BOSTON — Boston starter Chris Sale won’t mind getting just about as far away from Fenway Park as he can.

The Red Sox left-hander had yet another rough start at home against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, and by the time he returns it will be an entire year since he last won a regular-season game in Boston.

“For some reason, I suck here,” he said before the ballclub left for London for a two-game series against the New York Yankees. “I don’t know what it is.”

Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer over the Green Monster in the ninth inning – his third hit of the game – and Chicago recovered after blowing the lead in the eighth to beat Boston 8-7. Abreu had four RBI, and Leury Garcia also had three hits for Chicago.

James McCann had an RBI single and added a solo home run against Sale as Chicago pounced on the Boston starter for five runs in the first three innings. In all, Sale allowed six hits and a walk, hitting two batters and striking out 10 against his former team.

“I’ve got to find a way to get out of the gate better,” said Sale, whose most recent regular-season win at Fenway was July 11, 2018. “The last couple of times out, early in the game, I just put us in a hole. I’ve got to find a way to get out of that.”

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Chicago had leads of 3-0, 5-2 and 6-4 before the Red Sox scored three in the eighth to take a 7-6 lead and hand White Sox closer Alex Colome (3-1) his first blown save in 17 opportunities. But Matt Barnes (3-3) gave up three straight hits in the top of the ninth – Garcia was caught stealing – including Abreu’s 19th homer of the season.

“When they took the lead, we didn’t feel down,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “We kept our head up and we kept fighting until the end.”

Sale, who allowed six of the first seven batters to reach safely, retired the last 10 he faced, striking out the side in the sixth. He avoided the loss when Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run single in a three-run eighth inning to make it 7-6 – Boston’s only lead of the game.

Rafael Devers, who went 4 for 4 on Tuesday night, had three more hits and scored three times for Boston. J.D. Martinez hit a two-run homer and also had an RBI double for the Red Sox.

After blowing the save in the eighth, Colome walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to lead off the ninth and then retired the next three batters to end it.

“He’s not a guy that lets it bother him,” Chicago Manager Rick Renteria said.

With Chicago leading 6-4 in the eighth, Evan Marshall gave up a one-out single to Eduardo Nunez and a double to pinch-hitter Brock Holt. Colome got Mookie Betts to hit a hard grounder and third baseman Jose Rondon came home with it.

Nunez slid in safely head-first. Devers grounded out to the pitcher, but Bogaerts bounced a single up the middle to give Boston a 7-6 lead.

NOTES: Steven Wright made his season debut after serving an 80-game suspension for violating the policy against performance-enhancing drugs. The knuckleballer pitched the eighth, striking out one and hitting a batter. … OF Andrew Benintendi was given the second straight day off to rest, but he was available off the bench. Manager Alex Cora said his “legs felt heavy.”


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