Connelly Early, Red Sox blank Braves to snap four-game skein

Connelly Early pitched seven scoreless innings and Jarren Duran homered for the second straight game to help the Boston Red Sox end a four-game losing streak by beating the visiting Atlanta Braves 8-0 on Wednesday night.

Early (5-2) limited the Braves to four hits and three walks while amassing seven strikeouts. Boston reliever Ryan Watson replaced Early and tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit.

Atlanta has failed to score more than one run in three of its last four games.

Duran, who hit a solo home run in Tuesday's 7-6 loss, had four hits in the victory. His home run was his eighth of the season.

Ceddanne Rafaela collected three of Boston's 15 hits. The Red Sox were 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Boston ended a five-game home losing streak and improved its record to 9-18 at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox exploded for six runs in the fourth inning, which featured five hits and two Atlanta errors. Masataka Yoshida scored on Matt Olson's error, then Mickey Gasper made it 2-0 when he scored on Isiah Kiner-Falefa's single. Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu followed with two-run singles to make it 6-0.

Atlanta starting pitcher Bryce Elder (4-3) did not survive the inning. He was pulled with one out in the fourth after allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits.

Boston extended its lead to 7-0 in the seventh. Gasper singled, took second on a groundout and scored on Marcelo Mayer's single. Mayer was 2-for-4 in the win.

Duran's home run, which came against Carlos Carrasco, finalized the scoring.

Jorge Mateo had two of Atlanta's five hits. The Braves were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Atlanta is 3-2 against Boston this season.

--Field Level Media