Well that was unexpected. The much maligned Boston Red Sox starting pitching got a much needed boost from Wade Miley (2-4, 5.60 ERA) against Oakland A's ace Sonny Gray. Miley dazzled the A's, holding them scoreless for 6 2/3 innings allowing just 5 hits. Sonny Gray held the Sox in check apart from a Daniel Nava rbi single in the second inning. The Sox got another run in the seventh when Marcus Semien threw a Dustin Pedroia grounder away for the insurance run. The Orient Express finished things off as Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara slammed the door on a 2-0 Sox victory over the A's at Oakland Coliseum.
Gray got the ball in the top of the first inning and Mr. Mookie Betts swung at strike three in the dirt to start. Dustin Pedroia grounded out to third and David Ortiz grounded out to first to end the inning. Miley got the ball in the bottom of the first and Coco Crisp walked to start. Marcus Semien walked but Josh Reddick grounded out to first to move the runners over. Billy Butler grounded out to third and Brett Lawrie lined out to center to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the second as Hanley Ramirez got a seeing eye single into right to start. Pablo Sandoval struck out swinging and so did Brock "The Hitman" Holt, but Ramirez moved to second on a wild pitch. Daniel Nava dropped a base hit down the left field line to score Ramirez to put Boston on top. Jackie Bradley Jr flied out to left to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
Mark Canha flied out to the centerfield warning track to start the bottom of the second before Josh Phegley walked. Billy Burns singled to center but Eric Sogard lined out to right to move Phegley to third. Crisp grounded out to third to end the inning.
Sandy Leon popped up to first in foul territory to start the top of the third and Mr. Mookie struck out swinging. Pedroia singled in the hole at second but Ortiz grounded out to second to end the inning. Semien tripled over the head of Betts to start the bottom of the third but Reddick popped up to second. Butler popped up to Bradley and Lawrie grounded out to second to end the inning.
Ramirez took strike three to start the top of the fourth before Sandoval went down hacking. Holt struck out swinging to end the inning. Canha flied out to center to start the bottom of the fourth but Phegley doubled over the head of Bradley. Burns grounded out to third and Sogard popped up to Bogaerts to end the inning.
Nava led off the top of the fifth with a liner to left to start. JBJ grounded out to second and Leon lined out to right to end the inning. Crisp singled in the hole at second to start the bottom of the fifth but Semien grounded into a double play. Reddick flied out to center to end the inning.
Mr. Mookie led off the top of the sixth with a pop up to second before Crisp robbed Pedroia of a hit with a diving catch. Ortiz struck out swinging to end the inning. Miley got in trouble in the bottom of the sixth as Butler got a seeing eye single into left to start. Lawrie walked but Canha popped up to first. Phegley struck out swinging and Burns grounded out to third to end the inning.
Ramirez grounded out to third to begin the top of the seventh and Sandoval grounded out to short. Holt struck out swinging to end the inning. Miley returned briefly for the bottom of the seventh as Sogard grounded out to second to start. Crisp flied out to left and that was it for Miley. He tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings allowing 5 hits and 4 walks. Junichi Tazawa got Semien to ground out to third to end the inning.
The Sox got a big insurance run in the top of the eighth with Evan Scribner now on the mound. Nava got a base hit to center but JBJ popped up a bunt to Scribner. Leon got hit with a pitch but Mr. Mookie struck out swinging. Pedroia hit a routine grounder to Semien who threw the ball into the first base stands for an error to score Leon, moving Dustin to second. Fernando Abad came in to face Ortiz and David popped up to third to end the inning with the Sox up 2-0.
Tazawa came back for the bottom of the eighth and Reddick struck out swinging to start. Butler grounded out to third and Lawrie went down hacking to end the inning.
Tyler Clippard came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Ramirez got a base hit to center to start. Sandoval grounded out to second to move Hanley to second and Holt grounded out to second as well to move Ramirez to third. Nava walked but JBJ struck out swinging to end the inning. Koji Uehara came in to close out the bottom of the ninth with Ike Davis pinch hitting for Canha. Davis lined out to center and Max Muncy pinch hit for Phegley. Muncy struck out swinging and Stephen Vogt pinch hit for Burns. Vogt walked and took second on a wild pitch, but Sogard grounded out to first to end the game. The Sox had won it 2-0.
Sox win
Wade Hero
Hero of The Night is Wade Miley. With offense at a premium, he allowed no runs in 6 2/3 innings giving up 5 hits and 4 walks.
The Good:
Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 4.
Hanley Ramirez was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Daniel Nava was 2 for 3 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Junichi Tazawa tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Koji Uehara earned his 7th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
David Ortiz was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Pablo Sandoval was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Brock Holt was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
The Ugly:
Sandy Leon was 0 for 2 but was hit with a pitch.
Final Thoughts:
This season has been a clown show so far but that was a very good win against a very good pitcher. The Sox faced Oakland's ace and outpitched him with Wade Miley. Offense was going to be short today and apart from a Nava knock and a Semien error, the Sox accomplished nothing. Still, just that little was enough with the way Miley pitched. Sox manager John Farrell made the right call to pull Miley when he did because the Orient Express finished off the A's in the eighth and ninth. If the Sox starters can go 6 or 7 innings, they can easily get back in the thick of things. Hopefully the other starters step up moving forward. Once again, the Sox faced Oakland's best pitcher so no sense harping on the offense too much. The win improved the Sox to 16-18, 4.5 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it two in a row against Oakland tomorrow night when Justin Masterson (2-1) takes on Drew Pomeranz of Oakland. The game begins at 10:00 PM Eastern time at the Oakland Coliseum.
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