BOSTON (AP) — Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Friday night to sweep a doubleheader.
Brayan Bello allowed four hits over four innings and rookie Jedixson Páez (1-1) gave up three hits in five innings with four strikeouts in his first big league win.
Chicago dropped two games back of San Diego for the top NL wild card. The Padres hosted Arizona later Friday.
Javier Assad (6-2)
was the loser. Chicago starter David Petersen allowed three hits over five innings and struck out six.
In the first game, Connor Wong hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning, to help the Red Sox rally from a three-run deficit in a 4-3 win that clinched the No. 5 seed in the AL playoffs.
Boston will play its Wild Card Series for the second year in a row at the New York Yankees, who won last season’s best-of-three matchup 2-1. It will be the seventh Red Sox-Yankees postseason series.
Friday’s opener was originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon but was moved up because a significant storm was forecast. The series finale, which had been slated for Saturday night, will now be played on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Neither team had announced Sunday pitching plans.
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