Eckersley cruised in the bottom of the first as Rickey Henderson struck out to start. Dwayne Murphy also struck out and Joe Morgan flied out to left to end the inning. The Sox struck first against Oakland starter Steve McCatty as Jerry Remy walked to start. Remy moved to second on the force by Dwight Evans and Wade Boggs flied out to right. Jim Rice singled home Remy to put the Sox on top. Mike Easler struck out to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Carney Lansford struck out to start the top of the second before Bruce Bochte flied out to right. Dave Kingman struck out to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the second as Tony Armas singled to start. Rich Gedman walked and Reid Nichols singled to load the bases with nobody out. Jackie Gutierrez hit a grounder back to the mound who got Armas at home and Jackie at first for the double play. Jerry Remy singled to center and both runners tried to score. Gedman scored but Nichols was thrown out at home to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
The A's started to figure out Eckersley in the top of the third as Mike Davis and Mike Heath stroked back to back singles to start. Donnie Hill beat out a double play ball but Eck struck out Henderson. Murphy grounded back to the mound to end the inning. The Sox continued to run into outs in the bottom of the third although Evans grounded out to third to start. Boggs singled but Rice popped up to short. Easler walked and Armas singled to left. Boggs tried to score and he was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Morgan popped up to third to begin the top of the fourth before Lansford flied out to left. Bochte grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox blew it open in the bottom of the fourth inning as Gedman singled to start. Nichols singled Gedman to third and took second on the throw to chase McCatty. Chris Codiroli came in and Gutierrez singled home Gedman to increase the lead. Remy scored Nichols with a groundout but Evans doubled Jerry to third. Boggs was intentionally walked to load the bases but Rice beat out a double play ball to score Remy. Easler singled home Evans and Armas tripled to clear the bases. Gedman struck out to end the inning but it was 8-0 Sox.
As soon as the Sox broke it open, the A's rallied in the top of the fifth. Kingman hit a home run into the Charles River to start and Davis doubled. Davis moved to third on the Heath fly out to center and scored on the base hit by Hill. Henderson singled and both runners moved into scoring position on the grounder by Murphy. A wild pitch scored Hill but Morgan grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-3.
The Sox fought back in the bottom of the fifth against Jim Bettendorf. Nichols grounded out to short but Gutierrez struck his first home run of the season to increase the lead. Remy popped up to first but Evans walked. Boggs walked but Rice struck out to end the inning with the Sox ahead 9-3.
The Sox needed innings so Eckersley had to gut out the top of the sixth. Lansford flied out to center but Bochte singled. Kingman hit another home run into the Charles River to bring the A's closer. Davis struck out and Heath grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 9-5. That was it for Eckersley who lasted just 6 innings and allowed 5 runs.
The Sox continued to attack in the bottom of the sixth although Easler struck out to start. Armas grounded out to short but Gedman struck his second home run of the season to increase the lead. Nichols grounded out to short to end the inning but it was now 10-5 Sox.
Mark Clear came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Hill grounded out to short to start. Henderson was hit with a pitch but Murphy popped up to third. Morgan grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the seventh as Gutierrez flied out to left to start. Remy flied out to center and Evans popped up to second to end the inning.
The A's struck back due to some shoddy fielding in the top of the eighth. Lansford walked and Bochte hit a perfect double play ball to first....that Easler booted for an error. Kingman hit a routine grounder to Boggs but he booted that and Lansford came around to score. A wild pitch moved both runners and Davis walked to load the bases with nobody out. Sox manager Ralph Houk had seen enough of clear and brought in Bob Stanley to get out of the jam. Heath singled home Bochte to put the tying run on first and old pal Garry Hancock came in to pinch hit for Hill. Hancock beat out a double play ball to cut the lead to just two runs. Tony Phillips pinch ran for Hancock but Henderson banged into a double play to end the inning. The Sox survived with the lead intact, 10-8.
Keith Atherton came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and the Sox added to the lead. Boggs walked but Rice flied out to center. Easler then wrapped up the scoring by pounding his second home run of the year. Armas and Gedman struck out to end the inning with the Sox ahead 12-8.
Stanley slammed the door in the top of the ninth as Murphy struck out to start. Morgan grounded out to second and Lansford grounded out to short to end the game. The Sox had outslugged the A's 12-8.
Hero of the Night is a tough one with everyone on offense contributing but I'll go with Mike Easler. He hit a 2 run bomb and drove in 3 runs total to pace the attack.
The Good:
Wade Boggs was 1 for 2 with 3 walks and a run scored.
Tony Armas was 3 for 5 with 2 rbis.
Rich Gedman was 2 for 4 with a walk, 3 runs scored and a home run.
Reid Nichols was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Jackie Gutierrez was 2 for 4 with 2 rbis and a home run.
Bob Stanley tossed 2 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Jerry Remy was just 1 for 4 but walked and drove in 2 runs.
Dwight Evans was just 1 for 4 but walked and scored 2 runs.
Jim Rice was just 1 for 5 but drove in a run and scored.
Dennis Eckersley got the win but allowed 5 runs in 6 innings, he hasn't been right all month.
Mark Clear was charged with 3 runs but only 1 was earned due to shoddy defense in 1+ inning.
Final Thoughts:
At least the offense has shown up in April. The pitching has been suspect but the addition of Easler has really helped the offense big time. Boggs, Rice, Evans, Easler and Armas are as good as Baltimore's. Too bad the pitching is nowhere close to that. The Sox have a lot of young arms and hopefully one of them can develop into something good. Eckersley has lot it big time and Mike Brown obviously isn't the answer. Hopefully the Sox can fix the pitching because it would be a shame to waste an offense that's this good. Today's game was a microcosm on what the Sox have to do to win games. The Sox have only won 5 of the first 15 games they've played and the Detroit Tigers have been red hot to start the season. The Sox welcome the California Angels in next for a set. Bob Ojeda (0-2) takes on Geoff Zahn at 7:35 PM at Fenway Park.
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