Baseball-Boston's Porcello rebounds to keep Yankees chasing playoffs

Sept 29 (The Sports Xchange) - Catcher Blake Swihart drove in five runs as the Boston Red Sox prevented the New York Yankees from inching closer to clinching a post-season berth with a 10-4 victory. Swihart hit a three-run home run in the first off Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda (12-9) to cap a six-run inning. He drove in Boston's final runs when he connected off reliever Bryan Mitchell in the eighth. Boston starter Rick Porcello nearly blew his team's fine start off New York Yankees starter Michael Pineda with four runs in the first but after a visit from pitching coach Carl Willis, he rebounded to finish strong. "Sometimes you need a kick in the butt," Porcello said after allowing four runs and six hits in a 118-pitch outing. "I didn't feel like I was sleepwalking out there but our offense goes out there and grind out six runs in the first inning, the last thing you want to do is give four back. "So that mound visit kind of locked me back in." Swihart hit a three-run home run in the first after the Red Sox scored on a groundout by shortstop Xander Bogaerts, a fielder's choice by first baseman Travis Shaw and a double by right fielder Brock Holt. Porcello (9-14), however almost gave the lead back, by allowing a RBI double to right fielder Carlos Beltran following a run-scoring groundout by catcher Brian McCann. Second baseman Dustin Ackley then hit a two-run homer, promoting the visit to the mound by Willis. "I just went out there and made some mistakes really with my fastball," Porcello said. "In warmups and everything I felt fine, I was locating the ball fine. Kind of after Carl came out and woke me up a little bit, he told me to make some adjustments, get the ball down and stop making mistakes." Porcello won five of his final eight starts after missing a month with a strained right triceps and finished his outing by allowing five baserunners. "He made some really good adjustments, started to work a changeup in the mix and a curveball when he needed it," Boston interim manager Torey Lovullo said. "A lot of credit goes out to Rick for rebounding and working as free and easy as he did and giving us eight solid innings." The Red Sox added to their big first inning with a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the fifth before Swihart hit his second home run in the eighth off Bryan Mitchell. "We were just putting good swings on some good balls and just trying to go out there and do everything we can," Swihart said. "We're still playing for each other and going out there and having fun." (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury)