BOSTON _ If anyone was going to take a no-hitter to the sixth inning Sunday at Fenway Park, it figured to be Red Sox ace Chris Sale.
But Mike Foltynewicz and the Braves had other ideas.
Sale gave up six runs and left the game before Foltynewicz had even allowed a hit as the Braves rolled to a 7-1 win to avert a sweep and snap a three-game losing streak.
Foltynewicz (4-3) limited the surging Sox to just three hits and one run in seven innings and had three walks with seven strikeouts.
He took a no-hitter to the sixth before Andrew Benintendi's one-out double off the Green Monster left-field wall.
While Foltynewicz was trimming his ERA to 2.55, Sale saw his jump by more than half a run to 2.76 after allowing five hits, six runs and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.
It was only the second time the formidable left-hander faced the Braves in his career and the second time Sale got pounded by them.
Initially it appeared as if it might be a costly win as Braves phenom Ronald Acuna left in the seventh inning after a gruesome-looking incident in which he appeared to severely hyperextend his left knee when he planted his foot after crossing first base on an infield hit.
The prized rookie walked off the field after being attended to by Braves trainers and the initial diagnosis given by the team was "knee and lower-back pain," but Acuna was being examined at a Boston hospital after the game to determine the extent of his knee injury.
Snitker said he expected Acuna to accompany the team back to Atlanta on the Braves' charter flight.
The Braves took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on catcher Tyler Flowers' three-run homer off Sale, his former Chicago White Sox batterymate. It was his second homer in three at-bats against Sale, who also gave up a homer to Flowers in the July 2016 game in which Sale allowed 10 hits, eight earned runs _ matching his career high _ and three homers in five innings of an 11-8 Braves win in Chicago.
In Sale's 192 career starts he's allowed six or more earned runs 13 times, with two of those games coming in his only two starts against the Braves. He's 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA against them, having allowed 14 earned runs, 15 hits and four homers in 9 1/3 innings.
After Flowers' second-inning homer Sale retired eight of the next nine batters including six strikeouts, but Dansby Swanson walked to start the fifth inning and kick off another Braves' scoring outburst.
Charlie Culberson followed with a single to right field that was botched by Jackie Bradley, allowing a run. And after a one-out walk by Acuna, Freddie Freeman doubled to drive in two runs and send Sale to the showers.
It was the briefest outing of the season for Sale, who lasted at least five innings and allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his 11 starts before Sunday, including six or more innings eight times and one or no earned runs seven times.
The Braves finished a 2-4 trip that included one win in each series at Philadelphia and Boston, after they had won 11 of their last 12 road games preceding the trip.
