Andrew Benintendi 5-for-5 As Red Sox Win 6th Straight; Clayton Kershaw 7 Scoreless, Dodgers Down Arizona

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 4, 2017

American League

Having passed the midway point of the season, the Boston Red Sox are looking like what many baseball pundits were calling them in the Spring: the team to beat in the AL East.

Benintendi: 5-5, 2HR, 6RBI

With their sixth straight victory, an 11-4 knockout at Texas the Sox handed the Rangers their third straight defeat and the second in their three-game series at Arlington's Globe Life Park.

David Price threw six scoreless innings for the Red Sox, scattering six hits and a pair of walks, striking out nine, while left fielder Andrew Benintendi was raking at the plate, going 5-for-5 with six RBI and four runs.

Socking his 11th and 12th home runs, Benintendi chased Texas starter, Yu Darvish with a three-run belt in the fifth and collected his fifth hit of the day with a solo shot in the eighth, which also accounted for his 50th RBI of the season. Benintendi is batting .288, closing in on his career mark of .290.

With the Yankees falling to Toronto, 4-1, the Red Sox have opened a four-game lead in the division and will be seeking a sweep at Texas Wednesday in game three, starting at 8:05 pm ET.

National League

Kershaw: 13-2

It's difficult to comprehend just how good Clayton Kershaw is as the Dodgers continue to pound away at the rest of the National League every time the LA ace takes the mound.

Tuesday night's 4-3 score over Arizona was a little deceptive, considering that the Diamondbacks didn't score until the final inning, as Kershaw held them scoreless, tossing a no-hitter into the seventh inning, before the Rangers broke through for their only two hits off the three-time Cy Young award winner (2011, 2013, 2014).

Kershaw (13-2) notched his sixth straight win, running his streak of not allowing an earned run to 27 innings. The last time an opponent scored against him was June 29, when the Angels plated an unearned run in the fourth inning of a 6-2 Dodger win.

The Mets are the last team to score an earned run against Kershaw, when they put up six on June 19, though the Dodgers won that game as well, 10-6.

Kershaw leads the majors in wins, added 11 strikeouts to remain second in the NL with 146 to Max Scherzer's 163 and lowered his ERA to 2.19, also second to Scherzer (1.94).

The win was the first in a three-game series with the visiting Diamondbacks, opening a 3 1/2 game lead over Arizona in the NL West. Game two gets started at 7:10 pm PT, Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.