G82: Athletics 3, Red Sox 2

Red Sox   - 000 101 000 - 2  3  0
Athletics - 010 001 10x - 3 10  1

David Ortiz hit his 400th career home run in the fourth inning, but the A's swept the three-game series, sending the fourth-place Red Sox back home with a 2-5 record on the west coast trip. Boston's runs scored in the seven games against Seattle and Oakland: 0, 5, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2.

Ortiz is one of only 49 major league players with 400 or more home runs.

Besides Ortiz's homer, the game's other Red Sox milestone came in the second inning, when Mauro Gomez got his first major league hit, a line drive that sailed over Yoenis Cespedes's head in left for a double.

A.J. Griffin (6-3-2-1-3, 108) was tough in his third major league game; one of the Red Sox runs was unearned.

Moss (3-for-4) homered in the second to give the A's an early lead. Papi's historic dong to deep right tied the game in the fourth and Boston took the lead with two outs in the sixth when Ortiz walked, Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached on Weeks's fielding error, and Adrian Gonzalez delivered a single that scored Papi and extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

Oakland re-tied the game off Aaron Cook (6-9-3-1-0, 80) immediately. Brandon Moss's pop-up to short left field fell among Mike Aviles, Mauro Gomez, and Daniel Nava for a double (with a cloudless sky, all three had no clue where the ball was). After Cook recorded the second out, Brandon Inge doubled to deep right-center, scoring Moss.

The A's took the lead in the seventh on a triple from Coco Crisp and - after Andrew Miller relieved Cook - an RBI single from Jemile Weeks.

Boston did not get a runner on base in any of the last three innings. The Red Sox are off tomorrow before beginning a four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Park.

Aaron Cook / A.J. Griffin

Nava, LF
Kalish, CF
Ortiz, DH
Saltalamacchia, C
Gonzalez, 1B
Gomez, 3B
Ross, RF
Aviles, SS
Punto, 2B

Cook has allowed only two runs in his last two starts (14 innings). He shut out Seattle on two hits in his last time out. His 81 pitches against the Mariners were the fewest thrown by a Red Sox pitcher in a nine-inning shutout since Roger Clemens in 1986.

Griffin is a 24-year-old rookie right-hander with two major league games under his belt. Griffin allowed two runs in his first major league inning, and has since pitched 11 shutout frames.

Dustin Pedroia hurt the back of his thumb diving for a ball last night. ... Mauro Gomez has not played third base since 2009 (High-A). I'm sure he'll be just fine....

Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .356 (21-for-59) over his 14-game hitting streak. It's the longest active streak in MLB. ... David Ortiz leads the American League with 45 extra-base hits, two behind Joey Votto's MLB-best total of 47. ... Vicente Padilla's 5.3% of inherited runners scored (1-of-19) is the lowest rate in MLB. Andrew Miller's rate of 11.1% (2-of-18) is second-best in the AL.

RHP Justin Germano will be in the Red Sox's bullpen today. Germano, 29, has a 2.40 ERA in 17 games (16 starts) for Pawtucket. In 105 innings, Germano has allowed 82 hits and 13 walks, while striking out 72. Germano has major league experience with the Padres, Reds, and Spiders. Clay Mortensen was sent to AAA.

Also, down in Pawtucket, Daniel Bard thinks he has figured it out.