G30: Red Sox 5, Athletics 1

Athletics - 000 000 001 - 1  3  1
Red Sox   - 110 210 00x - 5  7  0

Rick Porcello became the first Boston starting pitcher to go eight innings (8-2-0-2-8, 114) and the Red Sox easily beat the Athletics on Tuesday night, aided by home runs from Mitch Moreland and Mookie Betts.

It was a stress-free game from start to finish. Porcello threw only eight pitches, all strikes, in a clean top of the first and Betts cracked his sixth home run in the bottom half. Porcello then worked around a one-out walk in the second and his teammates tacked on another run, Sandy Leon knocking in Michael Chavis (who was also on base in the fifth when the Mississippi Masher hit his eighth homer).

Rafael Devers knocked in Boston's final run, doubling home J.D. Martinez, who reached second base when center fielder Ramón Laureano acted nonchalant on a fly to right-center, tried to catch it waist-high and dropped it.

Porcello gave up a hit and a walk in the third and Oakland got its second hit - and final baserunner - off him in the fifth. Porcello retired his last 10 batters and 16 of his last 17, going back to the final out in the third. Tyler Thornburg pissed on the evening's good vibes by giving up a leadoff homer to Robbie Grossman in the ninth. But a 5-1 win counts as much as a 5-0 win, I suppose.

As mentioned, Chavis scored two runs and singled twice. He's has gone 2-for-4 in three consecutive games and is hitting .313 overall (10-for-32). Betts also had two hits.

The Red Sox go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM.

Aaron Brooks / Rick Porcello

Benintendi, LF
Betts, RF
Martinez, DH
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Chavis, 2B
Moreland, 1B
Bradley, CF
León, C

Red Sox RBI Leaders

Xander Bogaerts       16
Mitch Moreland        15
J.D. Martinez         15
Mookie Betts          14
Christian Vazquez     13
Andrew Benintendi     13
Michael Chavis         8
Rafael Devers          7
Jackie Bradley         5
Eduardo Nunez          4

Red Sox RBI Leaders (As % Of Opportunities)

                     PA  PAwROB  ROB   R1   R2   R3   RBI    OBI%
Andrew Benintendi   114    41     55   27   19    9    13   20.0%
Michael Chavis       35    19     25   12    8    5     8   20.0%
Christian Vazquez    79    33     46   21   16    9    13   19.6%
Mookie Betts        128    48     58   32   18    8    14   15.5%
J.D. Martinez       116    49     71   35   21   15    15   15.5%
Eduardo Nunez        46    20     35   14   11   10     4   14.3%
Xander Bogaerts     119    56     87   46   24   17    16   13.8%
Mitch Moreland       96    51     73   36   25   12    15   11.0%
Rafael Devers       114    50     70   38   22   10     7   10.0%
Jackie Bradley       95    39     52   28   14   10     5    9.6%

(Columns: Plate Appearances, PA with Runners on Base, Total Number of Runners on Base when Batting, Runners on First Base, Second Base, and Third Base, Actual RBI, and Percentage of Runners on Base Driven In)

Bogaerts has batted with the most men on base, at least 14 more baserunners than anyone else. He has batted with 29 more baseruners than Betts (including 15 more runners in so-called "scoring position"), but has only two more RBI.

Nunez, Devers, and Bradley have each batted with 10 men on third base and have each knocked in three of their 10 runners, but their total plate appearances vary from 46 to 114.

Top 5 RBI Men in MLB (at least 75 PA)

Christian Yelich     Brewers       29.4%
Adalberto Mondesi    Royals        28.4%
Jose Abreu           White Sox     27.5%
Domingo Santana      Mariners      26.7%
Alex Gordon          Royals        25.0%
Charlie Blackmon     Rockies       25.0%