G73: Athletics 4, Red Sox 2

Red Sox   - 000 002 000 - 2  5  1
Athletics - 011 100 10x - 4  8  0

Boston lost the first game of its 10-game road trip, as Scott Kazmir (7-4-2-0-8, 111) had an easy night - though his ERA did rise a few percentage points, to 2.08.

The A's chipped away at Jake Peavy (6.1-5-4-3-4, 117), as Stephen Vogt drove in runs in the second and fourth innings, scoring Jed Lowrie both times. Yoenis Cespedes homered in the third.

The Red Sox scored in the sixth as Brock Holt singled with one out and Dustin Pedroia homered to left with two down. Cespedes jumped at the wall, trying to pull the ball back, and it tipped off the end of his glove.

Pedroia doubled with one out in the ninth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate. But Mike Napoli lined to first and A.J. Pierzynski flied to deep right-center. Coco Crisp make a little leap at the wall as he made the catch, but the ball did not have home-run distance.

Jake Peavy / Scott Kazmir

Holt, RF
Bogaerts, 3B
Pedroia, 2B
Napoli, 1B
Pierzynski, DH
Gomes, LF
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Bradley, CF

Oakland (44-28) has the best record in major league baseball. The A's have scored 5.18 runs per game - best in MLB - and allowed 3.35 runs per game - also best in MLB. (Based on its runs scored and runs allowed, Oakland's expected record is 50-22.)

Oakland has scored 373 runs - best in the AL. Boston has scored 278, 14th (next to last) in the AL. Oakland leads the AL with a .337 OBP. Boston is 7th (.323.) Oakland is 3rd in team OPS (.750), behind Toronto and Detroit.

Oakland leads the AL with a 3.03 ERA. Boston is 3rd, at 3.62. But Boston leads the AL with a 3.59 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), with Oakland 2nd, at 3.63.

Rob Bradford writes that this road trip to Oakland, Seattle and New York will tell us a lot about what we should expect from this Red Sox team.

The Fenway Park official scorer may not receive a Christmas card from David Ortiz. ... Felix Doubront says he's ready to pitch in Brandon Workman's spot on Friday, if needed. (Workman's six-game suspension was recently upheld.) ... Mookie!

More history re yesterday's game:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, blasts from David Ortiz and Napoli marked the first time in the modern era (1900-present) that a team won a game in extra innings with back-to-back home runs that represented its first runs of the game.

Also:

It was the third time the Red Sox have walked off on back-to-back homers: June 14, 1999 (Darren Lewis and Jeff Frye against Minnesota in the 9th) and July 3, 1940 (Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx against Philadelphia in the 9th). ... It was also the first time the Red Sox had ever hit back-to-back homers in extra innings with one to tie the game and the other to win it.