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Red Sox 2, Phillies 1

Rick Porcello puts on a show in Red Sox win

Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello dives into second base with a double in the third inning Tuesday. Matt Slocum/Associated press

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PHILADELPHIA — Sandy Leon had barely gotten through the line of high-fives in the dugout after blasting a solo homer when he saw his teammates’ faces light up again.

Seeing Leon go deep wasn’t necessarily a surprise. But seeing Rick Porcello turn on a first-pitch fastball and lace it to the warning track was like watching a comet shoot through right field at Citizens Bank Park.

“I got lucky,” Porcello said, downplaying the swing. “That’s really all it is.”

Chris Sale, clutching a bag of sunflower seeds, couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

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The sight of Porcello burning around the basepaths, helmet flying off as he made the turn then splashing into second with a headfirst slide, only stoked the dugout more.

“I was running and I couldn’t see anything, it was blurry,” Porcello said. “I figured the throw was coming in, so I better slide.”

The technique was far from text-book.

“The slide was horrible,” Sox manager Alex Cora. “When I saw him kind of stopping and jumping, I was kind of like, ‘Oh god.’ ”

Cora was relieved Porcello got up in one piece. Porcello got a laugh out of it.

“I saw the replay, it didn’t look very good,” he said. “It was more of a crawl into second. I’m not going to dare to rate it, it was pretty bad.”

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Even Phillies second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera cracked a smile when he met Porcello at the bag.

“We were just messing around,” Porcello said. “He said, ‘You can swing it, too.’ I was like, ‘I need that luck on the mound, not at the plate.’ ”

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It was Porcello’s second double of the season and his 1-for-2 day at the plate was arguably the least impressive part of his night in a 2-1 win.

The Sox went ahead in the eighth when Brock Holt, hitting for Porcello, homered to deep right. Craig Kimbrel finished it off for his 36th save.

Porcello (15-5) struck out 10 over seven innings and held the Phillies to one run in a bounce-back outing. He had given up seven runs on six hits (two homers) in a 14-5 loss to the Blue Jays in his last start.

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“It was good,” Porcello said. “A lot better than the last one, for sure. You saw both games, I was throwing pitches right down the middle and walking guys in Toronto. Today, for the most part, I was able to stay out of the middle of the plate and not give up any free passes.”

Tuesday’s outing was his fifth career double-digit strikeout performance and the first time that he piled up 10 or more strikeouts without issuing a walk.

It came on the heels of Sale running up 12 strikeouts without a walk Sunday against the Orioles, marking the first time Sox starters put together back-to-back double-digit-strikeout, no-walk outings, according to Elias.

“He works, man,” Leon said of Porcello. “He competes hard. Any time he’s on the mound, you’re going to get 100 percent from him.”

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Holt made sure Porcello walked away with the win, pinch-hitting for him in the eighth inning and launching a first-pitch fastball deep to right for a solo homer.

Porcello took a perfect game into the fifth inning before giving up a solo homer to Rhys Hoskins.

Porcello threw 61 of his 90 pitches for strikes and held the Phillies to just two hits.

“He was getting ahead in the count, using the fastball, curveball, cutter, changeup,” Leon said. “All his four pitches, he was commanding really well. So that was the key.”

The Sox picked up their seventh win on a nine-game road trip that ends Wednesday. They have won five straight.

They’ve won 9 of 11 interleague games this season and they’re 25-6 against the National League since the start of last season.

While the Red Sox bats had been hot of late with homers in each of the past 11 games, Phillies starter Nick Pivetta was able to keep them quiet over six innings of work, holding the visitors to one run on three hits.

Leon gave Porcello an early lead, jumping on a 2-and-1 fastball from Pivetta in the third for his fifth homer of the season.

The Phillies got the run back when Hoskins stung Porcello for a solo shot to lead off the fifth inning.

Porcello was able to extend his winning streak against the NL to eight decisions, going back to 2015, the longest ever by a Red Sox pitcher.

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Heath Hembree threw a 1-2-3 eighth to build a bridge to Kimbrel, who wiggled out of a tight spot after walking the leadoff runner to secure his 36th save of the season.

Porcello dropped his ERA on the season to 4.04. His career batting average climbed to .189. With one more National League park on the schedule next month in Atlanta, Porcello wouldn’t mind it if another at-bat came his way.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s different for us and if you are fortunate to get on base, it’s fun being out there. You feel like you’re playing — I don’t want to say you’re not playing real baseball in the American League — but you’re in it, you can help your team win in other ways besides pitching and it’s different than what we’re used to.

“I enjoy it. Definitely embrace it, getting the opportunity to hit and do some different things.”


Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.