CHICAGO (AP) — Mark Leiter Jr. threw 5 1/3 solid innings of emergency relief, Nico Hoerner and Patrick Wisdom each had two hits and the Chicago Cubs capitalized on a pair of Boston errors and beat the Red Sox 3-1 Saturday night.
Four pitchers combined to limit the Red Sox to five hits as Chicago won for the fifth time in six games.
David Robertson got four outs for his 11th save in 14 chances. He gave up a double before striking out Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez and worked around a walk, coaxing a fly out to end the game.
Jackie Bradley Jr., Jarren Duran and Devers doubled for the the Red Sox, who have dropped four of five. Boston went 20-6 in June, but has lost two straight to the rebuilding Cubs.
Chicago starter Alec Mills exited due to lower back pain after throwing just seven pitches. The 30-year-old Mills struck out Duran and left after allowing a double to Devers. Leiter Jr. came on and struck out Martinez and got Xander Bogaerts to fly out, ending the inning.
“That was awesome,” Mills said. “What he did was special.”
Leiter Jr. (2-2) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one.
“It was nice to feel that emotion,” said Leiter Jr., who exited to an ovation from the crowd. “Proud of being able to kind of hold us where we were and not have to run through other guys and really use a lot of arms.”
Mills was activated June 7 from the 60-day injured list for a right quadriceps strain.
Mills said the pain is “a very similar feeling” to his previous injury, and he will see how he recovers.
“The pitch to Duran on the strikeout was when I initially felt a little bit of something,” Mills said. “It didn’t get any better, thought maybe I could get through it.”
The Cubs went ahead 2-0 in the second after two errors….