Los Angels Angels http://www.jacksonvillejaguarsteamonline.com/gardner-minshew-ii-jersey , the Boston Red Sox needed some strong defense to complete the season sweep.

Jackie Bradley Jr. made a leaping catch at the wall in center to keep the Angels from scoring in the first inning and broke open the game with a two-run homer in the seventh as the Red Sox beat the Angels 4-2 on Thursday night.

”It feels good when you get the results,” Bradley said. ”Both were very pivotal for the game.”

Bradley’s shot to right was the 20th homer the Red Sox hit in six games against Los Angeles, sweeping the season series against the Angels for the first time since they joined the American League as an expansion club in 1961.

Boston outscored Los Angeles 49-12 while taking all six games, which according to the Red Sox is the first six-game season sweep in club history.

The Red Sox have won four straight and six of seven as they head to New York to open three-game series between the rivals on Friday night with first place in the AL East on the line.

Hector Velazquez (6-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Craig Kimbrel earned his 24th save with a scoreless ninth inning.

With scheduled starter Steven Wright on the DL, the Red Sox had to shuffle their rotation. Manager Alex Cora said he was pleased to get four innings out of starter Brian Johnson and two more from Velazquez, setting up the bullpen to finish off the Angels.

”We got to where we wanted to get http://www.losangelesramsteamonline.com/darrell-henderson-jersey ,” Cora said. ”B.J. (Johnson) was outstanding using his fastball, mixing up his breaking ball – very pleased with the way we got six innings out of those guys.”

The Angels have lost six straight, although they were in contention in the last two games at Fenway Park.

”There’s no doubt we hit the ball harder than looking at six hits,” manager Mike Scioscia said. ”We probably squared up five other balls that they made nice plays on. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer and Albert Pujols had an RBI single for the Angels, who had a potential rally going in the eighth with runners on first and second with one out but were robbed of another hit when Andrew Benintendi made a leaping catch at the wall that rivaled what Bradley did in the first.

”That was amazing,” Bradley said. ”We were able to make some big plays for our pitchers and get the win.”

Los Angeles was up 1-0 until Devers led off the fifth with his 13th homer, to center off of Jaime Barria (5-4).

Barria was pulled after giving up a one-out walk to J.D. Martinez with one out in the sixth and the score still tied 1-1. Jose Alvarez gave up a double to Mitch Moreland http://www.minnesotavikingsteamonline.com/irv-smith-jr.-jersey , with Martinez moving to third. Xander Bogaerts was then walked intentionally to load the bases, and Brock Holt drew a walk to drive in Martinez for Boston’s first lead. Alvarez then got Devers to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Barria was charged with two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out two over 5 1/3 innings.

”Jaime was good. He had to work hard to get to that point of the game,” Scioscia said. ”There was one fastball he just left down the heart of the plate and it was down to Devers and he hit it out to center. But I thought he gave us a chance to win, there’s no doubt about that.”

Bradley’s homer, his sixth, in the seventh off of Noe Ramirez pushed Boston’s lead to 4-1.

BRONX BOUND

The Red Sox were busy packing their bags in the locker room after the game and were headed to New York http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/dexter-lawrence-jersey , where the three-game series was scheduled to open Friday. The Red Sox (55-27) hold a slight lead on the Yankees (52-26), who were off Thursday.

While the series is big, Bradley said the division title is not on the line – yet.

”I think if you win, that takes care of everything. You don’t have to think about anything else,” Bradley said. ”You get that done, I don’t think you’ve got to worry about any other teams.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Angels: Placed rookie reliever Jake Jewell on the DL with a broken right leg that could cause him to miss the rest of the season. He’s scheduled to have surgery Friday. Jewell was carted off the field at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. … The Angels recalled RHP Eduardo Paredes from Triple-A Salt Lake and added RHP Taylor Cole to the major league roster.

UP NEXT

Angels: RHP Felix Pena (0-0, 5.40 ERA) gets his third start of the season and first on the road when the Angels open up a weekend series in Baltimore on Friday.

Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (9-2 http://www.oaklandraidersteamonline.com/josh-jacobs-jersey , 3.86) was on a six-start winning streak before taking the loss Saturday against Seattle. Rodriguez is scheduled to go up against Yankees LHP C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.18) in the series opener Friday night.

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The fraud trial for four former executives and sales staff at the truck stop chain Pilot Flying J took a detour Wednesday when prosecutors played a portion of secret recordings that included one of the defendants saying the n-word and disparaging his boss’ NFL team.

A federal judge allowed jurors to hear part of the recordings after prosecutors and the defense negotiated a limited release of them, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported .

The judge has described the recordings as ”vile” and ”despicable.” The recording played in court showed the ex-workers in a rowdy meeting disparaging the Oakland Raiders and the Cleveland Browns, the newspaper reported.

Pilot Flying J is controlled by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. The Haslams were not at the meeting and have not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The four ex-workers on trial are accused in a scheme to shortchange trucking customers on diesel rebates. Fourteen former members of the Pilot sales team have pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme. The company paid a $92 million penalty to the federal government and settled a class-action lawsuit for $85 million. Prosecutors say the scheme ran from at least 2008 until agents raided the company’s headquarters in 2013.

The audio played in court included former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood using the racial epithet and saying derogatory things about the Browns.

Hazelwood’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, brought Hazelwood’s character and business sense into the trial, painting him as too smart of a businessman to do anything to endanger the company. That gave the prosecution an opening to use the recordings to dispute the defense position.

The other defendants in the case – former Vice President Scott ”Scooter” Wombold and former sales representatives Heather Jones and Karen Mann – have said they aren’t on the recordings and are being prejudiced by them. The judge has declined to declare a mistrial for them or allow separate trials.

The recordings were made by a former Pilot Flying J worker. The newspaper has asked that transcriptions of the recordings be unsealed.

The company has said Jimmy Haslam was not aware of any wrongdoing within the company Ben Banogu Jersey , and the governor has not been involved with the company’s business activities in recent years.

”We are very disturbed and appalled by the extremely offensive and deplorable comments recorded over five years ago involving a small group of former sales employees,” a Pilot Flying J spokesman said in a statement Wednesday. ”This kind of behavior is reprehensible, not tolerated, nor reflective of the guiding principles of Pilot Flying J and does not represent the values of the dedicated 28,000 team members that we have today.”

The statement said the company took action as soon as officials became aware of the recordings and that the employees who participated are no longer with the company. No one currently working for Pilot Flying J was present or participated, the statement said.