Red Sox - 211 010 010 1 - 7 13 1 Athletics - 010 000 032 0 - 6 9 0David Ortiz's home run to left-center field leading off the tenth inning rescued the Red Sox from what would have been a horrible defeat, as the bullpen - Burke Badenhop and Koji Uehara, specifically - melted down. Oakland was four outs away from a 6-1 loss, but they rallied.
With two outs in the eighth, Jon Lester (7.2-4-3-2-4, 111) hit Craig Gentry with an 0-2 pitch and walked Jed Lowrie on four pitches. Badenhop came in and allowed three straight run-scoring singles. Badenhop's two streaks - 18 scoreless innings and 32.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run - both came to an end, as he was charged with one run.
Uehara allowed two solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth - Stephen Vogt with one out and pinch-hitter John Jaso with two outs - but pitched a perfect tenth to nail down the victory. Having emptied their bench, the A's were forced to send closer Sean Doolittle to the plate with two outs. Doolittle, making his first MLB plate appearance, grounded out to Dustin Pedroia on a 1-2 pitch.
David Ross and Mike Napoli also homered for Boston. Jonny Gomes had three hits and two RBI.
Napoli was credited with a steal of home in the third inning. Elias reports that the last Red Sox player to hit a home run and steal home in the same game was Rico Petrocelli (September 9, 1967).
Holt, RF
Bogaerts, 3B
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Gomes, LF
Herrera, SS
Ross, C
Bradley, CF
Yikes. I agree with Cafardo: "David Ortiz was wrong to publicly scold official scorer Bob Ellis for a decision last Wednesday at Fenway, but seriously, hasn't Ortiz built up a reservoir of good will with three championships and being one of the greatest clutch hitters in Red Sox history?"
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ReplyDeleteYikes. I agree with Cafardo
ReplyDeleteWhat do you always tell me? *He's* agreeing with *you*.