G43: Red Sox 12, Athletics 3

Red Sox   - 200 022 015 - 12 15  0
Athletics - 010 200 000 -  3  6  3

Eduardo Rodriguez tied a career best by going eight innings - throwing under 100 pitches (8-6-3-1-8, 98). After Chad Pinder's two-run homer gave Oakland a 3-2 lead in the fourth, Rodriguez retired the next 10 batters and 14 of his last 15. In that time, his teammates came back, salvaging one game of the four-game series with a total team effort.

All nine batters in the lineup had at least one hit (Hanley Ramirez and Christian Vazquez had three each and Jackie Bradley and Dustin Pedroia had two each).

Eight of the nine batters scored at least one run (Vazquez, Ramirez, Bradley, and Mookie Betts scored twice; Deven Marrero was the only player to not cross home plate).

Eight of the nine batters drove in at least one run (Ramirez, Marrero, and Mitch Moreland drove in two runs apiece; Xander Bogaerts was the lone batter to not have an RBI).

So in the traditional AB-R-H-RBI box score, the Red Sox had only two zeroes.

Usually, when the Red Sox bang out as many as 15 hits, many of them are for extra bases. That wasn't the case on Sunday: 11 singles, 3 doubles, 1 home run (by Moreland). They also had four stolen bases, including two by Andrew Benintendi.

Boston capped the afternoon/evening by sending nine men to the plate in the top of the ninth, scoring five runs off Oakland reliever Josh Smith. Armed with a 12-3 lead, Matt Barnes set down the A's in order. Play-by-play can be found here.

The Red Sox are off tomorrow and begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday (three games against both the Rangers and the Mariners). Then it's back on the road to play the White Sox and the top two teams in the AL East, the Orioles and the Yankees.

Eduardo Rodriguez / Andrew Triggs

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Benintendi, LF
Ramirez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Bradley, CF
Vazquez, C
Marrero, 3B

The Red Sox will skip Hector Velazquez in the rotation and have Drew Pomeranz pitch on Wednesday against the Rangers at Fenway Park.

So Pomeranz was not happy with being pulled after only four innings yesterday. Maybe he was just generally frustrated with his performance this season. (I know I am. He's gone four, three, and four innings in his last three outings.) And maybe he shouldn't throw 97 pitches in four innings if he has aspirations of going six or seven.

Last night: Mets manager Terry Collins considered intentionally walking Mike Trout with the bases loaded. The Mets began the top of the ninth inning with a 7-2 lead, but the Angels scored twice and had the bases loaded with no outs. Collins decided against the move. Addison Reed pitched to Trout (the potential go-ahead run), who hit a sacrifice fly. The Mets won 7-5.

Batters Intentionally Walked With The Bases Loaded
Abner Dalrymple - August 2, 1881
Nap Lajoie - May 23, 1901
Del Bissonette - May 2, 1928
Bill Nicholson - July 23, 1944
Barry Bonds - May 28, 1998
Josh Hamilton - August 17, 2008

(Information on all six instances can be found here.)