Oakland A’s Lose Second-Straight To Red Sox
May 3, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Dan Otero (left) and starting pitcher Scott Kazmir (right) speak after the sixth inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
The Oakland A’s fell to the Boston Red Sox by the final score of 6-3 in the second game of the series. They struggled all game against a strong start by John Lester and fall to 18-12 on the season.
The player of the game was definitely Jon Lester, who finished the game allowing just one hit and racked up 15 K’s compared to just two walks in 119 pitches and eight innings. He fanned everyone in the Oakland A’s starting lineup at least once including Josh Reddick who led the team with three strikeouts.
Offensively the A’s struggled mightily while Lester was in but finally came alive in the top of the ninth when Chris Capuano came into the game.
They jumped on Capuano quickly getting the first four men on base with two reaching home. During that span they got doubles from Nick Punto and Jed Lowrie while Coco Crisp added a single and Josh Donaldson reached on a hit by pitch. In the middle of his fifth batter Capuano was pulled in favor of closer Koji Uehara.
Uehara came in and ended up walking the bases loaded, bringing the tying runner Derek Norris to the plate, who grounded into a fielder’s choice back to Uehara who threw to home for the out. Boston catcher David Ross then threw it to first to try for the double play but ended up overthrowing his first baseman with an errand throw, and that allowed another run to score and sent Norris to second base.
After that though, with the score 6-3, Uehara was able to calm things down and end the game. He struck out Alberto Callaspo after reaching a full count and then got Brandon Moss to flyout to right field to end the game.
On Boston’s side it was a strong start that gave them an early lead that they would never give up. For the second-straight game Boston hit a grand slam against Oakland putting the Athletics in an early hole. This time the grand slam came off the bat of Johnny Gomes on a breaking ball for a four-run first inning.
In the third and fourth innings the Red Sox would add two more runs on solo home runs by David Ortiz and David Ross.
By the time he was done pitching for the Oakland A’s Tommy Milone had allowed six runs on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks in four innings.
Give credit for the Oakland A’s offense for not giving in, even with a six-run deficit in the ninth. Unfortunately though the back-end of the rotation continues to be a sore spot for them.
Tomorrow the Oakland A’s will try to avoid the sweep in Boston with their ace Sonny Gray scheduled to take the hill against John Lackey.