix Doubront came in and characteristically threw gasoline on the fire, allowing a two-run homer to Welington Castillo in the fifth. He departed the game with two men on in the sixth, and Burke Badenhop promptly allowed an RBI single to Ruggiano, who wound up being the offensive star with three hits and five runs batted in on a night every Chicago starter crossed the plate.

Edward Mujica allowed a solo homer to Nate Schierholtz in the eighth, while Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa allowed a conga line of sharp singles and doubles in the ninth as the Cubs ran up their final six runs of the evening.

Though Boston scored nine runs of the night, the most they’ve scored since June 13th, it wasn’t much consolation. Mookie Betts‘ first career home run, a two-run job in the fifth inning, was encouraging from one angle, as were the three hits for Brock Holt and the suddenly red-hot Dustin Pedroia (12 hits in his last 20 trips). David Ortiz also had his 1,000th extra-base hit, making him the 36th player in MLB history to reach that milestone.

Despite the nine runs, the Boston offense also exhibited one of their primary skills: killing rallies. They left two men on in each of the first three innings and Xander Bogaerts struck out looking with the bases loaded to end the fourth.

Carlos Villanueva (4-5) got the win for Chicago despite surrendering two runs in his two innings of work.

The Sox get a day off Thursday before an Independence Day matchup with the Baltimore Orioles , with Jon Lester (9-7, 2.92) taking on Miguel Gonzalez (4-5, 4.56) at 1:35 PM.