Red Sox reactions: Fifth straight win comes at a cost with more injuries

CHICAGO — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 5-0 win over Chicago White Sox Wednesday night at Rate Field:

1) The Red Sox’ road trip remained perfect with a 5-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox, giving the Red Sox their fifth straight win with four games remaining on their three-city, nine-game trip. The Red Sox climbed to within six games of .500 for the first time since May. Jake Bennett earned the win, and his teammates scored the only runs he would need in the third with a three-run outburst.

2) Somewhat quietly, Jake Bennett is turning into one of the most interesting stories of the 2026 season. Bennett picked up his third straight win Wednesday, blanking the White Sox over seven innings to improve to 4-3. He allowed just four hits, all of them singles. Bennett has allowed just five earned runs over his last five starts. In his eight starts to date in his rookie season, he’s allowed more than two earned runs just twice. Bennett regularly fills up the zone and gets a lot of chase from opposition hitters. He also consistently throws strikes — he’s walked just three batters in his last five starts.

3) The win had the potential to be a costly one for the Red Sox. In the third inning, the Red Sox lost both first baseman Willson Contreras and second baseman Anthony Seigler to injury, forced from the game. Contreras fouled a ball off his left foot in the top of the third and while he remained in the game in the bottom of the inning, he soon rolled the same foot as he went to cover first base and immediately limped off the field. Meanwhile, Seigler, attempting to score in the top of the third on a wild pitch, collided with Kyle Teel in a home plate collision and didn’t take his position in the bottom of the inning, replaced by Andruw Monasterio. It’s difficult to say how serious the injuries are, but as the old baseball saying goes: it’s never a good thing when a player has to leave in the middle of a game.

4) If the Red Sox are going to make some IL moves because of the injuries, they’ll have to act fast. Thursday, a getaway afternoon game, means there won’t be much time to summon replacements from Worcester. And then throw in the possibility of Contreras beginning his suspension at any moment, and it gets even more complicated.

5) The Red Sox got plenty of contributions from the bottom of the lineup. The bottom three of Jarren Duran, Carlos Narvaez and Tsung-Che Cheng combined to work two walks, score two runs and collect three hits. The Sox’ offense has been top heavy this year, counting on contributions from Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras. It’s good that, at least occasionally, they can get some help from the less-heralded players at the bottom of the order.

6) The Red Sox’ use of the ABS challenge system has been an issue from the beginning of the season. At times, Sox hitters and catchers have been far too aggressive; at other times, they’ve been too passive. Either way, they haven’t used it to their advantage very often. But their usage sunk to a new low Wednesday night when catcher Carlos Narvaez challenged the first pitch of the night thrown by Jake Bennett. Worse, the challenge was unsuccessful, costing the Sox half of their two challenges before the game had barely begun.

7) Without a lot of fanfare, Greg Weissert has figured some things out. Earlier in the year, Weissert had a rough time of it, and the numbers didn’t even reflect the inherited runs he was allowing. But of late, he’s been far more reliable. In the 12 outings previous to last night, Weissert had pitched to a 2.92 ERA. Wednesday was more of the same, as he came on in the eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

8) In the series finale Thursday afternoon at 2:10 p.m., the Red Sox will go with LHP Patrick Sandoval (season debut vs. LHP Anthony Kay (6-3, 4.39). It will be Sandoval’s first start for the Red Sox and his first big league start in more than two years after undergoing internal brace (elbow) surgery.

• BETTING: The over/under for Thursday’s Red Sox versus White Sox series finale is set at 9 total runs on FanDuel. Our comprehensive FanDuel Sportsbook review provides a great guide on how to use their app. Also, be sure to check out our Red Sox vs. White Sox prediction to view our expert insights.

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